of Pretty Girls Make Graves.
- Patrick Conlan
LILLY ALLEN
Sheezus
(Parlophone)
Allen's her own woman and all, but she
has precursors: Julie Brown (who she's as
funny as), Tracey Ullman (who she sings as
well as), Millie Jackson (who she's working
on being as dirty as) and chick flicks, for
which this album, like her other two, could
be a soundtrack if R-rated chick flicks were
the norm. All but foregoing timelessness
and universality, she sets herself the challenge of remaining up-to-the-minute and
more or less succeeds, tweaking Kanye
West in the title cut, bitching up "It's Hard
Out Here For A Pimp," and mentioning
Instagram and Wordpress. The catchiest
song is the ABBA-gone-zydeco "As Long
As I Got You." The sincerest is "Insincerely
Yours," which goes "Let's be clear, I'm here
... to make money."
--Arsenio Orteza
AM STEREO
7
THE ORWELLS
Discraceland
THE BLACK KEYS
Turn Blue
(Nonesuch)
With each successive release, Akron
Ohio's The Black Keys continue to move
further away from their early brand of
dirty, blues-infused rock. Turn Blue, the
band's eighth studio recording, finds the
duo pushing fastidiously away from their
past.
Nowhere is this more apparent than on
"Weight Of Love," the record's lead off
track. Dan Auerbach's guitar playing is a
slow burn build that never feels any pressure to hurry. At nearly seven minutes, the
song is an exercise in restraint until the tension reaches its zenith in the form of a mind
melting, psychedelic solo that's as soulful
as it is lysergic in its vibe.
The expansive new soun