Southeasterner – Jason Isbell – The great thing about having been a drunk is that if you were good when you were a drunk you are gonna be great when you sober up. Isbell, who moved from keyboards to guitar years ago, is now a full blown sober singer songwriter writing self aware self portraits and on this his fourth solo album, to a just about perfect fine point on “Super 8″… and others. ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A
Love Songs Drugs Songs – X Ambassadors – I admit there are a million Brooklyn alt rockers just like X Ambassador except most can’t write lyrics this smart and this literate. It turns average songs into good songs or drug songs or better songs – B+
Personal Record – Eleanor Friedberger – The problem with Eleanor is she is so mid-tempo that you lose interest before her songs can kick you hard. “She’s A Mirror” is a sing-song little romp but it takes too long to hook you. She needs a new producer because she has the songs – B
Ain’t No Trip To Cleveland, Vol 1 – Dispatch – A Southern jam band from New England with a huge fan base who will put you to sleep before you reach the chorus of “Josaphine” – C
Settle – Disclosure – EDM at its most tedious, the bass is on the back burner and the songs are all samples. Recently caught pretending to DJ to back up tapes – C-
Feel – Sleeping With Sirens – Emo boys big break through after years of hard work and they deserve it, this is as good as mainstream rockers get and while it blows itself out before the end, “The Best There Ever Was” is emo meets hardcore where everybody wins out in the long run – B
Pythons – Surfer Blood – A major labels idea of indie rock and they could well be right. The fuzzy buzzy melodic but etheral bands third album never hits hard enough to capture you but is consistently pretty enough to keep you listening – B
Damage – Jimmy Eat World – Mediocre emo, same as it ever was – B-
The Wack Album – The Lonely Island – Remember “Lazy Sunday”? You know “the chronic, the chronicles of Narnia”. Who woulda thought it was stand as a masterpiece? This joke has run its course and then some – D+
24/7 – Big Time Rush – Is there anything older than a boy band past their prime? They add some rock back bone here, EDM beats there. It won’t help – C+
Every Man Should Know – Harry Connick Jr – Who is his manager? Pretty lousy singer songwriter but the cabaret great – C
Magnetic – The Goo Goo Dolls – “Rebel Beat” is pretty good but they’ve always had a song an album in em – C-