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The Game, Matthew Sweet and more

Aug. 26-Sept. 1, 2008

By Kurt B. Reighley
Special to MSN Music

The rundown this week recalls those TV commercials for fancy moisturizer. You know, the kind with a craggy alligator and a silky-skinned model? It starts out very rough, then turns softer and glowing.

At the hard end of the spectrum, Compton, Calif., rap icon the Game returns with "LAX." For a dude renowned for his beefs with other artists (most notably his long-running feud with 50 Cent) he does not want for guests; among the talents connected with his long-awaited third album are Ice Cube, Ludacris, Raekwon, Keyshia Cole ... and former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.

The production roster is stunning, too, including Cool & Dre, Kanye West, Hi-Tek, DJ Toomp and Scott Storch. The Game has been quoted as saying that this will be his final album, but considering that he reportedly winnowed its 19 selections down from more than 220 possible choices, that seems unlikely.

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You say you've never heard of Dragonforce? Then keep working on those "Guitar Hero" skills; the metal sextet's mind-blowing virtuosity, particularly that of guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman, won them prominent placement in the landmark video game.

The U.K. band finally drops its U.S. debut, the eight-song "Ultra Beatdown." Don't be intimidated by that title. While speed is a vital component of their appeal -- your fingers may blister just listening to these guys -- so is catchy song craft, a la British lions of '80s metal like Iron Maiden (with whom they have toured) and Judas Priest.

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Barack Obama isn't the only unexpected media phenomenon to have surged out of Iowa in the last few years. Grammy Award-winning masked metalheads Slipknot hail from Des Moines. So rather than record in Los Angeles, as on previous albums, they returned home to cut "All Hope Is Gone." Co-produced by the band and Dave Fortman (Mudvayne, Otep), its 12 selections include "Dead Memories," "Butcher's Hook," and "Snuff."

Sounds like a real pick-me-up. Still, the band insists their fourth album ranks as their most melodic, experimental and hardest effort yet. "I think it's the best thing I've ever made," claims member Corey Taylor. "And I challenge anyone to prove me wrong." Since the mosh pits at Slipknot gigs make ultimate fighting seem like naptime at a preschool, it's best to just take Taylor at his word.

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On the lighter side is "Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams," the second LP from Solange. Her surname? Knowles. Like you-know-who. But little sister, an accomplished songwriter and performer, is definitely her own individual, a point she addresses on album opener "God Given Name," a declaration of independence crafted in cahoots with ethno-hipsters Thievery Corporation.

From there, this ambitious album includes collaborations with Cee-Lo, Motown great Lamont Dozier, and Q-Tip; Solange even retrofits a cut by ambient electronic act Boards of Canada for "This Bird." Mark Ronson pitches in on the funky "6 O'Clock Blues," while the Neptunes oversee the peppy "I Decided" (although the Freemasons remix of that jam, which closes the album, trumps the original). Crazy, sexy and very cool.

Matthew Sweet typically gets pigeonholed as a "power pop" artist, but his 10th full-length shrugs off that tag. His band may still include guitarist Richard Lloyd and drummer Ric Menck, but "Sunshine Lies" is hardly business as usual. Equal parts vintage sunshine pop and Paisley Underground a la the Rain Parade, this is his most psychedelic platter yet.

Want quick proof? Check out the multitracked vocals and tambourine rattles on "Byrdgirl," or the slowly cascading, blissful textures of the title track (which features backing vocals by Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles, Sweet's foil on the 2006 duets set "Under the Covers, Vol. 1").

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But if you really want to relax and float downstream, pick up "Forth," the unexpected reunion album from the Verve. After a decade-long hiatus, the U.K. quartet follows up its 1997 masterpiece "Urban Hymns" with 10 expansive tracks that recall the atmospheric epics of their earliest work.

Reading too much into album art is risky, but the luminous clouds that grace the sleeve of "Forth" honestly do reflect its contents: the sculpted cacophony of "Love Is Noise"; the gauzy "Judas," on which singer Richard Ashcroft floats into delirious falsetto; and "Valium Skies," which starts off slow and shuffling, then breaks like a wave crashing on the beach as innovative guitarist Nick McCabe kicks in. And to think, a few years ago, these guys seemed less likely to re-form than the Beatles. Maybe they should pass the name of their therapist on to the Game.

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