In The Belly Of The Brazen Beast – The Cribs – The UK manufacture these brother boy guitar rock bands and some are better than others. These guys sing close harmony real well, not bad lyrics and though they are a little average the songs will get their claws in if you give them a chance . – Grade: B+
Original Hits – Pitbull – The straight up dance is better than the hip hop hybrid. The Junior Mafia sample is awful. But even while Lil Jon only adds crunk, it's worth noting Pitbull was name checking J Lo even at this stage. And his salsa had nowhere left to go. It was already great – Grade: B+
Maps – Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly – It doesn't fly but this spin on the singer songwriter gets away with a song called "London Burning" and a constant moody emotional heavy dues Conor has stopped trucking in – Grade: B+
Like Comedy – The Proclaimers – They may well be one hit wonders but they are still around because the brothers can write small, well crafted, timeless folk-pop songs in their sleep. Another in a long line and fine with me. And the one hit was killa – Grade: B+
Orkney: Symphony Of The Magnetic North – Beautiful sound modulations, it reminds me a little of Fall On Your Swords, but I am not quite sure what to do with it except put it in the background and feel creepy and depressed and weird – Grade: B
Cyrk – Cate Le Bon – To dumb down the experience, imagine Kate Bush fronting Oasis. To pull it up, haunting Goth tunes that erupt into cathartic rock outbursts… I may return to a full review of this, I am still getting a handle on it but it sounds major to me – Grade: A-
Neck Of The Woods – Silversun Pickups – Are these guys Canadia are from L.A.? Has to be one or the other – Grade: B-
Off! – OFF! – Four Eps, one album… I HAVE TO SEE EM LIVE – Grade: A
After Hours – Glenn Frey – Sometimes I think my blanket contempt for this guy effects my judgement, but… just listen to "Here's To Life" and tell me what you think? Grade: F