Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Björk, Ozzy Osbourne, Gaddafi Gals: The albums of the week in the sound check

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Cool It Down (Secretly Canadian)
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs hadn’t released any new music for almost ten years, and now they quote Frankie Valli, The Velvet Underground, Duran Duran and the legendary New York underground band ESG on an essentially elegiac synth album. It’s about a world in turmoil, about the climate catastrophe, the devastation of the Trump years and how you can continue with dignity as the formerly coolest gang in town beyond the age of 40. Torsten Groß, moderator

Bjork: Fossora (One Little Indian)
From time to time there are albums that start misunderstood in the present and decades later are recognized as classics. The eleventh album by the great universal artist Björk could be such a candidate. Because although “Fossora” builds on a strong narrative about earthliness and female principles, the 13 tracks seem more like a hermetic radio play that lacks the accompanying film. Björk plays with Icelandic folklore, free-form melodies and sampled voices without coming up with too many results that go beyond atmospheric beauty. Own, but too nice. Joachim Hentschel, Süddeutsche Zeitung

Ozzy Osbourne: Patient Number 9 (Sony)
It could be the farewell work of heavy metal’s eternal madman – and as such, it’s not a bad one. For the second time, pop producer Andrew Watt has written a coherent album just for him, which is brought to life in his last studio recording by committed musicians such as Chad Smith, Duff McKagan, Rob Trujillo and Taylor Hawkins, and by guest guitarists like Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton or his old Black Sabbath buddy Tony Iommi gets additional textures. Ozzy Osbourne himself only seems like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, but his voice remains charismatic and above all carries the string-padded ballads with their Beatles harmonies – because in truth the “Prince Of Darkness” is the king of the power ballad. Toby Schaper, Radio Fritz

Gaddafi Gals: “Romeo must die” (3-Headed Monster Posse/ The Orchard)
The title of the Gaddafi Gals’ second album is a reference to the 2000 action film of the same name, starring R’n’B icon Aaliyah. The aesthetics of this era can not only be found on the cover, it runs through the entire album by the Berlin trio: retro synthesizer sounds mix with pop melodies and R’n’B songs. With titles like “Bye Bye”, in the music video of which the three look down into a grave from above, or “Chainsaw” one gets the feeling that this is less about Shakespeare and more about the death of the patriarchy. Jana Weiss, daily mirror

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