On her own, at her best
There's a willful ambiguity to Emily Haines's solo debut, a refusal to be pinned to one emotion, one decision, one bad joke. So we get punch lines like, "Bros before hos is a rule, read the guidelines," followed by frayed, wits-end concessions: "Some say our life is insane/ But it isn't insane on paper." Ambiguity, though, isn't necessarily duplicity. In the hands of the best songwriters -- a cadre to which Haines belongs -- it can be a tool to convey a sense of realism or a way of answering without answering directly. And Haines, whose day job involves fronting a Toronto rock band called Metric , has a very specific plan for her borrowed time. To wit, we get the topsy-turvy sexual politics of "The Lottery," the funhouse mirrors of "Nothing & Nowhere," and the gorgeous nihilism of "Doctor Blind," all delivered above the lilting crawl of a keyboard. Is hell really "asking to be loved," as Haines argues in "Detective Daughter" ? Maybe. But "Knives Don't Have Your Back" shirks from set-in-stone pronouncements of faith. The best music here is by turns restless and hapless, despondent and euphoric, like a diary spilled out on tape. [Matthew Shaer]
Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton are at the Paradise Rock Club on Monday.
FOLK-POP
Dennis Crommett
The Evening Sorrow (Pigeon) Northampton singer-songwriter Dennis Crommett is perhaps best known around these parts as guitarist for the chamber-folk outfit Winterpills (which has a new album due next month) and frontman for noisy indie-rockers Spanish for Hitchhiking . The softly spangled, mostly acoustic music on his solo debut is considerably less rambunctious than his latter band but more so than the former. Instead, it combines core elements of both ventures to create a quietly astute, dusk-dappled work whose best moments recall the lean pop of "Heatmiser" -era Elliott Smith ("Green Depression Glass" ), gauzy daydreams of Galaxie 500 ("Bubble Lights" ), and the lambent glow of Mojave 3 ("Basement Friends" ). And yet, these are ultimately the singer's own distinctive, highly personal songs, sculpted from Crommett's interior conversations about memory, grace, and being swept asunder by snowdrifts. In addition to the subtle presence of Winterpills pals Dave Hower (drums) and Philip Price (backing vocals), Crommett is aided and abetted beautifully by pedal-steel specialist Bruce Tull and cellist Gideon Freudmann, both of whom help shade, color, and bring in to focus these small, magnificently detailed portraits in winter. [Jonathan Perry]
Dennis Crommett plays the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton Jan. 11 as part of "Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards: A Tribute to Tom Waits."
ESSENTIAL "Green Depression Glass"
R&B/HIP-HOP
Trick Daddy
Back by Thug Demand (Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic) Last year was a good one for Miami hip-hop, but it needed a shot of thug strutting from the mayor of Dade County, Trick Daddy, to make it complete. By now (this is his seventh disc), Trick knows what his audience wants, and he delivers it with authority. While a lot of this doesn't sound as fresh as when Trick started bringing his brand of mayhem to the mainstream, it's still a pretty hot ride. The MC uses lesser-known producers, who keep the bass rattling and musical flourishes to a minimum, and with 15 tracks, the album is as tight as some of Trick's rhymes. Folks tired of thug anthems and strip-club shakers should steer clear because lyrically, little of this diverges from Trick's typical territory. But he still flips verses with sly wit as he does taking down lame MCs and their phony jewelry on "Tuck Ya Ice." He spends much of the album declaring his dominance and really slays on "Bet That" with Chamillionaire , who brings a counterpoint flow that makes for a potent combination. Trick gives some Daddy history on the taut "Straight Up" with Young Buck , who has really stepped up his game. There are a few throwaways, but the MC proves there's still some magic in his tricks. [Ken Capobianco]
ESSENTIAL "Bet That"
LOCAL ROCK
Temper
Hang By Your Own Tail (Self-released) Pete Sutton is an unsung hero in Boston. He's been part of popular club bands the Ray Corvair Trio and Electrolux , but now he tackles a more lushly ambient and majestic project. Temper features the bass-playing Sutton (who wrote all the songs) and ethereal singer/guitarist Skyla , singer/keyboardist Carlene Barous , and drummer Nancy Delaney . Together they make music that sounds like an updated Kate Bush by way of Roxy Music, Enya, Air, and even the Beach Boys . There's a melancholy twist to the atmospheric "Wee Regret" and "Tough Luck," but there's also a wondrously dreamy romanticism in "Somewhere Man" and "Day and Night," with its line, "I see the doorway to your soul and once I'm in, I'm never coming out." The quality is startling. Temper sounds like a band that could be playing the Orpheum rather than club hopefuls. The production is seamless, the arrangements are challenging, and the result is an ecstatic pulse that lifts this album far above the mundane. [Steve Morse]
Temper performs at Toad on Saturday, the Middle East Downstairs on Jan. 20, and the Abbey Lounge on Jan. 27. ESSENTIAL "3 Tales"
LATIN POP
R.B.D.
Rebels (EMI Televisa) Talk about untruth in advertising. "Rebels" is the English-language debut of R.B.D., a boy-girl pop band whose phenomenal success has rippled far outside its Mexican borders to conquer all of Latin America. Next up is the US , but there's one problem: If you've paid attention to Top 40 radio during the past decade, you've already heard these songs. Yes, the lyrics are different and the choruses offer Spanish 101 lessons , but the music is slight, with paper-thin arrangements and canned beats. It's a well-worn road paved by Thalía and Paulina Rubio . "Rebels " casts a wide net: from R&B lite ("Tu Amor") and three-hanky urban ballads ("I Wanna Be the Rain" ) to reggaetón ("Wanna Play") and a lame attempt at dance - floor domination (a cover of Shannon's "Let the Music Play" ). Yet nothing sticks . Only on "Era la Música" do we hear glimmers of fun, uncontrived pop. The rest of this is baby-making music for the Spanglish -speaking set. [James Reed]
ESSENTIAL "Era la Música"
POP
The Vinyl Skyway
From Telegraph Hill (Vinyl Skyway Music) With its sophomore release, semi-local band the Vinyl Skyway (three of its members live in Boston, two in San Francisco) has coalesced into a pure-pop reconstitution of the band it grew out of, the alt-country group Lemonpeeler. Hints of that predecessor's rootsy fare can be found here and there, but at its heart, this is a headphone record of exquisitely crafted pop -- principal songwriter Michael Hayes has an apparently limitless capacity for melody and hook -- by turns breezy and shimmering ("Lovely Day" ), Beatles es que ("Sleepwalking" ), ornate and lush ("Hangin' On" ), and stripped-down and minor-key melancholy ("Mary Ann" ). "From Telegraph Hill" has the air of a breakthrough record, the sort that would have would have shown up on those recent critics' best-of lists if it hadn't come out at the tail-end of the year. [Stuart Munro]
The "Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions" (on Baby Rock Records) series has retooled the music of Metallica, Radiohead, Tool, Pink Floyd, and the Cure into somnambulistic instrumentals guaranteed to knock junior out -- parents, too. The latest pair finds arranger and performer Michael Armstrong using his usual glockenspiel, vibraphone, and Mellotron to turn Nirvana and Led Zeppelin songs into a narcotic numbing wash. Due soon in the series: the Eagles (Jan. 9), Queens of the Stone Age (Jan. 9), U2 (Jan. 30), Smashing Pumpkins (Jan. 30), the Ramones (Jan. 30), No Doubt (Feb. 20), and -- gasp! -- Nine Inch Nails (Feb. 20).
Speaking of the Ramones, with the hyperactive "Brats on the Beat: Ramones for Kids" (Go-Kart), it's playtime, not nap time. Backed by a children's choir, lead vocals on these energetic (but mundane) romps are handled by such leading punk-rock lights as TSOL's Jack Grisham ("Bop 'Til You Drop"), Pennywise's Jim Lindberg ("Blitzkrieg Bop"), and Blag Dahlia of the Dwarves ("Rockaway Beach").
Whether it's sleepy time or crazy time, these rock albums have tots covered. [Linda Laban]
ESSENTIAL "Hangin' On"
Looking for a JobTodd SniderNashville's Snider lulls you in with the laid-back country-folk trappings here, but the bitter detail s of his lyrics steal the show. "Just did two years and 28 days/ With a little better aim I'd have been in there for my life." Stream it at myspace .com/toddsnider [Luke O'Neil] 
