Battle Born – The Killers – The Killers are the Mitt Romney's of rock, big, brash, Mormon, and not a brain in their haircuts. When I put it on as background it is charmingly aggressive, tugging at my sleeve and saying "hey, we found ourselves a place and we belong in it forever" but whenever it gets my full attention, it is so wretchedly silly and loud, I wanna punch it in the nose. Grade: C
Putrifiers II – Thee Oh See – Steve Leggett called em "the Mamas And The Papas run through a seriously bent garage blender" and while I don't really agree, who cares? Actually they are a fuzzed out psychedelic second cousin of Of Montreal without the soul affectations but with very similar drugs – Grade: B
Charmer – Aimee Mann – Serious return to former from the L.A. songstress, all dour puss put downs to addictive melodies and face smacking lyrics. And, perhaps most importantly of all, extremely consistent. This is what Mann does best – Grade: A
Cruel Summer – GOOD Music – It's not that this is different than Mach Music (the way 808s And Heartaches was), it is that it is much better than Mach Music, and any number of other contenders. Soundwise, it is just gorgeous and though for the most part the lyrics are terrible, sometimes they aren't. Please he gets Kid Cudi to stop annoying people for a song and The-Dream is still rolling on the "1+1" high – Grade: B+
Shields – Grizzly Bear – As the bottom falls out of the Brooklyn indie scene, the first wave bring out their third album and in the case of Grizzly Bear, thirds the charm as they meld their sound orchestrations to superbly crafted pop songs with peak after peak after peak – Grade: A-
Tornado – Little Big Town – Yep, another country pop girls and boys together band. It starts off with a full steam and fizzles before the half way mark. (you can mark the spot: "Your Side Of The Bed"). But till then, it is about as good as country-pop gets – Grade: B-
Hillbilly Jedi – Big & Rich – MOR country music with such a huge cultural difference they might as well be members of the Taliban. If you can guess past that, well, it is still pretty lousy although "That's Why I Pray" makes its points mostly because it is one of two songs on the album they really nail. The other features Bon Jovi. Go figure.
Bad 25th Anniversary Edition – Michael Jackson – I am not willing to claim that this redeems the mess they've made of the MJ's post-humous career. There really is nothing new in the vaults. But the album is terrific for a start, and the remixes are significant, and the live stuff is a fine concert and the French stuff is in French – Grade: A
The Truth About Love – P!nk – Her problem is that she is so forth right she is prosaic and she mistake sassiness for wit. She is Lily Allen if Lily Allen was a dumb fuck American. So how bad is that? Grade: B-
Kiss – Carly Rae Jepsen – I wonder why she didn't get Beiber to take a verse and put "Call Me, Maybe" on the album? Whatever, "Tiny Little Bows" might get her another hit and "Good Times" already has. And the rest is electronic pop. Not the good stuff either – Grade: C-
Mirage Rock – Band Of Horses – It's been a year of alts making pop albums. DP, Grizzly Bear and now BOH who have their very own My Favorite jacket album, the good one not the last one – Grade: B
Aftermath Of The Lowdown – Richie Sambora – This starts off so great, it's like Richie was pout to prove his rock instincts were more than sticky sweet Stones affectations. Like maybe Jon was holding him back. And then it is like Jon snuck into the studio and plugged in the Sambora who know and sneer at – Grade: C+
I Bet On The Sky – Dinosaur Jr – reminds you where grunges roots are… if anybody cares anymore – Grade: B
Live In New York City – Paul Simon – Otherworldly in its uselessness – Grade: C