New music on the shelves

Pop

JEAN GRAE “Jeanius” (Blacksmith Music, ***)

Underground hip-hop heads have long sung the praises of Jean Grae, but the rapper’s full potential always has been hampered by subpar production.

Four years after her last record, she returns with a fierce showing helmed by the 9th Wonder, who’s worked with Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige.

The beats are better, if a bit familiar, but the real draw is Grae’s taut, bitter flow.

Like many rappers, she spends too much time cutting down perceived rivals, but when she shines the light on herself, it’s with an uncommon honesty and depth that rewards repeated listens.

“Jeanius” is out on Talib Kweli’s Blacksmith label, and Grae proves Kweli’s equal at articulating deep disillusionment.

If rumors of her retirement are true, she’s left a rock-solid legacy.

THREE 6 MAFIA “Last 2 Walk” (Columbia, ***)

In the twisted world of Three 6 Mafia, the philosophy of not fixing what isn’t broke hasn’t been some slow death-sentence of marginalization.

In fact, by getting weirder and more outrageous with each release, the Memphis rap group have sold more records, had more hits, won an Oscar, recorded a song with Justin Timberlake and gotten their own reality show. Go figure.

“Last 2 Walk” is the group’s ninth studio album and their first since becoming a household name. It’s a stark, refreshing reminder of the group’s trademark sounds: dark piano chords and synth-heavy beats, pushed further by ridiculous chants that act as choruses. A couple — “Playstation” and “First 48” — feel like product placements, albeit very clever ones.

A slew of guests rounds out what is a wildly fun party.

Some are expected (Project Pat, Akon), others are not (Lyfe Jennings and Good Charlotte). Surprisingly, they all fit nicely.

GIRL TALK “Feed The Animals” (Illegal Art, *** 1/2)

2006’s inventive “Night Ripper” established former biomedical engineer Gregg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, as a mad scientist DJ and mash-up alchemist, a master of blending hip-hop choruses with hooks and riffs from a wide swath of 1990s alternative rock and mainstream pop.

Although one could listen to it as name-that-tune pop quiz, its seamless quick-cut artistry never seemed academic, ironic or contrived; instead, it aimed for maximum pleasure.

Surprisingly, “Feed The Animals” is even giddier. Gillis takes the history of Top 40 pop as his purview, from “96 Tears” and “Jessie’s Girl” to “In a Big Country” and “Whoomp! (There It Is)” to “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” and “Lollipop.”

Made available as a Radiohead-like name-your-price download via www.illegalart.net almost immediately after it was completed (and then quickly dissected sample-by-sample on Wikipedia), “Feed The Animals” is a dizzy, exhausting and exuberant tour de force.

RZA AS BOBBY DIGITAL “Digi Snaks” (Koch, ***1/2)

RZA makes soundtracks for Quentin Tarentino and Jim Jarmusch, creates online games (WuChess), and produces palcollaborators in the Wu Tang Clan. But in between all that, RZA has a solo career that he runs in the thug-superhero mode of “Bobby Digital.”

With the Wu’s most recent record 8 Diagrams sounding only so-so, it’s time for the masked, swashbuckling pimp/ rapper to save the day. Rather than rescue it through hip-hop, Digi’s power comes from the thrilling blaxploitative swirl that RZA gave “Kill Bill.”

RZA’s fresh cinematic ambience allows him open space in which to rhyme curtly. “Creep” and “You Can’t Stop Me Now” are spookily soulful disco-funk thumpers whose mysteries you can’t quite figure out at first.

Then you notice the Billie Holiday-like voice of Thea van Seijen, with her creaking verses on looming cuts such as “Good Night,” and consider her contributions to the darkly atmospheric Massive Attack.

Aha! RZA’s take on that British trip-hop outfit’s electro-dub vibe gives everything from the regal jazz of “Drama” to the tensely teasing “Try Ya Ya Ya” a scary, lovelier atmosphere than anything RZA has recorded previously.

VANESSA HUDGENS “Identified” (Hollywood, *** 1/2)

There’s more to this Disney ingenue of “High School Musical” fame than meets the eye.

Her second album is stocked with enough lively and intriguing material to make Hudgens the U.S. Kylie Minogue. With its Nelly-like beat, “Last Night” tugs and leaps like a frisky dog on a leash.

Other keepers include the techno-flavored pop twirl of the title track and the dance throwdown of “Sneakernight.”

Hudgens doesn’t have a big voice, but she’s surprisingly resourceful and daring with it. About the only missteps she makes come on songs such as “First Bad Habit” and “Hook It Up” when she tries to sound too mature and saucy. Well, that and the fact that the album art makes the 19-year-old look like Paula Abdul.

That can’t be good. Country/roots

JANIVA MAGNESS “What Love Will Do” (Alligator, *** 1/2)

She reached 50 last year, and Janiva Magness also seems to have reached her prime. For her eighth album, the Blues Music Awards’ contemporary female artist of the year for 2006 and 2007 follows up the superb “Do I Move You?” with a set that hones her brand of soul-blues into its most potent form.

Magness sings with a scorching intensity on such sassy R&B workouts as “That’s What Love Will Make You Do” and “Get It, Get It,” and on a rocked-up run through Marvin Gaye’s Motown hit “Don’t Do It.”

The gritty punch of her performances is matched by the roadhouse-ready arrangements, although she hits just as hard when things cool down, as she softly pleads on “Fool Me Again” and says a sad goodbye on “I Won’t Be Around.”

BONNIE BRAMLETT “Beautiful” (Rockin’ Camel, *** 1/2)

A former Ikette and one-half of Delaney and Bonnie, Bonnie Bramlett has known her way around blues, soul and rock ’n’ roll over a career that goes back more than four decades.

After her uneven previous outing, “Roots, Blues & Jazz,” she puts it all together again with one of her best solo efforts.

The singer lets understatement and elegance carry the day on the smooth-flowing R&B of “He Sure Got Away With My Heart” and the nocturnal melancholy of “It’s Gonna Rain All Night,” and she brings an exquisite poignancy to “Some of My Best Friends,” a reflection on intolerance.

But Bramlett still can belt and she swaggers with authority through the Stones-y “Shake Something Loose” and “Strongest Weakness,” the latter with her daughter Bekka, a powerhouse singer in her own right. Jazz

HIROMI “Beyond Standard” (Telarc, *** 1/2)

The Japanese-born pianist Hiromi Uehara pulls off a monster of a jazz recording here. Now nearing 30, Hiromi, another promising product of Boston’s Berklee College of Music, takes on a set largely of standards after her past four recordings focused on original material.

Hiromi still has the crystalline style that makes her melodies so clear and expansive. Mentored by the eminent Pittsburgh-born pianist Ahmad Jamal, she’s turned into a major player.

The twist here is the fusion influence of guitarist David Fiuczynski, who really cuts it up with the leader on “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise.” Bassist Tony Grey joins in on the fusion pyrotechnics on Debussy’s “Claire de Lune,” enlarging the notion of a standard, while the Japanese tune “Ue Wo Muite Aruko” gets a thorough funky going-over.

“Caravan” and “My Favorite Things” also get comely makeovers. “Led Boots” from guitarist Jeff Beck’s “Wired” makes for a hot change of pace. The climax is Hiromi’s startling solo interpretation of “I’ve Got Rhythm,” which argues convincingly that jazz lives.

MARC COPLAND “Another Place” (Pirouet, ***)

Pianist Marc Copland, a Philadelphia native who changed from saxophone to piano in the 1970s and now records on a Munichbased label, makes a classy set with a quartet of coequal improvisers. The set with guitarist John Abercrombie, drummer Billy Hart and bassist Drew Gress is full of liquid moments and a soft-hued virtuosity.

It also is deeply melodic. Copland definitely is interested in relating to his audience and generally succeeds on these six originals and a handsome take of Cole Porter’s “Everything I Love.” Abercrombie’s “Ballad in Two Keys” showcases the group’s gentler side.

There also is an appetite for free structures and improvising that verges on telepathy. This makes the CD remote at times. The tunes are like stepping in a flooding river. The flow washes over you. While the current can be pleasant, it’s easy to lose your bearings.