Queens of the Stone Age
Lullabies to Paralyze
on Interscope Records
B-After the breakthrough success of 2002's Songs for the Deaf and last year's departure of founding bassist Nick Oliveri, singer and guitarist Josh Homme scrapped together an eclectic group of musicians for Queens of the Stone Age's newest album.

Lullabies to Paralyze attempts to combine the musical ideas of the group's first three albums. The standout track is "Tangled up in Plaid," in which an exquisite, hard-rocking riff offers a perfect backdrop for Homme's haunting lyrics. It captures the best aspect of the band's stoner-rock aesthetic: a pounding set of complex instrumentals as vast as the California deserts where the band first developed their signature sound.

The rest of the album is fairly hit-or-miss. "Little Sister," the first single, offers a fast-paced guitar-and-drum arrangement built around some speedy cowbell reverberations. "Broken Box" is a sort of sequel of sorts to the band's 2003 hit, "Go with the Flow."

While Lullabies to Paralyze propels Queens of the Stone Age into a new realm of stoner rock, the album lacks one key factor in their once-flawless formula: Oliveri. The lazy and elementary bass work by replacement Alain Jones is simply inferior to Oliveri's.

-Leor Galil

matt pond PA
Winter Songs EP
on Altitude Records
B

Matthew Pond is not your typical indie rocker. Then again, neither is his group matt pond PA. On their new EP, Winter Songs, the band includes a cellist, a violinist and a couple of bassists. With its soothing sound, the smooth and melodic EP not only expands on last year's Emblems album, but also serves as a good introduction to the band, which plays with Lincoln Conspiracy at Cholmondeley's this Thursday.

Channeling an appealing pop-folk sound, Winter Songs finds Pond and company cooking up seven tracks-several excellent originals and some covers-on the subject of, well, winter. In "Snow Day," the first track, cellist Eve Miller and drummer Dan Crowell's soulful combination of rhythmic and saccharine tones flirts perfectly with Pond's moving, melancholy vocals. Yet the group's other originals-all short instrumental tracks-pale in comparison.

The covers are another story. Richard and Linda Thompson's "I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight" receives the best treatment; Miller fills the song with a mesmerizing panache. With its sweet melodies and vocal harmonies, an interesting version of "In an Aeroplane over the Sea"-originally by '90s indie rock heroes Neutral Milk Hotel-plays well, too.

Even with snow melting and winter fading (hopefully) into memory, matt pond PA's short and sweet Winter Songs should give fans a fair indication of what to expect this week when the band comes to campus.

-Leor Galil