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Hear tracks by LSD, Big Red Machine, Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers and others.
Eminem spends the start of his surprise album “Kamikaze” — which was released Friday at midnight with simply a tweet announcing its arrival — chewing over a 2017 freestyle in which he criticized his fans that also happen to be Trump supporters. Later, he spends a moment mulling the negative reaction to his 2017 album, “Revival.” In between these rare pauses for critical self-reflection, the feisty, angry, unsympathetic, youth-distrusting, not-fully-up-to-date-on-his-pop-culture-references Marshall Mathers returns. “Venom,” the closing track, will appear on the soundtrack of the Marvel movie of the same name, which is about a journalist who winds up hosting an alien symbiote. Feeling like an outsider has always been part of the Eminem mythology, and on “Venom” he retells his origin story, from performing at the hip-hop festival Scribble Jam to sleeping on the floor of his friend Proof’s motel room to getting Dr. Dre’s stamp of approval. The lyrics get weirder as the track speeds on, as if whatever demon is inhabiting him this time is seizing the controls. CARYN GANZ
The fundamental impulses of socially conscious English punk — frustrated idealism curdled into disgust and fury — flare up anew in Idles, the band led by the gruff-voiced Joe Talbot; they release their second album, “Joy as an Act of Resistance,” on Friday. “Colossus” is a song of masculine self-examination — “I am my father’s son/His shadow weighs a ton” — accelerating into catharsis: tapping, then pounding, then blasting away at a fierce drone chord, then swerving into a major-key punk confrontation as Mr. Talbot, snarling, “I don’t want to be your man,” compares himself to Stone Cold Steve Austin, Fred Astaire, Evel Knievel and, yes, Jesus Christ. JON PARELES
LSD, ‘Thunderclouds’
LSD — Labrinth, Sia and Diplo — set aside Diplo’s longtime pursuit of new, exotic dance beats in “Thunderclouds.” Instead, the track feels retro, summoning a girl-group bolero beat and ska horns while Sia and Labrinth debate love, trust, fidelity, suspicion, dependence and whether their tensions mean they’re breaking up. Eventually, they come to an agreement: “Don’t be afraid of these thunderclouds.” PARELES
Brandon Coleman, ‘All Around the World’
It’s been a crazy year, so maybe we’re just about ready for Bernie Worrell to meet George Duke to meet T-Pain on a beach in Los Angeles. Brandon Coleman thinks so. Over the past three years, he has brightened stages across the world as the manic, astro-funk keyboard whiz in Kamasi Washington’s touring band. In the video for “All Around the World,” from his forthcoming solo album, “Resistance,” he’s dancing blithely by the ocean with a group of young women, singing about the touring life as if it were a parade of easy living. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO
Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers, ‘Apocalypse Now (& Later)’
It’s the end of the world as we know it, and Laura Jane Grace feels fantastic. The Against Me! singer, guitarist and songwriter debuts her new side project featuring the bassist Marc Jacob Hudson and the drummer Atom Willard with a bit of cheery folk-pop-punk about an uncheerful topic: “On top of the world, at the end of the world, with you.” GANZ
Jain, ‘Oh Man’
Balafon and kora, the West African marimba and harp, plink and shimmer through “Oh Man,” an endearing upbeat ditty about first love by Jain, a French songwriter (born Jeanne Galice) who spent parts of her childhood in the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of the Congo. Her pitch is happily imprecise and her lyrics are in charmingly imperfect English; somehow, she can rhyme “go” with “you.” She doesn’t treat the African instruments as any more exotic than her programmed beats; it’s an interconnected world. PARELES
Madeleine Peyroux, ‘Down on Me’
Madeleine Peyroux is known as an interpreter of American song, from country blues to jazz to classic rock. But “Anthem,” her new album, is dedicated to original music that came tumbling out after she traveled the country in the wake of the 2016 election. On “Down on Me,” she’s got a “Political World”-era Dylan cynicism and a Betty Wright knack for real talk. Over a mid-tempo shuffle, she laments:
Just broke a law I never heard of before
Landlord thinks I’m made so he bust down my door
Used to think I was pretty damn smart
Smart enough to see I’m falling apart
I keep going down, down, down
RUSSONELLO
Big Red Machine, ‘Lyla’
Between his sporadic albums as Bon Iver, Justin Vernon is more prolific with collaborators — among them Aaron Dessner, the guitarist and composer in the National. Their self-titled debut album as Big Red Machine, released on Friday, includes “Lyla,” a musical and verbal enigma that’s dense with polyrhythm; its underlying riff and drumbeat are in 7/8, while vocals, keyboards, guitar noise blasts and chamber-music strings have their own agendas. But it sprouts a charming chorus: “I’m already off the reservation.” PARELES
Stoner Control, ‘Hollywood Hills’
You will hear flashes of Built to Spill, Ted Leo, Elliott Smith and Telekinesis in Stoner Control’s peppy but slightly snotty indie rock (which isn’t a bad combination). The band’s second album, “Alone in the City,” was produced by one of their hometown’s luminaries: Hutch Harris of the Thermals. GANZ
Bob James, ‘Boss Lady’
Bob James’s new album, “Espresso,” his first in a dozen years, features a mostly acoustic trio. That’s not his calling card. In the 1960s and ’70s he helped plant the seeds for smooth jazz as a producer at CTI Records, then reaped the rewards in his own svelte solo career. His soft funk records fed straight into early ’80s hip-hop, and they’ve been sampled widely. And the influence has flowed back: There are a few moments on “Espresso,” including the punchy original “Boss Lady,” when you’re struck by how well it fits into the landscape of current-day jazz. Still, this is rather blasé stuff, easy to catch and easy to release. RUSSONELLO
Tord Gustavsen Trio, ‘The Tunnel’
On his trio’s new record, “The Other Side,” out Friday on ECM, Tord Gustavsen toys with atmosphere and partial abstraction: He’s engaged with the tenets of Norwegian jazz, basically. But Mr. Gustavsen, a 47-year-old pianist, doesn’t buy in all the way. “The Other Side” carries its weight loosely, never sounding too sleek or too austere. On “The Tunnel,” Sigurd Hole’s bass is way up in the mix, sometimes pooling like spilled glue, elsewhere making melodies with long, mournful shapes. RUSSONELLO
Jon Pareles has been The Times's chief pop music critic since 1988. A musician, he has played in rock bands, jazz groups and classical ensembles. He majored in music at Yale University. @JonPareles
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