‘rebirth’

February 7, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

‘rebirth’

Lil’ Wayne (Cash Money/Universal)

Grade: B-

It’s not as easy to rock as Lil’ Wayne thinks it is, as his oft-delayed “rock” record “Rebirth” painfully proves.

For a rapper who can cut to the quick and shine with only the sparest of accompaniment, too much of “Rebirth” is bloated with Weezy noodling needlessly on his guitar the way many kids do when they first learn to play.

What makes “Rebirth” even more maddening than when he gets everything wrong — as he does in the faux-Evanescence “Runnin’” or the overindulgent “American Star” — is when Wayne gets everything right.

“Knockout” sounds like an ambitious update of Prince’s great “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” that kicks into a higher gear with an awesome freakout from Nicki Minaj. “On Fire” works an unlikely sample from Amy Holland’s “She’s on Fire” from the “Scarface” soundtrack into a nice groove. And “Drop the World” not only comes the closest to the kind of flash Weezy showed in the multiplatinum breakthrough of “Tha Carter III,” but it also gives Eminem his most potent platform in years.

With songs this good on “Rebirth,” why does Wayne make us suffer through so much halfhearted, unworthy stuff? The annoying punk of “Get a Life” could have been written by countless new garage bands, and “Ground Zero” is like a clumsy Limp Bizkit reunion that no one wants.

The bright side is that now that “Rebirth” is out of the way and his jail sentence on felony gun charges is set to start next week, Weezy can hopefully soon focus once again on what he’s great at — hip-hop.

—Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

‘realism’

Magnetic Fields (Nonesuch)

Grade: C+

Magnetic Fields mastermind Stephin Merritt apparently can’t get it together to record an album without some sort of defining concept, whether it’s all songs that begin with the letter I — as with 2004’s (non-autobiographical, naturally) “I,” or 1999’s gloriously great “69 Love Songs,” a three-disc set he understandably has never quite figured out how to follow up.

“Realism” is a companion to 2008’s “Distortion.” Where that one was loud and inspired by the Jesus & Mary Chain’s “Psychocandy,” this collection of tight, droll, arch alt-pop songs is quiet, with mainly acoustic instrumentation. Also, it’s meant to be a commentary on notions of authenticity. We might not get that from the music had Merritt not taken pains to tell us so. Sure, the sepulchrally voiced singer is still a tart lyricist and canny craftsman who had me snickering at such couplets as “I want you crawling back to me, down on your knees yeah / Like an appendectomy, sans anesthesia.”

But he’s mostly being merely clever here, not inspired. And really, if you’re going to put a holiday song on a disk released in January, as Merritt does with “Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree,” put it last instead of smack in the middle of the album. That’s not clever; it’s just annoying.

—Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘Who I Am’

Nick Jonas and the Administration (Hollywood)

Grade: C+

The Jonas Brothers succeed because they sound believable singing for and about young adults. Nick Jonas and The Administration’s “Who I Am” (Hollywood) struggles because it usually sounds like young Nick making music for his grandparents. Jonas occasionally hits on a great song such as the John Mayer-ish soul of “Olive & an Arrow,” but, more often, he swings and misses on overblown rock such as the prog-ish “Conspiracy Theory” because he can’t connect to the grown-up lyrics and arrangements. He should stick to who he is.

—Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

‘One Life Stand’

Hot Chip (Parlophone Records)

Grade: B

The British technopop outfit Hot Chip’s lastest album, “One Life Stand,” is a softer, gentler follow up to 2008’s “Made in the Dark.” It’s rich with emotional resonance, evoking love at every possible interval, a rarity among dance-pop records. Hot Chip’s hyper-evolved tracks can be soft-shoed into a state of contemplative agony this time around. Think Joy Division, but classier.

The title track employs a curious melange of pop ingredients. A dollop of uptempo beats, techno gurgles and a splash of steel drums garnish a macabre main dish, a “Debbie Downer”-grade love song from singer Joe Gaddard’s honey-tipped tongue: “We built ourselves a shelter, you will always be my baby/ I only want to be your one life stand, tell me do you stand by your whole man.”

Much of the album follows suit, with some songs performing better than others. “We Have Love” could be a La Bouche and Depeche Mode collaboration, giving it a retro flavor — but not in a good way. Quick-paced beats envelope an incessantly drab chorus: “We have love, give it up, give it up.”

However, the delightfully bitter taste of “One Life Stand” triumphs throughout much of the album. On “Hand Me Down Your Love,” sweet and sour piano hooks and tremolo vocals ache for the dance floor and the bedroom.

—Ryan McLendon, Associated Press