‘Embryonic’

‘Embryonic’

The Flaming Lips (Warner Bros.)

Grade: D

“We stand before you not knowing what we have done,” Wayne Coyne says in the press notes announcing the bold “Embryonic,” the Flaming Lips’ 12th full-length and first double album. It’s hard to imagine anyone else making sense of it, either. “Embryonic” floats and bubbles over the course of 18 tracks (two of which feature the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O.; another, the great “Worm Mountain,” stars MGMT), but true to title, it’s mostly formless. That was Coyne and the Lips’ intention, apparently — to tap into the flow and forget the destination — but atmosphere isn’t one of the band’s assets. “Embryonic” is a series of forgettable soundscapes (“Sagittarius Silver Announcement”) with the occasional burst of song life (“Silver Trembling Hands”). And no, things wouldn’t have been any better if it all had been boiled down to one disc. If anything, “Embryonic” needs more space to unfold.

— Michael Pollock, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘southern voice’

Tim McGraw (Curb)

Grade: B-

Someone please give Tim McGraw a hug. Though the twangin’ teaser single “It’s a Business Doing Pleasure With You” and the good-timin’ title track suggest otherwise, McGraw’s new album, “Southern Voice” (Curb), is overflowing with tearjerkers and meditations on death and dying. Between the helpless “I’m Only Jesus” and the morbid “If I Died Today,” the body count here gets pretty high, even though McGraw handled it all far better with “Live Like You Were Dying.” Perhaps he needs to find the safe harbor he sings of in the Rascal Flatts-ish “Still” and lighten up a bit.

— Glenn Gamboa, Long Island Newsday

‘Cosmic Egg’

Wolfmother (Interscope)

Grade: B

When audiences first heard Wolfmother, the smiles were many. Like Queen of the Stone Age without the tongue-in-cheek cleverness, the young Aussie outfit, led by singer/guitarist Andrew Stockdale, winnowed down blurry stoner rock and vintage metal into its essentials: high, throaty yelps with repetitious, fantastical lyrics; contagious melodies; wifty bridges. Throw a rock and you’d hit an influence from 1973. All Wolfmother needed were codpieces. Yet they managed to avoid pastiche while toying with clich .

Fast-forward to the present: Stockdale replaces members and hires moody producer Alan Moulder (Depeche Mode, NIN). The propulsion and towering sludge of its past still infuse the band’s sound, from the spaced-out “Fields” to the dirt-ball drama of “10,000 Feet.” But there’s more weight to Stockdale’s warble throughout the new mixed, murky bag, even in sillier flights such as “In the Castle.” “Cosmic Egg’s” melodies and arrangements are less cluttered despite the band’s heritage in metal marauding.

It’s a good Egg.

— A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’

Various artists

(Chop Shop/Atlantic)

Grade: B+

Given the multiplatinum, across-the-board smash success of the first “Twilight” soundtrack, which boosted the careers of Paramore and Muse to new heights, many questioned whether the second installment could escape being overcome by the music industry’s primal desire to sink its fangs into teenagers’ wallets.

Spoiler alert: It does.

“The Twilight Saga: New Moon” (Chop Shop/Atlantic) is a rare soundtrack that both avoids the usual need for already-familiar songs and the cost-cutting desire to pad out the album with no-name filler. From start to finish, “New Moon” is packed with interesting, left-of-center rock that will likely fit well with the upcoming movie.

In keeping with the movie’s theme, no one really rocks out on “New Moon,” though Death Cab for Cutie’s trembling, Radiohead-tinged “Meet Me on the Equinox” comes close. Muse’s remix of “I Belong to You” is understated, and the Killers’ pretty “White Demon Love Song” is remarkably subdued. Even the usually bombastic OK Go — yes, the treadmill-video guys — turn in a lovely jangling ballad, “Shooting the Moon,” while the normally in-your-face Black Rebel Motorcycle Club lays off the throttle on the acoustic “Done All Wrong.”

— Glenn Gamboa, Long Island Newsday