Aesop Rock None Shall Pass ½ ITUNES MYSPACE Introspective MC cuts deep with voluminous verses Aesop Rock has a voice unlike any other in music, a hyper drawl that can swallow entire words whole or make sure every letter in unctuous is clearly enunciated. Paired with the Long Island rapper’s abstract, self-aware lyrics, it makes None Shall Pass a challenging, rewarding head trip. “Fumes” and “ 39 Thieves” are classic Def Jux (i.e., creepy and paranoid); “Getaway Car” is a fun, rocking posse cut; and “Bring Back Pluto”

addresses that old hip-hop staple, hateration: “Every Dumpster diver’s gotta vomit up a comment like, ‘You ain’t shit,’ ‘This ain’t ill.’” Actually, it is. THOMAS GOLIANOPOULOS

Aiden Conviction ½ ITUNES MYSPACE Menacing mascara dudes in search of deeper inspiration Beginning with 2004’s Our Gangs Dark Oath, these flamboyant Seattle goth punks have spent more time fretting about onstage makeup than actual songs, churning out two albums that borrowed heavily from

early My Chemical Romance. Here, though, they pull from a weightier set of influences—the shimmering guitars of U2 (“She Will Love You”) and the somber balladeering of Nick Cave (“The Opening Departure”). Aiden still don’t sound very original, but at least they’ve grown ambitious about something more than their image. TREVOR KELLEY

Amerie Because I Love It AMAZON MYSPACE R&B spitfire heats up beats, drifts through drab drama

Since scorching the summer of 2005 with a euphoric vocal

and thrilling Meters sample (courtesy of producer Rich Harrison), Amerie Rogers has yet to prove she’s not a “ 1 Thing” wonder. Third album Because I Love It almost does. Even without mentor Harrison, the R&B songstress wrings Stax soul and Neptunes razzle-dazzle out of familiar horn charts on “Gotta Work” and Brazilian guitar funk on “Take Control.” And Janet Jackson hasn’t done anything lately like Amerie’s glinting synth-pop tracks. Though bogged down by overcooked ballads, this is still R&B at its most dynamic. MARC HOGAN

richest, most eclectic accompaniment yet, with vibrant steel drums (“Heart It Races”), syncopated acoustic strings (“Lazy [Lazy]”), and resonant trumpet bleats (“Debbie”). STACEY ANDERSON

Rockin’ you
reliably since
the mid-’90s

Angels of Light We Are Him ½ ITUNES MYSPACE Noise/folk guru assembles a cockeyed hootenanny

Michael Gira still explores the drones and grinding rhythms that he recorded with legendary art-punk band Swans, but on this fifth album with collective Angels of Light, the singer/songwriter focuses on whiplash juxtapositions of sound and style. He cuts and pastes his skewed vision of a Nick Cave–flavored Americana where mandolin and hammer dulcimer rumble with a devilish mariachi band down a dark backstreet. Avant enigmas (and labelmates) Akron/Fam-ily provide consistent backing, but it’s Gira’s array of violins, “krautabilly” electric guitar, accordion, and choral vocals that turn the tunes inside out. ROB O’CONNOR

Atreyu Lead Sails Paper Anchor ½ ITUNES MYSPACE Post-hardcore Ozzfest grunts unchain their melodies

On their fourth album and major-label debut, this metallic California quintet prune some thorns from their prickly sound, overtly moving in a more pop-savvy direction. And considering the rote barking and generic riffage of 2006’s A Death-Grip on Yesterday, it’s a wise decision. Alex Varkatzas powerfully flexes his arena croon, and some surprisingly bold melodies sneak through the obligatory blare of “ Doomsday” and first single “Becoming the Bull.” Still, Lead Sails too often descends into a monochromatic roar broken up by relentlessly overblown guitar solos. K YLE ANDERSON

Foos Control
Dave Lunchbox gives the people what they expect
Foo Fighters
Echoes, Silence, Patience
and Grace
ITUNES MYSPACE

is “Stacked Actors,” even down to the lyrics decrying phonies; and if you’ve heard “My Hero,” you’ve got a good idea what “Statues” sounds like. But Grohl sometimes experiments, and the handful of songs that

Part of Nirvana’s greatness stemmed from their volatility. The exact opposite can be said of Dave Grohl and his Foo Fighters. Since their 1995 debut, Grohl has been a model of steady efficiency, and Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace

is another quality entry in a
fantastically average career.
Two-thirds of these tracks
sound a lot like songs Grohl has
done before: “The Pretenders”
Echoes rails against
people who want to
hold Grohl down.

deviate from the wallop’n’wail
template keep the record
afloat. “Summer’s End” is
a breezy blast of California
country rock, and “Long Road
to Ruin” flies jubilantly with
a hook so gigantic you could
land a hammerhead with it.

Most of Echoes rails against people who want to hold the singer down (which raises the question: Is anybody—okay, besides Courtney—really trying to oppress Dave Grohl?). The album’s best song is “The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners,” a bluegrass instrumental that’s an oasis amid the combative bluster. It’s hard to criticize Grohl for his lack of innovation, because he’s never wanted to start a revolution. But at this point, Foo Fighters’ consistency has become predictability, and it threatens to trap them in the modern-rock ghetto, dangerously close to those guys in Hinder. KYLE ANDERSON

Architecture in Helsinki Places Like This ITUNES MYSPACE Big top of sound gets a strange new voice and multiculti twist

Architecture in Helsinki’s fanciful pop patchwork has always been rooted in the playground, but their third album takes a giant step in a new direction. The Melbourne-based sextet mostly supplants their call-and-response giddiness with the hyper, guttural chanting of leader Cameron Bird (who conceived the songs while living apart from the group in a raucous Latino neighborhood in Brooklyn). And though Bird’s voice can be unnerving—like Pee-wee Herman gargling rocks—the band offer their

Bishop Allen The Broken String ½ ITUNES MYSPACE Prolific pop-rockers boast a shambling, Kinksy charisma

Led by songwriters Justin Rice and Christian Ridder, this Brooklyn band built buzz by releasing an EP every month in 2006, a gamble that would not have paid off if the music—mannered indie pop that recalls Spoon (minus the diffident cool) and Bright Eyes (but all grown up)—hadn’t been worthy. (Even the most ardent blog-gers don’t want 50 half-assed tracks a year, Bob Pollard fans excepted.) The Broken String pares down the track list and polishes the best of the EPs, from the piano-and-banjo-driven “Shrinking Violet” to the gorgeously plunking “Click, Click, Click, Click” to the rumbling, climactic “The Monitor.” JOSH MODELL

Boyz N Da Hood Back Up N Da Chevy ITUNES MYSPACE Dirty South gangstas fill Jeezy’s spot with new bad boy

DANIEL BOUD/COUR TESY NAS T Y LI T TLE MAN