Shock Value (***) -- Even if you haven't checked out any of Timbaland's previous albums, you know his music. The producer's deftly syncopated grooves have propelled hits for the likes of Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott, Destiny's Child, Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg, to name just a few. Several of those artists show up to return the favor on Shock Value, which also finds Timbaland widening his textural palette to embrace elements of rock, world music and even new wave.
The results, while creatively compelling, can sometimes lack cohesion and character. Timberlake is barely recognizable on the chunky trifle "Release," and any number of mediocre rappers could have filled in for Elliott and Dr. Dre on the dark, dirty distraction "Bounce.
" Timbaland fares better when he stretches his wings a bit on the Eastern-flavored "Bombay," featuring Amar and Jim Beanz, or with the '80s-influenced "She Wants Revenge on Time." The thread stringing all these tracks together is Timbaland's reliably taut, snappy production. Whether jamming with old colleagues or embellishing Elton John's piano prowess on "2 Man Show," Timbaland manages to remain a self-sustaining force who plays well with others.
Download: in addition to previously mentioned tracks, the tangy "Give It to Me" (featuring Furtado and Timberlake) and percolating "Boardmeeting," with Magoo Skip: "Come and Get Me," with 50 Cent Traffic and Weather (***) -- After breaking through cult status with the 2003 hit "Stacy's Mom," FoW makes another mainstream push with this travel-themed disc of classic-minded power pop tanked up on crunchy guitars, hard grooves and creamy harmonies, all steered toward radio. As usual, Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood populate their tunes with lonely and lovelorn protagonists idling on the off-ramp of the American dream. Cleverness abounds, sometimes to awkward excess, but so do sing-along melodies and poignant emotions that manage to resonate amid the clamor of pop culture references from Costco to Dell to The King of Queens.
The risk? Listeners get caught up in the sprinkles and miss out on the cake. Download: danceable "Someone to Love," sunny "This Better Be Good," witty and strutting "Strapped for Cash," quirky love song and truckstop snapshot "I-95" Life in Cartoon Motion (**1/2) -- The singer/songwriter, who landed in London by way of Beirut and Paris, has powers to enchant and annoy, often in the same breath.
Histrionic, theatrical and campy, Mika is Freddie Mercury reborn and Scissor Sisters without the wink. Whether parody or homage, he's also a revivalist without much imagination, though he's certainly crafted an album of upbeat, frothy and impossibly catchy, if entirely synthetic, pop tunes. "Billy Brown" and "Stuck in the Middle" display an uncanny ability to stitch serious themes to peppy sonics, suggesting there's more to Mika than glass-shattering flamboyance.
Consider: "Lollipop" and "Big Girl," a transparent retooling of Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" Yours Truly, Angry Mob (***1/2) -- When a rock band is as confident and on top of its game as Leeds, U.K.'s Kaiser Chiefs, you can't help but get swept up in their sheer exuberance.
Everything's in place on this second album: rousing riffs, catchy tunes and witty portraits of British culture. The range is from superior to superb on one of the few new albums you can safely certify as filler-free.
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