New Recordings

Head First

(Mute ***)

nolead ends Throughout the '90s, singer Alison Goldfrapp and instrumentalist Will Gregory made a luxurious brand of darkly erotic synth-pop that shimmered subtly with glam-rock and disco influences.

The duo could be moodier than Portishead and groovier than Broadcast when they so desired. Yet by the 2000s, pretty gals who could mood-swing as well as flaunt their breathy disco vibe (e.g. Annie, Robyn) threatened to push Goldfrapp aside. The limp electro-folk of their album Seventh Tree (2008) didn't help.

What's a girl to do? Head back to the dance floor with a kit bag of new tricks.

The influence of Italian disco's prominent high hats and Giorgio Moroder-like sequencers runs rampant throughout Head First, Goldfrapp's glossily sexy new CD. Odder still is the shiny Abba-esque gurgle that fills the likes of "Alive."

What truly captures your attention is how memorably melodic and poppy these songs are in comparison to those of Goldfrapp's past.

Despite its minor-key melody, "Rocket" shines while daring you to yell out its chorus. The pair's moodier midtempo cuts and ballads, too, sound effortlessly contagious. "Hunt" has the noir luxe feel of Goldfrapp's gloomiest past tracks. Yet with its brighter production values and inviting vocal turns, it's nearly Glee-worthy.

- A.D. Amorosi

nolead begins The Fall
nolead ends nolead begins Your Future Our Clutter
nolead ends nolead begins (Domino ***)

nolead ends Love him or hate him, Mark E. Smith is still a singular front man. The sole constant in England's inveterate post-punk act the Fall, he barks, mutters, talks, and occasionally sings his way through this 29th studio album. He's backed by the same hard-bitten four-piece as on 2008's Imperial Wax Solvent, including his keyboardist wife, Eleni Poulou. The 50-minute Your Future Our Clutter is an exercise in mutation, its nine songs changing form as they proceed. "Bury Pts. 1 + 3" spends its first third willfully muffled, while Smith asserts himself over the tarnished blues of "Hot Cakes" and off-kilter daze of "Chino." As for rockabilly royalty, Wanda Jackson's often-covered "Funnel of Love," the tune becomes a deadpan oddity. It's another Fall record, then.

- Doug Wallen

nolead begins The National
nolead ends nolead begins High Violet
nolead ends nolead begins (4AD **1/2)

nolead ends With 2004's excellent Alligator and 2007's even better Boxer, Brooklyn's the National perfected a dark and stirring aesthetic of brooding songs with choruses that worm into the brain while retaining a sense of mystery and triumph. Maybe the long-awaited High Violet will gradually reveal itself to be their equal - those albums were growers - but . . .

Violet still broods; with Matt Berninger's resonant baritone, that's inevitable. But too many songs seem content to get by on midtempo atmosphere and louche, dissolute sentiments. Songs such as "Little Faith," set primarily on New York's streets, only occasionally lock into focus. And there are some missteps, most prominently the horror-movie narrative of "Conversation 16," which reaches its climax with the distractingly facile chorus "I was afraid I'd eat your brains / because I'm evil."

Still, there's good stuff here: the sexy rocker "Bloodbuzz, Ohio," the dense, rumbling "Terrible Love," the understated, insistent "Lemonworld." And sometimes beautifully textured brooding is enough.

- Steve Klinge

nolead begins Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del Quinto Patio
nolead ends nolead begins Circular Colectivo
nolead ends nolead begins (Nacional ***1/2)

nolead ends This, the first studio album in a dozen years from Mexico City's revered Maldita Vecindad, is a winner. Its punky-ska hybrids of peppy Latin rhythms, metal-to-Afro-pop guitar, highly melodic horn lines, and streetwise social commentary are characteristically tight, potent - and suffused with a complex sense of multiethnic Mexican identity, expressing joy, melancholia, y mas. It may be Maldita's best since El Circo, their 1991 sophomore disc that's been hailed as "the Sgt. Pepper of Rock en Español."

Circular's triumph is better appreciated after recounting Maldita's backstory. City kids, MV formed soon after the 1985 earthquake that shattered their sprawling hometown. They not only sang in Spanish - still novel then in rock - but also eschewed the Police/Cure/etc. imitations of other Latin rockers, instead forging their own homegrown sound and artfully observing Mexico's class strife, corruption, and immigration woes with Clash-like panache. And they were loved for it. Maldita's celebrated shows were/are not unlike what reggae-fied Spanish-French artist Manu Chao has developed as well - except stage-prowling MV front man Roco can suggest a politicized, pachuco Iggy Pop, intense if always in amiable communication with la raza, the people.

After a long hiatus, Maldita returns in this World Cup year - perfect timing for Circular's anticommercial street-soccer-championing single, "Fut Callejero." Tracks range from the norteño-informed "Corrido Para Digna Ochoa" - remembering a suspiciously murdered Mexican human-rights lawyer - to the playful space-merengue "Expedientes Marcianos," complete with Mexican wrestler heroes Santo and Blue Demon discussing imminent Martian invasion.

- David R. Stampone

Sparkle City

(E1/Red Dirt ***1/2)

nolead ends On a commercial level, David Ball has never matched his 1994 hit, "Thinkin' Problem." But he's never been less than a solid purveyor of neo-traditional country. Sparkle City is a little gem that ranks as one of his best efforts.

Ball wrote or cowrote all 11 songs, and he starts off with "Hot Water Pipe." It's a shot of double-entendre honky-tonk that Ball plays in his usual understated, Alan Jackson-like manner, making it all the more effective. That's the way it goes throughout, from the self-explanatory "Country Boy Boogie" to the border-flavored "Just Along for the Ride," and elegant ballads with hints of jazz ("Back to Alabama," "So Long") that bring to mind Merle Haggard. "On Top of the World," meanwhile, is an irresistible slice of honky-tonk swing, and yet more proof that Ball is working at the top of his game.

- Nick Cristiano

nolead begins Watermelon Slim
nolead ends nolead begins Ringers
nolead ends nolead begins (NorthernBlues ***)

nolead ends "Good old boys never change," Watermelon Slim asserts over honky-tonk piano at the outset of his new album. Well, Slim has, sort of. The late-blooming 60-year-old, also known as Bill Homans, made his name as a bluesman, but now he's cutting country in Nashville.

Of course, this isn't slicked-up Music Row fare. It would be pretty difficult to smooth the rough edges off Slim, whose vocals still have a marbles-in-the-mouth quality. Rather, Ringers is a natural extension of his blues. His slide guitar and harmonica figure prominently, and he's backed by members of Delbert McClinton's band and other topflight sidemen who know their way around R&B as well as country.

And the songs by the twice-divorced Vietnam veteran, former trucker, and - yes - watermelon farmer show that Slim invests his country with the same gritty, true-to-life character and singular voice he brings to the blues.

- N.C.

Push

(Concord ***1/2)

nolead ends How many flavors of jazz can you put on one recording? Pianist Jacky Terrasson does more than most. On one tune, he juxtaposes a dreamy take of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" with the standard "Body and Soul," fueling a scrappy solo and a surprising mesh of styles.

The melding of disparate elements continues throughout this mostly trio recording, marking Terrasson's 11th and his first on Concord.

At times Terrasson sounds totally accessible, touching both pop and a South African lilt and crooning rather gingerly on "Say Yeah." At other times, he's playing standards fairly conservatively or becoming a remote and fiery bopper seeking to push the limits.

The set is notable for the prevalence of Terrasson compositions. Seven of the 11 are his, ranging from the furious "Beat Bop" to the sugary "Carry Me Away." "My Church" shows some pleasant gospel overtones, while "O Café, O Soleil" exudes some light Caribbean energy along with more gentle Terrasson vocals.

The leader, whose career soared when he won the Thelonious Monk piano competition in 1993, is joined by last year's Monk winner, bassist Ben Williams, and drummer Jamire Williams (no relation). Harmonica player Gregoire Maret, who plays the lead here on "Ruby My Dear," is among the guests.

- Karl Stark

nolead begins Nikki Yanofsky
nolead ends nolead begins Nikki
nolead ends nolead begins (Decca ***)

nolead ends At 12, singer Nikki Yanofsky played the Montreal Jazz Festival. Now 16, the 10th-grader from a Montreal suburb sang Canada's national anthem at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and her rendition of "I Believe" was dubbed the Games' official song.

On Nikki, the teen prodigy intersperses jazz standards with pop tunes written by serious writers such as fellow Canadian Ron Sexsmith and Jesse Harris of Norah Jones fame.

No doubt the kid has been marketed out the wazoo. And God knows whether her career will last. But at this point she is not unpleasant to hear. Yanofsky shows a big range coupled with the ability to convey emotion even on tunes that go beyond her experience. "Over the Rainbow" is an especially pleasant outing, while "Try Try Try," by the Nova Scotia singer/songwriter known as Feist, also shows some moves.

The arrangements on this Phil Ramone and Jesse Harris production are pretty tame. The teen stays mostly in swing territory on such tunes as "Take the A Train," when she isn't going off into a pop vein. But mysteriously, she cooks.

- K.S.

Anna Netrebko, soprano; Daniel Barenboim, piano

(Deutsche Grammophon ***1/2)

nolead ends This live recital from the 2009 Salzburg Festival comes to the rescue in a number of ways: There's too little Russian song available on mainstream recording labels, pianist/conductor Daniel Barenboim ought to be heard more often in lieder recitals, and Anna Netrebko sounds far happier in lyric soprano repertoire than in the coloratura music in which she's increasingly iffy. Not only is Netrebko in excellent voice here, but she has a more immediate than usual relationship with the text since she's singing in her native language. In fact, the Tchaikovsky songs are among the best since Galina Vishnevskaya's recordings from the 1970s - and on strictly vocal terms are more opulent. The puzzling element is the inclusion of 11 Rimsky-Korsakov songs, which are often insubstantial and, in a number of cases, don't tap into Netrebko's dramatic instincts to any great extent. Perhaps this pair will take on the dramatically rich song world of Mussorgsky next. In the meantime, this disc is engaging at the very least, and sumptuously packaged with song text translations.

- David Patrick Stearns