CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH!
Some Loud Thunder
(V2)

Sure they’re derivative of other, ultimately greater New York bands (Talking Heads, Velvet Underground), but as anyone who’s seen one of their packed shows in Tokyo knows, CYHSY! rule. The hotly anticipated Some Loud Thunder delivers on the promise of their 2005 debut with 11 gloriously celebratory tracks of New York indie-rock. But there’s a hitch: in what seems to be a search for some kind of lo-fi artistic authenticity, the title track and certain others are deliberately distorted to the point of being virtually unlistenable. I actually thought my disc may have been defective. DG

TONY REMY & BLUEY
First Protocol
(Pony Canyon)

First Protocol, the new album by guitarists Tony Remy and Bluey of legendary UK jazz-funk group Incognito, is in search of a genre. Incognito have been seamlessly blending jazz and house for years, but First Protocol is more ambitious both in the improvisations and in the electronica stylings of the album’s collaborators. The disc launches in with the recognizably jazz-funk, dueling guitars of “Beyond Jupiter,” but soon enough veers into club territory with the tricky, sequenced rhythms of the title track and the fleet breakbeats of “The Box.” At times confusing, at times rewarding, First Protocol’s appeal may be limited to Incognito connoisseurs. DG

THE SLIP
Eisenhower
(P-vine)

Boston trio The Slip are ostensibly a jam band, but you’d be hard-pressed to find any extended, hippy dippy improvisations on their new album. Rather, Eisenhower has the brooding, introspective experimentalism of an Elliott Smith disc, perhaps no surprise considering that Smith’s producer Matthew Ellard worked on the album. Lead-off track “Children of December” is a jangly bit of nostalgia from the perspective of a child of the ‘70s feeling out of place in the present. On an album that reveals itself more with repeated listens, it’s only between the cracks of such songs, in the delicate interplay of bass harmonics and subtle guitar work, that The Slip betray why they’re grouped in with the jam band crowd. DG

JOEY YUNG
Close Up
(EEG)

In this, the 11th album from Joey Yung, the reigning Cantonese pop queen tones herself down from last year’s ambitious but poorly received Ten Most Wanted. Yung’s previous effort saw her explore a range of influences and dabble in faster dance tracks, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that for Close Up, the 26-year-old tried to reclaim her status as the girl-next-door-turned-superstar. Because Yung’s records rely on ballads and lack edge, they are often lumped into the adult pop genre, yet despite playing it rather safe, Close Up tends to grow on the listener. Also, the rare English chorus on “Be True” will please Joey’s many teenage fans. Robert Poole


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