Stars are out of 5
Country
Hank Jr. - 127 Rose Avenue
As Art: 2 Stars
As Entertainment: 2 Stars
Selected Tracks: "Farm Song," "Red, White & Pink-slip Blues," "Long Gone Lonesome Blues"
He dropped "Williams" from his name and added a little Contemporary Country kick to his newest album "127 Rose Avenue," but Hank Jr. is still the same old country boy.
Hank belts out a bullet point list of all things Southern in the opener "Farm Song," accompanied by a mouth harp, blazing guitar and a fiery fiddle, however the track is anything but a mood-setter.
The following six songs slip into a teary-eyed abyss, starting with the albums single "Red, White and Pink-Slip Blues," a ballad mourning the working man's suffering in America's sour economy.
Armed with a sappy croon, he then tackles the loss of old friends, veteran pride, an obligatory tribute to his father and a call out to his Blues roots in the title track, which features a misplaced, Santana-esque lead guitar.
The bluegrass track "All The Roads," featuring The Grascals, flirts with a lighter mood, and while the rest of the album continues with varied style, including a classic blues cover, it returns to its dour mood.
The album suits a night of drunkenly mourning the world's cruelties to simple folk, but is useful for little else.
Rock
Street Sweeper Social Club - Street Sweeper Social Club (Entire Album Available On The Band's Myspace)
As Art: 4 stars
As Entertainment: 3 stars
Selected Tracks: "100 Little Curses," "Clap for the Killers," "Megablast"
Members of now semi-defunct Rage Against the Machine, kings of '90s political rap-metal, have formed several spin-off bands, including radio friendly Audioslave, since their break up in 2000.
However, no former Rage member had drawn on the group's smart ferocity in an official release until departed lead vocalist/rapper Zach De La Roacha dropped a self titled EP last summer under the name One Day As A Lion, featuring his signature, aggressive rhymes over thick, fuzzy guitar riffs.
Nearly a year later, former Rage guitarist Tom Morello, known for his unorthodox and unearthly shredding style, has made a clear, stylistic response with "Street Sweeper Social Club."
Morello handles strings while Boots Riley of political hip-hop duo The Coup covers vocals, and both men prove masters of their genres.
Rap metal is rooted in rock and funk, and has traditionally borrowed from hip-hop for spice, but Street Sweeper showcases a rapper with true credibility backed by a blue collar rocker who still delivers mind-bending solos.
All of the tracks feature scathing social commentary, and often take a conceptual structure displayed in "100 Little Curses," the album's single, which details inventive ills wished upon the ultra rich with lines such as "May your champagne not bubble/ May your pinot be sour/ May that white stuff you snort be 96 percent flour."
Despite Morello's unimaginative bass lines and Riley's refusal to rap over complex guitar work, the breakup of Rage is looking more like an evolution than an ending, in hindsight.
Rap/R&B
The Hilltop Hoods - State of the Art
As Art: 4.5 stars
As Entertaiment: 3 stars
Selected Tracks: "Chase That Feeling," "Chris Farley," "Last Confession"
Hailing from Down Under, the Aussie trio Hilltop Hoods has been selling out shows throughout their kid-sized continent in support of the new album "State of the Art," but despite the slight "G'day mate" accents, a kangaroo reference and a track built on Men At Work guitar play, these hipsters sound like something out of Oakland, not The Outback.
The first half of the disc spends most of its time posturing and boasting, excusing the introspective single "Chase That Feeling," but starting with the mid-album track "Chris Farley," The Hoods chew on a solid line of thought provoking subjects.
The two rappers and a DJ are backed up by a number of talented musicians, most notable being a string quartet culled from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, which sound great interplaying with the MCs' raps.
Adding to The Hoods American, old-school rap feel, State of the Art is the first release on Hilltop's recently founded label Golden Era Records, whose name references hip-hops infantile years.
It'd be easy to say they're trying too hard, if it didn't seem so damn effortless.
Electronic
Little Boots - Hands
As Art: 3 stars
As Entertainment: 4 stars
Selected Tracks: "New In Town," "Remedy," "Symmetry"
Working in a genre made fashionable by Lady Gaga last year, Little Boots is an empress among the legions of copy cats. It's fitting that her stage name draws from a Roman Emperor's nickname.
Little Boots brings warmth and talent to the often cold and repetitive playing field of Electropop with her debut "Hands", but she avoids the bubbly, sickly-sweet approach of late 90s techno, exemplified in DJ Sammy's "Heaven."
This is due in large part to her Tenori-on, a Japanese-designed synthesizer resembling the offspring of a Lite-Brite and a sequencer.
Beyond providing great, on-stage eye candy, the tool allows Little Boots to carve lush, intelligent dance tunes.
Add in the fact that Little Boots has been making music since she was five, studied music at the University of Leeds and collaborated with members of the chiptune outfit Hot Chip and synthpop heroes The Human League, and even a casual ear can pick up on the pop craftsmanship suffusing her music.
