Of Montreal
"Innocence Reaches"
(Polyvinyl (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK)(ASTERISK))
Of Montreal can be maddening. Kevin Barnes' project releases overstuffed albums at a dizzying rate � "Innocence Reaches" is its 14th in 20 years. And he's a genre-hopping chameleon in love with obfuscating song titles such as this album's "Chaos Arpeggiating." "nnocence Reaches," however, sprawls less than most Of Montreal albums, and it's all the better for it.
"How do you identify?" Barnes sings to open the album on "Let's Relate," a thumping synth-pop disco anthem that owes more to Daft Punk than to Barnes' usual Kinks/Beach Boys/Bowie sources. Songs like "It's Different for Girls" explore questions of gender. From the Blur-like "Gratuitous Abysses" to the stuttering electronics of "Trashed Exes," "Innocence Reaches" still covers a lot of ground, sometimes abruptly, but this is the most fun and accessible Of Montreal album in a long time.
_ Steve Klinge
Nels Cline
"Lovers"
(Blue Note (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK)(ASTERISK){)
Nels Cline is alternative music's jagged edge. Be it his position of power (chords) in Wilco or his cranky contributions to a diverse list of artists (Dylan, Julius Hemphill, Lydia Lunch), the guitarist/composer skates among keening free jazz, irked post-punk, and cinematic ambience. Most unusual is Cline's frenetic but elegantly nuanced noise on his solo records, working alone or with his eponymous Trio or Singers. Nothing in his catalog, however, prepares you for the tender, Technicolor scope that is the double LP "Lovers."
Arranged (by Michael Leonhart) like the shadowy, experimental big band albums of George Russell and Gil Evans _ with a sweet touch of Henry Mancini � "Lovers" allows Cline and his 20-plus players to re-create the romantic mood music of the '50s in the guitarist's spiky image. There are some covers _ such as Rodgers and Hart's sweetly flustered "Glad to Be Unhappy" _ but "Lovers" is hardly a covers album. Cline's compositional mix on tunes like "Hairpin & Hatbox" and "The Bond" is as conventionally romancing as it is downright creepy.
_ A.D. Amorosi
Rae Sremmurd
"SremmLife 2"
(Eardruma/Interscope (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK)(ASTERISK))
Last year was so stuffed with dynamic, quirky hip-hop records from the Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar it was easy to miss the simpler but downright charming first album from the brothers Brown, Rae Sremmurd. Backward for "Ear Drummers" (a reference to name rap producer/pal Mike WiLL Made It's record label), the Tupelo, Miss., duo of Swae Lee and Slim Jimmy made party-ball pop-hop more fun than a bag full of clown noses. Their gangsta-lite, lean-and-sexy swagger _ to say nothing of their oddly matched flow and their look-alike physicality _ was a bonus. They've followed up while the ice is cold and summer 2016 is decidedly lacking in hip-hop anthems.
"SremmLife 2" commences, naturally, with the stuttering, contagious "Start a Party" and never lets up on its goal: creating gangly club bangers with soul and, yes, heart. On occasion, the brothers ruminate and fret over who they are and what they've been (to each other on "Came a Long Way," and to objects of love and lust on "Now That I Know"), but for the most part, heated hip-hop bashers such as "Set the Roof," with rap's ultimate party planner, Lil Jon, make this hot season merrier.
_ A.D. Amorosi
