Hear Me Out
Ke$ha, Patty Griffin
Ke$ha, Animal
Popâ??s new â??biâ? on the block is the kid Katy Perry would have if she could birth a 22-year-old smart ass. Her stock elocution is an almost-clone of the â??I Kissed a Girlâ? phonyâ??s. But Ke$ha likes booze more â?? or so she sings (and sometimes raps) in her teen-sounding tone. The no-BS-taking brat is hammered on much of her drunk-on-dance debut, sneaking alcohol into her purse, guzzling it like water or using it as a metaphor. Oftentimes she unleashes some snarky, cackle-causing zinger. All this is sloshed over electro-pop beats via music-making majors like Dr. Luke and Max Martin, who manipulate Ke$haâ??s Katy-meets-Miley vocals to crazy robotic, half-Chipmunk effect. Much of Animal is cut from the same blippity-blooping that assaults the first single, â??TiK ToK,â? with the opening lead-in of songs offering irresponsible fun â?? especially on the fuzzed-out â??Take It Off,â? promoting drunken hot messes. But as if to make her seem like a real person, she turns to insufferable ballads that arenâ??t believable when sheâ??s channeling more machismo than a frat boy. Thereâ??s still instant gratification to some of this disposable, processed party-pop, but itâ??s on par with a night of nonstop drinking. You wonâ??t remember much of it tomorrow.
Grade: C
Patty Griffin, Downtown Church
When this little big-lunged lady dropped her dynamo debut Living With Ghosts in the mid-â??90s, she wrote of a queer bestie. Bette Midler would cover the song, called â??Mosesâ? â?? about needing the prophet, not just a gay, to part the pain. Now Griffinâ??s got Jesus. On her venturesome seventh CD, she immerses fully into the gospel goodies sheâ??s honed here and there, like her last discâ??s â??Up to the Mountain,â? butchered on Susan Boyleâ??s debut. But redoing a Griffin song, like many have (including the Dixie Chicks), is near impossible; sheâ??s a vocal virtuoso, emitting a raw, sky-reaching soar, fetching nuances and finding the emotional gut of all she sings. The power of her sinewy instrument is in full palette on Downtown Church, an album that still maintains a Griffin feel â?? melancholy, cathartic, a warm blanket on a cold night. Her two original ditties fit seamlessly among covers and traditional tunes (the best being â??Never Grow Old,â? sung in a crackly ache). One of them, â??Coming Home to Me,â? is breathtaking. She also sounds positively glorious on the high-sung closing hymn and could bring a Southern Baptist church to its knees on â??Move Upâ? â?? the only way Griffin continues to head.
Grade: A
By Chris Azzopardi
