One Of A Kind – Aer – Easygoing alt rockers, very sweet and catchy, via the outskirts of Boston. The title track is good and the entire collection hangs together nicely – B
Rock ‘n Royal – Barbie – Coming to DVD soon for your pre-tweens first taste of pop, the animated movie is a take on “The Prince And The Pauper” and this is OK stuff for your kids (coming attraction below) – C+
Psychadelik Thoughts – B.o.B. – Weezy introduced the world to the rap star as rock star, but the new Kid Cudi, and this pretty good straight up soul rock album, prove there is more to it than you thought, though not enough to take it too seriously – B
Venom – Bullet For My Valentine – Why does all metal have the same damn vocals? If it was good enough for Robert Plant, why doesn’t new metal actually use singers instead of screamers? This is ok metal, fast out of the gate, product from the old timers, but the vocals make it sound just the same as everyone else. The prof elements are a new concept – C+
Welcome To JFK – Chinx – New York till he died, unfortunately that was earlier this year from a drive by shooting at the age of 31, this is a very strong collection of serious gangsta rap from Chinx who was making the move from mixtapes to albums – B+
Euphoria Morning – Chris Cornell – If you like that gloomy, loud quiet plod stuff, you’ll love it – C-
This Mixtape Is On Fire -Dillon Francis – Back to the moombahton sound that broke him, this EP is the essence of house with grooves to die for and Calvin Harris and Skrillex and hot new DJ Kygo mixing it up nice. Very catchy EDM – B
All For You – Emily West – Dramatic stuff via Nashville but really mainstream old fashioned pop – B
M3LL155X – FKA Twigs – Five song EP, recorded back to back with last years LP1, this bizarre and beautiful collection (along with a 17 minute video posted below) is the sound of heavy duty bass, a Massive Attack influence, with vocals that sometimes seem to be from a halfworld dreaminess and a come on “I’ll be there…. oooh” , and whose mood is of an unnerving sensuality and danger. Early Tricky maybe? Trip hop, yep. The video is the equal of the EP – RECORDING OF THE WEEK – A
Zaba – Glass Animals – Low key mood pop with a toucha psychedelia. “Gooey” is a keeper. – C+
A Journey Through The Mind Of A Non Believer – Goodbye Tomorrow – Chicago rapper and producer whose “Jay Z” broke hip hop, and whose album is very good, “going crazy, in a Mercedes, feeling like I’m Jay Z” goes the hit… not bad, right? – B
Midnight – Grace Potter – Grace makes her pop move, which is much like her blues move and all her other moves: bad songs , over sung, by a girl with legs: she’s like Sheryl Crow if Sheryl had never managed a “If It Makes You Happy” – D+
New Beginnings EP – Joe Jackson – Instrumentals, sometimes it sounds like New Wave, sometimes like Latin Americana, and way too often like Mark Knopfler -C+
Cry Baby – Melanie Martinez – Lasted five rounds on “The Voice” so gotta suck, right? Not really, this is a very good collection of quirky pop songs. You know “Sippy Cup”, but the title track is a winner, the title track of her EP Dollhouse is good. Everything is off center while being mainstream, the lyrics are fascinating and sidewise and the album repays repeat listening by remaining unnerving and very very catchy – A-
Life’s Not Out To Get You – Neck Deep – Modern day the Vandals without the sense of humor – B-
Vikings – New Politics – Denmark punk pop band with dance beats, “Girl Crush” earlier this year was pretty good and when they punk they 77 UK punk and when they dance, it is all about loud beats – B
Home Green – Pat Green – This is where mainstream country should be at, a fine collection of songs and a terrific Lyle Lovett duet “Girls From Texas”. The man has a fine voice straight outta the George Strait school – B+
Imaginary Man – Raymond Baxter – Singer songwriter snooze still a song on an HBO series away from big time, and still astoundingly boring – C
One Of A Kind – Th’sl – Christian rap but much better than Tobymac, this guy, a reformed hustler saved by God, could make a believer of you – B
Love And Mercy (The Life, Love, And Genius Of Brian Wilson) – Various Artists – Atticus Ross (he did the incidental music to “The Social Network” with Trent Reznor) is here and the very first track “The Black Hole” is worth your time alone, a fade in to “God Only Knows” and other Beach Boy tracks like it is coming out of Wilson’s mind, is worth your while alone. Yet it hangs together elsewhere, and also: you get the live “Love And Mercy” which ends the album. Astoundingly enough, this is the best soundtrack album you will hear this year… easily – A
Scream: Music From Season One – Various Artists – I really like songwriter Phoebe Ryan’s “Mine” -the LA solo artist is gonna break pop one day. The rest of the artists? Not really – C+
True Detectives – Various Artists – The Dylan oldie “Rocks And Gravel” is a dry run for “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry” and the rest is gothic Americana by some first rate artists like Nick Cave, plus a handful of songs from T Bone Burnett find Vera Lynn. Burnett makes everything a bit of a bore – C+
Wondaland Presents – The Eephus EP – Various Artists – Janelle Monae collective and I wasn’t keen on “Yoga” when it dropped earlier this year, but the other four songs, plus a remix of one of them “Classic Man” featuring an on top of his work Kendrick Lamar, makes a good case for soul singer Jidenna – B+
1 Hopeful Road – Vintage Trouble – Only average when I saw em open for the Who, this is enlivening and good but obvious – B-