Many reviews of Lana Del Rey’s “Born to Die” have been released already, and they seem to focus on whether or not she’s a true indie songstress or a just label-created pop product. I, however, think she can be a fusion of the two, as not all pop has to be dance-y Britney beats and ballads. Lana Del Rey’s brand of pop instead recalls earlier times. She also has the backing of a major label, so, in that sense, she isn’t indie.

All of Del Rey’s songs have the right mix of her sultry voice, decadent lyrics and wonderful production. “Born to Die” is a decidedly American celebration of excess; Del Rey is a sort of Daisy Buchanan-incarnate. Many have unfairly criticized her lyrics for their shallow, material desire, yet albums from rappers like Kanye West and Drake escape this criticism, despite similar content. I’m not ready to call this sexism, but I will call it unwarranted. Some have called her lyrics clichéd, but when she references the Hamptons or Bacardi, it’s refreshing to hear declarations of wealth that don’t inspire a quick Google search.

The tracks released on the Internet before the album dropped still rank among her best, but the new ones are worth a spin (or several) as well. Special edition bonus track “Lucky Ones” sounds almost like a slowed-down riff on Lily Allen’s “Chinese,” with a dash of dreary. Her catchiest song is “National Anthem,” designed for summer drives to the beach while blaring out lyrics like “Money is the anthem…God you’re so handsome.” A swaying beat and Del Rey’s breathy voice makes “Million Dollar Man” sound more like a cover of a Patsy Cline standard than a song from 2011. Best in show is “Dark Paradise,” which might sound like the titular “Born to Die,” but the song’s theme of fear of loss gives it an extra dimension. The album isn’t perfect, but almost every song grows on you, regardless of the first impression—and really, isn’t that how music should be?

While this album returns to her country roots more than “Fearless” did, the  T-Swift hallmarks are still on display—bubble gum pop chord progressions, images of stairs and cringe-worthy vocal riffs. To her credit, she writes her own songs, but Taylor is a little old to be singing about the same things she sang about when she was fifteen. Several of her songs make her sound like a whiny brat who wants things her way and her way only, and “Speak Now” in particular is borderline crazy—she crashes a wedding to win the groom’s heart.

“Back to December” is easily the most indicative of any lyrical growth. For once, she isn’t crying about a boy who did her wrong or about how she wants to be a kid again. Swift is starting to show potential, but she isn’t quite there yet. This album is what was expected—less than mediocre, but still a guilty pleasure to be enjoyed with a pint of chocolate ice cream.

The album starts with the title track, which can only be described as a series of uncomfortable electronic noises with the subtle entrance of emotionally intense and fitting vocals by Bolmer. Setting the mood for the album, “Illuminaudio” seamlessly transforms into “Caves,” a truly heavy and powerful masterpiece that really shows off Bolmer’s chops.

Bolmer, however, is not the sole deserver of praise for the fantastic musicality of “Illuminaudio”; both the perfectly layered keyboard and synthesizer tracks, as well as the harmonic and headbanging guitar riffs drive the album.

“Illuminaudio” is a flawless, perfect album and will be deemed holy by any fan of post-hardcore, or any lover of good music.

For fans of: Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Saosin, The Devil Wears Prada
Tracks to download: ‘Caves,’ ‘Modern Wolf Hair,’ ‘Notes in Constellations’

“Something for the Rest of Us” sounds more like a sophomore album by a band that’s still trying to find its voice than by the seasoned Goo Goo Dolls. There’s nothing creative about this album; every song is reminiscent of another, and the chord progressions are predictable. The tracks “Nothing is Real” and “Now I Hear” have lyrics that are riddled with teenage angst. John Rzeznik’s voice is, with some exceptions, as calming as ever. His heartfelt lyrics coupled with beautiful piano and strings in “Still Your Song” have the potential to make it a great acoustic piece, but if you’re looking for the new “Iris,” you won’t find it here. Most of the tracks aren’t worth the buy, but there are a few gems that you might want to download.

For fans of: OneRepublic, Matt Nathanson, The Calling
Tracks to download: ‘Still Your Song,’ ‘Soldier’

A lot of rockers are getting older, and you can tell. Not so with Heart and “Red Velvet Car.” Most of the songs on this album definitely do not feel like old Heart, as they decided to go with a folksier feel, but this is still Heart, and they still know how to rock. Vocals are as powerful as ever, and their guitar work is still intricate. Don’t worry, old Heart fans, there still are some sounds like the classic track “Barracuda.” “Wheels” is a fantastic song that really brings on a great bass line and powerful voices. The deeply emotive “Hey You” is a fantastic track. Overall, this is a great CD and is a must buy for any lover of Heart or great classic rock in general. The only downside is that the rock only lasts 35 minutes.

For fans of: Aerosmith, Steve Miller Band, CCR
Tracks to download: ‘Wheels’ ‘Hey You’

There’s a lot to like about the newest offering from Los Campesinos!, and even if you can’t enjoy the driving twee pop or clever lyrics, we Missourians can at least appreciate the shout-out to our home in the song “A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show Me State; Or, Letters from Me to Charlotte.”

The song is a good sampling of what you can expect from “Romance is Boring.” Longtime fans of the band will also be happy to know that this album is relatively similar to their last project, 2008’s “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed.” Just as on that album, the listener can feel the presence of all seven members on each track because the band excels at layering the instrumentation and the vocals, from buzzing guitars to a keyboard imitating a music box to half-spoken vocals with swelling feedback. To add to the busyness, Los Campesinos! also employ a boy-girl attack and occasionally use the whole group to sing in chorus or lead a shout-along.

With the instruments all doing their own thing like mechanisms in a finely-tuned machine, The Peasants! proclivity to switch styles mid-song can have the effect of sounding like, well, like throwing a wrench into everything. But theirs is a controlled chaos in which neither the band members nor the listener loses sight of the song’s intent. If the guitar ratchets up the menace (as on “Plan A”) it’s to complement the similarly agitated lyrics. If there’s one major fault on “Romance is Boring,” it’s that the vocals of frontman Gareth, delivered in a near-spoken manner, leave something melodic to be desired.

Don’t let the group’s “pop” label scare you away. Sure they can bounce a melody along with the best of them, but lyrically the band is more likely to sing about prescription pill abuse and anorexia (“The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future”), sexual impotence and violence (“Straight in at 101”), and heresy and ennui (“Who Fell Asleep In”) than anything you’d hear come out of a former Mouseketeer.

But amid this cast of desperate characters, Los Campesinos! are at their best when they’re looking for the silver lining. That Missouri-shaped bruise isn’t yellow, they tell us; it’s golden.

Spoon, the indie-rock band best known for their irresistibly upbeat ode to the little man, “The Underdog,” has just released its seventh album, “Transference.” The album art, prominently featuring a young man languidly slumped in a large chair, has no thematic bearing on the quality of the album—Spoon just makes rocking look easy. This is not an album produced by slackers. Like always, Spoon delivers. Nor is it a drastic departure from Spoon’s previous style. This album has the same relentlessly manic heartbeat, guaranteed to induce more than a little head-bobbing and hip-shaking in all but hopeless killjoys and quadriplegics. This is a more organic-sounding album, though, reminiscent of garage rock. Following the critically drooled-over (deservedly so) 2007 album “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga,” Spoon has stripped down to produce a raw work, without sacrificing anything in terms of quality. Like Brad Pitt.

A good number of songs on the album deal with somewhat heavy themes. “Written in Reverse” immediately references a hearse, which in the hands of a less competent band would sound like the brooding emo poetry of that weird goth kid you knew in high school. In Spoon’s hands, though, issues with love and emotional distance are conveyed with convincing emotion and attitude—there is no whining. “Nobody Gets Me But You” communicates alienation without descending into despair or self-pity. “Laura” is pretty and lulling but sad. There aren’t any songs that are particularly sunny. That said, the album is far from depressing or slow—every song is alive and kicking.

The drumbeats and guitar hooks on the album are undeniably catchy. The songs feel alive, filled with energy and verve. “Is Love Forever” pounds along, making it hard to resist tapping your foot in time with the drums. “Trouble Comes Running” just rocks. Starting off with a bit of bare-bones garage-rock guitar, the song soon explodes with an impassioned “Oh!” from Britt Daniel and an invigorating drumbeat. All of the musical components—drums, guitar, voice, piano—come together wonderfully. “Got Nuffin” begins with drumming, then layers on guitar, singing and eventually piano. It all comes together like a delicious rock ‘n’ roll cake. Each component is individually emphasized at times, then seamlessly brought back into the general amalgamation of music. In contrast to the other tracks, “Laura” contains a piano lullaby. Despite its lack of a drum part and its mournful notes, Laura moves along steadily. None of the songs lag; this is a consistently enjoyable work.

One of the best things about this album is Britt Daniel’s voice. It’s slightly rough, with a gripping emotional intensity. On “Written in Reverse,” he nearly wails some of the lyrics, delivering a bare intensity that many too-pretty song renditions lack. His singing feels real. His vocal variations add to the ever-interesting vibe. On “Who Makes Your Money,” there are moments when his voice is a bit distorted, as though it is being delivered through a fan. The effect is bitingly alien. Daniel also punctuates with “Oohs” and other little emotional embellishments, fitting well rather than sounding silly or melodramatic. On “Laura,” his humming blends soothingly with rest of the song, contributing to its dreamy feel.

“Transference” proves, as does Brad Pitt in “Fight Club” (and several other movies), that stripping down a bit can produce fantastic results. Fans of indie, rock, or good music in general will enjoy this album; Celine Dion devotees might not.

Last spring, I unofficially knew “Idol” performance night as WTF-Tuesdays, because every week, Adam gave an even less predictable performance than he did the week before. This album gives off a similar vibe. Songs range from the synthesizing pop-dance beats of the opening song “Music Again” to the tantalizingly drawn out ballad “Broken Down.” Both songs, like most of the album, showcase Adam’s ridiculously large range that brought him to the top of the pack this season.

Because he can sing just about anything, Adam has been called a vocal chameleon. This is both a positive and a negative on this album. Writing credits on “For Your Entertainment” feature many famous musicians, and it shows. “Soaked,” written by Muse’s Matthew Bellamy, has a Mediterranean vibe that Adam sings wonderfully, but it sounds exactly like a Muse song. And, I’m surprised every time I listen to “Whatya Want From Me” when Adam starts singing. Written by Pink, this unofficial second single sounds exactly like something she would record. Not that I’m complaining. These two tracks are two of my favorites on the record, focusing on a softer side of Adam’s vocals and revealing his own sensitive side.

The title track, “For Your Entertainment,” is a different story. This is a song I would hear in any dance club. The first time I heard it, I stopped in the middle of the song. Adam’s voice sounded processed, like nothing like I’d expect from someone with such beautiful vocals. The slightly sadistic lyrics (“do you know what you got into/ Can you handle what I’m ‘bout to do/ Cuz it’s about to get rough for you/ I’m here for your entertainment”) certainly didn’t help. But then on second and third (and ninth and 10th…) listen, I started to love the song. It has a great beat, and it is perfect for dancing. After half a year of being confined into the “American Idol mold,” Adam is getting to express himself here. And it’s just fun.

Many other songs also highlight Adam’s raw sexual power. “Strut” and “Fever” are two examples. Both feature gender-neutral pronouns like “you,” allowing Adam to ambiguously express his true nature. And they both encourage the listener to get rid of all their inhibitions like Adam did, and, as the producer of “Fever,” Lady Gaga, once pronounced—to just dance. Songs like “If I Got You” and “Sure Fire Winners” give Adam even more opportunity to proclaim who he is and show the world that he honestly doesn’t care what people think of him. And they are just so fun to listen to.

All in all, “For Your Entertainment” is an extremely fun album. It gives Adam slightly less opportunity to showcase his raw vocal power than I was expecting, but I haven’t heard an album in a really long time that made me just want to get up and go crazy as much as this one does—that is, go crazy in a good way.

Rating: 3.5/5
For fans of: Lady Gaga, David Bowie
Songs to download: ‘Whatya Want From Me’, ‘For Your Entertainment’, ‘Soaked’

On “The Fame Monster,” Lady Gaga uses her original formula (dance beat underneath catchy lyrics) but branches out into many new territories at the same time. The album’s first two singles, “Bad Romance” and “Telephone,” are by far the most recognizably “Gaga” songs. The songs are modern dance-pop filled with synthesizers and catchy lyrics galore. The former song, though it may be the first single, is probably the weakest song on the album. Of all of the songs, it took the longest amount of time to like. On “Bad Romance,” some of her singing is a little cacophonous and can therefore turn people off. That said, after a few listens, its catchiness is irresistible.

“Telephone,” on the other hand, is definitely one of the best on the album. It is high energy, club ready and, of course, catchy. Beyoncé features on this song as the only guest on the EP. The self-proclaimed diva leaves her runs and high notes at home, as she assumes her “Sasha Fierce” personality and swaggers across the song. She fits perfectly well in between Gaga’s verses, and the combination of two of today’s most popular superstars is hard to resist.

As on her first album, Gaga doesn’t only produce dance-centric tracks on “The Fame Monster,” but she also adds two slower songs that further diversify the album. The first, “Speechless,” sounds like a rock ‘n’ roll power ballad with its heavy piano chords and spare instrumentation. It is on this song that the eccentric singer really shows off her skills. She has a real voice, and she isn’t afraid to use it on this song, contrary to what many say about her. “So Happy I Could Die” is less of a ballad and more of a slow, peaceful, ethereal pop song. It is calm, collected and shows a different side of the energetic Gaga.

Elsewhere on the album, Lady Gaga changes up her style and takes us back to the 1980s with “Dance in the Dark” and “Monster.” These synth-heavy throwbacks manage to mix the modern dance beats with the ’80s sounds. “Monster” is not as danceable as some of her previous hits but is still high energy enough to get people moving. As usual, the song’s lyrics are catchy, if not extremely confusing, as Gaga sings about a guy who “is a monster:” “He ate my heart, and then he ate my brain.”

By far the strangest song, though, is “Teeth.” This song is reminiscent of a southern saloon song with its heavy, continual bass drum and sleigh bells. Throughout the song, Gaga demands that her guy show her his teeth. While the song’s meaning isn’t clear, there is no doubt that Gaga is heavily referencing vampires throughout the song (“Help, need a man now, show me your fangs”). While “Teeth” is definitely a strange, out-of-this-world song, Gaga pulls it off like only she can.

After a slew of club-ready hits produced by RedOne, Lady Gaga released “The Fame Monster” EP, which shows just how versatile she really is. While she has certainly become an icon, she is more than just that or a one-trick pony. She can sing ballads just as well as she can sing catchy dance-pop. She is undeniably creative, she can make whatever music she feels like, and she can do it better than most.

Rating: 4.5/5
For fans of: Britney Spears, Madonna, Ke$ha, Cascada
Tracks to download: ‘Telephone’, ‘So Happy I Could Die’, ‘Monster’

Rating: 3.5/5
For fans of: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Kills, The White Stripes
Tracks to download: ‘I bet you there are some burley dudes on that ship…’. ‘Pressure Check’, and ‘Clean it up’