'STAIRS & amp; ELEVATORS'

'STAIRS & amp; ELEVATORS'
Heartless Bastards
Fat Possum, sss 1/2
Rather than compare Erika Wennerstrom to Patti Smith or Janis Joplin or Chrissie Hynde, none of whom she vocally resembles, let's just say that she is a 27-year-old woman from Dayton who fronts a thundering garage-rock power trio called the Heartless Bastards. She plays guitar and writes blues-infused songs about trying to make her way in the world and live with herself.
"My new resolution is to be someone who doesn't care what anyone thinks of me," she sings on "New Resolution" in an industrial-strength voice. "'Cause I don't even like myself half the time."
Save for a cover of Junior Kimbrough's "Done Got Old," everything works, and "Onions," in particular, packs a memorable hook. Nothing fancy here: Just a terrific rock 'n' roll band, ready to pulverize you.
'REBIRTH'
Jennifer Lopez
Epic, s1/2
Sure, Jennifer Lopez is ambitious. The onetime Fly Girl dancer moved quickly into music, film and fashion design, but Miss Too Many Things has reached her limit. The awful "Rebirth" sounds busier than her schedule and scrawnier than her new husband.
From its production to her voice, J.Lo's new disc sounds cheap and thin, filled with confused, post-Beyonce rhythms and oddly dated nuances.
On the congested "Get Right," the only thing shriller than Lopez is a shrieky sax that would make Ornette Coleman nauseous. That squeakiness also infects ballads, moldy funk tracks, and schlock-rockers. Her duet with Fat Joe, the midtempo "Hold You Down," is quaint, but only a grand "(Can't Believe) This Is Me," cowritten by hubby Marc Anthony, is worthy of Lopez's usual haughtiness.
Maybe she spent too much money on fabric.
'TRANSISTOR RADIO'
M. Ward
Merge, sss
What would your radio sound like if Matt Ward were your late-night DJ?
Beautifully picked acoustic-guitar reveries in the manner of John Fahey would flow into Louis Armstrong covers. Brand new Jimmie Rodgers-style country songs would blend into Carter Family and Beach Boys interpretations. Barriers would be ignored, the rough-cut musicianship would be of the highest standard, and a Who's Who of Americana-flavored indie rockers would contribute, including Howe Gelb, Jim James (of My Morning Jacket), and Rachel Blumberg (of the Decembrists).
And there would be some really good songs: the Dylanesque paranoid ramble "Four Hours in Washington," the boogie-woogie rouser "Big Boat." But Ward, who sings with an unassuming, open-throated rasp, tends to render everything on his broad stylistic palette in a mild, melancholy midrange. It makes you think that if he were in charge, your radio would sound tasteful and thought-provoking and a little bit dull.
'THE SURVIVAL GUIDE TO SOVIET KITSCH'
Regina Spektor
Sire, sss
If Kurt Weill and Bjork had a love child, she might sound like Regina Spektor, an intriguingly idiosyncratic piano-bar spirit.
A prot & eacute;g & eacute; of the Strokes, the Moscow-born, New York-bred Spektor employs go-for-broke phrasing and shifty, sprung melodies. Consider the way she transforms the sad ballad "The Flowers" into a sprightly tarantella.
Too dramatic for pop, too eclectic for cabaret, Spektor is a true original.
'LCD SOUNDSYSTEM'
LCD Soundsystem
DFA/Capitol, sss
Sometimes he partners with Tim Goldsworthy in DFA for production and remix work with such bands as the Rapture. Sometimes he's on his own under the LCD Soundsystem name. Either way, James Murphy has had a hand -- often plucking a funky bass line -- in some of best dance-punk singles of the last few years.
On the first LCD Soundsystem full-length, Murphy pays overt homage to his progenitors: Daft Punk, Talking Heads, Brian Eno and, especially, the Fall -- he appropriates Mark E. Smith's hectoring vocal style throughout.
While the heavy, distorted keyboards of "Daft Punk Is Playing in My House" and the overdrive guitars of "Movement" thrill, Murphy saves his most original work for self-reflexive, shape-shifting epics, such as 2002's classic "Losing My Edge" and last year's "Yeah (Crass Version)," both of which turn up on the set's second, singles-compilation disc. The album itself is good; the singles are fantastic.
'BLACK MARKET'
Ellis Hooks
Unlimited, sss
"Don't underestimate me," Ellis Hooks pleads/warns on the penultimate track of his fourth album. It's hard to imagine anyone would after hearing this dynamic, 30-year-old soul singer.
Still recalling such giants as Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, Hooks brings an almost scary intensity and gospel-fired grit to the 18 originals on "Black Market. Even on slighter fare -- "Cobra," "Roll 'em T" -- the native Alabaman exudes an undeniable power and charisma. Most of the time, however, he's hitting on all cylinders with soul that often packs a rock 'n' roll charge. He's all feral strut on "Big Black Bulldog," exudes empathy on "I'm Feeling You" and idealism on "One Language," and masterfully melds the sexual and the spiritual on "Salt Water."
"Black Market" is available through Unlimited Editions Ltd., Box 158892, Nashville, Tenn. 37215.
'MOVE'
Birelli Lagrene Gypsy Project
Dreyfus, sss
Twenty years ago, when the Gypsy-French guitarist Bireli Lagrene was finding his way after early success, he played rock fusion to distance himself from his Gypsy forebear, the much-copied Django Reinhardt. Here the embrace with Reinhardt is a firm one.
Lagrene goes into the heart of the Reinhardt legend and infuses it with manic confidence. He plays five of the most prominent Reinhardt tunes on this drum-free session, and goes about re-creating the swing sound with a muscular eagerness.
Lagrene often takes off at a headlong pace, seeming to pluck an acoustic guitar harder and faster than the strings can take on Reinhardt's "Hungaria." Saxophonist Franck Wolf provides some welcome ballad relief on "Clair de Lune" and nicely curls around the melody of "Nuages." Guitarist Hono Winterstein and bassist Diego Imbert round out the quartet, which is restoking old forms of fire.