Low Cut Connie – Call Me Sylvia
Straight outta Philly and as grimy as the bar circuit they hope will take them to greater fortunes, Low Cut Connie, led by the Jerry Lee-esque Adam Weiner, slightly soften the jaggedness of last year’s classically crusty debut, and throw in some love songs and big-throated ballads which struggle for breathing space when seated next to their band-on-the-run tunes. As much as they want to channel the Rat Pack on “Cleveland,” it doesn’t make me want to move there, or even visit, and “Desperation” doesn’t sound as desperate as it should. Instead I’ll take “Boozophilia,” and its line about sleeping in a balcony and the “Pity Party” quip about still living with your parents. At 15 songs, their night of debauchery goes too long, but the sudsy last call of “(No More) Wet T-Shirt Contests” is the perfect way to kick start a hangover. “I wear my undies on the outside like a fallen woman in a pew,” Weiner sings cheekily. “But I wear my undies with pride. What else am I supposed to do?” GRADE: A-
Key Tracks:
“(No More) Wet T-Shirt Contests”
“Boozophilia”
“Brand New Cadillac”
Bob Dylan - Tempest
After several advanced reviews warned of how “dark” and “strange” Dylan’s thirty fifth album supposedly was, I expected a more sinister version of 2009’s Together Through Life, an LP which wasn’t quite as lovely as its love songs wanted it to be. I waited for the essence of those tunes to sour and curdle onTempest, and listened for Dylan’s perpetual rasp to spit bile against his trespassers. Instead, I heard a drifter, tired of wandering, searching for a sense of home. Where 2006’sModern Times, the finest album of his renaissance era, found him merrily rolling from one shanty town to the next, here he’s grown tired and bored. “Listen to that Duquesne Whistle blowin / Blowin’ through another no good town,” Dylan growls on the opening song. The entirety of the album’s first six minutes is spent in gold plated nostalgia. He imagines an oak tree he used to climb, and the face of a woman he can no longer touch. The present? It’s turned stiff and impersonal (kinda like his band). “I ain’t seen my family in 20 years,” he sings on “Long and Wasted Years.” “That’s not easy to understand / They may be dead by now.” Some of these songs are his most personal. But where he’s personal he’s also devastatingly distant. Almost half the album’s 70 minute running time comes from two stagnant tracks – a 14 minute ballad about the Titanic (no choruses) and a nine minute tale of a love triangle gone murderously wrong. It’s not as if his storytelling or lyricism isn’t as sharp as it ever was, but even legends can’t go on forever. Save that shit for the history books. GRADE: B+
Key Tracks:
“Duquesne Whistle”
“Pay In Blood”
Carly Rae Jepsen – Kiss
For a simple Top 40 record full of 12 simple anthems, many of which she had a hand in writing, I can’t say enough about how refreshing her girl-next-door aesthetic is in a landscape of arty sleaze pop where the auteur’s image is prone to suffocating the music. Everything here is cleanly produced, and breathes with an easiness not seen since Selena Gomez’s last record. The formula is easy; throw in some hooky synths with a few catchy melodies about boys and dancing, muscle it up to 11 when the choruses hit, then end it briskly so as to save some flavor for the next song (only one eclipses the four minute mark). Her viral hit about the guy in ripped jeans who may or may not call her casts a long shadow, but other notable gems are found throughout the record, including the one about the boy she almost professes her love to before spending the rest of the song second guessing herself. Let’s just hope the lucky fellow isn’t the always-sappy Adam Young of Owl City, whose “Good Time” makes Jepsen’s otherwise candy-coated diary ridden with cavities. GRADE: B
Key Tracks:
“Call Me Maybe”
“More Than A Memory”
“This Kiss”
Pink – The Truth About Love
The album’s title says all you need to know about the subject matter, and the 21 collaborators give you a hint as to how varied the song textures are. Moody, angsty rockers, disillusioned ballads, love-you-hate-you jingles, feisty single lady anthems, plenty of jokes and just as much honesty all take turns making her sixth album her most personal, even if it’s slightly unkempt. If you find the first two songs as strained, and the final three just as hollow, as I did, simply start at “Try,” a song Kelly Clarkson wishes she had handed to her, keep “True Love,” as excellent a pop song you’ll hear all year, on repeat, and giggle at the title track even if you know it’s not entirely based on a true story. If the sleazy “Walk of Shame” or “Slut Like You” rub you the wrong way, just remember that moms can have as much fun as sorority chix. GRADE: B
Key Tracks:
“True Love”
“The Truth About Love”
“Try”
Pet Shop Boys – Elysium
Over a quarter century into their career and ready cruise as best they know how, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe construct an album of reserved electro-disco-pop flare and reflect on their future (“After being for so many years / The Life and soul of the party it’s weird / I’m invisible”), while taking time to pause in the present (“You’ve been around and you look too rough / But I still quite like some of your early stuff”). They’ve earned the right to dwell on themselves in whatever fashion they desire, and even throw in a few jokes on “Ego Music,” an anti-art house anthem, to lighten the mood. However, it’s no mistake the best song is their least-personal in “A Face Like That.” It also helps that it’s a love song. I like pop escapism more than pop therapy. GRADE: B
Key Tracks:
“A Face Like That”
“Invisible”
“Your Early Stuff”
Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits
The idea here is to be contained and straight forward both vocally and lyrically, while maximizing the intricacies found in the grooves and synthesizers. Made up of Spoon’s Britt Daniel, Dan Boeckner of Handsome Furs and Wolf Parade (both of whom split duties on the mic), with Sam Brown of New Bomb Turks, their debut is prone to being dry and dull, yet catchy and muscular. I call it white boy funk. I just wish they made enough to stretch the entirety of the record, rather than the first five songs. The other six are simply brittle and flat.GRADE: B-
Key Tracks:
“Would That Not Be Nice”
“Flaggin A Ride”
“My Love Is Real”
Ab-Soul - Control System
A nice emcee who wants to treat his girl to a night on the town from money he earns from hustlin’. GRADE: B-
Key Tracks:
“Double Standard”
“Bohemian Grove”
Honorable Mention
G.O.O.D. Music – Cruel Summer
An amalgam of artists from Kaye’s label try to throw a party, but spend too much time taking roll call.GRADE: C+
Key Tracks:
“Mercy”
“New God Flow”
Jens Lekman – I Know What Love Isn’t
Easy listening at its easiest; and smartest too. GRADE: C+ Key Tracks:
“Become Someone Else”
“I Want A Pair of Cowboy Boots”
The XX – Coexist
Their 2009 debut was a batch of delicious minimalistic dream pop. This sophomore effort is without the two most important ingredients. Guess which ones they are. GRADE: C+ Key Tracks:
“Swept Away”
“Angles”
King Tuff - Self Titled
Small time users write slender stoner jams that satisfy well enough before they live off stems and seeds in the second half. GRADE: C+
Key Tracks:
"Keep On Movin'"
"Anthem"
David Byrne & St. Vincent – Love This Giant
Two art pop weirdoes throw a wonderful dinner party. GRADE: C+
“Who”
“Dinner For Two”
Bob Mould – Silver Age
Would rock harder if there was more context. GRADE: C+ Key Tracks:
“Briefest Moment”
“First Time Joy”
Ry Cooder - Election Special
Journeyman folkie rallies the troops against Romney and the Wall Street elite. The songs that work hit their mark, but only until Election Day. Then they're simply time pieces. Or so we hope. GRADE: C+
Key Tracks:
"Mutt Romney Blues"
"Brother is Gone"
Redd Kross - Researching the Blues
Rockers of yore release their first album in 17 years. As always, they're heavy on the melodies, lightweight on actual hooks. GRADE: C+
Key Tracks:
"Researching the Blues"
"Dracula's Daughter"
Choice Cuts (Good songs from otherwise bad albums)
The Avett Brothers – The Carpenter
“I Never Knew You”
“A Pretty Girl from Michigan”
The Vaccines – Coming of Age
“Weirdo”
“Teenage Icon”
The Darkness - Hot Cakes
"Every Inch of You"
Dum Dum Girls – End of Daze EP
“Trees and Flowers”
Green Day - ¡UNO!
“Nuclear Family”
Jessie Ware - Devotion
"Taking In Water"
Yeasayer - Fragrant World
"Blue Paper"
Dud of the Month
Imagine Dragons – Night Visions
Producer Alex da Kid, famous for his work on emo-pop anthems “Love the Way You Lie” and “Airplanes,” tries his best to give these soulless Vegas rockers some personalities and a sound. But what about actual songs? All I heard was an aura, the same kind Linkin Park have been aping since rap-rock died along with Fred Durst’s red cap. I assume Alex was paid handsomely for his time, just as I assume the band is full of well-meaning youngsters, but just like their home town’s marketing ploy, they’re all looks and no hooks. GRADE: C-
Key Track:
“It’s Time”
Dud List
2 Chainz – Based on a T.R.U. Story
Mumford and Sons - Babel
Owl City - The Midsummer Station
Animal Collective – Centipede Hz
Grizzly Bear – Shields
No Doubt – Push and Shove
Rick Ross - God Forgives, I Don't
Cat Power – Sun
The Killers – Battle Born
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