‘ANGELS OF DESTRUCTION!’

‘ANGELS OF DESTRUCTION!’

Marah (Yep Roc)

Grade: B

For a ragged but right rock band whose impassioned cult is built on the strength of many a beery bar blowout, sobriety turns out to suit Marah surprisingly well. The Dylan-y opening title, “Coughing Up Blood,” suggests what it took to clear the head of Dave Bielanko, lead singer of the South Philadelphia-bred and Brooklyn-based outfit. The sextet, boosted significantly by the addition of keyboard player Christine Smith, confidently moves through the Bowie-esque rocker “Old Time Tickin’ Away,” the breezy road song “Songbird” (sung by Dave’s brother Serge), and the horn-happy swing of “Can’t Take It With You ...” In fact, the ensemble sounds as sharp as it has in the decade since its auspicious 1998 debut. “Where does the time go?” Dave Bielanko wonders in the swaggering title cut. But rather than licking his wounds, he’s cheerily informing the seraphs in question that “the angel of redemption’s got you beat.”

— Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘PLACES’

Georgie James (Saddle Creek)

Grade: B

Georgie James is a D.C. duo that builds on the coed harmonies of ’70s AM rock, the cheerful melodies of power pop, and the occasional blast of a glam riff for some comfortably familiar fun (although often with a bitter undercurrent).

At the start of “Places,” their debut, guitarist/drummer John Davis (formerly of Q and Not U) and keyboardist Laura Burhenn alternate lead vocals, whiplashing from “Cake Parade,” Burhenn’s candy-coated stab at militarism, to “Need Your Needs,” Davis’ summery breakup tune. But once Davis and Burhenn duet on the soaring “More Lights” and harmonize throughout “Henry and Hanzy,” Places coalesces. Like the New Pornographers, Georgie James can seem like masters of pastiche: The parts sound vaguely recognizable, drawn from an extensive record collection of one-hit wonders and forgotten artists from the late ’60s and early ’70s, but they sound natural, and joyful, together.

— Steve Klinge, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET’

Motion Picture Soundtrack

(Nonesuch); Grade: A

Vengeance and bloodshed aside, Tim Burton’s take on Stephen Sondheim’s Grand Guignol musical sounds nothing like the brassy 1979 Broadway version starring Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury or 2005’s cabaretish revival with Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone.

Sondheim’s usual orchestrator, Jonathan Tunick, did this film score’s arrangements with a brooding atmosphere — grandly gothic and sweepingly dusky but not without light. This dramatic shading allows Burton’s cast of mostly untrained voices to ease into Sondheim’s complex opera of mayhem with an ear toward softly intoning the sad truths of the lyrics without having to show off. Though that makes magic for Alan Rickman (the pernicious, predatory Judge Turpin) and Helena Bonham Carter (the licentious, lovesick Mrs. Lovett), it’s Johnny Depp’s title character that’s best rewarded. When Depp stretches vowel sounds on a line like “the cruelty of man is as wondrous as Peru” during “No Place Like London” — a song whose spite-driven words are repeated growlingly in the glorious “Epiphany” — it’s in a creaking baritone with phrasing reminiscent of David Bowie. Depp’s a dashing choice as Todd because his popularity brings hipster cachet. But his subtly mad mannerisms (those too of Bonham Carter) and uneasy croon drive Sweeney Todd to bloody brilliance.

— A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘THERE WILL BE BLOOD: ORIGINAL MUSIC’

Jonny Greenwood (Nonesuch)

Grade: B

Radiohead heads who just had to buy a CD-quality recording of the previously downloadable-only “In Rainbows” this week will also need to get their hands on “There Will Be Blood,” the score to P.T. Anderson’s cinematic adaptation of muckraker Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel “Oil!” It’s composed by Thom Yorke cohort Jonny Greenwood. Here, the multi-instrumentalist extends Radiohead’s art rock into the classical realm, with 33 minutes of tightly disciplined music heavy on the strings — cello, in particular — performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra (with whom Greenwood is composer in residence) and the Emperor Quartet. No guitars, only occasional bursts of percussion, as on the tensely propulsive “Proven Lands,” and no vocals. It doesn’t take much aural imagination, however, to conjure Yorke’s dolorous voice in your head during such beautifully desolate pieces as “Prospectors Arrive.” “There Will Be Blood” is a natural extension of the Radiohead aesthetic as well as a harbinger of a busy-as-he-wants-to-be movie-music-making career for Greenwood.

— Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘ANOTHER SATURDAY MORNING’

Ellis Hooks (Evidence)

Grade: A

“It’s hard to light a fire with the rain on the wood,” Ellis Hooks observes on his new album. Once again, however, this vastly underappreciated young soul man sounds as if he could ignite a conflagration in a downpour.

Still singing with a gospel-fired intensity that often packs a rock ‘n’ roll charge, the native Alabamian continues to make a case for himself as the true heir of such greats as Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. While he can be a “Bad MF,” to name one song title here, Hooks also peels away the toughness to reveal another side, as on the pleading, Stax-like ballad “Do I Ever Cross Your Heart.” At another point, he declares, “I’ve got a powerful spirit,” and that spirit is embodied in an undeniably dynamic and charismatic physical presence. In other words, he is the essence of soul.

— Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘SOME PEOPLE HAVE REAL PROBLEMS’

Sia (Hear Music/Monkey Puzzle Records)

Grade: B

Talk about “Some People Have Real Problems” — one song on Sia’s new album is titled “The Girl You Lost to Cocaine.” But while it’s usually wise to stay out of other people’s troubles, you’ll want to get caught up in the drama Sia has to offer on her second solo CD.

The former Zero 7 singer’s scratchy, raw voice brims with emotion on these stark but engaging songs about broken dreams and fractured relationships. While heartache is a common thread in music, Sia, who co-wrote all but one song on “Some People,” expresses her pain with vivid imagery that ranges from dreamily poetic to painfully realistic.

“Let’s not fight — I’m tired, can we just sleep tonight?” Sia sings with a weary tone that anyone who has been through a rocky relationship can relate to on “Soon We’ll Be Found.” And on the CD’s first song, “Black Sandals,” she conjures up a fantasy scenario to express escaping a doomed relationship. Most of the lyrics are framed against a soulful, acoustic arrangements with a downtempo beat, but it’s not all somber: “The Girl You Lost To Cocaine” sounds like a fun, upbeat groove — until you hear lyrics like, “There is nothing that you can do so I will not stay, no I don’t need drama, so I’m walking away.”

Sia got a lot of attention in 2005 when her bittersweet song “Breathe Me” marked the end of HBO’s “Six Feet Under” in the final episode. That song gave a hint of Sia’s musical power — now “Some People Have Real Problems” reveals it completely.

— Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Associated Press