The Fray’s new album The Fray is just as lackluster as its title. The band became famous following the playing of their hit song “How to Save a Life” on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, and their debut CD, How to Save a Life, included other hit songs such as “All at Once” and “Over my Head.” While I enjoyed that album, the new CD left me disappointed and unimpressed. Here, The Fray has a Coldplay-esque sound, but most of the songs sound identical to one another and the lyrics are pretty dull. The album isn’t overly exciting, although some of the songs are catchy and easy to listen to. The opening track, “Syndicate,” features nice use of the guitar and piano and a good chorus.

For an old guy who grew up on the likes of Dinosaur Jr. and Frank Black in high school, this self-conscious, over-literate crew of suburban Jersey, white kids shredding distorted guitars and stomping to punk anthems in t­heir basement seems like a throw-back to the ’90s era of happy nihilism. Maybe it’s the angst of another recession that’s breeding more broody, pop-inflected hooks?

Ghostface Killah, lyrical swordsman from the Wu-Tang Clan, combines old and new on his latest release GhostDeini the Great. The album adds some new tracks and remixes to a collection of Ghostface’s rawest beats and vocal efforts. Lil Wayne, Freeway, Ice Cube, and Malice of Clipse join the party on remixes of “Kilo” and “Be Easy” (originally from GFK’s Fishscale) and “Run” (originally from The Pretty Toney Album).

This EP, comprised of four songs, follows up the 2007 debut of this one man sensation. Justin Vernon, who is Bon Iver, boarded himself up for three months in his father’s cabin in Wisconsin to create his first LP: For Emma, Forever Ago. It was a tribute to the loss of a band, a lover and himself. Blood Bank reminisces of those times, in particular on the track “Woods” where Justin repeats via Vocoder, “I’m up in the woods/I’m down on my mind/I’m building a still/To slow down the time.” Although this EP was not recorded in a cabin in the woods as For Emma was, it still conveys the sentiment of being out in the wild, fighting off one’s demons.

It has been three years since Oscar and Grammy award-winner Jamie Foxx released a studio album. His 2005 record Unpredictable was — despite mediocre material — a surprise hit, certified double platinum at the height of his Oscar-winning Ray hype, and produced a #1 R&B hit. Now removed from his peak acting success, Foxx aims to replicate his recording success with Intuition, an equally star-studded affair featuring guest spots from A-listers including Lil Wayne, Kanye West, The-Dream, T.I. and Ne-Yo. In interviews leading up to the album’s release, Foxx promised that this album, unlike his previous slow-jam slogging record, would be targeted more towards the clubs.

Permitting audiophiles scarcely a week to savor 2008’s independent folk revival (Fleet Foxes and Blitzen Trapper each made Rolling Stone’s top 20), Vetiver inaugurated the 2009 campaign with an early release of the band’s fourth LP, Tight Knit. Though the San Francisco band has been laying down rich, layered harmonies drenched in irresistibly precise guitar riffs since their self-titled debut in 2004, Tight Knit is Vetiver’s first team-up with prolific Seattle label Subpop, a move that lets the group develop, master and distribute their tunes on a well-respected indie-music purveyor.

Across the board, European music critics loved Glasvegas in 2008. In mid-summer, NME named them “The Best New Band in Britain” and by the close of the year, their album had peaked at no. 2 on the UK charts. The singles “Geraldine” and “Daddy’s Gone” as well as the self-titled album by the Scottish foursome, topped quite a few of the British year-end lists.

By re-embracing musical simplicity on Always the Bridesmaids Vols. I-III, the Decemberists’ enviable defining traits once more come into sharp focus: the loose-limbed rhythm section, the chiming guitars, the hymnal efficiency of the rise-and-fall melodies and Colin Meloy’s surgically precise lyrics. Meloy’s penchant for sharply-drawn narratives also continues — one is “Valerie Plame,” with lyrics in the shape of a fictional love letter to the outed spy (there is also a Barton Hall-tested, arena-worthy, “Hey Jude”-style outro). “Record Year” and “Raincoat Song” mix desolate rainy imagery with pretty acoustic guitars; the former adds a string quartet and a gorgeous descending vocal melody.

Like the birth of a child, some experiences are so profound that words only cheapen them. One such experience is Blue, Joni Mitchell’s 1971 classic — an album as essential to the lexicon of rock and roll as Sgt. Pepper and Blonde on Blonde. Along with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell is a 20th century musical icon, one whose style is uniquely her own, and whose brilliance eludes understanding. The unconventional tunings; the soaring vibrato; the see-sawing lyrics — Mitchell’s music is so visceral, so free, so untamed, that pinning it down diminishes it, like putting a wild animal into captivity.

Last week I reviewed little David Archuleta’s debut, and even though I gave it a positive critique, I was spurned by a plethora of Archie-loving lunatics. This week, it’s David Cook’s turn in the spotlight, and while I don’t anticipate the same back-lash from Cook extremists, treat this review as one of unbiased intention.

During much of his run last season on American Idol, David Cook drew many comparisons to season five’s resident-rocker Chris Daughtry. Not only was Cook’s style harder-edged than the competition — especially in the context of Idol — he even pulled the same advantage-grabbing stunts that Daughtry did. Cook emerged from the franchise’s most talented season primed to be the first contestant who can hold his own with his Idols.