Various
Blue Light One
Upstairs
Anyone who has experienced the two previous compilations by Vancouver’s Upstairs Recordings (Deepdown Tempos and Headlands) will find Blue Light One equally satisfying and hypnotic. Resident producers E.D. Swankz, Telefuzz and The Verbrilli Sound return with a number of different artists (Matt Coogan, The William Caslon Experience, Earball, Lazyboyz and The Kinetic Kid, to name a few) in this deeply atmospheric compilation. The songs vary from warm and sleepily rhythmic to drum-and-bass with funky dubbified beats. The good people at Upstairs Recordings call it “music to evolve to.” You could say that, or you could crawl into bed, hit the repeat button and prepare to slip into a coma. —Lauren Gillett
Queens of the Stone Age
Songs for the Deaf
Interscope
This is one hell of a loud record—when I dropped it in my computer, the CD-ROM drive itself started rumbling. But it’s not loud-for-the-sake-of-loud. Rife as it is with odd time signatures, spooky harmonies and mysterious textures, there’s something positively artsy lurking beneath the crunchy surface. That’s fair; any metal band willing to call itself “Queens” must be at least a little in touch with its anima. Speaking of Aenima, it wouldn’t be unfair to make comparisons to the Tool album of the same name: like their neo-prog cousins, QOTSA (with Dave Grohl drumming this time around) make heavy music where melody, inventiveness and relentless creativity take the place of testosterone. The key difference is that QOTSA pepper their intelligent aggro with more handclaps and boogie riffs than any band this side of Aerosmith, proving that they know how to make hard rock that’s both serious and fun. —Paul Iskander
Beth Orton
Daybreaker
Astralwerks/Heavenly
Beth Orton’s new album tells like a pretty bad joke. The complicated cast of characters (everyone from Emmylou Harris to the Chemical Brothers) and rapid mood swings make things hard to follow. In addition, the whole thing is engineered to be tasteful that it can never really be worthwhile. Orton’s skillful singing makes a valiant effort to connect these mundane elements, but in the end, the project lacks any real punch, much less a punch line. —Thomas Krzyzanowski
Slum Village
Trinity (past, present and future)
Capitol
When a band loses its most recognized figure, its next record is often the first step towards irrelevance. Since that member in Slum Village was Jay Dee, highly regarded producer and main architect of the band’s sound, the Detroit hip hop crew was faced with the dilemma of expanding on its critically acclaimed Fantastic Voyage Vol. 2 without emulating the signature sound of its former member. They’ve succeeded, releasing a quasi-concept record that reflects on the band’s past, embraces its present, and ponders its future. The beats are characteristically Detroit, sounding both organic and soulful. Particularly good songs are the first single, “Tainted,” “Get Live,” and “Star.” —Andrew Chin
