Hesitation Marks – Nine Inch Nails – The beats are industrial and that figures but the hooks are industrial as well, and the melodies indelible in this brilliant album; not a return to form, they have never had this sort of form before. Experimental? Sure, it experiments with accessibility and achieves it- ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
Yours Truly – Ariane Grande – Nickelodeon star has a better than average voice and a handful of pop songs that should make her a boatload of money, and one “Popular”, she should pull immediately – C+
The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love – Neko Case – If there was a Lillith Fair this year, Neko would be there to prove the diversity of female whinging minnies – C-
The 1975 – The 1975 – Manchester band and we all know what that means, and they hold up the alt rock banner high as they poise for UK domination with this smart, tuneful rocking album… still, nearly as generic as this review – B
Love In The Future – John Legend – Really mediocre soft pop; it makes Alicia Keys sound cutting edge – D+
Repave – Volcano Fire – Very pleasant ambient folkieness and the songs here are stronger than on the bands first album Unmap… a lot stronger sometimes. At its best it has a largeness and melodic pull that makes it less experimental and more major sound bumps – B
Rarities – Rod Stewart – Early 1970s Rod including a seriously early version of “Maggie May” that is fascinatingly completely unfinished and differently:”I woke up late last night and I fell on the floor, my mother came into the room and she walked into the door, I just had to laugh, collect her autograph, but since you’ve been away it’s been so long. I don’t mean to tell ya, that you look like a fella, it’s been a long long time since you’ve been gone”. Good thing he rewrote them. This is a major album, it is Dylan Bootleg type importance- A