Musiq's latest album offers tender ballads

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Romancing is Musiq Soulchild's game, so it's refreshing that a label shift (Def Jam to Atlantic) hasn't changed his ways.

Instead, the soul singer's fourth effort, "Luvanmusiq," offers more gentlemanly tunes, served sunny side up. Sampling the '80s dance hit "Heartbeat," the trumpet-blaring lead single "B.U.D.D.Y." endorses platonic friendship over romance. The remaining tracks rest mostly on the downbeat, with tender ballads like "Lullaby" and "Greatestlove." On "Teachme" and the Raphael Saadiq-crafted "Betterman," Musiq waxes poetic about the benefits of a good woman, and the groovy "Ms. Philadelphia" finds the sucker for love infatuated with a hometown honey. Though it's his staple, the chatty double-time flow can get tedious at times ("Thequestions"), but "Luvanmusiq" finds Musiq comfortably in his lane.

ARTIST: THE FRATELLIS

ALBUM: COSTELLO MUSIC

Manic yet charming, relentless yet affable, this Glasgow, Scotland, trio creates its own little universe on "Costello Music," released last fall in the United Kingdom. Jon, Mince and Barry Fratelli are brothers like the Ramones were -- in other words, not really. Jon delivers their entertaining inside jokes in the free-flowing narrative style of Arctic Monkeys, while the tracks bounce with the fervor of Franz Ferdinand. The video for single "Flathead" was a "TRL" mover that could make the most jaded head swivel, while "Chelsea Dagger," "Vince, the Lovable Stoner" and "Ole Black 'n Blue Eyes" have energy and melody to spare. There is a little too much tra-la-la-ing, but it's a pleasure to hear a new band having so much infectious fun.

ARTIST: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM,

ALBUM: SOUND OF SILVER

Sarcasm is the calling card of James Murphy's music as LCD Soundsystem, even when his disco beats are speaking for themselves. The rhythms work on the level of pure dance music but also carry air quotes, looking backward to their first meetings with buzzing guitars and art-school attitude in the '70s and '80s. The lyrics brim with grouchy wit: "North American Scum" mocks both Europeans who believe the Ugly American stereotype and the ugly Americans themselves. The title track centers on a chant about wanting to feel like a teenager -- until you remember what your emotions were really like then. The single nondance track, "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down," wallows in self-conscious nostalgia for the "filthy but fine" city of decades ago. Nice to know the curmudgeon in the nightclub is alive and well.

ARTIST: THE MCCLURKIN PROJECT

ALBUM: WE PRAISE YOU

Seven years after the five-sibling McClurkin Project's self-titled debut became a springboard to solo stardom for Donnie McClurkin, the now-famous brother reunites with his four gifted sisters for a project of genuinely classic proportions. Brother Donnie's influence is still pronounced and profound -- as co-producer, writer of seven of the 13 songs and lead vocalist on two -- but it's his sisters' stunning prowess, as both lead and ensemble singers, that transforms "terrific" into "transcendent." The title track (co-written by Andrea) is an explosive, celebratory tour de force, and "You Are an Awesome God" (by Olivia and daughter Crystal Fythe) a joyous, R&B gem. As the McClurkin Project soars on Donnie's devastating, anthem-for-the-ages "As Long As There's You," it becomes clear that "We Praise You" is a landmark achievement.

ARTIST: RICKY SKAGGS & BRUCE HORNSBY

ALBUM: RICKY SKAGGS & BRUCE HORNSBY

Historically the piano has been shut out of a bluegrass setting, dominated by stringed instrumentation as befitting its Appalachian mountain roots. But that hasn't stopped Hornsby from collaborating with country wiz Skaggs on a delightful self-titled CD. Highlights include a toe-tapping jaunt through "Across the Rocky Mountains" and even a rippling cover of Rick James' "Super Freak," complete with fiddle breaks and banjo cadences. Featuring Scaggs' top-notch bluegrass band, Kentucky Thunder, the CD bursts out of the gates with the lighthearted Hornsby original "The Dreaded Spoon," setting a clipper pace for the duration. The album exudes pure fun and even opens a new window on Hornsby's hit, "Mandolin Rain," which the pair remakes to fit the lyrics' bluegrass bent.

ARTIST: TINARIWEN

ALBUM: AMAN IMAN: WATER IS LIFE