Pharrell Williams' vanity project N.E.R.D. is at its worst when it overreaches, and on its last two albums, it overreached pretty badly. For those listeners willing to grant the group a third strike, though, the group's new Nothing is a modest pleasant surprise. Here Williams and his Neptunes co-producer Chad Hugo (to the unclear extent that Hugo still contributes) edit down their sound to a taut, disco/soul groove which gives way to a few soft-rock digressions in the album's closing halfno overbearing rap-rock guitars here. This is N.E.R.D.'s most consistent album since In Search Of..., a surprisingly dignified soundtrack to dance parties as they wind down to a content, early-morning close.
Also out this week:
* On their third album, Sidewalks, the Brooklyn dance-punk duo Matt & Kim further appropriates the deep synthesized tones of contemporary dance music and Top 40 pop, aiming for the rafters with some of their biggest, sing-along choruses yet. For those who don't mind singer Matt Johnson's mall-punk whine, it's great fun.
* The presence of producer T-Bone Burnett on Elvis Costello's overstuffed new album National Ransom tells you it's going to be one of those Elvis Costello albums, a punctilious study in traditional American music forms. I'd be easier to get excited about this if Costello hadn't just released another one of those albums, last year's halfhearted Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, also produced by Burnett, but this one is an undisputed improvement over that entirely forgettable disc.
* Mariah Carey makes a grab for some more of that Santa money on Merry Christmas II You.
* In advance of a new full-length set for release early next year, Destroyer tides fans over with the The Archers On The Beach EP.
* Elliott Smith was always more of an album artist than a singles artist, which makes the new compilation An Introduction To... Elliott Smith a less than ideal primer. Newcomers would do better to start with Either/Or, the landmark 1997 album which makes up five of this compilation's 14 tracks.
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* Wilco's John Stirratt and Pat Sansone have a new album as the Autumn Defense, Only Around.
* And after a nine-year studio hiatus, Huey Lewis and the News have released Soulsville, a tribute to Stax Records that the band recorded in Memphis.
