Scarlett Johansson

Anywhere I Lay My Head

(Rhino/Atlantic)

3 1/2 stars

Enjoy Tom Waits’ songs, but wish he were a voluptuous 24-year-old girl? Well, have I got the CD for you: Anywhere I Lay My Head, a collection of Tom Waits covers (plus one original) performed by bosomy starlet Scarlett Johansson, whose only notable previous contribution to pop music was the scene in Lost in Translation where she models a pair of pink panties to the accompaniment of My Bloody Valentine’s “City Girl.” 

Well, call me a heretic, but I haven’t enjoyed listening to a Tom Waits album this much since Mule Variations. The magic ingredient isn’t Johansson (whose singing voice has a decent, surprisingly husky timbre but not a whole lot of range), but producer Dave Sitek, from TV on the Radio. 

I’ve grown kind of weary of Waits’ clinky-clunky-gruff-and-growly junkyard sound, and so I found it refreshing to hear Sitek use his melodies as the springboard for dreamy, almost shoegazey anthems as lush as the string-laden ballads Waits used to record all the time back in the ’70s. Waits fans will also appreciate clever touches like the way Sitek’s arrangement of “I Wish I Was in New Orleans” samples the music-box melody of “Take Me Home.”

It’s enough to make you wonder: what croaky-voiced singer/songwriter will get a ScarJo makeover next? Bob Dylan? Lou Reed? Excellent choices,
but I’m hoping for Leonard Cohen—finally, a Cohen album I wouldn’t have
to pretend to like!

PAUL MATWYCHUK

matmos

Supreme Balloon

(Matador)

4 stars

Imagine pouring a bag of Pop Rocks in your ear then jamming them home with Pixy Stix: that sweet, frenetic sensation you’d be hearing is exactly what Matmos’ latest sounds like. The concept this time sees Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt captaining a Supreme Balloon of analog synthesizers through a very happy land. This mix of old-school electronics pop and classical melodies sounds like an updated version of “Switched on Bach”—well, technically “Switched on Couperin,” as the guys go baroque with “Les Folies Françaises.” 

Daniel flexes his funk on “Polychords,” a track his Soft Pink Truth alter ego might have made for playschoolers, while the bouncing “Mister Mouth” toys with techno. And be sure to stick around after the album’s conclusion to hear another fantastic beaty nugget. The 24 minutes of evolving minimalism that is the title track is meant to be the trip, but really, the whole album takes you on a wonderful voyage to a magical paradise where people breathe cotton candy. 

PROSPER PRODANIUK 

Madonna

Hard Candy

(Warner) 

3 stars

Hard Candy marks three things: the return of the Neptunes; a harbinger of Timbaland’s imminent burnout; and yet more proof of Madge’s business acumen. Hooking up with the man who defines the current musical zeitgeist (Timbo),  and the two responsible for the previous one (Pharrell and Chad) isn’t just smart, it’s like printing money. “4 Minutes” is not a particularly good song—while all the usual Timbaland signifiers are there, not much is done with them. Regardless, the track has already hit #1. In 22 countries.

The Neptunes and their rejuvenated sound do their best to cover up the fact that Madonna is a robot completely unable to simulate human emotion. The breakdown on “Give It 2 Me” would demolish whole cities if the Clipse were to rap over its sterile, atonal synths. But now, Pharrell’s harmonizing with Madonna on “Beat Goes On”... that’s not self-indulgent; it makes the song worth listening to. No wonder it’s the one Kanye decided to jump on.

RENATO PAGNANI 

Islands

Arm’s Way

(Anti-)

3 stars

The tracks on Islands’ second album, Arm’s Way, are somewhat analogous with the image on its cover art, which is oddly reminiscent of a birth canal. Unfortunately, like so many things concerning birth canals, the experience is an unnecessarily drawn-out, long-winded ordeal. With only two of 12 songs clocking in at under four minutes, brevity is not Islands’ strong suit. Which is a shame, considering the disc’s richest melodies (“J’Aime Vous Voir Quitter” and “Creeper”) are also its most concise. The rest of Arm’s Way consists of a string of compositional epics each trying to outdo the previous ones in duration and operatic grandeur, a contest that culminates with the 11-minute melodic monument “Vertigo”/”If It’s A Crime.” 

Though there are a few memorable ditties on Arm’s Way, it’s definitely not a disc for the impatient. And while I can respect a band that occasionally tries to stretch their talents beyond a three-minute pop song, these self-indulgent epics do more “arm” than good.

CHRIS LEWIS