Pop

(Matador **1/2)

Bemused by the Interpol phenomenon, I take the fifth regarding those guys, beyond the stray track ("Evil," "Specialist," maybe even an instrumental Turn on the Bright Lights; wanna dub one for me?), so maybe I'm not to be trusted. My best guess about the band's success? Well, male critics appear to evince overwhelming affection for the swooning Bright Lights, while female friends seem to prefer the blockier Antics. It appears to be some strange mass gender-role subversion: dudes swooning over gauzy vulnerability and women feeling on the more chiseled, guitar-heavy song shapes. And nobody liked Our Love to Admire.

So what is the target market for singer Paul Banks' pseudonymous solo debut Julian Plenti Is . . . Skyscraper? Interpol fans tiring of Interpol? It sure buzzes and whirrs like Banks was himself. Make no mistake: These tunes are pure solo-album forgettable, but unlike most audio vanity portraits, Banks' attempts at texture and computer and non-band arrangements are an improvement on the dully passive tones of Interpol. Try "Fun That We Have," an unsettling industrial chant, or the uncharacteristically melodic (and dynamic) "Only If You Run" for flattering new shades of blue. Instrumental closer "H" could even suit the background of some Cannes Film Festival finisher. Just don't expect a whineless vocal or painless lyric in the bunch.

- Dan Weiss

Colin Hay
American Sunshine

(Compass ***)

Though it's been nearly 25 years, Colin Hay is still usually identified as the frontman for the Aussie band Men at Work. That long-expired credit still follows him because most people are, sadly, unaware of his solo work. He's matured into a remarkably talented pop balladeer, a plaintive James Taylor. The unusually buoyant American Sunshine represents an ideal time to jump on the Haywagon.

Most of the songs on the album were recorded with Nashville session musicians. The busy arrangements, though, have a tendency to detract from the melodies.

The simplest track ("Baby Can I See You Tonight") is actually the prettiest, with just slide and acoustic guitars and Hay's distinctive voice, which resembles a handsomer version of Randy Newman's.

The guy makes gracious, grown-up music. Time to get with the program, people.

- David Hiltbrand

Fabolous
Loso's Way

(Desert Storm/Def Jam **1/2)

After 10 years of records, the things you never hear about Brooklyn MC Fabolous are how exceptional he is; how rare his insights are; how twisted his verbiage is; how frenetic his beats might be. Don't get me wrong. Fabolous is all right. He's heretofore been a hip-hopper with kindly, clever ideas and an amusing flow - but not an artist to lose sleep over. Loso's Way is a marked change. As in the mini-movie released in conjunction with this CD, Fab portrays his life as being parallel with that of Carlito Brigante, antihero of Brian De Palma and Al Pacino's Carlito's Way. The music in Loso is his densest ever, with his rhymes at their most straightforward.

Jay Z (who appears on Fab's raw-knuckled "Money Goes, Honey Stay") did something similar with American Gangster. Yet Fabolous makes youth-gone-wrong-then-right poppier than Jay Z ever did. There are spare but creamy R&B-hoppers such as "It's My Time," with Jeremih in tow, and sweetly bouncy mid-tempo dance tracks like "Throw It in a Bag," wherein the Dream sings its honeyed hook. Yet there also are hard-line rumblers like "Pachanga" that give Loso's Way the feel of a good tele-drama without putting too much stress on covering a cornball plot.

- A.D. Amorosi

Discovery

LP

(XL ***)

Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot have collaborated to form Discovery, a "recording project" whose debut album, LP, is adorable and slightly affected, offering a geeky hybrid of the former's orchestral rock and the latter's "Upper West Side Soweto." LP's percussive computer pop approaches hip-hop but veers away from that genre's frequently overwrought production and preoccupation with excess. Minimalist jams such as "Orange Shirt" and "So Insane" are refreshingly weightless, and the playfully tinkling melody of "Swing Song," while danceable, remains stripped-down. The album incorporates insider friends and references throughout. Guest appearances by Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig and Angel Deradoorian of the Dirty Projectors, along with a nearly unrecognizable Jackson Five cover, reinforce Discovery's precocious, faintly pretentious appeal.