Listen Up

Greenova South's rap is a Ryde worth taking

Album cover for Greenova South's "Kome Ryde With Us"
Album cover for Greenova South's "Kome Ryde With Us"

B+ Greenova South

Kome Ryde With Us

Off Tha Block Rekords

photo

Album cover for Mudcrutch's "2"

Floating on hazy, synthy, seductive beats, the Greenova South crew -- Oakland's Squadda B, Little Rock rap vet Pepperboy and producer Young God -- take a slow roll through the nighttime streets on this new 10-track album that fuses the West Coast with the Natural State in a cloud of rap classics.

Young God's beats have a dreamlike quality, while Pepperboy, Squadda and guests like Lil' Flip (title cut), 2 Lettaz ("Lamborghinni Dreams"), Mr. Sche ("Soul Blinded") among others trade verses about street life and the game. Far from blowhard braggadocio, though, the tracks on Kome Ryde With Us are often optimistic and uplifting.

"G.O. Sound," with Robbie Rob, is Greenova's mission statement, while "I Miss Them Days" is a vivid, longing look back at growing up watching Outcast on MTV, RIP T-shirts and posters on telephone poles advertising shows and new CDs; "Tears in My Eyes," with its gorgeous, somnolent groove, continues the sentimental vein, remembering lost friends, family and heroes.

Kome Ryde With Us is quite the trip and worth seeking out. A limited number of audiocassettes is in the works, but for now it can be heard at gosforever.bandcamp.com/releases.

Hot tracks: "Tears in My Eyes," "G.O. Sound," "I Miss Them Days"

-- SEAN CLANCY

A- 2016 Broadway Cast Recording

She Loves Me

Ghostlight

Two bickering co-workers have no idea they're also romantic pen pals in She Loves Me, a bubbly 1963 musical by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick. The plot should be familiar to anyone who has seen The Shop Around the Corner or In the Good Old Summer Time or You've Got Mail.

This is old-fashioned Broadway entertainment, with a funny, buoyant song lineup that's given even more lift by its charming cast. Zachary Levi and Laura Benanti as the loathers/lovers are adorably exuberant in "Tonight at Eight," "Vanilla Ice Cream" and "She Loves Me" while Jane Krakowski gets to play the (semi-)dumb blonde in the funny "A Trip to the Library."

The revival was nominated for eight 2016 Tony Awards and this album is romantic, clever and ultimately just a lot of fun, particularly for fans of old-fashioned Broadway musicals.

Hot tracks: "Tonight at Eight," "Vanilla Ice Cream," "She Loves Me," "A Trip to the Library"

-- JENNIFER NIXON

B Little Big Town

Wanderlust

Capitol Nashville

Little Big Town, country music's top vocal group, achieved widespread fame by continually taking artistic risks and pushing boundaries. With Wanderlust, they step out even further, working with hit-making producer Pharrell Williams to create an album of contemporary pop and dance music.

On the surface, the new partners complement each other well. Pharrell brings his deceptively simple beats and sunny melodies, as heard on the single "One of Those Days" and album opener "One Dance." Little Big Town's sublime vocal blend sounds great in this setting, as their harmonies and layered voices highlight the melodic uplift and rhythmic verve of the arrangements, especially on the gospel-drawn power of "C'mon" and the light Jamaican touch in "Work."

Wanderlust presents plenty of joyful escape and playful fun. What's missing is the emotional weight Little Big Town brought to their best work, such as the Grammy-winning "Girl Crush."

Hot tracks: "C'mon," "Work"

-- MICHAEL McCall,

The Associated Press

B Mudcrutch

2

Reprise

Tom Petty started as a bass player in the Gainesville, Fla., quintet Mudcrutch in the early '70s. But after one single, the group dissolved, and Petty forged a solo deal. He enlisted former Mudcrutch members Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench for his new band, the Heartbreakers.

With Tom Leadon and drummer Randall Marsh rejoining Petty, Tench and Campbell, Mudcrutch released its self-titled debut album in 2008. 2 picks up where the debut left off, with traces of Southern swampiness and sun-kissed West Coast mellowness.

The harmonica-led "Trailer" looks back on one of the characters the band left behind in Florida. The narrator sounds like he could have been a contender, but ended up meeting a girl and settling down in a trailer he couldn't afford.

The merger of outlaw country and rock hovers over the banjo-fired train rhythms of "The Other Side of the Mountain" and a Byrds-like jangle permeates "Save Your Water."

The fuzz guitar and garage rock organ of "Hope" and the bluesy stomp of "Victim of Circumstance" are a welcome change of pace, but the band loses its way on the ponderous "Beautiful Blue" and "Hungry No More." "I Forgive it All" is an Old West yarn that would've fit on The Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

Hot tracks: "Hope," "The Other Side of the Mountain," "Save Your Water"

-- GREG KOT,

Chicago Tribune (TNS)

Style on 06/14/2016

Upcoming Events