Pixie LottTurn It UpMercury/Interscope
AThe music world should prepare for a Pixie Lott takeover. The 18-year-old British soul pop songstress’ debut “Turn It Up” contains so many potential hits — including the alluring “Mama Do,” the addictive “Boys and Girls,” the compelling “Gravity” and the RedOne produced “Here We Go Again” — that listeners will have a hard time not listening to the 40-minute album on repeat. Excluding a few cliché lines like in the title cut “Turn It Up,” this is the pop album of 2009, so put this one on and enjoy because, as Pixie says, “A good beat never hurt no one.”A. White–Sorority RowSummit EntertainmentC+”Sorority Row” is the tale of five Theta Pi sorority sisters who play just a little too hard. A practical joke is used to seek revenge on an unfaithful boyfriend of one of the sisters. But this joke goes terribly wrong, and the boyfriend kills one of the sisters with a tire iron. The clique vows secrecy and continues to live its party-hard lifestyle until a shadowed creature seeks revenge. On the plus side, the movie was casted and filmed well. However, some party scenes dragged on for a little too long, and there were far too many characters and subplots for the movie to handle.L. Nunez–MuseThe ResistanceWarner Music UKB-Muse blasts back on to the music scene with its fifth studio album. “The Resistance” is classic Muse, complete with sweeping guitars and explosive tracks typical of the veteran band. Muse takes a step outside its usual sounds to prove the band isn’t completely incapable of evolving musically with the three-part rock symphony “Exogenesis,” complete with a full orchestra. The orchestra also pops up in other tracks like “United States of Eurasia,” which has a Queen-esque feel. Muse will satisfy its substantial fan base with “The Resistance.”E. Slack–Chad Smith’s Bombastic MeatbatsMeet the MeatbatsWarrior RecordsAChad Smith, best known for playing drums for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, released his first record with his instrumental group the Bombastic Meatbats on Sept. 15. Though they are mostly an improvisational funk band, the Meatbats fuse together elements of classic rock, R&B and ’70s lounge music to produce a diverse sound. The band is mostly known for its live club performances, but the tracks on this record are very tight and thoroughly road-tested. Recorded completely live and written in a matter of days, “Meet the Meatbats” brings out the spontaneity of the band’s live shows. And in a music scene where bands often trade their songwriting for lavish production, this raw jam session is a breath of fresh air.B. Bourgeois–Kid CudiMan on the Moon: The End of DayUniversal MotownA-The easiest way to describe Kid Cudi’s debut studio album “Man on the Moon” is to tell the listeners to forget any preconceived notions they had about hip-hop. This album will change their minds. Following with the same ideals as Kanye West’s experimental “808s and Heartbreak,” Cudi produces an album too big to fit into the same molds as normal rap. With beats ranging from sparking space pop supplied by MGMT and Ratatat, to trimmed down minimalist hip-hop, Cudi’s surrealistic imagery and psychedelic concepts come together for an album as adventurous as a trip to the moon.J. Clapp–9Focus FeaturesC”9″ is visually beautiful with animation that would make any animator from Pixar cry. The film tells the story of nine rag dolls, survivors in a post-apocalyptic world devastated by machines. The animation is the most striking feature of the film. With movements and expressions so ornate they seem almost human, “9” is very well done. However, the story lacks plot depth, and more development could have come about if the film was longer than 80 minutes.C. Vogels