Dreamworks

Considering that none other than teen queen Britney Spears was one of Boomkat’s original supporters, it’s not surprising that some of her style has rubbed off on Boomkat. In the preteen chat-room vein of “I’m A Slave 4 U,” the brother-and-sister duo offer such classics as “B4 It’s 2 Late” and “What U Do 2 Me” on their debut album, Boomkatalog One.

Kellin and Taryn Manning claim influences ranging from the Beatles to A Tribe Called Quest. But rather than melding the finest musical elements of these groups, their style can perhaps best be described as a glib, confused, badly executed fusion of hip-hop, pop, soul and electronica.

Boomkatalog One panders to Southern Californian middle school audiences. Taryn and Kellin cover all the requisite preteen bases—angst, love and screwy relationships. “Do you think I’m pretty or don’t you / Do you wanna get with me or not?” Taryn croons in her raspy drawl on “Wastin’ My Time.” “Now Understand This” boasts a refrain that sounds like a chorus of kindergarteners on uppers, happily la-la-la-ing their way to hyperactive oblivion. And “Crazylove” is a ditzy paean to family and friends—the kind perfected by Vitamin C with her notorious 2000 graduation anthem.

Supplemented by Kellin’s relentless drum machines and beats, Taryn pseudo-raps and yowls her throaty way through the 14 tracks on Boomkatalog One. But all her endless bluster and crazylove can’t save this album from disintegrating into a messy, genre-hopping katastrophe. —Tiffany I. Hsieh

Portastatic

The Summer of the Shark

Merge

Portastatic’s new album is a pleasant ballad collection for the seasonal warmth, with upbeat rhythms and alternately rousing and wistful lyrics by vocalist and drummer Mac McCaughan. Portastatic are a relaxed and unpretentious change from McCaughan’s well known indie band Superchunk.

Many of the songs, including “Paratrooper” and the opening “Oh Come Down,” are quiet ballads featuring acoustic guitar and occasionally drums. Typical McCaughan, the lyrics are infused with a poet’s sense for words and at the same time exquisite and emotional. In “Don’t Disappear,” McCaughan sings softly and longingly: “And in this dream we were terribly tall, wobbly and weak / And I was afraid we would fall / Impaled on dull silver mass of antennae / And I wanted to grab you, but you were so skinny.”

These ballads are complemented by more upbeat songs such as “Chesapeake” and “Drill Me.” The instrumental “Through A Rainy Lens” gives a taste of McCaughan’s sophistication, with electric soundscapes playing against a low bass line.  

The album’s best songs are wistful but not sentimental, unpretentious but well-executed. The yearning lyrics and catchy melody of “Clay Cakes” at once evoke Yo La Tengo’s pop gems and the sweeter moments of the Rolling Stones decades ago. Those are timeless moments. —Zhenzhen Lu