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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 5, 2007

ST. VINCENT:

MARRY ME

(XL) ***½

One spin of 'Marry Me' and listeners may be ready to propose to Annie 'St. Vincent' Clark - if not marriage, then at least a long-term musical relationship.

There are hints of Bjork's funhouse mirror pop and Kate Bush's balance of delicacy and bombast. But Clark's got more wry wit than either and her songs are catchier to boot. Her lyrics can be fetchingly sardonic or baldly harrowing. (Or both: 'Please keep your victory but give me little death,' she sings in 'Apocalypse Song.')

Clark's soprano can swoon like Billie Holiday or swoop like Bush. Clark played most of the instruments on this album as well, making St. Vincent one of the most exciting and singular talents to debut this year.

Download this: 'Apocalypse Song'
Curtis Ross
50 CENT:

CURTIS

(INTERSCOPE) **

With 'My Gun Go Off,' 50 Cent opens 'Curtis' with guns blazing. He's clearly aiming for the top of the charts but misfires because of weak ammo - his singles.

Fifty knows the formula for pop success, and he abuses it. It has worked for him very well in the past, to the tune of about 20 million records sold.

'Curtis' is filled with potential singles, including collaborations with stars such as Justin Timberlake and Mary J. Blige, but the formula he's used so well in the past doesn't bang like it used to.

Kanye West quotes Fiddy on 'Good Life' (off his new album, 'Graduation'): 'Fifty told me go ahead switch your style up, and if they hate, let 'em hate and watch the money pile up.' Curtis should take his own advice.

Download this: 'I Get Money'

Joinville Michel

KT TUNSTALL:

DRASTIC FANTASTIC

(RELENTLESS) ***

It's fortuitous that KT Tunstall's career took off now. A decade ago, she would have become an angry female rocker like Alanis Morissette. In the '80s, she'd have been a Madonna-ish pop starlet. In the '60s and '70s, she'd be strumming an acoustic guitar.

Today, no one's forcing Tunstall into one particular genre. As a result, she's turning out music that crosses categories - it is primarily pop music, but the folk and rock influences are unmistakable.

'Drastic Fantastic' doesn't deviate much from the sounds and themes that made her 2006 debut, 'Eye to the Telescope,' a success: The hooks are catchier, the break-up songs are more personal and the empowerment messages are less generic.

Download this: 'Saving My Face'

Dave Simanoff

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