New CDs: Excellent Metric; sizzling Bonde do Rolê; Lurrie Bell testifies; Pat Metheny unifies

Pop

Metric

Synthetica

Think of a band like Fleetwood Mac, which had a semi-career's worth of blues-rock behind them — and then unveiled a poppy blockbuster like Rumours. That's the size of the jump the band Metric makes in Synthetica, an album both new and full, in effect, of greatest hits; it trumps the band's entire career up to this point. Only "Gimme Sympathy" off their 2009 album Fantasies hinted at this entire record of nervy songwriting perfection. Emily Haines has never before lined up hooks this way, one after another, like the Gary Glitter stomp of "Youth Without Youth," girl-group pop of "The Void," sly bounce of "Lost Kitten," and atmospheric-anthemic "Breathing Underwater." "Clone" is a dead-on Death Cab rip followed by "The Wanderlust," which is aided (literally) by Lou Reed. Indie is rarely this imaginatively encyclopedic and slickly pop at the same time.

Ed Sheeran

+

This album has been available as a chart-topping import for under a year, but now that the time has come to release it full and proper in the States, slick-soul songsmith Ed Sheeran couldn't just do it quietly. His + (as in Plus) jumped into the Billboard/SoundScan album chart's Top 200 at number 5, the highest debut for a U.K. solo artist's first full-length since 2009. The only thing more impressive is the dippy craftsmanship that got him there.

Sheeran's sound is folksy, with a good helping of soul man (young soul man: he's 21); heart is worn on sleeve in many lyrics. In a voice like a baby Boz Scaggs and/or a mushy Damien Rice, Sheeran riffs to his peer group about computer games, Shrek and couch surfing. Some of his debut features big-dumb-kid stuff like the treacle of "Kiss Me." Mostly though, + highlights the very best R&B elements of the boy band craze from the '60s through the present (Sheeran wrote or cowrote tunes on Up All Night, the 2011 smash album by U.K. boy gods One Direction) with the likes of "Grade 8" and "The City" oozing new jack swing, to say nothing of its airy, contagious choruses. Better still, if that's possible, is the heartbreak beat of "The A Team," with Sheeran's effortless crooning. Swoon.

Bonde do Rolê

Tropical/Bacanal

Brazilian baile-funk trio Bonde do Rolê very nearly tore down the stage of the Mummers Museum way back in '06 at the launch party for Diplo's Mad Decent records. Back then, the smart money might have bet that the electro-pop party monsters' fiery go-go-go gusto wasn't sustainable. But on new album Tropical/Bacanal, you'll find they're still burning the candle at both ends, colliding together a diverse array of influences in a messy, Latin-kissed mishmash. Guitar-plucky tracks like "Kilo" and "Banana Woman" have an almost spaghetti-Western feel, but somehow they flow well next to the Santigold-sounding "Bang" (featuring Das Racist) and the fast-paced, accordion-spiked "Kanye." All will get the party started. But fair warning: That party doesn't end.

Stevie Jackson

(I Can't Get No) Stevie Jackson

Belle & Sebastian fans know Stevie Jackson as the band's lead guitarist. He's integral to the '60s pop and '70s soul flavors that anchor B&S's sound. Jackson has also contributed a song or two to most B&S albums, often character-specific tunes such as "Seymour Stein" or "Jonathan David." His first solo album, (I Can't Get No) Stevie Jackson, showcases his songwriting talents — no flashy guitar solos, but lots of judicious hooks and creative arrangements — and he's aided by members of B&S, the New Pornographers, and the Pastels.

It touches on the garage rock, orchestrated pop, and blue-eyed soul that B&S favors, and some songs, such as the lovely, string-soaked "Telephone Song," show the influence of his bandmate Stuart Murdoch. But Jackson's singing isn't always a match for his songwriting, and some tunes — "Richie Now," "Press Send" — fall flat. The album's fun — "Cute girl said 'Come to Philadelphia' / I took the Gamble then she took the Huff," Jackson sings to a slinky Philly-soul groove on "Just, Just So To The Point" — but it's erratic.

Country / Roots

Lurrie Bell

The Devil Ain't Got No Music

In a reverse of the traditional trajectory, Lurrie Bell learned the blues before he became aware of gospel music — he's the son, after all, of blues harmonica star Carey Bell. As his new album makes clear, however, the guitar-playing Chicago bluesman possesses a thorough mastery of both, and a singular ability to break down any barriers between them.

The Devil Ain't Got No Music is a bracingly stripped-down yet galvanic affair, ranging from solo acoustic numbers like Muddy Waters' "Why Don't You Live So God Can Use You" and the Rev. Gary Davis' "Death Don't Have No Mercy" to the voice-and-percussion of Tom Waits' "Down in the Hole" and on to the small-combo arrangement of the title song, written by producer Matthew Skoller.

Bell's gospel-rooted fellow bluesman Joe Louis Walker lends his pungent slide guitar and raw vocals to the traditional "It's a Blessing" and Thomas A. Dorsey's "Peace in the Valley," and also tears into some testifying on his self-penned "I'll Get to Heaven on My Own." In the end, though, Walker is just providing some amen punctuation to the strikingly powerful and — even without original material — deeply personal testimony of Lurrie Bell.

Jazz

Pat Metheny

Unity Band

Thirty years have passed since guitarist Pat Metheny last recorded with the guitar/tenor setup of 80/81.

Here the mighty tenor saxophonist Chris Potter assumes the role Michael Brecker and Dewey Redman played on that earlier CD, and the Unity session ranges from beautiful to adventurous to sublime.

Metheny melts into his airy zone, achieving a free sound that is both accessible and hard to categorize. Potter is ever churning new ideas, while a new collaborator, bassist Ben Williams, joins with longtime Metheny drummer Antonio Sánchez to create the high-end rhythm section.

"New Year" is one of the most gorgeous Metheny intros ever, with its Spanish tinge. For "Signals," Metheny breaks out the orchestrion, the electronic gizmo that dominated his last recording, for a piece that segues from modernistic to smart and subtle. "Then and Now" is luxurious and happy, while Metheny's solo on "Come and See" makes for a persuasive climax.

Classical

Gustavo Dudamel

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 ("Scottish")

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Dudamel conducting.

Beethoven Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica")

Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, Dudamel conducting.

Perhaps only a musician with Dudamel's clout, and armed with a worthy humanitarian angle, could induce enerable Deutsche Grammophon to issue its first LP-only release in 20 years (though in the past year, many of the label's banner releases in Europe have been both LP and CD). Besides the guaranteed electricity of Dudamel, the LP represents a rare Vienna Philharmonic recording of this Mendelssohn symphony. It's also a fundraiser for El Sistema, the youth-orchestra network headed by the Simon Bolivar group, with whom Dudamel is issuing a traditional CD of Beethoven's Eroica.

Both discs are excellent and without Dudamel excesses heard in other repertoire. With its lovely LP sound, the live Mendelssohn performance has a strong sense of the music's underlying logic, showing how the composer came by the piece's dark-hued sense of inevitability. Beethoven benefits from the famous Simon Bolivar muscle though the ensemble's tone quality suffers from a lack of first-class string instruments. Dudamel has long exhibited special authority with Beethoven, and one feels it especially in the volatility and structural control that he maintains in the second-movement funeral march, with its wide (and potentially discursive) range of musical events. While these are not Dudamel "musts," neither disc is likely to disappoint.