JENNY AND JOHNNY "I'm Having Fun Now"
Grade: A
Indie rockers haven't had an "it" couple this sweet since Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield were singing about "drug buddies" and bit parts in your life. (No, Katy Perry and Travie McCoy don't count.)
Jenny and Johnny — aka Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis and singer-songwriter Johnathan Rice — are a remarkably photogenic real-life couple and a remarkably talented songwriting duo, whose debut collaboration, "I'm Having Fun Now" (Warner Bros.), is one of those albums that's hard not to love.
After all, Jenny and Johnny do manage to sound like they're having fun, even when they're having a lovers' squabble (the surf-guitar driven "My Pet Snakes") or grousing about the economy (in the super-catchy "Big Wave," Lewis adorably explains the banking system collapse) or politics (in the revved-up folk stomper "Committed," Rice pledges allegiance to the Obama administration).
What makes "I'm Having Fun Now" special is the way Jenny and Johnny's voices fit together — gorgeous, California-dreamin'-styled harmonies that only come when people spend way too much time singing together. On "Scissor Runner," Lewis' harmonies wrap themselves around Rice's vocals, turning the jangly, "Reckoning"-era R.E.M. rocker into something light and airy. On "Just Like Zeus," Rice's harmonies keep Lewis' cutesy delivery from floating away.
That balance makes "I'm Having Fun Now" feel like it captured those rare relationship moments when everything is working just right, meaning that not only did Jenny and Johnny get lucky, but so did the rest of us.
TERRIBLE THINGS "Terrible Things"
Grade: A-minus
Terrible Things — the supergroup-of-sorts featuring former Taking Back Sunday guitarist-singer Fred Mascherino, Coheed and Cambria vet Josh Eppard and Hot Rod Circuit's Andy Jackson — accomplishes an impressive trick on its debut "Terrible Things" (Universal Motown). Though it's a concept album about a string of arsons in Mascherino's hometown of Coatesville, Pa., the songs are remarkably upbeat and often rousing, especially the anthemic "Revolution," the radio-friendly "Conspiracy" and the TBS-accented title track. It's a smaller-scale version of My Chemical Romance's "The Black Parade" or a less lofty version of Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs," but it packs just as much punch.
ALSO NEW IN STORES
Disturbed's "Asylum" (Reprise)
Goo Goo Dolls' "Something for the Rest of Us" (Warner Bros.)
Ryan Bingham's "Junky Star" (Lost Highway)
Heart's "Red Velvet Car" (Sony Legacy)
— Newsday
