POP/ROCK
The Dead Weather, "Sea of Cowards" (Third Man/Warner Bros.)
The Dead Weather wants you to know that it can't be trusted. The band's second album arrives in a foul mood, with a high-style stake in misanthropy. Alison Mosshart inhabits the role of a lead singer cagily, at once beckoning and rebuffing affection; her fellow vocalist Jack White does the same thing, with ruddier results.
Not much about the Dead Weather has changed since it materialized early last year, depositing "Horehound" like an orphaned infant at the door. The band still works with a heat-blasted byproduct of garage rock, hard rock and boogie, with riffs both stark and heavy gauge. As in the Raconteurs, White is the revving engine here, in terms of rhythm and presence: He can't elude the spotlight even when he tries. He plays drums in the Dead Weather rather than guitar, and his loosely bashing style, steeped in the early 1970s, gives the group a lot of its character.
Mosshart (of the Kills) pulls her weight, too, though it's distracting how closely her cadences can resemble White's. Most of the album's better moments exploit that similarity, producing a ragged double exposure. "Die by the Drop" has them acting out a parody of intimacy. Elsewhere Mosshart sings in sharp, epigrammatic bursts. That fearless detachment is a pose, and she strikes it well enough. The Dead Weather returns to First Avenue on July 28.
NATE CHINEN, NEW YORK TIMES
HIP-HOP
B.o.B., "B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray" (Atlantic)
This Atlanta rapper has charged to No. 1 with "Nothin' on You," a hit that will resonate beyond prom season and well into summer. What's more, the 21-year-old, also known as Bobby Ray Simmons, has a second single catching on: The nostalgia-themed "Airplanes," fueled by the trembling vocals of Paramore's Hayley Williams. Both hits are from the debut, so he's really bolting out of the gate. As well he should. B.o.B. already sounds like the amalgamation of OutKast's Andre 3000 and Big Boi.
There are traces of both Gershwin and Bowie in the track "Fame," and the shaking "Bet I," featuring T.I. and Playboy Tre, is gamer-friendly machine-gun braggadocio with acidic flow. Meanwhile, "Don't Let Me Fall" mines B.o.B's vulnerable vocals in a shaft of discordant keyboards before giving way to over-the-top rap, and he explores his tender side on "Lovelier Than You." Other guests include Lupe Fiasco, Janelle Monae, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo and Eminem.
There's a problem with grandiloquence throughout this CD, too much drama foisted into nearly every amped-up cut, creating a false air of relentless importance. Yet that's simply a sign the young artist is trying too hard.
B.o.B. performs at KDWB's Star Party on May 20.
CHUCK CAMPBELL, SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
