Black Kids, 'Partie Traumatic' (Almost Gold/Columbia)
Flanked by his sister and friends, Reggie Youngblood sings catchy tunes about dancing and desire with a yelp that suggests, as countless enraptured bloggers have pointed out, the Cure's goth godfather Robert Smith. Often referring to himself in song as a girl, he writes terse, bittersweet lyrics that recall Morrissey and the Magnetic Fields'
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Daedelus , 'Love to Make Music To' (Ninja Tune)
Alfred "Daedelus" Darlington is a proponent of Edwardian dandyism for the Internet age, and his electronic whimsy has been influenced equally by Coldcut's chopped-up beats and Bernard Herrmann's orchestral Vertigo. But on Love to Make Music To, the L.A.
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The Hold Steady, 'Stay Positive' (Vagrant)
By lovingly invigorating E Street–flavored bar-band rock with electrifying wit and believable punk energy, the Hold Steady stumbled on something surprisingly original. But on the band's fourth album, the classic-rock signifiers that once served as a jumping-off point for fresh hybrids are untouched by that irresistible sense of restless urgency.
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Jay Reatard, 'Singles 2006–2007' (In the Red)
This insanely prolific Memphis garage punk recently signed to Matador, which is in the midst of a plan to release a half-dozen new seven-inches before the end of the year. Singles 2006–2007 collects 17 earlier, scruffy sides recorded for a bunch of smaller indies like Goner and Squoodge.
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Wire, 'Object 47' (PinkFlag)
"Please let me help you remember / Your memory's shot / You've lost the plot." That refrain -- from the caustically chiding "Mekon Headman" -- is more than just a finger-jabbing offer of, um, assistance. It captions Wire's clever twist on the career retrospective: Revisit all phases of your career with new material.
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Lil Wayne, 'Tha Carter III' (Cash Money/Universal Motown)
Whether you love, hate, or can even decipher Dwayne Michael Carter's platinum-plus sixth "official" album (mix tapes excluded), you gotta cop to what it represents. Lil Wayne (a.k.a. Weezy, Weezy F.



