Air France, 'No Way Down' (Something in Construction)
Case closed: Socialized health care leads to catchier tunes.
By Spencer Kornhaber 12.18.08 5:45 PM
Like much of the sample-driven pop coming out of Gothenburg, Sweden (Jens Lekman, the Tough Alliance, El Perro Del Mar, Studio), Air France's debut album is a work of widescreen bliss, a collage of clubby bass lines, kids' voices, disco strings, marimbas, and the occasional whinnying horse. But for every jubilant melody, there's a dose of melancholy.
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Sparks, 'Exotic Creatures of the Deep' (Lil' Beethoven)
Meet the guys who put the angst in the Black Kids' pants.
By Barry Walters 12.18.08 5:43 PM
For their 21st album, these eternally deft, art-pop brothers stick to the operatic splendor they embraced on 2002's Lil' Beethoven. Russell Mael warbles falsetto witticisms while keyboardist Ron overdubs himself into digitized mini symphonies, sometimes adorned by metal-guitar riffage (check the "Sweet Child o' Mine"–like doodle that animates "Lighten Up, Morrissey").
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Ursula Rucker, 'Ruckus Soundsysdom' (Five Six Media)
Spoken-word warrior broadens broadsides with sly producers.
By Mosi Reeves 12.18.08 5:42 PM
On her fourth album, this Philadelphia single mom who closed the Roots' '90s albums with spoken-word elegies describing gang bangs, prison life, murder, and other urban woes is still delivering her blunt words with "no frills, no fillers, and no additives." Challenging our obsession with machines and the Internet ("Tron") or telling off a former lover ("Thinkin' 'Bout U"), she sings in a sweet
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K'naan
Transplanted Somali MC finds hip-hop inspiration at Bob Marley's Jamaican crib.
By Dave Alexander 12.18.08 1:04 PM
If growing up in a tough hood makes you "real" in the hip-hop world, then K'naan has cornered the market on credibility. The MC was raised in Somalia's most dangerous region: Wardhiigleey, "the River of Blood." "The government targeted this neighborhood, tried to destroy it, because the rebels always came out of this zone," says K'naan (born Kaynaan Warsame).
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Rock Star of the Year: Lil Wayne
Bucking fears that he was too prolific for his own good, Lil Wayne created one of 2008's true blockbusters. And now, after conquering the MC game, he's going off in a new, even weirder direction.
By David Peisner 12.15.08 4:32 PM
In the wee hours of a warm November morning, a piercing sound fills the cramped control room of Studio C at Miami's Hit Factory. Wreathed in smoke, with a long spliff hanging from his lips, Lil Wayne rocks back and forth, staring intently at the fingers of his left hand as they dance across the neck of a blue Gibson electric guitar.
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Album of the Year: TV on the Radio
It was the best of times and the worst of times for these anxious, angry, skeptical, visionary young men. Here's how the apocalyptic Dear Science helped turn TV on the Radio into one of the world's greatest bands.
By Brian Raftery 12.15.08 4:23 PM
"Do the butt dance. Do the butt dance!"
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