Moussu T et Lei Jovents
Home Sweet Home
(Manivette Records)
Moussu T is a quartet from Marseilles that sings in French, English and Occitan, and that's just the tip of a very eclectic iceberg. The opening track, "La cabussada," leads you to think this is a sea song ensemble along the lines of Cabestan, but I can assure you it's the only thing on the album whose genre is identifiable. If you took a jug band, a swing group, some stride jazz, a dash of blues, some over-the-top music hall, the soundtrack from a 1940s Loony Tunes cartoon, and some refugees from Spike Jones' band and tossed them into a blender, you might get something approaching Moussu T. This one will have you smiling from start to finish; just don't try to figure out what it is. —Rob Weir
Space Captain
Opposite Day
(independent)
This Western Mass band's second full-length album is—in keeping with its title—filled with dichotomies working together: loud and quiet, earnest and goofy, tight and shambolic. Opposite Day is DIY personified, from its lo-fi home production to its cut-and-paste packaging, and includes all the elements that make college rock great: intelligence, spirit and energetic performances. The distorted vocals give the album the feel of a transmission from the outer reaches of the universe. The songs range from psychedelic journeys to down-home stompers, and the extra sonic layers add depth to the trio's core sound. It's available at local shops and online at spacecaptain.net. —Matthew Dube
Cobra Verde
Haven't Slept All Year
(Scat)
Rock 'n' roll is Dionysian. It's about dissipation, ecstatic revelry, getting wasted and getting laid. It makes sense that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland, Ohio. It's a rock town in a rock state. Guided By Voices, the Breeders, Devo — all from Ohio. Few bands exemplify the hard-partying hell-raising spirit of rock better than Cleveland's Cobra Verde, whose new one features catchy, wide-ranging, garage-y tunes about drinking all night, getting high and having loads of sex. Singer John Petkovic sounds like a congested Beck, and the band deftly alludes to classics by Bowie and Tommy James and the Jesus and Mary Chain, swerving from fist-pumping jams to lounge-tinged spoken word to pure anthemic pop. —John Adamian
Lady Gaga
The Fame
(Streamline/Kon Live/Interscope)
Holy Vocoder, Batman! Move over, Cher, Brittany and Madonna—Lady Gaga is in the house, and she's got the most fashionable pleather bodysuit on the dance floor. Somewhere between reggaeton and Latin dance grooves, Gaga's music is extremely well produced, mostly by Red0ne. Unfortunately, it's all pretty derivative, lifting from Peaches on "Poker Face" and "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich," Shakira on "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)," Pink on "The Fame" and Fergie on "Boys Boys Boys." Still, she is wicked hot, sings well and even has a little Fiona Apple thing hidden in there that could, perhaps, be nurtured into something enduringly viable. —Tom Sturm
