Odd Future’s Earl Sweatshirt has a promising future. (Suzi Pratt/Wireimage)
Album of the week
JOHN MAYER
“Paradise Valley”
★ 1/2
JOHN Mayer is very good at making easy-listening pop-rock; not unrelatedly, he remains unparalleled at coming across as a smarm. The music of “Paradise Valley,” his sixth album, is so light, it threatens to evaporate, as on the bouncy “Wildfire” and gliding “Paper Doll” (allegedly about Taylor Swift). Mayer had throat surgery before recording this album, so it’s understandable if he’s relaxing. It doesn’t make the songs any less dippy, though. Frank Ocean’s brief appearance reprising “Wildfire” doesn’t help; nor does Mayer’s girlfriend, Katy Perry, who duets on the sleepy “Who You Love.”
Downloads of the week
EMINEM
“Survival”
★★ 1/2
OFTEN, Eminem sounds forced when he’s angry. But this contribution to the “Call of Duty: Ghosts” video-game soundtrack has some vigor: “I’m not a rapper, I’m an adapter, I can adjust,” he boasts crisply. It’s hardly his greatest (the straight-rock backing is not impressive). Still, it’s nice to hear.
EARL SWEATSHIRT feat. FRANK OCEAN
“Sunday”
★★★
FROM Odd Future star Earl Sweatshirt’s major-label debut, “Doris,” this is a spare, loose, organ-led beat with the rapper and his O.F. cohort Frank Ocean rhyming about cutting down their weed intake. Sweatshirt is OK, but Ocean floors it, going after Chris Brown — the two were involved in an LA brawl in January — with deadly aim and perfect nonchalance.
A$AP FERG feat. A$AP ROCKY
“Shabba”
★★
MORE stupid sex-based boasts from the A$AP camp — from Ferg’s new “Trap Lord” album — but this has an irresistible chorus: “Eight gold rings like I’m Sha-Shabba Ranks . . . One gold tooth like I’m Sha-Shabba Ranks.” It stomps hard and sturdy, but the beat is also playful, which seriously helps.
MAT ZO feat. CHUCK D
“Pyramid Scheme”
★★★
THE big EDM craze has been growing a bit musically — it’s still mindless, but sometimes very effectively so. English DJ-producer Zo is one of the smartest, and this cut from his upcoming album plays out long-building crescendos to a satisfying climax — gliding, not bruising.
CROCODILES
“Cockroach”
★★ 1/2
THIS doesn’t add anything new to garage rock. But the third album, “Crimes of Passion,” by this San Diego-bred garage-rock duo is a pretty nice variation nevertheless. “I feel so alone tonight,” moons the chorus of “Cockroach.” Clanging guitars and a mysterioso organ do the rest.
LEE DeWYZE
“Silver Lining”
★ 1/2
THE arena-folk-rocking winner of 2010’s ninth season of “American Idol” introduced his second album, “Frames,” with a perfect fake-out of a trailer. First, it sounds like a personal singer-songwriter number, complete with cracked voice. Then on the chorus, it becomes a Velveeta-flavored hoedown, like something out of a bad musical. Yuck.
SUPERCHUNK
“FOH”
★★ 1/2
AFTER more than a decade off, these indie-rock lifers came roaring back with 2010’s “Majesty Shredding.” With this single from the new “I Hate Music,” Superchunk is still kickin’. Yelpy frontman Mac McCaughan sings about something he knows well — playing rock music live: “The drums exploded and the amps are down.”
TRAVIS
“Moving”
★★
SCOTTISH indie-rock stars Travis have been at it so long — forming in 1990 — on their seventh album, “Where You Stand,” they make tuneful, well-constructed songs like “Moving” sound easy. But it also feels slick in a bad way, especially on the “on and on and on” hook from this track.