Songs For Imaginative People – Darwin Deez – Brooklyn indie band lead by wildcat Darwin Smith, they are much better than the tag approaches. The first three songs on the album mixes indie pop with quirky rhythms, wonky vocals, and great great songs. Then it heads South for a coupla tracks. But much better than you might think – Grade: B+
Honeys – Pissed Jeans – Half of it is the album of the year and the other half is the usual fucking about, and if Pissed Jeans have only one real subject, working in an office can kill you from cancer and I hope it does, it isn't a bad message at all – Grade: A-
Holy Fire – Foals – Radiohead with bouncier beats. SO, yeah, it sucks bad – Grade: C-
Temper Temper – Bullet For My Valentine – Look, if this is mainstream rock and roll in the UK circa 2013, it is much better than mainstream rock in the US 2013. But it is still settling. Except for the title track, which raves up smartly – Grade: C
Small Fires – The Stone Foxes – If they were unsigned, the Stone Foxes would be exactly the sort of band who win Rolling Stones best unsigned band every year. Sorta Humble Pie without Peter Frampton… or Steve Marriott – Grade: C
The Jazz Age – The Bryan Ferry Orchestral – Why do I feel as though I've just stumbled into the Ballroom at the Overlook Hotel? – Grade: C
King Of Conflict – The virginmarys – From my old stamping ground Macclesfield, England, they sound like a modern day Strokes without the falsetto on "Lost Weekend" and like a slightly above average UK rock band the rest of the time – Grade: B- (actually, it's a "C" but hey, home town advantage)
The Orchestrion Project – Pat Metheny – A live recording of his Orchestrion album, where the jazz guitar hero used all custom built instruments. I would give it a better grade but to be perfectly honest, if I wanna hear Metheny I am such a philistine I'll probably go with What's It All About from 2011 – Grade: C+
Cheater's Game – Kelly Willis And Bruce Robison – Inches away from a classic, this snapshot of a marriage in motion country album needs a little more backbone, turn up the bass here and there – Grade: A-
Matt Costa – Matt Costa – Jack Johnson find and okay surf and turf rock pop like Jack Johnson meets Paul Simon with a kick.. I mean if the punchline to a song called "Good Times" is "are coming to an end", you gotta root for the man – Grade: C+