Terius Nash: 1977 – The-Dream – I can count on one hand the artists I've followed thru mixtapes (Frank Ocean, Drake, Kweezy's "Good Friday" … a coupla others) and The-Dream isn't one of them. But on the heels of his work on Unapologetic and essentially producing Beyonce's latest, the bitter taste off his first solo album is officially over. Released as a free download, this is a surprisingly brilliant album of Here My Dear break up songs as heartbreak, detailing his divorce – Grade: A
MMXII – Killing Joke – After essentially missing the boat when it was released in April, I gave it a spin after buying a tix to catch em in August of next year. Not your father's KJ, the heavy bass is redolent of present day PiL and the songs are based around anthem singalongs with a rock solid, how you say, tune – Grade: A-
Clockwork Angels – Rush – Man, I hate Geddy Lee's voice. This guy gets on my tits to an amazing degree. So even when I can admire from a great distance the overwrought prog rock and jamminess of "The Anarchist", I find it difficult to enjoy. A Sci-Fi rock opera about a boy on the road to find himself, so consider it Candide for middle aged men who jacked off a lot as pimply teens – Grade: C
Lather – Frank Zappa – A whole helluva lot of a kinda Zappa Smile, and given how much Zappa actually released in his lifetime alone, I am surprised there is so much. When Frank is in rocker mode I kinda like him, or novelty stuff, or even some of his anabt-jazz leanings, but when he deads to the wilds of experimentation I head to the rest room – Grade: C