B Linkin Park
One More Light
Warner Bros.
Hold on to your tattoos, Linkin Park fans: The L.A.-based metal-rap genre-benders have followed up arguably their heaviest album -- 2014's The Hunting Party -- with something so different that it may give listeners whiplash.
On the band's seventh studio album, one of America's biggest alternative rock bands has turned unapologetically and positively pop.
Well, here's the thing: They're so good that they've created a very good, up-to-the-minute pop album.
An airy "Nobody Can Save Me" resembles something from Owl City. "Good Goodbye," featuring Pusha T and Stormzy, is reminiscent of NSync's "Bye Bye Bye," and "Sharp Edges" wouldn't sound out of place on a Shawn Mendes album.
The title of the first single, "Heavy," featuring Kiiara, might give fans of "Hybrid Theory" hope. But instead of pneumatic drumming and dark shards of screamed vocals, it's not hard at all -- it's like listening to The Chainsmokers.
Linkin Park warned us this might be possible. The band's 2002 release Reanimation drifted into electronic sounds and 2012's Living Things had pop-friendly sensibilities.
All bands evolve, but this for Linkin Park fans may be more akin to Bob Dylan going electric. And then doing a disco album.
Hot tracks: "Heavy," "Nobody Can Save Me"
-- MARK KENNEDY,
The Associated Press
A- Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo'
TajMo
Concord
The first collaboration by Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo' -- the trailblazer and his by-now experienced disciple -- is an easy listen.
It's a blues album when TajMo sounds best, like Mo's resonator guitar on Sleepy John Estes' "Diving Duck Blues," Billy Branch's harmonica on opener "Don't Leave Me Here" and the gruff vocal combination on "She Knows How to Rock Me."
Mo's songs often take the music in other directions. "Om Sweet Om" features exquisite guest vocalist Lizz Wright and a refrain with a sunny disposition, while "All Around the World" has Quentin Ware's trumpet solo to accentuate its optimistic outlook.
"Soul," the sole exclusive Mahal-Mo' co-written piece, has an indestructible beat inspired by African rhythms and lists enough global locations to resemble a geography bee. Among the detours, The Who's "Squeeze Box" has lead and rhythm accordions, while Bonnie Raitt hits an unintentional home run on John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change," with her backing vocals placed way, way, way back in the mix.
Mahal is a golden musical reservoir who also helped Mo' (born Kevin Moore) get his first recording contract, while Mo's roots as an acoustic bluesman are part of a musical identity where pop and other sounds also get their due.
Hot tracks: "Diving Duck Blues," "She Knows How to Rock Me," "Soul"
-- PABLO GORONDI,
The Associated Press
B Imelda May
Life, Love, Flesh, Blood
Verve
Imelda May's marriage of 18 years recently ended, and Life, Love, Flesh, Blood finds her on the romantic rebound. As May gets back into the game, she makes even the words "rub-a-dub-dub" sound sexy.
The versatile Irish singer conveys her emotional ups and downs by belting to the back row and, with equal ease, dropping down to a near whisper. "Can't take it no more," she sings on "Sixth Sense," spitting out the words. "Should've Been You" surveys the wreckage of a relationship backed by happy horns that contrast with her angry words: "I'm the best thing that you ever had."
May's songs recall the 1950s and '60s tunes of Roy Orbison, Phil Spector and the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller She closes the album with convincing forays into gospel ("When It's My Time"), rock ("Leave Me Lonely") and folk ("The Girl I Used to Be"). Helping to ensure success with her stylistic adventures are producer T Bone Burnett and a crack lineup that includes guitarist Marc Ribot and drummer Jay Bellerose.
There's blood on these tracks, but also resilience and staying power. May's music sounds retro -- and timeless, too.
Hot tracks: "Sixth Sense," "Should've Been You," "Leave Me Lonely"
-- STEVEN WINE,
The Associated Press
B+ The Mountain Goats
Goths
Merge
John Darnielle has been a master of sharply observed character studies since he started releasing Mountain Goats cassettes in the early '90s. He examined a dysfunctional couple on 2002's Tallahassee, dealt with his troubled childhood on 2005's The Sunset Tree and used tarot cards as a catalyst for 2010's All Eternals Deck. After focusing on the rather hermetic world of professional wrestling for 2015's Beat the Champ and on his novel-writing for the recent Universal Harvester, Darnielle turns his empathetic eye to another subculture: black-clad goths and the rise and fall of the '80s bands they loved.
Aside from the dramatic "Rain in Soho," bolstered by a 16-voice choir, and the New Order-like coda to "Shelved," the sound is far from goth: Darnielle eschews his usual guitars for a gentle Fender Rhodes, and new member Matt Douglas sweetens the spacious arrangements with woodwinds. In touching yet humorous songs that name-drop Gene Loves Jezebel, the Sisters of Mercy, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, Darnielle ruminates on the longings of fans and the vagaries of fame.
Hot tracks: "Rain in Soho," "Shelved"
-- STEVE KLINGE,
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Style on 05/30/2017