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DROPS: 'Mail' is almost letter perfect

Glenn Gamboa | DROPS

March 18, 2008

Flo Rida's CD cover of new album titled "Mail on Sunday " (Handout)

Unlike most of hip-hop's recent hitmakers, Flo Rida doesn't really have a hook. There's no island lilt like Akon, no vocoder sound like T-Pain, no cartoonish behavior like so much of the Dirty South.

Instead, Flo Rida (pronounced like "flow rider" not like the state, even though that's where he's from) simply relies on irresistibly catchy songs on "Mail on Sunday" (Atlantic).

By now, we've all had enough of Flo's first single "Low," which has already been No. 1 for 10 weeks, and continues to rack up tons of radio airplay for its streamlined Dirty South groove about falling in lust. But "Elevator," a collaboration with Timbaland, seems destined for more of the same dominance by offering Tim's near-patented spacey-dance backdrop, his beat-boxing flourishes and, as an added guarantee, a hook that features an "ella, ella" call. We know how that turned out the last time.

But "Mail on Sunday" doesn't stop there. Flo Rida has hits and collaborators that will likely last him through next year. Birdman toughens up the hip-hop march of "Priceless," Lil Wayne does the same for "American Superstar" and Rick Ross does it for "Money Right." The poppy groove of "In the Ayer," with its early '90s booty-bass drive and Will.i.am is sure to be a summertime smash, while "Ms. Hangover," a cavalcade of alcoholic product placement, should hold down the fall.

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With "Mail on Sunday," Flo Rida taps into something ordinary, something for regular folks and turns it into the rarest of commodities in today's music industry: a surefire hit.

SHE'S A "NEW SOUL." The year's most unlikely new star is Yael Naim, the Israeli songwriter who sings mainly in a mix of English, Yiddish and French on her eponymous American debut on Atlantic Records. Her songs combine Sarah McLachlan prettiness with Regina Spektor quirkiness and her voice is prone to jazzy sweeps and folkie whispers that often lead to pleasant surprises.

"Far Far" sounds like Bj"rk covering Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry," which isn't as far a stretch as it seems considering the jazzy chanteuse, trip-hop vibe Naim gives to her charming, stripped-down version of Britney Spears' "Toxic."

Of course, no surprise compares with the shock of Naim's single "New Soul," better known as the theme for Apple's Mac Air ad campaign, hitting the Top 10 and bringing her dainty, unusual album to the American mainstream. ("Yael Naim," in stores today; Grade: B-)

ALSO IN STORES. The Hush Sound's "Goodbye Blues" (Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen); the first of Joseph Arthur's four new EPs, "Could We Survive" (Lonely Astronaut); Diddy proteges Danity Kane's "Welcome to the Dollhouse" (Bad Boy); New Found Glory's greatest hits compilation "Hits" (Geffen); M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel team up as She and Him on "Volume One" (Merge); Destroyer's "Trouble in Dreams" (Merge); Lyrics Born's alt-hip-hop "Everywhere at Once" (Anti-); buzz band Be Your Own Pet's "Get Awkward" (Ecstatic Peace); the soundtrack to "21" (Columbia), featuring LCD Soundsystem and a Rolling Stones remix; and The Bravery's "The Sun and the Moon Complete" (Island), the two-CD version with remixes and reworkings of the band's 2007 album.

SONG OF THE WEEK. R.E.M.'s new single "Supernatural Superserious" (Warner Bros.) pulls together everything they skipped on their somber, contemplative previous album, filling it with Peter Buck's grinding guitar and some sweet harmonies from Mike Mills. But it's Michael Stipe's warm, playful vocals that crown the band's best opening single since "What's the Frequency Kenneth" from 1994's "Monster" and suggest the band's upcoming "Accelerate" album will be something truly special.

Contact Glenn Gamboa at 631-843-3434.

MAIL ON SUNDAY. Flo Rida delivers dependably likable hip-hop pop. In stores today. Grade: B