Asher Roth
“Asleep in the Bread Aisle”
1.5 out of 5 stars

When Nas titled his 2006 album “Hip Hop Is Dead,” perhaps he was envisioning the rise of Asher Roth. But Roth isn’t killing hip hop. The white rapper’s road to prominence is more indicative of the decay of the music industry.

Roth was pushed as a legitimate rapper before he had even released “I Love College,” forced-fed to the media through a sort of contrived relevance.

He’s finally got a full-length to his name and well, his beats are pretty cool. The production on this release isn’t bad at all. As for rapping, Roth has been compared to Eminem, though his flow is completely listless and his lyrics are terrible, often evoking the sort of toilet humor one would think went out with Blink-182 in 1999. Look to the pointless pop culture references of “Lark on My Go Cart” or the completely asinine “Bad Day” if absolutely necessary.

Guest spots from Cee-Lo and Busta Rhymes only make you wonder how much they were paid by Roth’s label to continue the whole masquerade.

Key Tracks: None

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Camera Obscura
“My Maudlin Career”
4 out of 5 stars

It’s been three years since we’ve heard the sweet, sweet pop goodness of Traceyanne Campbell and the rest of the Camera Obscura crew. Long-time fans may have been worried that Obscura’s recent switch from Merge Records (a relatively small label) to 4AD (a somewhat bigger label based in Britain) meant the band would become all work and no play, but their fears were fortunately put to rest with the release of “My Maudlin Career.”

This album is admittedly quite similar to their last, “Let’s Get Out of This Country,” but one of the best things about Camera Obscura is their knack for consistency.

Campbell’s vocals are wonderfully enchanting (though gloomy) as usual and with an apparent abundance of instruments at their disposal from guitars to trumpets and a slew of strings, their songs are polished and shine as indie pop gems.

Of course no Camera Obscura review would be complete without some sort of reference to Belle & Sebastian, though if you ask me I think they’ve finally managed to outgrow that comparison.

Key Tracks: “French Navy,” “My Maudlin Career”