Right Place Right Time – Olly Murs – The UK X Factor Winner is about the best you can hope for, a charming, smart, good looking pop product with the good old fashioned woman appeal to cut through generations and a handful of potential hits here to break him pop. "Troublemaker" has already set the tone and "Heart Skips A Beat" has built up the traction. They are both modern dance pop moves, but elsewhere Murs digs deeper, with calypso flavored rhythms and deep ingrained melodies. It should do the job. ALBUM OF THE WEEK – Grade: A-
White People And The Damage Done – Jello Biafra and the Guantarnano School Of Medicine – Naming your band after the Cuban detention center is hardly a shocker from the man who once named his band the Dead Kennedy's. Indeed, nothing here shocks and is it really meant? Plainspeak agitprop, not always punk, sometimes more like generic alt hard rock. And sometimes the tough snark, "Mid-East Peace Process" and "Hollywood Goof Disease" is smart enough, and sometimes, " The Brown Lipstick Parade" (can you guess?) it certainly doesn't. Typical lyric: "Why don't you just die"- Grade: C
Devotion – Jessie Ware – A wow of a debut album from English song bird, soul singer Jessie Ware. "Wildest Moment" you know, though there is a decent remix with ASAP Rocky. Elsewhere, a couple of weaker tracks don't sink it, and pop move "If You're Never Gonna Move" followed by full blooded ballad "Taking In Water". It always makes up for the inexplicably missing " Never Knew Love Like This Before" – B+
True Romance – Charlie XCX – Coming of age party for the 20 year old electronic pop UK singer. Pleasant, harmless, unpretentious and catchy. And a little samey – Grade: B
Twelve Reasons To Die – Ghostface Killah – Producer Adrian Younge sets a Good Bad And Ugly vibe on the hip hop opera about a hitman, killed for deciding to branch away from the Family, has his remains pressed into 12 vinyl albums and exacts revenge. RZA does the narration. Ambitious, and the scratching is pretty great, the Ennio Morricone gives it a fresh, though not that fresh sound. But a little stupid and it adds up to the same ol' RZA Japanese warriors stuff he has plagued on for 20 years. Killah is not very inspiring either – B-
Save Rock And Roll – Fall Out Boy – Surprisingly good reunion album, all the guests, especially Elton John, are there for a reason, the lyrics are constantly smart, the songs consistently catchy anthems and if only Patrick Stump could write consistently memorable melodies, they would be everything you think they are – A-
Mosquito – Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Sure, "Sacrilege" is clever soul and "Mosquito" a great pun and the level of deep soul and rock admirable. There is still nothing to compare with "Zero" and this is the only album they've made that doesn't move them forward – B+
The Terror – The Flaming Lips – You gotta hand it to Wayne, if this is a pop move, it is the worst pop move ever. More spacey soundscapes spiritualizing – B+
Free The Universe – Major Lazer – Reminds me of Mark Ronson's Record Collector, a major pop move from a DJ with first tier singers from the pop and rock world, that mostly is an amazing stinker – Grade: C
Top Of The Pops – Art Brut – Inept or brilliant Brit rock? Brilliant, and check out this greatest misses if you want proof – A-
Ghost On Ghost – Iron & Wine – If you are a fan, this album is a major vindication, a perfectly wrought, over orchestrated move into the alternative yet mainstream with deep lyric and world defining axioms of darkness and light. If you aren't, Samuel Beam has an irritating vocal delivery and a self-important tude which signifies about as much as the band title. And it is still his best album – C+
Indicud – Kid Cudi – Right now you've got to wonder if Cudi should've listened to Jay-Z and tried to widen his sound. If he narrowed his scope for this, his second dreary mess in a row, he lost out on the deal. There is a song here and there, the Kendrick Lamarr track is really good, but it doesn't add up to much – C
Float – Styles P – Man, the former Ruff Ryder has a new album and N.O.R.E., Jadakiss, Raekwon, and more came along for the ride. Hey, that's Sheek! Now if only there some hits here – C+
Let's Face The Music And Dance – Willie Nelson – As long as Willie is enjoying himself pretending he's Rod Stewart covering the Great American Song Book, who am I to stop him? On the other hand, why would I want to participate – C-