From Rolling Stone:

Norah Jones sometimes gets derided for being too downtempo – which, really, is like hating on peaches for being juicy. But her fifth album is a brand-rejigging songwriting collab with Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton that both picks up her pace and pumps up her palette. See “Happy Pills,” the bouncy single that triangulates the sexy bounce of the Pretenders’ “Brass in Pocket” with a lite-soul kiss-off ballad and an AM-radio bubblegum tune. Call it Norah in Neon. Jones’ sweet-smoky purr has always sounded great with meaty grooves: Talib Kweli’s “Soon the New Day,” Wax Poetic’s “Angels.” Here, she frolics through reverb and gets frisky over Burton’s midtempo beats on “Say Goodbye,” savoring the word “misbehave” like a toddler with her hand in the cookie jar. It was fun to hear Jones, the archetypal girl-you’d-take-home-to-Mom, play the fallen woman on Burton’s RomeLP from last year. That project echoes through “All a Dream,” a ghostly mix of dub-reggae groove and spaghetti-Western guitar. On the best songs, the Danger Mouse thumbprint is fainter: “She’s 22″ sets Jones against wisps of guitar and piano, while “Travelin’ On” mates her with a moaning cello. It’s a balancing act, which the lyrics occasionally upend – Jones as a murderous lover on “Miriam” is a near-comic stretch. But even good girls need revenge sometimes.

From BBC Music (http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/5q6m):

Having recently divorced his wife of six years, it’s tempting to interpret Jack White’s debut solo album as his very own version of Dylan’s breakup classic, Blood on the Tracks. After all, with its bruised, scabrous lyrics – full of nosebleeds, burst lips, missing limbs and pummelled digits – and preoccupation with love gone not so much bad as cataclysmic, it sounds as though the erstwhile White Stripe has been eviscerated by his loss.

But it’s important to remember that, not only was the split apparently amicable (his ex sings back-up on three songs here), but that White has never been a confessional songwriter in the conventional sense. Despite his deep devotion to the blues – that most ‘authentic’ of musical genres – he’s a conceptual art-rocker at heart, inhabiting his own unique crossroads between theatrical artifice and bloody-minded sincerity.

There’s a sense throughout Blunderbuss – trust him to choose such an archaic weapon – that White is positively revelling in the role of the wronged lover. So you never get the sense that he’s being entirely serious; he’s too eccentric and machismo-camp to suggest otherwise. It’s what defines him as an artist and it’s why he may be the only great rock superstar of recent years.

While this isn’t a major musical reinvention, it certainly develops his trademark synthesis of stripped-back garage-rock and Americana. Despite his guitar God reputation, White – ever the contrarian – relegates his axe to a supporting role, favouring instead a sort of aquatic country-blues dominated by Rhodes electric piano and the punk-Liberace glissandos of pianist Brooke Waggoner. She’s part of a small group of musicians who never detract from White’s minimalist aesthetic – Meg may be gone, but the primal rhythms remain – and who hit upon a particularly delightful sound on the breezily Kinks-esque Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy and the compact mini-opera Take Me With You When You Go.

During those moments when White’s guitar does come to the fore, it fits and squalls as though it’s having a breakdown, although he still swaggers with the best of them on the likes of Sixteen Saltines and on a raucous cover of Little Willie John’s jittery hoodoo, I’m Shakin’.

After all these years, there’s still nobody quite like him.

* Dada Life – Kick out the epic motherf–ker (extended vocal clean mix) // Nu Dance Traxx Vol 205 May 2012 “VA”
Trumpdisco – War horn // WNRN “Carts and other single play”
Grendel – EPR//EDP // Grendel “Timewave: Zero”

* He Met Her – Control // WNRN “Carts and other single play”
$ Yppah – Blue schwinn // Yppah “Eighty One”
Blackburner – Disambiguation // Blackburner “Feel The Burn”
$ Bassnectar – Nothing has been broken (feat. Tina Malia) // Bassnectar “Vava Voom”

* Tempest – Unrest II (stratasoul remix) // Exit Bratislava – Near Dark And Beyond, Vol. 1 “VA”
$ Battles – Wall street (gui boratto remix) // Battles “Gloss Drop Remixes”
Huoratron – A699F // Huoratron “Cryptocracy”

* Reizstrom – Invisible force // Reizstrom “Invisible Force”
Diskonnekted – Neverland (matrix edit) // Alfa Matrix DJ Promo 2012-03-30 “VA”
Wumpscut – Death panacea // Wumpscut “Women and Satan First”
* Fukkk Offf – 24/7 (nonstop) (dirty disco youth remix) // Fukkk Offf “24/7 (Nonstop)”

+: history track
$: CMJ RPM Top 5
*: new this week

* Hot Chip – Flutes // WNRN “Carts and other single play”
Sexbots, The – Finish me off // Sexbots, The “Don’t Stop”
$ Battles – Futura (the alchemist remix) // Battles “Gloss Drop Remixes”
* Peoples Republic Of Europe – Black sky // Peoples Republic Of Europe “Military Industrial Complex”

* Blue Foundation – Dressed in black (feat. Sara Savery) // Blue Foundation “In My Mind I Am Free”
CFCF – Exercise #5 (September) // CFCF “Exercises”
Stereofunk – In me // Stereofunk “Radio Robotic”
Wumpscut – Bloodsport (wumpscut remix) // Wumpscut “DJ Dwarf XII”
Grendel – Conflict instigation // Grendel “Timewave: Zero”

* Blockhead – Tools of the industry // Blockhead “Interludes After Midnight”
$ Yppah – Golden braid // Yppah “Eighty One”
Jef Stott – The promise // Jef Stott “Arcana”

* Sebastien Tellier – Cochon ville (the magician remix) // Sebastien Tellier “Cochon Ville”
$ Bassnectar – Laughter crescendo (2012 version) // Bassnectar “Vava Voom”
Blackburner – World of dreams // Blackburner “Feel The Burn”
* Vainerz – I try to be // Net.Ware Zapocaster “VA”

+: history track
$: CMJ RPM Top 5
*: new this week

THE ANATOMY OF FRANK – SATURDAY MORNING
STEAL THE PRIZE – OUTRUN THE SUN
KATE STARR – SAY SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

THE FALSIES — LIVE IN-STUDIO INTERVIEW
- WE’RE MORE ROCK N ROLL THAN YOU!
- ASIAN PANTIES
- UH OH, GUESS WHAT
- ARE YOU SEXUALLY AVAILABLE
- DONDE ESTA MIS PANTALONES
- BECAUSE WE’VE KILLED FOR LESS

ASTRONOMERS – PERPETUAL EMOTION

HOUR 2:

TRAGIC CHEMISTRY – I HATE NEEDING LOVE
GUNCHUX – WALK UP 21ST STREET
SHAPIRO – ALL THINGS AROUND THE SUN
THE BLACKOUT PROJECT – SOLDIER’S SONG

HALEY – BROKEN GUITARS
EARTH TO ANDY – WHO GETS THE GIRL
GREG ALLEN – ONE CHOICE THING
BUTTERFLY VENDETTA – POSTER GIRL (LIVE AT THE LOCALMOTIVE)
MADRID KIDS – BROKEN SILHOUETTE

ELI COOK – HOLD EM UP HIGH
SMALL TOWN WORKERS – WITHOUT YOU
THE SORT – THURSDAY
BASSHOUND – JUST FOR YOURSELF
LUCKY SO FAR – GOODBYE