Bon Iver, “Bon Iver” (Jagjaguwar)
Written and recorded in a cabin in the woods, “For Emma, Forever Ago” was the kind of album people blog about in hushed tones, eventually selling in excess of 321,000 copies without a hint of mainstream airplay. The new album is a more collaborative affair, and if the first song leaked, the keyboard-driven “Calgary,” is any indication, the sound isn’t nearly as rustic. Not that that’s a bad thing. Justin Vernon’s voice still haunts. It just feels more like being haunted by a guy who died in 1985.
Jill Scott, “The Light of the Sun” (Blues Babe/Warner)
Jill Scott has never looked cooler than she does standing next to a vintage American luxury car on the cover of her latest album. As for the record inside, producer JR Hutson told HitQuarters, “I think her goal is to just give people a very realistic glimpse of where she is in her life right now.”
“Weird Al” Yankovic, “Alpocalypse” (Volcano/RCA)
You can’t expect him not to make a mockery of the end times, can you? Weird Al’s latest features one of his best album covers yet – a waving, grinning Yankovic and his buddies, the other three Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The album’s leadoff single finds him spoofing Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” a parody Gaga management rejected without giving Gaga a chance to hear it first. Turns out she loved it, causing Yankovic to blog about how “thrilled” he was have the star sign off on it because “1) I truly respect and admire Gaga as an artist and it pained me to think of her as having less than a great sense of humor, and 2) it means I GET TO PUT OUT MY ALBUM!”
Jagged Edge, “The Remedy” (Five 81/Slip ‘N Slide)
R&B veterans Jagged Edge, of “Where the Party At” fame, are back with their first album since 2007′s “Baby Makin’ Project.” Group member Kyle Norman told Billboard, “Topic wise we are all over on this one – some sound more youthful, some more suggestive and some sound real classic, like the big ballads. If you look in the past, the ratio of power ballads was grossly outnumbered, but this album will be more balanced.” Rick Ross guests on “Lipstick.”
Justin Moore, “Outlaws Like Me” (The Valory Music Company)
His self-titled debut sent “Small Town USA” to No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart in late 2009. And the first single out of the gate from his second release, “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away,” is No. 5 with a bullet as this paragraph is being typed. The title track, Moore says, is about the battle between good and evil that goes on within us all. “In this business,” he says, “being out on the road is not always as easy as you thought it would be. This song is about dealing with that and getting back to the person you know you want to be.”
Matt Nathanson, “Modern Love” (Vanguard)
Nathanson’s seventh release includes a guest appearance by Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush of recent tourmates Sugarland. A leadoff single, “Faster,” put him back in the Adult Top 40, where previous hits include “Come on Get Higher” and “Falling Apart.” The singer told Spinner the album is “sort of like a bunch of short stories about folks that I know – and myself. Right before I started writing for the record, I felt like everybody I know went into crisis. Either (they) were having affairs or were getting divorced … there were all these sort of volatile things happening. So all the songs are sort of informed by that idea.”
Symphony X, “Iconoclast” (Nuclear Blast America)
Prog-metal veterans Symphony X made their first appearance on the Billboard album charts in 2007 with a seventh album called “Paradise Lost.” “Iconoclast” is a concept album based on machines taking over and, as singer Russell Allen says, “All this technology we put our society into pretty much being our demise.” The album cover was designed by Warren Flanagan, whose previous credits include “The Incredible Hulk” and “2012.”
August Burns Red, “Leveler” (Solid State)
Making metalcore safe for Christian values and Christianity safe for screaming, August Burns Red hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian chart with 2007′s “Messengers” and 2009′s “Constellations.” Alternative Press gave their latest a four-star review, proclaiming it their “strongest work to date, even as it incorporates some unexpected stylistic left turns.”
LMFAO, “Sorry for Party Rocking” (Party Rock/will.i.am/Cherrytree/Interscope)
An electro-hop novelty duo whose members are the son and grandson of Motown legend Berry Gordy, they topped the charts in eight countries with their second album’s leadoff single, “Party Rock Anthem,” which peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Billboard wrote, “LMFAO is, of course, not ‘Sorry for Party Rocking.’ But the dance duo’s sophomore album is ‘more refined’ and more experimental than its 2009 debut, ‘Party Rock.’ “
