Spring break is over for maturing Luke Bryan


Luke Bryan
“Spring Break . Checkin‘ Out”
(Capitol Nashville)

Luke Bryan opens his annual spring-break album with “My Ol’ Bronco,” a song about an aging vehicle that still gets the job done. The Bronco could be a metaphor for Bryan himself -- both were born in the 1970s and both have outgrown an affinity for kicking up sand at musical beach parties.
“Checkin’ Out” is Bryan’s seventh spring-break collection in as many years; that‘s in addition to four full-length albums since 2007. The 38-year-old CMA Entertainer of the Year understandably feels ready to focus on something deeper than beach-party soundtracks.
His maturity shows in the songs, too. He still celebrates the lighthearted joys mixing sand, sun and surf with liquor and women, as on the funk-dance rhythms of “Good Lookin’ Girl” and “Like We Ain’t Ever” -- the latter among the six tunes recycled from Bryan’s 2014 release, “Spring Break 6.” This time he sneaks in youthful drama on “Games” and gets sentimental on “Spring Breakdown.”
Furthermore, Bryan’s musical collaborators, the father-son production team Jeff and Jody Stephens, reveal some new sonic tricks in the arrangements. Altogether, Bryan makes the best of his last spring vacation -- and shows that he is poised to add more depth and texture to his music in the future. (AP)


Houndmouth delivers on sophomore effort


Houndmouth
“Little Neon Limelight”
(Rough Trade Records)

Get on the Houndmouth bandwagon while you can. This band is going places.
The four-piece band’s sophomore effort, “Little Neon Limelight,” is so full of taut songwriting, engaging harmonies and hypnotic playing that it warrants comparisons to the legendary group The Band.
Houndmouth, like The Band, effortlessly shifts from organic songs that sound like they grew straight up from the earth and were just waiting for someone to pick, to straight-out rockers that beg to be turned up to 11.
They can also dial it back for plaintiff ballads like “For No One” and “Gasoline,” displaying a range that makes it hard to believe they‘ve been together for less than five years.
All four members of Houndmouth share vocals, with keyboardist Katie Toupin stealing the show on the standout track “Otis” about the death of Otis Redding. And on “My Cousin Greg,” Houndmouth taps into a road weariness that’s also a central part of The Band’s ethos: “If you want to live the good life,” they sing, “then you’d better stay away from the limelight.”
Houndmouth’s “Little Neon Limelight” more than deserves the limelight. (AP)


Madonna’s ‘Rebel Heart’ is lovely


Madonna
“Rebel Heart”
(Boy Toy/Live Nation/Interscope)

Madonna‘s 13th studio album, “Rebel Heart,” beats with romance and rebellion. At 19 tracks, it’s an overstuffed triptych through the iconic performer’s life, careening between uplifting dance tracks, like the percolating “Living for Love” -- her 44th No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart -- and corrosively bitter tunes such as the Avicii-produced “HeartBreakCity.”
Songs such as the largely acoustic “Devil Pray,” which will stylistically remind many of “Don’t Tell Me”; the achingly vulnerable “Joan of Arc”; and the deceptively double entendre-filled, lilting “Body Shop” course with vitality and showcase some of Madonna’s best singing in years.
While the majority of the material falls solidly in the positive, some of the tunes undoubtedly meant to sound fierce and liberating just feel tired, like the electro-clash braggadocio of “Bitch I’m Madonna,” featuring Nicki Minaj, and the tedious X-rated bump-and-grind of the Kanye West-produced “Holy Water.”
In perhaps her most complex album, Madonna seems determined to plant a flag for her 30-plus year career, even giving a crash course in Madonna-ology on the self-referential “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” featuring Nas, during which she playfully incorporate phrases and titles from past hits. (AP)