Turn It Up

Triple treat

April 29, 2008 0 Comments

Every Tuesday brings new music (and DVD) releases, but today’s an especially big day—at least on my calendar. Get your credit cards ready ’cause three noteworthy discs are now available in stores and online.

First up, Madonna’s Hard Candy. I heard a few tracks over the weekend on Sirius’ The Beat, though I wasn’t immediately blown away. One of the Neptunes-helmed tracks, the suggestive “Candy Shop,” was awkward in its come-ons (“My sugar is raw”), but another, “Beat Goes On,” was pretty good (with Kanye West providing a guest rap). I’m anticipating a mixed bag of treats, but more on Madonna’s latest later, when I’ve got Hard Candy in hand.

Fourteen years after their stellar debut, Portishead issues its third studio album, the imaginatively titled Third. Though the trio reportedly had to cut their set short to make way for Prince at this weekend’s Coachella festival, frontwoman Beth Gibbons gave a wickedly searing performance of “Wandering Star” (my favorite track from Dummy). If you didn’t make it to the desert to see Portishead do their thing live, check out a recent seven-song hometown gig, captured at Current.

Finally, straight from Sweden, Robyn’s eponymous disc sees a Stateside release. Get schooled on her unique mix of pop, funk and R&B, present in latest single, “Who’s That Girl”:

Currently on a U.S. club tour to support the disc, Robyn stops by the Park West in Chicago next week.