Cat Power "Sun" [2012]

Not content to continue releasing barren, cheap, demo-quality albums sounding like some cut-rate Nora Jones with a hangover (or Sinead O'Connor pretty much every morning), Cat Power apparently happened upon the same realization/crisis Yeah Yeah Yeahs did a few years earlier: "You ain't getting any cuter, and you sure as hell ain't getting any richer." Enter the blatant overproduction qualities of "Sun" -- her, like, 25th album or something -- to help her keep from working the register at Target for a few more years. Sensing an opportunity that likely stemmed from her understanding that she's hotter than Adele (yeah, and she's a better singer than Liz Phair, but so's a crippled parrot), Cat Power went all gooey with reverb and endless channels as if she's trying to lure MGMT into her apartment. Too bad she still can't write any interesting songs; if you listen closely you can hear Arcade Fire complaining how repetitious all the tunes on "Sun" are. Thus, reminiscent of the way Flaming Lips suck as a rock band and as an electronic one, Cat Power proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that she's fortunate to have moved up from Open Mic Night at all.