From left:
Allen, Albarn,
Simonon,
and Tong

Incubus
Light Grenades ⁵
ITUNES MYSPACE
Not changing the world—
one so-so record at a time
If only Incubus would quit
trying to sound so damn
important. On their sixth
album, the veteran California
band win you over when they
scale back their ambitions.
By diverting attention from
singer Brandon Boyd’s mostly
inane lyrics with sun-dazed
melodies and a crisp modern-
rock sheen, they nail the pro-
fundo pop vibe of late-era Chili
Peppers. But the album floun-
ders during their attempts at
arty funk and when guitarist
Mike Einziger can’t control
his tendency to grandstand.
There’s no shame in keeping
it simple. DAVID MARCHESE

Lubelski, they jam hazily on honeyed Vermont sunlight and swirling Van Gogh starfields made audible, but their kitchen sink of psych-folk gestures never finds a suitable texture. J. NIIMI

 

Joemca
Joemca (jum + ka)
MYSPACE
Tastefully morbid tales of
hummable melodrama
This classically trained Brooklyn
wunderkind scores opera, the-
ater, and puppet shows, but on
his five-song debut EP, he goes
for another kind of high drama.
You’d think his moany croon,
doomy synthesizers, and lyrics
(“I’ve killed my only friend”)
would devolve into campy goth
rock, but his tunefulness (leav-
ening the gloom with whistling
and gentle piano) and utter
confidence put over songs with
titles like “Dead Paradise” and
“Ode to the Sea.” And he’s
even thoughtful enough to
pronounce his name for you.
JASON GROSS

The Paybacks
Love, Not Reason
ITUNES MYSPACE
Detroit combo searches for
meaning of life at max volume
Making garage rock new
again, fortysomething
singer/guitarist Wendy Case
wails like she’s got a razor
blade stuck in her throat,
flanked by Danny Methric’s evil
guitar riffs. But the third
Paybacks album isn’t just the
soundtrack for your next bar
fight. In the tradition of fellow
Michigan existentialist Iggy
Pop, Case asks life’s big ques-
tions as she rages against
loneliness and betrayal.
Though no answers are forth-
coming, it’s still thrilling to
hear her rant. JON YOUNG

Zen Gorillaz
From Damon Albarn and Danger Mouse: a different kind of bananas

The Good, the Bad and the Queen The Good, the Bad and the Queen ITUNES MYSPACE

bassist Paul Simonon. But even with all the name players involved, Albarn focuses the spotlight on the songs, which are terrific.

Where Blur was often brash, these days Albarn finds himself adrift in despondency, crooning tragic melodies and longing for better days. He plays characters who “drink all day, ’cause the country’s at war” (“Kingdom of Doom”) and spend “Sundays lost in melancholy” (“History Song”)—no surprise, given the real world’s screwed-up state of affairs.

snare riffs, and Simonon provides a few fat dub notes, the playing is lean and unsentimental. Producer Danger Mouse tinkers brilliantly with the music, wrapping Albarn’s voice in echo and fuzz to suggest a distant cry for help and

MV & EE With the
Bummer Road
Green Blues ⁵

After the high-concept pop art of Gorillaz, it’s startling to see Damon Albarn in a rock group again. But the Good, the Bad and the Queen—his shorthand description of London—isn’t Blur 2.0. What began as a solo project became something else entirely when he recorded some tracks in Nigeria with Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen; the two were later joined by Verve guitarist Simon Tong and Clash

Albarn croons tragic
melodies, longing
for better days.
ITUNES MYSPACE
Another hippified folk act
goes back to the yurt
But Albarn’s mates keep
him from sounding like just
another whiner. Although
Allen unleashes some hot

adding electronic pings and bleeps that are strangely touching. By the time Albarn shakes off depression in the album-closing title track, he’s told a powerful tale of darkness endured and hope regained, outshining almost everything he’s done before. JON YOUNG

On the aptly titled Green Blues, Matt Valentine (a.k.a. MV) sketches a portrait in heavy pastel of Maximum Arousal Farm, the New England enclave where he and Erika Elder (a.k.a. EE) create the freaky sounds of the Bummer Road—which meander between idyllic and something like cabin fever in reverse. (J. Mascis cameos on Mellotron, if that means anything.) With Tower Recordings alums Tim Barnes and Samara

Damien Rice
9
ITUNES MYSPACE
Iconoclastic Irishman artfully
mixes his moods
Introspection and noise are
infrequent bedfellows, but
they get fully tangled up in the
work of singer/songwriter
Damien Rice. Following his
lauded 2003 debut O (winner of
the Shortlist Prize), Rice
seeks 24/7 momentousness
here—“9 Crimes,” a ravishing
duet with Lisa Hannigan, is so
emotionally composed and
agonizingly high-end that Mike
Nichols probably wishes he’d
had it for the soundtrack to
Closer. Elsewhere, the album
continues to interweave these
sweaty back-and-forths, with
the equally hot “Elephant” sus-
taining majestic Sigur Rós–esque
drifts, while on “Rootless Tree,”
a bright chorus of “Fuck you”
breaks out amid all the flutter
and distortion. JAMES HUNTER

 

Alasdair Roberts
The Amber
Gatherers
ITUNES MYSPACE
Scottish songwriter takes a
graceful, lighter touch
On his newest release, Alasdair
Roberts, known for his lo-fi
work as Appendix Out, contin-
ues his sojourn into traditional
British folk forms, eschewing

SOREN STARBIRD/COURTESY NASTY LITTLE MAN

 

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