‘Weezer’

‘Weezer’

Weezer (Geffen/Interscope)

Grade: A

Rest easy slacker geeks — Weezer have gotten it right once again.

Plowing through another set of snarky power pop, Weezer’s self-titled sixth studio disc is a bit audacious without skimping on what makes this band great — popping riffs, infectious choruses and an almost silly nostalgia for youth.

Frontman Rivers Cuomo relinquishes lead vocal and songwriting duties here and there, which may turn off some fans, but Weezer remain smarter than most acts and Cuomo and his mates still pen some of the best power pop ditties you’re likely to find.

Opening track “Troublemaker” is a kicking tongue-in-cheek knock on rock star misconceptions: “I’m gonna be a star and people will crane necks/to get a glimpse of me to see if I am having sex/and studying my moves to try and understand/why I am so unlike the singers in the other bands.”

Lead single “Pork and Beans” is already pleasing fans of previous hits, “Everybody Get Dangerous” tackles the risks of youth that we manage to survive and “Heart Songs” is Cuomo’s sweet ode to his myriad influences that references everyone from Gordon Lightfoot and Bruce Springsteen to Rob Bass (yes, really) and Kurt Cobain.

Other standouts include an homage to boyhood escape on “Dreamin’,” diverse, pulsating rockers in “Thought I Knew” and “Automatic,” and the gloomy synth freak-out of “Cold Dark World.”

With their most challenging disc since 1996’s “Pinkerton,” it would seem Cuomo and Weezer have grown up a bit — but thankfully not too much.

— John Kosik, Associated Press

‘wanderlust’

Gavin Rossdale (Interscope)

Grade: C-

Gavin Rossdale made a pretty big splash with his music before becoming the envy of men everywhere with his marriage to ultimate rock girl Gwen Stefani.

The former frontman for Bush, whose 1994 debut “Sixteen Stone” was one of the more popular discs of the ’90s, returns with his first solo outing, “Wanderlust,” and the result is a decidedly mixed bag.

While his raspy voice and soaring choruses echo his finer ’90s moments, Rossdale settles for overly slick production and the result makes the disc quite derivative (maybe we can blame that on mercenary producer Bob Rock, who somehow managed to make even Metallica sound too slick).

“Wanderlust” succeeds in its simpler moments. Disc opener “Can’t Stop The World” is a melodic rocker with a knockout chorus and lead single “Love Remains The Same” is a lush ballad that works well with Rossdale’s rasp, as do dynamic tracks like the escapist “Drive” and the electro-charged doom of “Future World.”

Where the frustration sets in is on tracks like the muddy “This is Happiness,” which is just plain sloppy but contains one of the catchiest choruses on the disc. And there’s the rub: Each song does boast a moment where you take notice before it retreats into dry repetition.

I won’t even get into it with “Another Night In The Hills” — which lyrically seems a bit beneath Rossdale’s typical stream-of-consciousness style: “She likes her cocaine/right on the membranes/She’s one to give favors/to the movers and shakers.”

Gavin Rossdale offers a respectable effort, but rests on his laurels a bit too much on “Wanderlust.”

— John Kosik, Associated Press

‘Perfectly Clear’

Jewel (Valory/Big Machine)

Grade: B

“Perfectly Clear,” singer-songwriter Jewel Kilcher’s move into country music, won’t seem as surprising as that of, say, Bon Jovi. After all, she grew up in rural Alaska, she’s an avid horsewoman with a long-running relationship with a rodeo star, and early hits “Who Will Save Your Soul?” and “You Were Meant for Me” have more in common with recent country hits than with current pop music.

Jewel takes the reassignment seriously. She co-produced the album with John Rich of Big & Rich, wrote or co-wrote all but one of the 11 tracks, and will tour this summer with country star Brad Paisley. Country fans have already welcomed her, too: Her first single, “Stronger Woman,” shot into the top 15 of the country radio charts.

The strength of “Perfectly Clear,” as with many contemporary country singers, comes from Jewel singing her own words. The best songs — “I Do,” “Everything Reminds Me of You,” “Til It Feels Like Cheating” — have a distinct and believable point of view, and the arrangements merge modern Nashville gloss with an acoustic base that works with Jewel’s idiosyncratic, breathy voice. Also, her typical lyrical slant — taking a positive yet earthy look at everyday life — fits country music as snugly as two Lego blocks locking together.

Nothing on “Perfectly Clear” will separate Jewel from the pack as markedly as her first pop singles a dozen years ago. But her new album suggests her shift to country music could benefit both singer and genre.

— Michael McCall, Associated Press

‘% *! Smilers’

Aimee Mann (SuperEgo)

Grade: B

The cartoon figure on the cover of “%&*! Smilers” is wearing an upside-down grin, with his tongue out to boot. Not surprising, because Aimee Mann has never been one to make excessively happy music. Sometimes, her tendency toward the dark side can make Mann too much of a bitter pill to swallow. Here, though, the adult-alternative crush object lets enough light in on a loosely linked set of songs about emotional desperadoes that are built on old analog keyboard sounds and strummed acoustic guitars. Stronger than its boxing-themed 2005 predecessor “The Forgotten Arm,” Smilers doesn’t sugarcoat a thing — “So you roll on, with the best you can/Getting loaded, watching CNN,” she sings in “31 Today.” But its sharp-eyed and hard-earned short stories in song arrive with inviting melodies decorated with subtle strings and deftly employed horns, balancing out the melancholy with the hint of a not entirely cynical smile.

—Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘This Is Not the World’

The Futureheads (Nul)

Grade: B

If the Futureheads’ self-titled 2004 debut was a manic dance-punk racket, 2006’s follow-up, “News and Tributes,” was a thundering post-punk colossus that earned comparisons to Fugazi and Mission of Burma instead of XTC and the Buzzcocks. Freed from its former record label, the band lands smack in the middle of those two sounds on its third outing. World is fierce and expansive but also agile and propulsive, kick-starting with the strong single “The Beginning of the Twist” and never letting up. Barry Hyde’s confident, lilting shout still leads the trio’s punchy delivery, even if his lyrics have gotten cheesier (”Because you’ve had too much to think tonight”) and the songs more formulaic. Still, it’s hard not to cheer for such sturdy, swooping anthems.

— Doug Wallen, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘Re-Arrange Us’

Mates of State (Barsuk, 2 stars)

Grade: C

For a famously devoted hubby-and-wife music-making couple, mates Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel usually manage to stay away from any yuckiness associated with such a pairing. Though they’ve softened the new-wave crackle and dynamic rhythmic attack of their previous recordings to include chipper strings and jumpy choruses, there’s not much smoochie-faced longing to be found here. They’ve got the high-pitched vocal tics and accompanying harmonies, thumping drums, driving Farfisa-like organs and spicy girl-group peaks of their past on the sprightly “The Re-Arranger” and the spacey “Now.”

But such evenness means Mates of State lack the drama and punch of tumultuous couplings like Tammy and George or Ike and Tina. And rather than ever finding even a twinkle of domestic frenzy, Kori and Jason opt for the pastoral (“My Only Offer”) and saccharine (“Blue and Gold Print”). Of course, I love, love, love that Jason and Kori are so happy. Yet I can’t help but want to muss it all up just to hear some harder results — rearrange them a bit to get to the dark side of wedded bliss.

— A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘Doin’ the Funky Thing’

Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington (Zoho Roots)

Grade: B

“Doin’ the Funky Thing” accurately describes Walter “Wolfman” Washington’s new album, which is bookended by the loose-limbed “Shake Your Booty/Funky Thing.” But the disc could also be named after another key track, “I’m Back,” because the album marks the New Orleans institution’s return to the Crescent City after Katrina forced him to flee.

“I’m Back” (with Dr. John on organ) is less about personal triumph than the enduring spirit of New Orleans and its music, without glossing over the hardships. That spirit permeates “Funky Thing,” as singer-guitarist Washington and his seasoned band, the Roadmasters, get down on an infectiously spirited set that also displays a good share of uptown stylishness.

— Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘A Town and Two Cities’

Your Vegas (Universal Republic)

Grade: B+

It takes great fortitude for a newbie band to attempt the kind of epic-rock grandeur U2 has perfected. Judging by their sweeping debut album, Leeds, England-born, New York-based quartet Your Vegas isn’t afraid to give it a shot.

Luckily, the band also has the talent, if not the originality, to back up their ambition. It helps that lead singer Coyle Girelli is a latter-day Bono who can make poignant declaratives soar over bright guitar jangle and layers of synth, but the arena-pop sound is nothing without expert songwriting. You need surging verses, big choruses and lyrics about everything anyone in the world ever cared about. “A Town and Two Cities” has all that too.

But maybe Your Vegas is a little too good at packing whole roller coasters of human emotion into neat 3- and 4-minute guitar anthems. Their catchy tunes do rely heavily on cliche. On “Troubled Times,” the world’s gone mad, and on “Birds of Paradise,” it’s you and me against the world, and so on. After the initial thrill wears off, it all seems a bit studied. Now that Your Vegas has mastered outsize pop-rock, the band’s next challenge is to make the idiom their own.

— Cristina Black, Associated Press

‘Wild Animals’

The Pinker Tones (Nacional Records)

Grade: A

Fresh and wildly eclectic, Barcelona-based electropop wizards The Pinker Tones dazzle on their latest disc, “Wild Animals.”

Comprised of neo-lounge lizards Mister Furia (Salvador Rey) and Professor Manso (Alex Llovetand), The Pinker Tones provide an ambitious mix of styles — including funk, pop, psychedelia, hip-hop, soul and bossa nova — but remain grounded by contagious melodies.

The greatest praise is how simple they manage to keep things, with retro synthesizers, vocal harmonies, crisp guitars and disco-bass grooves providing a retro vibe that still sounds futuristic and progressive.

They bring some serious funk on “Working Bees,” drop a reggae-flavored delight with “The Whistling Song,” rave it up with the staccato rhythms of “Fugaz,” and shuffle through the joyful pop of “Hold On” and “Biorganised.”

They also function on a multilingual level with a vocal mix of English, French (the sweet “On Se Promenait”), Spanish (a bossa-heavy “Electrotumbao”) and German (the futuristic hip hop of “Wild Eleganz”).

Raising the bar for electronica used to be the realm of bands like Depeche Mode and New Order — but now groups like The Pinker Tones are bringing a wild energy and ambitious focus to a new generation.

A real treat.

— John Kosik, Associated Press