New Albums: We Are King; Future; The I Don't Cares; Ratings: Excellent , Good , Fair , Poor
"Riddle and rhyme / The bravest famous maven in my prime," the three women of King sing on the lead single of the follow-up to a too-brief 2011 EP, The Story. That release earned them the imprimatur of Prince and Erykah Badu, so you might expect
We Are King
(King Creative ***)
nolead ends "Riddle and rhyme / The bravest famous maven in my prime," the three women of King sing on the lead single of the follow-up to a too-brief 2011 EP, The Story. That release earned them the imprimatur of Prince and Erykah Badu, so you might expect twin sisters Paris and Amber Strother and their friend Anita Bias to be bragging and boasting of their musical prowess on "The Greatest." But in fact the song is about Muhammad Ali, "the greatest great, the champion heavyweight." That's just one of the many small pleasures and delights on the dreamily romantic We Are King. The patient platter of retro-futuristic, gorgeously sung R&B takes its sweet time weaving elements of jazz and gospel into shimmery love songs like "Carry On" and "Supernatural" that cast an ambient spell and are constructed for the long haul, rather than the quick hit.
- Dan DeLuca
nolead begins Future
nolead ends nolead begins EVOL
nolead ends nolead begins (Epic/A1/Freebandz ***)
nolead ends When Sonic Youth called its 1986 album EVOL, it stood for "LOVE" spelled backward. For rapper Future, EVOL must be short for "evolution." How quickly that process moves in the right hands, if the last 12 months are representative of the Atlanta MC's potential: three mix tapes (Beast Mode, 56 Nights, and the new Purple Reign); one duet disc with Drake, What a Time to Be Alive, and two solo albums, DS2 and this week's EVOL.
After the slippery, sleepy, digital-soul of "Low Life" (featuring fellow chart-topper The Weeknd) and the ooey-gooey "Fly S- Only," the remainder of EVOL hits hard, rhythmically. His voice, a crisply accented Southern snap with a molasses-and-whiskey flow, proudly punctuates each decadent text ("We been gone on the molly/holding on to Friday") and product placement (Hermes and Cartier on "Maybach"). "Ain't No Time" and its rousing paean to money ("the reason why we talk") inspires disfavor from an antagonistic narrator on tracks such as "Lie to Me" and the slurry "Xanny Family."
- A.D. Amorosi
Future performs at 8 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Fillmore, 29 E. Allen St. Tickets: Sold out. Information: 215-309-0150 or www.thefillmorephilly.com.
nolead begins The I Don't Cares
nolead ends nolead begins Wild Stab
nolead ends nolead begins (Dry Wood ***1/2)
nolead ends The I Don't Cares could have been another name for the Replacements, a great band of misfits that was often its own worst enemy. So it's fitting that "Mats" leader Paul Westerberg and fellow indie-rock veteran Juliana Hatfield would take that name for this terrific, out-of-left-field collaboration.
Hatfield sings lead on two of the 16 tracks and adds harmonies throughout, but her main role apparently was that of muse and catalyst, persuading Westerberg to see the value of the trove of unreleased material languishing in his home. Based on this sampling, it's one of the best basement-tape collections this side of Big Pink.
As with the best of the Replacements, Wild Stab is a ragged-but-right balance of swaggering bravado and openhearted vulnerability. Raucous rockers mix with woozy ballads, offhand profundity with infectious goofiness. Is there any title more quintessentially Westerbergian than "Sorry for Tomorrow Night"? The same for this line from the set-closing "Hands Together": "Dreams I had before are now too bored to even show up." Let's hope this is just the first dispatch from that Twin Cities basement.
- Nick Cristiano