This week we review the latest albums from Eminem, Devo, Mike Patton, Cypress Hill, and Emilie Simon.
4 stars (out of 5)
As Marshall Bruce Mathers III approaches his 40th birthday, it seems he is losing his willingness to shock. Recovery, his seventh album, follows 2009's dire Relapse, which saw the parent-baiter par excellence descend into self-parody.
This is a new leaf, however, and the concessions he has made about his most recent releases are disarmingly honest (This time around it's different/them last two albums didn't count, from Talkin 2 Myself), suggesting a tentative shift towards the real Slim Shady.
While the minor keys and ominous bass remain, the splenetic savaging takes a backseat to soul-baring ... and a roster of A-list guests, including Li'l Wayne, Pink, and Rihanna.
Single download: Talkin 2 Myself
For those who like: when artists come back from the brink
- John Hayden
3 stars (out of 5)
Given that this is Devo's first studio album in 20 years, fears that the energy-domed devolutionists might pack more paunch than punch in the new millennium are probably justified.
But take a look around and you'll see evidence of the dumbing down of humanity everywhere, so perhaps Devo can be excused for upgrading the warnings, even if this spit-polished digital production gives everything a cheerful sheen.
The several stronger tracks will thrill long-time fans, but they're roughly balanced with forgettable filler. As the lyric goes in What We Do: "It's all the same; there's nothing new".
Single download: Fresh
For those who like: The '80s, synthesisers, Linn drums, devolution
- Jeff Harford
3 stars (out of 5)
In a hyperactive career of belting out bizarre tunes, Mike Patton still has a trick or three left. In 1994, after Mr Bungle and before wowing audiences with Fantomas, Patton married Titi Zuccatosta and fell in love with everything Italian.
But this homage to orchestrated Italian classics from the '50s and '60s is anything but straightforward.
With his usual impressive vocal dexterity, Patton appears one moment as a rotund gentleman crooning for romance and the next as a shady Sicilian gangster croaking in a gutter, with a hint of Italian screamo for good measure.
With 11 tracks sung in Italian and featuring a 65-piece orchestra, Mondo Cane is more like Mondo Bizarre.
Single download: 20 Km Al Giorno
For those who like: Ennio Morricone, Danger: Diabolik
- Mark Orton
2 stars (out of 5)
Once at the forefront of the rap-rock explosion, Cypress Hill attempts to reclaim the summit with Rise Up, its first release in six years.
The album art suggests a tilt at revolution, while the recruitment of guitar heroes Tom Morello and Daron Malkian is an effort to bolster the ranks since the departure of DJ Muggs.
But the new-look line-up's rage against the machine quickly subsides: the familiar, hazy fug of materialist posturing and fondness for the 'erb (Light it Up, Pass the Dutch) clouds the air, resulting in a stale assemblage of 15 tracks.
Single download: Rise Up
For those who like: Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Snoop Dogg, baggy trousers
- John Hayden
4 stars (out of 5)
While the opening bounce of The Big Machine may evoke any number of top 20 lightweights, it's not long before Emilie Simon's distinctive rich textures and idiosyncratic vocals - the New York-based Frenchwoman could pass for Kate Bush in several places here - draw the listener into a clever electropop cabaret set that bristles with energy, hooks and sonic smarts.
Dominating the album's multiple layers are playful beats and synths - to the fore even on swing throwback Rocket to the Moon - but underneath the bubble gum lie songs of impressive scope and depth. Not to be taken lightly.
Single download: Chinatown
For those who like: Goldfrapp, M. I. A., Yoko Ono
- Paul Mooney
