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NOISETTES
“Wild Young Hearts”
(Mercury)

The sparkling disco of “Don’t Upset the Rhythm” and jaunty girl-group bounce of the title track of the Noisettes’ “Wild Young Hearts” might sound disingenuous and cynical to anyone expecting more of the same unbridled garage-punk-soul that the U.K. trio premiered on their ‘07 debut, “What’s the Time Mr. Wolf?” But the spirited diversity that defined that album hasn’t disappeared; it just stretches in new, more commercial directions.
Singer/bassist Shingai Shoniwa seems to have looked around at peers such as Lily Allen, Santigold, and Amy Winehouse, and said, I can do that too. And she does, with the jazzy shuffle of “Sometimes,” the new-wave pop of “24 Hours,” and the string-plucked soul of “Never Forget You.”

So while Wolf’s rambunctiousness was wilder, Wild’s slickness is heartier: It’s built for broad, accessible pleasures.

— Steve Klinge, The Philadelphia Inquirer

RAIN MACHINE
“Rain Machine”
(Anti-)

As a vocalist in TV on the Radio, Kyp Malone can serve as a steady narrator during the band’s fuzzy, sometimes punishing sonic fits. That relationship becomes inverted on “Rain Machine,” Malone’s new solo project. Where Malone’s bluesy croon once provided shelter from the storm, it’s now a voice of condemnation, espousing some of his most directly political and personal lyrics to date.

From “Smiling Black Faces”: “And on his wedding day / They took Sean Bell away / Cops let their bullets spray / In the same city where I am.” Elsewhere, as on “Driftwood Heart” and “Leave the Lights On,” the introspection is full of hope and faith. The music feels that way, too, built around thin layers of acoustic and electric guitar and gentle campfire percussion for an effect that’s angelic.

It makes Malone seem even braver, a man and his instruments against, or trying to live with, the world.

— Michael Pollock, The Philadelphia Inquirer

DAFNIS PRIETO
“Si o Si Quartet: Live at Jazz Standard NYC”
(Dafnison Music)

Dafnis Prieto turns the drums into multiple instruments. How else to explain the many moods and hues he can draw from objects meant to be hit with a stick? The Cuban emigre, here on his fourth recording as a leader, merges magnificent Afro-Cuban jazz DNA with a post-bop sophistication. The stylish result is rigorous, with an occasional mojito kick.

Prieto’s deftness as a drummer is well-known. He can capture the body’s many beats, not just the heart. He’s loud only when it serves the frenzy of the moment.

Here he continues his compositional development, which began on disk with 2005’s “About the Monks.” The tunes are accessible and often gorgeous. But Prieto is unsatisfied with easy eloquence; he pushes past it, driving the solos by saxophonist Peter Apfelbaum and pianist Manuel Valera into modernist territory.

In the title track, a microcosm of this CD, a cascade of sculpted percussion begins before Charles Flores applies a meaty bass. The melody comes in pretty, and the solos are steep. The result is honest and challenging.

— K.S.