New Music from 12/7/2010 - Natasha Bedingfield, Plain White T's, and Crown Royale

Natasha Bedingfield Strip Me - The Grammy nominated British songwriter and pop singer releases her fourth full length album.  Strip Me comes in with 13 tracks in total.  According to Amazon, each song on the album "evokes the innate desires, needs and fears which people feel in these most troubling times."  Oooookay then.  That sounds kinda dreary for a pop album but let's see what Ms. Bedingfield gives us.

The album opens with "A Little Too Much" which has a soft, pleasing pop/adult contemporary feel.  The chorus and the hook is simplistic but reasonably catchy and the song does a decent job of inviting the listener in to experience the entire album.  The second song, "All I Need," has a harder more modern electropop feel with complex, layered vocals.  "Strip Me" is all pop and is the first song on the album that reminded me of songs on Bedingfield's previous albums with its cleverly sung lyrics and pleasing but not forced melody.  "Neon Lights" is another song that evokes memories of Bedingfield at her songwriting best with a string melody and toned down tribal drumming during the bridge and the refrain that is utterly enchanting.  Her first single off the album (released months ago), "Touch," is extremely fetching with quickly sung lyrics and a dance beat during the chorus that will get you motivated to get on the dance floor.

Overall, it's a really enjoyable and well rounded pop album from Natasha Bedingfield.  She stays true to the style that made her popular in the first place but still manages to present to us tracks that sounds new and original.  Despite the ominous sounding description from Amazon above, the music is not dark or depressing and there is a definite hopefulness to many of the tracks ("Weightless" and "Can't Fall Down").  It's not a perfect album but I found I liked a lot more about it than I disliked about it especially on repeat listens.

Score:  7.5/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "Strip Me" and "Neon Lights"

Plain White T's Wonders of the Younger - The five person alt rock/pop band from Illinois release their sixth studio album.  Best known for their 2007 Grammy nominated hit "Hey There Delilah," the band gives us 14 new tracks on this album.  According to recent interviews with frontman Tom Higgenson, the band was attempting to imbue the album with a greater epic feeling than their previous albums.

"Irrational Anthem" begins the album which has a melodic, slower opening before the songs speeds up into an uptempo pop/rock song.  The lyrics and vocals are both very well done on the track although the chorus sounds like something from an old Green Day album.  "Boomerang" has a much more standard soft rock feel I was expecting from the band and features lyrics and hooks that are more likely to get stuck in your head.  "Welcome to Mystery" is the most complex song on the album with a jaunty circus feel, moody guitar playing, and restrained but not timid vocal work.  "Rhythm of Love" features a much softer, almost acoustic, side of the band and reminded me of the type of music a Jason Mraz would give us. 

Okay, I can't compare this album to any of Plain White T's previous albums because I am only familiar with their singles like the aforementioned "Delilah" and "1, 2, 3, 4" but I can tell you that it falls far short of the "epic feeling" that Higgenson and bandmates were striving for.  However, the album was far more complex than I expected going in for a band known primarily for their bubblegum singles.  Unfortunately, a greater level of complexity does not mean that the album is one that I would want to listen to on a regular basis.  There are a handful of songs that are more than palatable on the album but not enough for me to recommend this disc wholeheartedly.

Score:  5.5/10
Song(s) to Sample:   "Welcome to Mystery" and "Rhythm of Love"

Crown Royale Crown Royale - Not to be confused with the rock/swing band Royal Crown Revue or the whiskey that comes in a purple felt bag, Crown Royale is the hip-hop/rap act of DJ Rhettmatic and MC Buff1.  This eponymous 14 track album is the debut release from the duo although they both have solo careers mostly as DJs. I couldn't find too much info on the band itself, but the band's MySpace page has good bios of the individual two artists.  

The album opens with the high energy "Blitz" with a fast tempo rap, quick beat, and synthesized horn sounds. "Crown Royale" has an interesting if very simplistic violin arrangement that works well in creating an effective hook for the song although the latter half of the track with its excessive scratching seemed like an odd choice.  "We Gotcha" is another high energy song but layers on more instruments to create a very pleasing and toe-tapping song.  "Looking For Answers" has a more somber tone and is one of the slower songs on the album.  "GM" has more traditional hip-hip sensibilities with heavy sampling and a more structured vocal style in the rap. 

It's a very respectable and aurally pleasing debut album from two highly credible hip-hop DJs. They have a sound that is very reminiscent of past hip-hop acts like The Roots and Busta Rhymes without sounding like a cheap derivative of any specific band. The entire album has a lot of energy and shows a lot of forethought in the song creation.  It's far from perfect album but it's a more than credible debut album. 

Score:  7/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "We Gotcha" and "Thank You"