CD reviews: Tricky, Dandy Warhols, Stereolab

ARTIST: DANDY WARHOLS

ALBUM: EARTH TO THE DANDY WARHOLS (Beat the World Records)

If "Odditorium or Warlords of Mars" was a low point in the Dandy Warhols' career trajectory, "Earth to the Dandy Warhols" does little to blast them back into the memorable pop music stratosphere. The set is somewhat of a shambolic affair, wherein kernels of good ideas get blown out, jumbled up or lost in execution. Take, for example, the awkward white-boy funk/Talking Heads-ish mashup of "Welcome to the Third World" or album closer "Musse D'Nougat," an unnecessary near 15 minutes of ambient strings smothering irritatingly low-in-the-mix vocals. A few moments hit the right notes: The shuffling mariachi vibe of "Mis Amigos" finds the band feeling playful, and the airy psych-rock layered over a dance-y bass groove of "The World Come On" strangely work well together. But the usual droning rockers ("Wasp in the Lotus," "Beast of All Saints") provide little to get excited about.

ARTIST: TRICKY

ALBUM: KNOWLE WEST BOY (Domino Records)

Thirteen years after debut album "Maxinquaye" was hailed as the zeitgeist of the mid-'90s U.K. trip-hop scene, Tricky is still spinning his rugged, moody dance/rap/rock tunes on "Knowle West Boy." Ne breaks no exceptionally new stylistic ground in the process, but all the components of a classic Tricky joint are here. "Puppy Toy" starts off as a demonic lounge act, Tricky murmuring directly into your ear until his female duet partner takes over in the soulful, electric chorus. At the other end of the spectrum, "Council Estate" is a jittering cyber-punk number. In such moments the artist takes center stage, but he's just as happy to act as party director, making way for the dance-hall toaster on "Bacative" and the cold, furious female ranter on "Veronika." Regardless of era, Tricky does his thing and does it well.

ARTIST: STEREOLAB

ALBUM: CHEMICAL CHORDS (4AD)

In the six years since singer Mary Hansen's death, Stereolab has mildly oscillated from the up grooviness of 2004's "Margerine Eclipse" toward dulcet new effort "Chemical Chords," its first full album since then. While the 18-year-old Moog-y European collective has retained the signature sighing, oft-French vocals of Laetita Sadier and the synths and rhythm guitars of Tim Gane, esoteric nuggets like "Vortical Phonotheque" prove that Stereolab has firmly moved from its sans-serif midcentury pop into an early-'70s lite-rock mode defined by bounce, slight strings, muted horns and fuzzed guitars turned way down low. Some tunes, like the "Columbo"-background-music-ready title track, suffer for their weightlessness, but the Motown-meets-Esquivel "Self Portrait With Electric Brain" and beat-oriented electro of "Valley Hi!" and "Pop Molecule" are exquisitely wrought.

Terra/Reuters