Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Athlete caused a stir with its debut album, 2003’s Vehicles & Animals. While the album enjoyed commercial success and won a Mercury Prize nomination, reviews ranged from raves to one review that dismissed the South London quartet’s music as “dolefully drippy piss.” Alas, on their latest, the members of Athlete show themselves to be just that—lightweight Coldplay wannabes—on songs like the dreary “Chances” and the mournful “Wires.” And there’s nothing drippier than sensitive pop without the emotional payoff.

Along with the Cuba’s Buena Vista Social Club, the Blind Boys are the coolest septuagenarians on the planet. The gospel veterans’ latest features rapper Gift of Gab from Blackalicious on the Fatboy Slim-Macy Gray track “Demons,” organ genius Billy Preston on Blind Faith’s “Presence of the Lord” and Los Lobos guitarist David Hidalgo on an ultra-hip remake of Norman Greenbaum’s gospel-rock gem “Spirit in the Sky.” Ultimately, the Boys’ infectious spirit is powerful enough to save a million lost souls.

Led by bearded, tunic-sporting, garage-rock guru Ebbot Lundberg, Soundtrack is the granddaddy of the Swedish underground invasion. The band’s last album, Behind the Music, established a North American beachhead, with a hit single, “Sister Surround,” that mixed influences ranging from The Doors, Led Zeppelin and MC5. But where Swedish bands like The Hives, Sahara Hotnights and (International) Noise Conspiracy keep things fresh, Soundtrack’s paint-by-numbers psych approach is beginning to wear a little thin.