cd reviews pop/rock

The Raveonettes, "Lust Lust Lust" (Vice)

The dark cool of Denmark's winters has always filled the Raveonettes' music, with duo Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo weaving their noir tales with panache. On their new album, Wagner and Foo mute recent 1960s girl-group influences and return to the band's gritty roots, a departure from the wall-of-sound pop of 2005's "Pretty in Black." The album starts with "Aly, Walk With Me," a harmonious tune that rides a steady, slithering beat until it erupts into a storm of clanging fuzz, part Velvet Underground, part Jesus and Mary Chain. Love is a demon-eyed trickster in these songs, with odes to the heart not so much red as black. Gusts of pop still emerge, but with a hard-banging edge. "Sad Transmission" splits between hand claps and billowing distortion; "With My Eyes Closed" pines for lost love with shoegaze drowsiness, and Foo's crisp voice cuts through hazy songs such as "The Beat Dies" with a reminder that the Raveonettes' beauty isn't about perfect polish but fuzzy, haunting imperfections. The Raveonettes perform March 17 at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis. 5311

SOLVEJ SCHOU, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Various artists, "Controversy: A Tribute to Prince" (Rapster/K7)

While mainstream hip-hop is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," an odd collection of pop, hop and electro's underground parties like it's 1999 for Prince. The two were always rivals, so it's fitting that this compilation of previously released and new tracks comes out now. Spacey soul player D'Angelo makes "She's Always in My Hair" into a crunching lo-fi rock workout worthy of Prince's psychedelic side. It's not great, but it's potently musky. While fellow electronic mavens Stina Nordenstam and Soulwax soften their blows, dirtball-dance siren Peaches (with 7 Hurtz) does to "Sexy Dancer" what she does best: makes it into a four-letter electro-blip workout sans subtlety. Perfect. Osunlade, too, makes the most of his moment by turning Prince's wild-eyed "Crazy You" into a sonorously exquisite neo-samba. Even Wyoming folkie Jeb Loy Nichols finds the funk at Prince's feet. 5312

A.D. AMOROSI, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

classical

J.S. Bach, Six cello suites; Anne Gastinel (Naïve) and Jean-Guichen Queyras (Harmonia Mundi)

I sometimes think Bach must have been French. No one who grew up with recordings of these suites by Fournier, Tortelier and Gendron can erase from mind the elegance of their phrasing and exquisite accentuation. To hear two fine French cellists of a new generation is an unexpected, almost unmitigated pleasure. Gastinel takes the more languorous approach, turning gigue into smoochy clinch and sarabande into something less than frenetic. There is no denying the voluptuousness of her tone; the only qualm concerns its persistence. Queyras, a former soloist with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, takes his cue from Pierre Boulez and treats Bach with clinical modernity, eschewing emotions for white clarity and clean lines. He is most severe and persuasive in the fourth suite, where each dance gets its distinctive character, although at the end the ear cries out for a cuddle. Truth in Bach lies halfway between these two. Ideally, you'd want to hear them live and together. 5313 (Gastinel) and 5314 (Queyras)

NORMAN LEBRECHT, (LONDON) EVENING STANDARD

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