Desired Effect – Brandon Flowers – The Killer goes 80s pop, and on a handful of songs it is really good, but when Brandon goes for the full flavored power ballad over fluff like “Dreams Come True” and “Still Want You”, the album crashes and burns – C+
The L-Shaped Man – Ceremony – If Pissed Jeans were the post-punk punk band to name drop, Ceremony were the beloved sons, but not by me. This is harsh Goth with a Joy Division aftertaste… but not great Joy Division, “Your Life In France” is borderline Rutles – C
Sol Invictus – Faith No More – I keep mistaking these guys for the Cult – C
Why Make Sense – Hot Chips – This is unambitious disco by the numbers by a band without New Orders chops, but as disco by the numbers goes, it never leaves the dancefloor and is all the better for it – C+
Hollywood: The Story Of A Dozen Roses – Jamie Foxx – Surely someone at Jamie’s label must have looked at that ridiculous album title and thought “maybe not”? Many of these tracks have their maybe not moments, Jamie has been running on goodwill ever since we were so relieved Will Smith didn’t get “Ray”, but “Annie” really pushed it, and this album is a transparent jam fest orchestrated by Pharrell, and his lessers. Plus, Pharrell is spreading himself awful thin and it shows – C+
Live + – Jeff beck – Two new songs on plus career spanning liver all extracted from his 2014 tour, including his “A Day In The Life”, a real snooze. Not bad until you reach the last track, a blistering newbie, which lifts the entire album, and then stops it, do you forgive him for diking with Brian Wilson – C+
Peanut Butter – Joanna Gruesome – 10 songs in 21 minutes, if these Welsh punks’ melodies peaked as high as album peak “Jamie (Luvver)”, it would be major – B+
Drug For The Modern Age – Kopecky – Bland folk poppers with a song here and there – C
# 1 To Infinity – Mariah Carey – her 18 number-one songs in one place but since I am a real rarity, I prefer her most recent work, it isn’t infinite to me – B
Monterey – The Milk Carton Kids – This is like the Civil Wars without the pyrotechnics, so it takes even longer to kick in. But kick in it does, and these deep dreamy songs are uniformly first rate – B+
Saturns Pattern – Paul Weller – “I’m Where I Should be” is a glorious mood rock song, but over the albums 53 minutes there isn’t much else. Then if you go back to Paul’s last album, 2012’s Sonik Kicks, this one ios even more disappointing – B-
Ratchet – Shamir – First rate r&b by 20 year old from Vegas, as debut this is very very impressive – B+
I Am Alive In Everything I Do – Silverstein – The greatest hardcore emo band in the world and why? Because the band mine both sides of the rock and roll spectrum to consistently great effect all the time. After their “Runaway” cover was the only punk goes pop off the entire enterprise I thought was as good as the original, I waited around for their 2013 release, which was good not great. Two years later this is close to great – B+
Highlights – Tanlines – If this doesn’t hold your attention the way it doesn’t hold mine, the chances are you are going to miss these fine songwriters finer point, which I certainly am doing – C+
Club Life, Vol 4, New York City – Tiesto – Though better than when he thought he was the next Guetta, and better than when he thought he was the next Avicii, the master DJ does a middling task of a club mix tape – B-
Intermission I and II – Trey Songz – Slow fuse sex songz, trey popular with sexually charged black women – C
Blurryface – Twenty One Pilots – Fueled By Ramen pop band rap and sing their way through an album with a shifting center of gravity. It is hugely ambitious, it feels like an old fashioned big album, and if an album with songs as strong as “Ride” and “Going Local” can be considered a failure, it fails. But it fails only on its own ambitious terms – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – B+
True Colors – Zedd – What does it mean when Selena Gomez sings on one of your two best songs, and Echosmith play on the other? It means you’re a pop guy – B-
