Usher, “Raymond v. Raymond” (Jive)
Big-beat R&B maestro Usher is back with more radio-friendly jams, and the almost introspective “Raymond v. Raymond,” out today, is expectedly listenable but hardly inspired.
You’ve likely heard the early single “Papers” and the now-ubiquitous hit “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home),” which is to say you haven’t heard the album’s best work.
The CD’s best track, “Lil Freak” builds off a Stevie Wonder sample (“Living For the City”) to create some of the hottest production of 2010. It helps that the mid- song rhymes from Nicki Minaj are sexy and alluring, delivered with expert flair by the budding MC who sounds (here, though not elsewhere) like M.I.A.
Usher’s other collaborations are less exceptional. The mediocre will.i.am track “OMG” — written, produced and guest-MC’d by the Black Eyed Peas frontman — is a forgettable party anthem. And while “Guilty” is a good-times club banger, complete with a Tiger Woods- dropping rhyme from T.I., it’s a lazy rehash of material, and sounds, previously covered by Usher.
Ricardo Baca
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, “Dirty Shirt Rock ‘N’ Roll: The First Ten Years” (Major Domo)
Jon Spencer and his thorny Blues Explosion were most definitely a ’90s band, as evidenced by this collection of over-the-top blues homages that reek of that relatively carefree decade.
Spencer has played in acts such as Pussy Galore, Boss Hog and Heavy Trash, but the Blues Explosion is his defining project — a winking noise-rock trio that mutated into another staid guitar act as its madman music became the norm.
Still, songs from the two best JSBX albums — 1993’s “Extra Width” and 1994’s “Orange” — sound as off-the-cuff and vital as they did when they first dropped, particularly the string-heavy “Bellbottoms” and the epic bruiser “Afro.” It all comes off as a bit campy these days, but it’s at least fun to remember a less gravely serious time in guitar rock. John Wenzel
Smug Brothers, “Stock Romeo” (Fictionband Mechanics)
With its latest full-length on hold due to label uncertainties, Dayton, Ohio, indie rockers Smug Brothers have decided to take seven of the songs from that album and issue them as the “Stock Romeo” EP. And since that’s familiar territory for this EP-happy band, it works just as splendidly as any of their other releases.
Following last year’s free, digital-only “Fortune Rumors” series, Kyle Melton and crew are sticking to their lo-fi guns, slathering tracks in fuzzy guitar, plain but thunderous drumming and highly addictive melodies.
The churning, glass-scratched “You’ve Got a Margaret Guarantee” and the brief, Mamas and Papas-indebted “April May Write” are midtempo standouts, but the band also takes a darker stance on “Inside the Official Lincoln” and goes quasi-arena rock on the hairy-limbed “Turn It Out and Smell You.”
The prospect of a full-length may be tantalizing, but “Stock Romeo” proves that the Smug Brothers are equally as satisfying in small doses.
See Smug Brothers this summer at The Denver Post’s 10th annual Underground Music Showcase, July 22-25.
John Wenzel
