CD reviews 8/30: 'R.E.D. Album' by The Game
Also: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.

The Compton MC's fourth album has been delayed more than a Terrence Malick film, but it reestablishes the Game's relevance with torched-earth verses and his ability to work with diverse superstars to make a supremely coherent and well-executed set. While there are many references to his L.A. roots and guest appearances by Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, this isn't an effort to re-create the West Coast sound. Instead, by working with producers like 1500 or Nuthin, Cool & Dre and even New York's DJ Premier, the Game shows a willingness to reinvent himself with some beats that are as penetrating ("Paramedics," "Heavy Artillery") and resourceful as his engaging rhymes filled with sports and pop-culture references. He can be self-effacing about his break with Dr. Dre ("shot myself like Plax"), and he wreaks havoc on Erykah Badu, Rihanna and Bruno Mars on "Martians vs. Goblins," a hip-hop-on-mushrooms escapade. Along with the tough-minded tales of urban defiance are affecting reflections ("Mama Knows") and ruminations ("Pot of Gold") that give just the right balance to this 21-song opus.
- KEN CAPOBIANCO, BOSTON GLOBE
POP/ROCK: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, "Mirror Traffic" (Matador)
This album marks the first collaboration between two bards of the wastoid California flats, Malkmus and producer Beck. With coppery, loping guitars and song structures that unspool with no particular place to go, Malkmus' latest outing with the Jicks sounds like it was recorded during sunset at a backyard barbecue on the longest summer equinox ever known to hit the West Coast.
In actuality, it was recorded in snatches of time before and after Malkmus' 2010 tour with a reunited Pavement, and though Beck's hand is directly present in a few moments, for the most part, he sits far back. His sweetest calling card here is "No One Is (As I Are Be)," a lazily magisterial jewel.
There are few songwriters who have Malkmus' level of curiosity or his cat burglar's sensibility for how to steal into a song. Each one is like a Victorian mansion with nooks and crannies, secret doors and diamond-shaped windows in closets. Throughout "Mirror Traffic," he shimmies through every possible entryway. Even when his landing might be a bit awkward, the Jicks support him with fraternal loyalty.
It doesn't seem incidental that Malkmus named his album after two elements that could be said to dictate Southern California life. Traffic is a handy metaphor for the album; it's a gorgeously orchestrated mess. In the last moment of "Brain Gallop," drums, keys and bass chase around Malkmus' sinewy guitar until all the elements collapse together, a four-instrument pileup. The pleasure of "Mirror Traffic" is listening to Malkmus, a master driver, work himself into and out of any jam.
- MARGARET WAPPLER, LOS ANGELES TIMES