It’s rare to listen to a new album these days and not find a weak cut. Most records cut to the chase, especially with so many artists releasing EP’s and forgoing the full-lenghth record making process. On the Pretenders’ 11th album, “Hate For Sale” (BMG), songwriting chores were divvied amongst the band’s touring lineup and lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Chrissie Hynde, along with some of her old bandmates, including drummer Martin Chambers. “Hate” is filled with brisk ditties, catchy phrase turns and some post-punk anthems. There’s plenty of snarl and growl to go around, like on the tracks, “Turf Accountant Daddy,” and the title track, where Hynde sings, “Call it luck or inherited title/a guy like that is arrogant, idle/he takes and gets whatever he likes/women, cars and motorbikes.” Her evergreen vocals are what has always driven a good Pretenders record and thankfully, the band doesn’t get overly sensitive as they did with the mega-hit “I’ll Stand By You,” though they do come close with the album closer, “Crying in Public,” a gentle track with heart-throbbing piano and sweeping vocals. The album does makes a few drug references, like on the prime cuts “Junkie Walk,” an ode to rebel rock, that pairs sneering guitars and morality, and “The Buzz,” which compares love to opiates. New wave pioneers the Pretenders have returned to their heyday with “Hate,” a ripcord of a record that shows you can go back home. Long live rock and roll. You just got punked.

•••

When Richard Melville Hall, a.k.a. Moby, goes into the studio, you know you’re in for some soaring electronic music that few people will get. On “All Visible Objects” (Mute Records), the techno-wiz creates a bit of a throwback dance album with mixed results. With the exception of the quite listenable track, “South Side,” which he recorded with Gwen Stefani in 2000, Moby does what he does best: release music to mope by. It’s hard to begrudge someone who is almost more famous for insinuating he dated actress Natalie Portman (he didn’t) and feuding with Eminem (he has). Artistically, the man is gifted if not predictable. Los Angeles vocalist Apollo Jane and Moby’s live collaborator Mindy Jones are capable songstresses, particularly on the windswept cover of Roxy Music’s “My Only Love.” Moby fans eat up his repetitive beats for breakfast and there’s plenty of moody music to lift (or sour) anyone’s spirits. Like a lot of acts, putting out sellable music today comes down to versatility and “All Visible Objects” is no exception. The opening track, “Morningside,” features a driving beat and a reverb-heavy vocals that defined Moby’s ability to burn down dance clubs in the ’90s with his infectious loops of digital percussion. Those riffs haven’t gone away; they’re just better known by their new moniker EMD.

This album, his 17th, isn’t just for sad sacks, but you have to be in the zone to properly invest in listening to a Moby record. But most tracks lack music relevance and with the few near hits and a bounty of misses, “All Visible Objects” while hypnotic, will leave you dazed and confused.

•••

Rufus Wainwright, the son of famed folk-singer Loudon Wainwright III, should stop searching for his own identity. He found it a long time ago. He’s been making music for practically his entire life and his new shimmering record, “Unfollow the Rules” (BMG) is a collection of songs that showcases Wainwright’s uncanny knack for changing styles and guises with winning effect. “Damsel in Distress,” is a tribute to Joni Michell, replete with strumming guitars and cheeky hand claps. Wainwright has always been a bit of a traveling minstrel – musically speaking- and on “Unfollow,” he does his best to keep his fans guessing. This is his 9th album of original music, and Wainwright is spry and jazzy, which for any artist, can be a crap shoot. He whips up resplendent orchestrations which highlight the grandeur of his impressive vocal stylings. Overall on the disc, Wainwright seems quite content. “Peaceful Afternoon,” written for his husband, Jorn Weisbrodt, is an irresistible guitar-driven ode to domestic bliss (“Between sex and death and tryin’ to keep the kitchen clean.”) Most enjoyable is the six-minute title track, which begins with just Wainwright and his piano and then swells with emotion and affectation.

Some people might consider “Unfollow” a bit schmaltzy. It is. But there are few songsters out there that blend so many genres with flair and panache. “Unfollow” may not sway the uninitiated, but for fans, the album is the logical next step for a man who once recorded an entire album, replicating note-for-note, Judy Garland’s famed 1961 concert album, “Judy At Carnegie Hall.” What other balladeer could pull off such a sweet feat?

Newsletter