Campbell: Tuned In: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jupiter Rising, Melvin Gibbs’ Elevated Entity

Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ brilliance collapses into randomness

“IT’S BLITZ!,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Interscope)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs has mastered the art of the tease, and the New York trio’s new “It’s Blitz!” is as frustratingly enigmatic as its previous releases.

The group doesn’t disguise its brilliance, and just as it did with 2006’s “Show Your Bones,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontloads its new project with amazing cuts. Opener “Zero” is both agitated and beautiful, the rare slapping/searing dance song that achieves emotional resonance as the empathetic vocal of Karen O delivers a Siouxsie-on-steriods set here and on the propulsive subsequent track, “Heads Will Roll,” where she powers over the monster groove with the mantra, “Dance, dance, dance till you’re dead!”

For a while Yeah Yeah Yeahs appears to be fully invested in electronica. “Soft Shock” saunters through a Goldfrappy vibe while the singer flips her lines with vulnerability — “Don’t leave me out,” she pleads — and the following “Skeletons” embarks on a 21st-century ballad with the singer’s compassion stretching out on a vibrating bed of escalating static.

Yet just when it seems the band will forsake its rock roots, Yeah Yeah Yeahs suddenly romps ferociously through the guitar-swamped “Dull Life” and then buzzes through a half-baked “Shame and Fortune.” And as with its earlier releases, the group eventually abandons any notion of continuity, frittering away the rest of “It’s Blitz!” with a fitful, albeit showy, mishmash ranging from the tidal surge of the squalling “Runaway” to the glimmering electro-pop of “Hysteric.” Lyrics do little to pull it all together.

Although icons such as David Bowie and Madonna have been similarly mercurial, they’ve always maintained a basic essence of themselves behind their chameleonic personas. The only thing that seems to be behind Karen O’s mask is another mask.

Rating (five possible): 3-1/2

Jupiter Rising crosses many orbits

“THE QUIET HYPE,” Jupiter Rising (Chime/Fontana)

The duo Jupiter Rising seems more like a pair of technicians than a pair of artists. In an effort to be everything to everyone, the act attempts to milk as much “mass” as it can out of mass appeal on its new “The Quiet Hype.”

Singer/producer Spencer Nezey and singer Jessie Payo take a calculated hopscotch through the most popular genres, gunning for a different stylistic mash-up with almost every song.

Contrived and featherweight though it is, however, “The Quiet Hype” is serviceably appealing,

An ill-fated attempt at a pop/rap-lite exploration of existentialism with opening cut “Falling Away” graciously gives way to a subsequent celebration of mindlessness, “Tres Cool,” that draws on a pushy bass, heady percussion and playful exchange of vocals from the two singers.

The less serious the better for this twosome. They steal a page out of Daft Punk’s manual by capitalizing on robot-chic with the grainy send-up on superficiality that is “L.A. Girls.” They also infuse bone-jarring bass, sirens and other excitement into the Black Eyed Peas/Gwen Stefani-reminiscent “When the Bass Drops,” and the throbbing, goofy raucous-rock-dance “Flip My Switch” owes a debt to the Pussycat Dolls.

Slower tracks — including the modern R&B paint-by-numbers “Guarded” and the languidly rumbling title track — are forgettable. Also, a couple of experimental tracks fail as the turbo-Gothic “Follow Me” is led by a strangely disconnected energy, and the hard-driving mania behind “Snakeskin” just seems desperate.

But Jupiter Rising is generally competent with its hooks and rhythms, if not distinct or innovative.

Rating: 3

Producer Gibbs’ vision sounds convincing

“ANCIENTS SPEAK,” Melvin Gibbs’ Elevated Entity (Live Wired)

Bassist/producer Melvin Gibbs theorizes that the “black continuum,” which unifies those in the Western Hemisphere who have African ancestry, has a spiritual component that manifests itself in the music throughout North and South America.

It’s a fascinating concept and one he attempts to illustrate with “Ancients Speak,” a black-culture melting pot of sound inspired by the all-inclusive music environment of New York City.

Ultimately his vision proves to be hit-and-miss, with a few disparate elements clearly resisting his mission while most others merge compliantly. However, even the blends that work beg the question: Is this a black thing, or merely the handiwork of a fine producer?

Whatever the answer, “Ancients Speak” is a rewarding ride. Charismatic vocals, elastic funk and a heady rhythm propel the track “Macumba,” for example, while penetrating cadence, electronic bubbling, rubbed bass and exclamatory horns congeal on “Mojuba.” By contrast, gently persuasive warmth emanates from the introspective hip-hop stroll “Sometimes,” and “Os Aguas/The Waters” trips out on synthetic strains.

Gibbs makes his best case with “Eu Cant En Yoruba,” which vibrates with electricity and mesmerizing beats as call-and-response chants surely do seem to conjure mystical atmosphere.

Yet when fits of manic vocals perforate the languid, and somewhat deadening, rhythm of “Represent do Rio” and when the shrill guitar of Blackbyrd McKnight (of P-Funk) shreds the lumbering pace of “Sun of Shango,” Gibbs seems to be refuting his own theory.

Perhaps the ancients on those tracks just aren’t speaking the same language.

Rating: 3-1/2

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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