Organ Donor

“Come On Baby” (Bi-Fi)

Compare to: Will Oldham, Songs: Ohia, Morrissey

Organ Donor’s latest EP release, “Come On Baby,” gets right to the point.

In fact, the first song, “Come On Baby, Pt. 1,” starts off with an immediate splash of lyrics and music.

“Come on, baby/ Let me take you for a drive/ The moon is floating high/ And this night is made for love/ So am I.”

The music, a mix between an up-tempo farewell song at the end of Saturday Night Live (saxophone included) and a forkful of Meatloaf, grabs you, then lets go almost immediately. From that point on, it’s groping in the dark.

The third song is a Valium-induced cover of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle.” Using a drum machine, acoustic guitar and church organ, Organ Donor attempts to remake a song that’s been changed so much, it no longer resembles its inspiration.

From Frente to the Brand New Heavies to Stabbing Westward, “Bizarre Love Triangle” has seen its share of new faces. However, the song has become sadly reminiscent of Michael Keaton’s “Multiplicity” — it just keeps getting worse with every version.

The band follows this up with part two of “Come On Baby.” The second version of the song is laden with special effects and moodiness.

Even though it sounds a bit like a Smithereens rip-off on the “Sixteen Candles” soundtrack, Organ Donor earns points for experimenting with different effects and instruments, as well as experimenting with their own song.

How many bands can you name that have used the name “Kate” or any variation of Kathryn in the title? I’ve got at least three for you: Ben Folds (“Kate”), Red House Painters (“Katy Song”) and Vassar Clements (“Katy Hill”). It’s also safe to say all the songs with this name in the title use the same lyrics.

Organ Donor’s version, “Katie,” is no different: “Katie, Katie, Katie/ Oh, now you’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen/ Katie, won’t you take a chance with me.”

It’s been just over nine months since Organ Donor’s last album release. Another three months and some better producing and this album could have been stronger than its suggestive title.

— Adam Greenfield

MxPx

“Before Everything and After” (A&M)

Compare to: Five Iron Frenzy, The Ataris, Ace Troubleshooter

When Mike Herrera blows out the 27 candles on his birthday cake in November, he’d be wise to wish there were only 16 again.

It’s not that the MxPx vocalist and bassist, along with drummer Yuri Ruley and guitarist Tom Wisniewski, have suddenly started making bad music. “Before Everything and After” is the same hook-filled, yummy-as-candy shtick we’ve all come to expect from the little pop-punk engine that could.

Unfortunately, this formulaic approach to songwriting that’s worked so well in the past is exactly why it falters now.

Few bands have so unapologetically embraced the four-chord masterpiece and still maintained their dignity like the Plaid, but something’s different this time around. The heavier sound of early albums like “Teenage Politics” is long gone, yet the consistently uplifting feel of “The Ever-Passing Moment” isn’t there, either.

Liken this album to a dog chasing its tail — the motivation’s there, but it rarely catches what it’s looking for.

Songs like “It’s Alright” and “Brokenhearted” let off far too much of a Blink stink, while “Don’t Walk Away” and “More Everything” are all-too close to Green Day, circa “Nimrod.” These tracks might all be by the same group, but together, they sound like a Drive-Thru Records sampler.

No one expects Herrera to write like Hemingway, but many of the lyrics on this album read like a junior high love letter. “All I ever needed was to eat popcorn with you/ Come on over, watch the late show, stay up talking until two,” sings Herrera on “Everything Sucks,” a jumbled three minute mess of over-production.

A few songs do successfully step out of the routine, and with much success. Most notable is “Quit Your Life,” an unexpected ballad filled with orchestral backings and swooping vocals. It’s a little fluffy, but the change in pace is refreshing.

“Before Everything and After” is sugary enough to cause cavities and filled with more catchy hooks than a bait shop, but if you’re more interested in flavor than familiarity, you might as well put “Pokinatcha” back on repeat.

— Aaron Ladage

John Mayer

“Heavier Things” (Columbia)

Compare to: Howie Day, Pete Yorn, David Gray

John Mayer knows he could record himself reading the Plano, Texas phone book through a Moog synthesizer over a continuous loop of dogs barking “Jingle Bells” and sell millions of albums. But the knowledge doesn’t make him complacent.

The 26-year-old singer-songwriter has toured worldwide nearly nonstop after releasing his triple-platinum breakthrough, “Room For Squares,” and even had the audacity to release a double live album, “Any Given Thursday.”

Mayer’s hard work shows on his fourth outing, “Heavier Things.” The Joseph Puig-produced album finds Mayer exploring more of the same subject matter — youth, ambition, lost love — but the result is slicker and nearly over-produced at times, starting with the lilting piano and horns of “Clarity.”

The track features the hip-hop drum stylings of The Roots’ own ?uestlove, and the opening bars are enough to make a diehard Mayer fan cringe. But when Mayer’s familiar guitar strains and his signature falsetto blend into the chorus, it all comes together.

The 16-year-olds are bound to fall head over heels for “Come Back To Bed,” a twangy ballad whose name speaks for itself. More horns here, and the chorus and guitar solos smack of the Rolling Stones’ classic, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” That could be a good thing, except Mayer’s target audience won’t realize the inspiration.

“Heavier Things” contains several gems that truly make the whole package sparkle, including “Something’s Missing,” a smooth guitar ballad first featured on “Any Given Thursday.” The track is classic melancholy Mayer: “I’m not alone/ I wish I was/ ‘Cause then I’d know I was down because/ I couldn’t find a friend around.”

Mayer has long credited Sting as a musical inspiration, and it’s evident here, especially on the tongue-in-cheek soul searchers “New Deep” and “Home Life.” The earnest “Only Heart” is noteworthy as well.

Mayer’s not reaching for perfection this time, but instead exploring new options and experimenting with his style. Add this one to your collection, but know Mayer’s going to be releasing Gen-Y anthems for years to come. He’ll only continue to improve — at least until that synthesizer concept album.

— Megan Hinds

Fredalba

“Uptown Music For Downtown Kids” (Piller)

Compare to: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime, Bob Marley

If Bob Marley and The Red Hot Chili Peppers had six musically gifted children, Fredalba’s latest is what their music would sound like.

Fredalba’s mix of funk, reggae, rap and hip-hop has an upbeat and syncopated feel, yet is laid-back and soul-soothing at the same time.

The listener can picture college students and high school sweethearts dancing and jiving.

Add in the Latin-influenced back beats, and you can picture those students participating in a community line dance and a massive, hands-in-the-air sing-along.

Fredalba has added a flute and turntables to its “wall of funk” sound.

The flute melodies are a dead-perfect fit with the heavy drum and bass feel. Flutist Charmian Callon’s solos should be laminated, engraved onto platinum and transferred to paper so every aspiring flutist can learn them.

Eric Balfour’s voice is one to envy. He hits every note with precision and grace. Fredalba could just as well be called the Eric Balfour Band without much argument.

Balfour has a hand in all of the song writing, and the band is right there, perfectly complementing his every rhyme and vocal fluctuation.

One might think Fredalba’s members spent decades composing these songs, and that very well may be.

If you search high and low for poorly written songs, you will find none, unless you flat-out despise funk music.

The stand out track, “Gimme More,” is the “grind with the finely tanned girl in the pink dress” prom theme song.

“Gimme More” has all the elements of a groover as well as a sing-along.

The song also serves as a perfect lead-in to “Get Up,” the album’s festive, melodic track.

During the chorus, one can almost smell the aroma of hamburgers and brats cooking on the grill and picture the raging bonfire as shiny, metallic beer cans are held high with pride and everyone delights in dancing and singing with complete strangers and close friends to this album.

— Dan Hopper