Sound Affects: Music reviews and ratings

Black Kids: "Partie Traumatic" (Columbia/Mercury) (rating: 5)

It wasn't meant to be like this. Black Kids were supposed to be an attention-grabbing, opinion-splitting, provocatively named, love-them-or-hate-them kind of band. After all, they've got songs about lust and womanising, a moniker your mum inexplicably thinks is racist, and a backlash that began so early it makes it look as though Foals were veterans before a solitary negative vibe was sent their way. Yet get this: "Partie Traumatic" is catchy, inoffensive indie pop. Black Kids' full length debut is a promising jumble of pop hooks spotted with the occasional patch of darkness and ambiguity, all exercised with a vaguely ramshackle air that mostly staves off the sheen of major label polish. But that I've even used those last three words is staggering, because in a saner world Black Kids would maybe have released a couple of singles on an independent by now, never having glimpsed the freshly buffed tables of Columbia Records, let alone signed contracts on them. And so it's no surprise that the album sounds a little undeveloped - much of its material simply hasn't had time to do so. Perhaps, when they've finished trotting all four corners of the globe with their debut, Black Kids will return to their native Florida, sit down to write a sophomore album, and everything will just click. Perhaps, alternatively, the pieces of the jigsaw will never quite fit and the fivesome will forever be known as "that band who wrote that song about dancing with your girlfriend." But certainly, if we see "Partie Traumatic" as the undeveloped prototype, inside Black Kids there's a wonderfully tight, melodically sublime and lyrically enthralling album just starting to open its eyes. This just isn't quite it. - Chris Baynes

CSS: "Donkey" (Sub Pop) (rating: 6)

CSS and the impressive reputation they've garnered over the past couple of years can easily be attributed to their brash predilection towards genre-fusing dance numbers, cleverly ridiculous lyrical choices, a personality that is as genuine as it is juvenile, and an honest-to-goodness live show. It is a deceptively simple dynamic that is incredibly precious to the group's staying power. While any band with a significant amount of hype should allow themselves some wiggle room on their much dreaded "sophomore" effort, balance between growth and recognition must always be considered. With "Donkey," CSS walk this line, landing on the somewhat nuanced and sometimes dubiously progressive side of maturity - if just barely. "Donkey" portrays CSS as both a band that is completely self-aware and one that is utterly aloof. It sounds remarkably interesting on paper, but "Donkey" remains slightly underwhelming in delivery. It not only lacks the flow of CSS's debut, but also (shockingly) the variety. Adhering far more to traditional rock rules more often than not, "Donkey's" straight rock inclinations give the album drive, sure, but not much in the way of spirit. In comparison to most rock bands, this is as crazy as it gets; in comparison to CSS in the days of old, however, there are moments when it's more like a black tie affair. Long time fans may feel the slight pangs of longing for their less distilled ventures into sonic schizophrenia, but "Donkey" is a marginally strong, albeit strange, gut check for a band that has a tendency to shoot from the hip and aim for the kill. - Daniel Rivera

Sugarland: "Love on the Inside" (Mercury Nashville/Universal) (rating: 7)

Sugarland seem to be striving to show how happy they are to be on stage. Maybe it's the result of being mega-stars after a decent share of years as struggling singer-songwriters, before Sugarland's formation. But the performance in the video of "All I Want to Do" is marked by a determined optimism, one that also touches many of the songs themselves on their third album "Love on the Inside." "All I Want to Do" is a lets-stay-in-bed-all-day-honey song that sounds like a let's-play-outside-in-the-sunshine song. The determination in the optimism of the song seems like also a determination to succeed, to make the song connect with listeners. That's probably what those faces are about, too. They're not trying to convince us how much the song means to them, but to convince us how much the song will do for us once we accept it, once we buy what they're selling. The songs on "Love on the Inside" that hit the hardest share this positivity in lyrics, music or both. "It Happens" is one of the best because of how it takes that usual everyday-life-is-hard sentiment and puts an upbeat spin on it, through humor and melody and energy, plus lyrics that take those wrong turns and bad lucks as so much a part of life that they are "beautiful". Though the song is one of the album's brightest pop moments, Nettles turns on her Georgia twang a bit here, as if conscious that working-class woes are prototypical ‘country' material, more so than the basic style of their music itself, which has more pop touchstones in it than country-and-western ones. - Dave Heaton

Steve Cropper and Felix Cavaliere: "Nudge It Up a Notch" (Stax/Concord) (rating: 7)

The racist assumption in the ‘60s that only a black artist could perform authentic soul music was so ingrained in the culture that there was even a term invented for while people who played African-American music: blue-eyed soul. Among the most celebrated blue-eyed soul practitioners were Steve Cropper and Felix Cavaliere. Cropper, a founding member of Stax Records' house band, Booker T & the MGs, played guitar on literally hundreds of great soul releases. Keyboardist and singer Felix Cavalieri fronted the Young Rascals and helped give the Rascals its signature sound of pained vocals and hard-driving gospel organ, playing on such hits as "Good Lovin'," "Groovin'," and "People Got to Be Free." Cropper and Cavaliere recently got together for the first time to write and record as a team. As one might expect, the result is a soulful stew of R&B-flavored tracks with a deep groove. Cropper's guitar licks ripple like whiskey on the rocks trickling down the back of your throat while you smack your lips and say, "Aaah." He makes every song sing when he takes a quick solo. Cropper never plays too long or overstays his welcome. Cavaliere is also in fine form. The urgency of his youthful vocals has been replaced by a more mature intensity. When he delivers a line like, "How am I supposed to live without you?," it's clear that Cavaliere has experienced enough of life that he understands how much it hurts to be without someone special. His keyboard playing lies at the intersection of church and jazz. Like Cropper, he's wise enough to understate. He doesn't go for flashy riffs as much as heavy ones that expressively reverberate. - Steve Horowitz

Eddie Floyd: "Eddie Loves You So" (Stax) (rating: 7)

Eddie Floyd is best known today for his 1967 hit "Knock on Wood." Or perhaps you know him from his legendary stature as a songwriter who wrote songs for some of the biggest stars of soul music's heyday, penning hits for some of Stax Records' biggest names. "Eddie Loves You So," his first new album in six years, marks his return to the Stax Records family. It also has him returning to several of those classic songs. Of the ten original songs included, some were written for fellow Stax artists in the 1950s and 1960s, some are from Floyd's tenure with seminal soul group the Falcons, and a couple are previously unheard. All the tracks are newly recorded, but they nevertheless evoke the era of their origins. "You're So Fine" was the breakthrough hit for the Falcons in 1959. It's updated a little here, as it boasts more rock ‘n' roll swagger, but still has fabulous piano, fantastic saxophone lines and plenty of rhythm. "Since You've Been Gone," another Falcons tune, was never recorded until now and here it's done in the classic vocal group style with the distinct 1950s instrumentation as it was probably initially intended. Eddie Floyd has been writing and recording for more than 50 years, and virtually every Stax artist recorded Floyd's songs (not to mention hundreds of other artists over the years). "Eddie Loves You So" is a testament to Eddie Floyd and his many talents, and it gives listeners a chance to hear these classic tracks straight from the man himself. - Christel Loar

PopMatters is an international magazine of arts and culture. Find more PopMatters content at www.popmatters.com.