'ATOM BOMB'

'ATOM BOMB'
The Blind Boys of Alabama
Real World, sss 1/2
The decades-old voices of the Blind Boys of Alabama waft almost ghostlike through the gaslit ether of creaky godliness and swampy soul. The sad news that cofounding member George Scott, 75, passed away recently lends an additional spooky note to these secular and sacred songs, new and old, that bristle without sounding contrived.
The Boys' version of Fatboy Slim's hip-hoppish "Demons" could have fallen flat. But baritone Scott, cofounders Clarence Fountain and Jimmy Carter, a quartet of recent members, and rapper Gift of Gab combine in elegant choral grace for an invigorating gospel-hop hybrid.
Twitchy support from organist Billy Preston, harmonicat Charlie Musselwhite, and Los Lobos' six-stringer David Hidalgo lends tension and weight to gospel tracks and groovy rockers ("Spirit in the Sky"). But Scott's clarion boom stands out, rendering songs like "Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb" as joyful as they are haunted.
'THE ALTERNATIVE TO LOVE'
Brendan Benson
V2, sss 1/2
On "Folk Singer," a typically super-catchy tune from Brendan Benson's 2002 album "Lapalco," the singer's girlfriend tells him: "Stop pretendin': You're not John Lennon." Happily, that advice was ignored, and the Louisiana-born one-man band is hanging on to his obsession.
"The Alternative to Love" is one long power-pop hookfest, with nods to the Beatles abounding, but Phil Spector is also used as source material. Benson's third album is filled with songs of envy, anger and confusion -- but they're delivered with sunny choruses and savvy pop craft, so the despair doesn't hit you until long after you've started singing along.
'SOME CITIES'
Doves
Capitol, sss 1/2
Jez Williams is a lousy guitarist. Jimi Goodwin isn't much of singer. And the band Doves is entirely too fond of echo effects. But this Manchester trio creates some of rock's most puissant and persuasive music.
Such tracks as "Sky Starts Falling" and "Black & amp; White Town" are murky magic. Imagine Lou Reed meeting the Cure in a dive bar.
'LULLABIES TO PARALYZE'
Queens of the Stone Age
Interscope, sss 1/2
Medication. Madness. Melodrama.
The three M's remain Josh Homme's calling cards when it comes to the Queens of the Stone Age's hungry art-metal mien. Even the firing of longtime member Nick Oliveri can't stop the mayhem.
Renowned for monster psych-riffage, noirish ambiance and lysergic lyrics ("Everybody Knows That You're Insane"), debonair crooner Homme ups his own sludgy ante here. While providing a dark obsessiveness for the revved cabaret of "Tangled Up in Plaid" and its nihilistic cousin, "In My Head," his melodies have grown simpler and borderline-contagious.
Brusque complexity still rules such slayer anthems as "Someone's in the Wolf." But what could be blunter, and Queenier, than Homme's dreamy, foot-stomping dirtball blues "Burn the Witch," with ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons making Mississippi mud below Homme's heavenly howl?
'PICARESQUE'
The Decemberists
Kill Rock Stars, sss
"I am a writer, writer of fictions," Colin Meloy sings in "The Engine Driver," from the Decemberists' third album, "Picaresque." He's a storyteller who loves using such words as "palanquin," "pachyderm" and "parapet" (all from "The Infanta & quot;) in aptly picaresque tales of rakes and roustabouts, many of them set several centuries ago.
Like Robyn Hitchcock, the Decemberists tread a tenuous line between charming invention and quirky irrelevance. That said, "Picaresque's" best songs -- including the celebrity-bashing "16 Military Wives," the melancholy ballad "Of Angels and Angles," and "The Sporting Life" -- do relate at least tangentially to the contemporary world.
Produced with help from Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla, this is the Decemberists' most accomplished album, bursting with horns and strings and accordions. But the band seems content exploring a scenic, historic and rather narrow cul-de-sac.
'KEROSENE'
Miranda Lambert
Columbia, sss
'BRAVE'
Jamie O'Neal
Capitol, ss 1/2
'THE STORY OF MY LIFE'
Deana Carter
Vanguard, sss
"My step is sure," a newly on-her-own Miranda Lambert assures her mother in "Mama I'm Alright," and the 21-year-old's debut sure backs up that claim. The former "Nashville Star" runner-up asserts herself on "Kerosene" with an unvarnished, often rocking sound that is as pungent as her voice's Texas twang. She does a couple of run-of-the-mill ballads, but Lambert, who wrote or cowrote virtually all the material, comes across as a vivid, fully formed personality, whether she's being tough on the title track or blue on "Greyhound Bound for Nowhere."
Jamie O'Neal leads with her best shot on her second album. "Trying to Find Atlantis," the first single, is a catchy and clever plaint about mate-hunting, and it features her gutsy vocal over a tangy arrangement heavy on dobro and fiddle. Another highlight is "Devil on the Left," which conjures an atmospherically low-down vibe. Most of the rest of "Brave" is middle-of-the-road country-pop, leaning toward the upbeat and uplifting, although producer Keith Stegall again keeps the syrup to a minimum.
On "The Story of My Life," Deana Carter loosely chronicles a love affair gone bad, providing the former Nashville hitmaker ("Strawberry Wine") with some meaty material. Her breathy drawl is about the only hint of country that remains in Carter's music, which lacks any flashes of her usual perkiness and flirts at times with preciousness. The intelligent, classic-sounding pop craftsmanship and lyrical forthrightness ultimately yield an understated but compelling song cycle.
'DEEP SONG'
Kurt Rosenwinkel
Verve, sss
This disc plays hard-to-get, tantalizing listeners with cool tones while its frequent complexity sometimes makes it a challenge to appreciate.
Guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, who has vaulted to major-label status since the early 1990s, owes a lot to fellow guitarist Pat Metheny. That's apparent especially in his airy tone with this heady quintet including Brad Mehldau on piano, Joshua Redman on tenor, and Larry Grenadier on bass. Jeff Ballard and Ali Jackson share the drum work.
But Rosenwinkel proves to be his own groovemeister. Weaving through some twisted tunes, he picks his way to melodic places, finding a tone to soar on or an interval to confound things.
The early tunes sound twitchy and often seem to end with not much bared. But the session deepens as it progresses. "Deep Song" is a dreamy, wonderful ditty that finds Rosenwinkel in a relaxed mood, not thinking of proving himself.
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