High School Musical 2, Talib Kweli, Mariajose, Gogol Bordello and Architecture In Helsinki.

the music press

tue 8/14/2007

A collage of Talib Kweli, Mariajose, Gogol Bordello, Architecture In Helsinki and the cast of High School Musical 2.

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Disney’s High School Musical 2 soundtrack, the sequel to the best-selling and surprise hit album of 2006, is released this week. HM2 is "hella catchy, if ultimately exhausting," according to music blog Idolator. Entertainment Weekly gives it a B+ for consistency: "[W]hile this material won’t upstage the Rodgers and Hammerstein legacy, it is on par with the previous soundtrack’s sweet, crafty fun.”
Critically-acclaimed but commercially-challenged rapper Talib Kweli returns with Eardrum, his third solo outing. Rolling Stone has mixed feelings: "[T]hough it’s admirably consistent and pretty darn OK, it lacks a knockout track to counterbalance the complaints about the King James Bible and swine toothpaste." Filter Magazine thinks Kweli is on point, arguing that “Talib’s magic has always been presenting his socially conscious message in a flow that makes you say 'Word!' instead of 'What?'”
Sultry ex-Kabah singer Mariajose, "la Josa," releases her self-titled debut. ¿Quién Eres Tú?, the lead single featuring R&B singer Trey Songz, gets props from Mexican music store Mix Up, which predicts "her album will play at every club.” Blog Memo’s Place partially agrees: “Three songs are going directly to the clubs … ’cause the rest of them are simply forgettable.”
Super Taranta!, the new album by worldbeat punk rockers Gogol Bordello is an “insanely enjoyable, breathless affair,” according to Popmatters. The kool kidz at Pitchforkmedia are less impressed, describing Gogol Bordello as “an exceedingly silly band," underscoring that "even if it’s not laugh-out-loud ha ha funny, there’s more than a little ridiculousness to its self-consciously eclectic kitchen-sink approach.”
Speaking of weirdness, Australia’s Architecture In Helsinki are back with their third studio album, Places Like This, which is described by the BBC Collective as “all whoops and yelps” with “an impressive sense of its own silliness.” Drowned in Sound is utterly disappointed: “For a band as progressive and ingenious as AIH, Places Like This feels like a monstrous step backwards.”