"I Like Fun," They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants have a spring in their step on "I Like Fun," their 20th studio album. As is often the case, their gait is of the kind endorsed by Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks, with a special dispensation here from the Dead Poets Society. Yes, death becomes TMBG and there's a funereal bouquet of approaches to inevitable expiry among the 15 tracks, including "Mrs. Bluebeard," ''I Left My Body" and the dark-until-it's-goofy "Last Wave." "Let's Get This Over With" relies on a foundation of piano and drums and is one their catchiest songs in a career densely populated with them. It makes for a fantastic opener and one of its maxims is that "Even when you're out of work/you still have a job to do." "By the Time You Get This" is an all-too-optimistic prediction of the future — no barking dogs, hatred or lies — made in 937, "the dark and troubled past." Not exactly Nostradamus, but consider that the Frenchman had a 600-year advantage. The Motown-style telegraph guitar across "Push Back the Hands of Time" sounds almost incongruous in a tune that's otherwise less agitated than its intro. "Almost incongruous" could be a TMBG trademark and is one of the secret ingredients in their special sauce. Instrumental support from their live band (lead guitar, drums and bass) supplements the duo's musicality. Though the sound effects may be more conventional than on their early albums, the two Johns, Flansburgh and Linnell, continue to be as effective as ever. Recorded in the same Manhattan location as "Flood," their 1990 milestone, "I Like Fun" demonstrates the band's inimitable talent for earworm melodies and zany subject matter. Now go and gather those rosebuds. — Pablo Gorondi, The Associated Press
"The Time Is Now," Craig David
If the name Craig David sounds vaguely familiar, congratulations — you're officially old. David was the British pop prodigy who at the turn of the millennium had the infectious hits "Fill Me In" and "7 Days." Remember "Hot in Herre" by Nelly? Same year. David is back now with a new album, which is an accomplishment in itself. That it is also an excellent album is truly remarkable in a world where the expiration date in pop music is measured in months. David's versatility and warmth is all over "The Time Is Now," a 12-track album in which he had a hand in writing every song. He sings and he raps in everything from edgy house, Top 40 bubblegum pop, spare electronica and trop-pop. A series of producers — including KAYTRANADA, Fraser T Smith, Steve Mac and Tre Jean-Marie — have coaxed different sides of the appealing David. You're rooting for him before the third song ends and he doesn't disappoint. For an artist who last had a hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2002, David's album is as current as anything by Camila Cabello. His "Brand New" has a "Shape of You" feel and there's sometimes a distinct Drake whiff to him, especially on "Going On" with a borrowed Jamaican patois. "I Know You" featuring Bastille is a terrifically murky club banger, while the high-tempo "Focus" will remind you of throwback to '90s house group Black Box. This is actually David's seventh album and he's evidently not been broken by the vagaries of fame, a cold music industry or even becoming the cruel target of a sketch show in Britain. Throughout "The Time Is Now" is optimism and a willingness to seize chances. "Let's live in the moment. When one door closes, another opens. So let's live in the moment. No point holding to what's broken," he sings on "Live in the Moment" featuring GoldLink. Another song's title says it all: "Love Will Come Around." David, who was 19 when he first hit the charts and is now 36, has matured nicely into 2018 — "For the Gram" is a cheeky song not about coke sniffing but posting online via Instagram. ("Don't forget the hashtag," he sings.) So 2018 is starting off nicely, with a prodigal son's return. Welcome back, Mr. David. — Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
"Let the Record Play," Moon Taxi
The Nashville-based quintet Moon Taxi has been steadily gaining a wider following over the past decade and we're happy for them. But the cost, it now becomes clear, has been too high. "Let the Record Play," the band's 10-track fifth album, will be hard to take for some fans as Moon Taxi becomes progressively blander with each passing year. Their sound has flattened out, with lyrics that have grown mushy and lack bite. Their transformation into a lite version of Kings of Leon is almost complete. The issue isn't their musicianship, which remains tight, intricate and top-notch. Nor does it have to do with Moon Taxi's blend of indie-prog rock, led by Trevor Terndrup's special voice. It's just that "Let the Record Play" would be a triumph for any other band. For Moon Taxi it's just treading water. Any urgency, any sense of experimentation is mostly gone. This may be what happens when you combine a big record deal — the band is newly signed to RCA — with the payday that comes when Moon Taxi songs get used in commercials from BMW to McDonald's. "Hey, hey, hey/Now we're looking good/Now we're looking good as gold," go the taunting lyrics in one new song. Moon Taxi used to deal with social issues — "All the Rage" from the brilliant 2012 album "Cabaret" condemned extremism — and played with different sounds, as in "The New Black" from 2013. On the new album, they lean on sunny and shimmery sounds, with only a few songs at the end — particularly the excellent "Trouble" — making any sort of impression. And the closest they get to social consciousness is on "Two High," a half-hearted attempt to resist and connect people on a grass-roots level ("We can walk together/With our hands up in the sky"). It's sort of fitting for this album that that's also the gesture for surrender. — Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
"True In Time," John Gorka
The past is present on "True In Time." John Gorka digs into his songwriting archives for several tunes, including two he had lost, and the title cut was inspired in part by a 1970s Paul Simon song. But the topics Gorka covers — love, guitars, dogs — never really go out of style. And as always, his material benefits from his warm tenor, eye for detail and neat turns of phrase. Take "The Ballad of Iris & Pearl," a tall tale about a pioneering partnership that supposedly influenced the Carter Family and Elvis, with the punchline to be found in the liner notes. There's more music history on "Blues With a Rising Sun," a beautiful love letter to the late bluesman Son House. "The Body Parts Medley," a crowd favorite at Gorka concerts for years, answers the challenge to find a rhyme for "calves." Best of all is the title cut, which pairs a fetching melody with tempo shifts. It's so good Gorka performs it twice, once solo and once with accompaniment. "Maybe every song comes true in time," he sings, bridging the past and present. — Steven Wine, The Associated Press