Britney Spears, “Femme Fatale” (Jive)
With her last two albums, pop princess Britney Spears showed a deep inclination — even a need — to engulf her voice in the eccentricities of electronica. But on “Femme Fatale,” Spears sounds more willing than ever to become both a tool of technology (a cog in the machinery, from the rigid dubstep of “Hold It Against Me”) and its remote yet passionate commander.
Listen to “Trip to Your Heart,” the achy-breakiest electro-pop ever, and tell me you can’t feel Britney’s yearning through the Auto-Tune-n- tweaks. Surely Spears picked the FX-heavy producers who’d twist her vocal pleas and was in on their moody cold waves and molten hot mixes.
Max Martin and Dr. Luke turned a majority of “Femme Fatale” into a gilded Euro- disco palace that Giorgio Moroder would have envied, with the thrilling “Gasoline” being the weirdly best of the bunch.
Will.i.am makes “Big Fat Bass” into a flexed-out showcase for Brit’s deepest desires. On the CD’s deluxe edition, “He About to Lose Me” (penned by producers Rodney Jerkins and Darkchild) manages to be eerie, cocky and soulful. Forget Gaga, Fergie and Christina’s leaps into electro. Britney’s the ice queen.
A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer
The Mountain Goats, “All Eternals Deck” (Merge) Dread dominates the latest long player from the Mountain Goats. “Never sleep,” lead singer John Darnielle counsels midway through the album. “Stay awake,” he advises a song later.
There’s fear here, but resolute resilience too — the centerpiece is a song about Charles Bronson. As always, the Goats’ lit rock provides layers of imagery, and parsing these lyrics will take fans until the fall semester. “All Eternals Deck” refers to a fortune teller’s deck of cards, and Darnielle offers his prediction for the future: We’re doomed. He drew inspiration from 1970s occult movies, and song titles reference vampires, serpents, scorpions and Judy Garland’s autopsy.
The Goats consider these eerie subjects in short songs with minimalist trio arrangements. While Darnielle’s English-major vocals and strummed guitar are front and center, occasional frills keep things interesting.
For example, piano and shimmering strings transform a song titled “Outer Scorpion Squadron” into pristine chamber pop. Now that’s spooky.
Steven Wine, The Associated Press
