“The Eternal”

“The Eternal”

Sonic Youth (Matador)

Grade: B

From cover art courtesy of found-sound guitarist John Fahey to titles referencing Beat poets and hard-core giants, there’s no mistaking this as anything but another record from America’s arbiters of avant-everything, Sonic Youth.

But after 18 years and nine CDs with Geffen, there’s a formidable difference in this Youth. Indeed, there are touchstones to all SY has been (Detroit punk enthusiasts on “What We Know”) and played (oddly tuned, bell-chiming guitars on “Massage the History”). They’ve returned to their indie-label roots but emboldened that sound to include sly, sexier melodies with the three singers acting as a united front on contagious tunes such as “Leaky Lifeboat [for Gregory Corso].” While Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo have their way with “Lifeboat” (listen hard and hear Led Zep within its riffs!), the vocalist/ instrumentalists find even newer tricks to exploit. Ranaldo’s gorgeous “Walking Blue” is lovingly ruminative, Gordon’s got black humor and caustic sensuality on her side (“Sacred Trickster,” “Calming the Snake”), and the usually laconic Moore sounds annoyed throughout. On “No Way” and the cleverly pretentious, war-damning “Anti-Orgasm,” Moore actually comes across as snottily disgusted.

“The Eternal” proves Youth isn’t always wasted on the young.

“The E.N.D”

Black Eyed Peas (Interscope)

Grade: B

Black Eyed Peas don’t get enough respect for doing the same things right as “legitimate” rappers. In “Boom Boom Pow,” the enormous first single from The E.N.D., the Peas’ fifth album, Fergie rhymes “style” and “pow” with rubbery dexterity and the resourcefulness of a grocery bagger.

The spacious effects in lieu of a beat and the mechanical echoing of will.i.am’s final syllable before the chorus mimic less commercial predecessors: the Neptunes producing Clipse or Thom Yorke fiddling with his laptop.

The next track, “Rock That Body,” fiddles with switches Mirwais plugged in for Madonna’s relatively avant Music.

It took them a while to shed their skins, but the Peas are the most enthusiastic pop act to incorporate rapping since — who, Prince? After a few mindlessly hooky albums, they make another left turn into a dance paradise here, at least as Autotune-crazy as Kanye and at least as good as Madonna’s “Confessions on a Dancefloor.” Fergie plays yearning disco-diva on “Meet Me Halfway,” and “Imma Be” makes excellent use of a hi-res squiggle synth. “Electric City” reclaims some of Dizzee Rascals’ eight-bit Nintendo noises, and “Out of My Head” dubs in horns and slap bass like some kind of futuristic KC and the Sunshine Band. None of these are classics, but all are bumping enough for your 2008 (“2000-late”)-themed party.

“Honkytonk and Vine”

David Serby (Harbor Grove)

Grade: B+

If you didn’t surmise from the title of his new album that David Serby is from Southern California, then the music should provide more of a tipoff. Like his earlier work, it’s a classic style at the intersection of Buck Owens’ Bakersfield twang and the progressive traditionalism of more recent artists such as Dwight Yoakam and Gary Allan.

Serby manages to bring a fresh voice to it all, and why not? His life could be a country song — or several: put up for adoption at 6 months, a bad early marriage, finding out his biological father was also a country musician. Singing in a dry tenor, he digs into age-old country themes in crisp, catchy fashion, from revving up the barroom bonhomie with “Permanent Position” (“sittin’ in this honky-tonk ...”) to wallowing in heartache with “I Only Smoke When I’m Drinking.” Serby didn’t turn to music until after he hit 30, but this late bloomer has obviously found his calling.

“Groovadelphia”

Organissmio (Big O Records)

Grade: B

Organ jazz was, back in the day, largely a Philly thing, and “Groovadelphia” is a Lansing, Mich., trio’s gentle tribute.

Organist Jim Alfredson and guitarist Joe Gloss hooked up at Michigan State in the late 1990s, and their collaboration with drummer and harmonica player Randy Marsh juices up the genre.

Organissimo layers in R&B, groove and some pop sensibilities that range as far afield as Frank Zappa. Whereas organ jazz used to be a soloist’s domain, these guys make a balanced chamber-group statement. No one gets too far in front. And the trio doesn’t quite get to frothy states of climax, as the Philly tradition long demanded. But it’s still artful and respectful stuff, and the title track reaches reasonable heights of abandon.

There’s also more range here. “Bleecker” is a big dollop of funk, “Rhodesia” makes for churchy and mystical fare, and “Traces” heads in a suave pop direction.

“Here Come The Vikings”

Astrid Williamson

(One Little Indian)

Grade: C+

From her beginnings with the British band Goya’s Dress, Astrid Williamson has established herself as a seductive and sensitive vocalist whose flexible voice can soar to ethereal heights. Her previous work, particularly 2006’s “Day of the Lone Wolf,” has tended to be lush and melancholy. But on her fourth solo album, “Here Come The Vikings,” she often rocks.

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