Mid-year report

I'm a few days out from seeing Wilco and The Roots at Red Rocks. Looking forward to that show.

So - mid-June is here and that means it's time to do a brief rundown of the new releases and see what are the standouts. Lots of stuff has come out: The Chemical Brothers, Tori Amos, Bruce Springsteen, Garbage, System of a Down, Oasis, Nine Inch Nails and Beck are a few that come to mind. Bright Eyes released a great album that is destined for my 'Top 5' with I'm Wide Awake, it's Morning. The Eels's double-album will most likely grow on me.

As someone who came of age in the '90s - I obviously have a soft spot for the '90s artist on this list and want each of these artists to succeed. But seriously... I haven't been too pleased with what I've heard. Tori Amos's The Beekeeper suffered from the same ailments of Scarlet's Walk - too long and forgettable lyrics. Nine Inch Nails came up with the most annoying chorus of the year for the title track "With-a-teeth-AH." And after reading about all of the studio hell Garbage endured, you have this feeling that the band is just waiting for this tour to finish so they can pack it in and move on. Oasis's Don't Believe the Truth is actually an entertaining release, depending on whether or not you can spot all of the riffs they ripped off from other bands. Still, just by listening to the interviews, I have come to the conclusion that music currently NEEDS personalities like Liam and Noel Gallagher. Actually, the only work from a '90s artist that I'm really impressed with so far this year is Aimee Mann's The Forgotten Arm.

System of a Down's Mezmerize is weird, even for System of a Down, but it lives up to the title and makes me really curious for their next album.

Listening Selections
Prince - The Hits (Part II)
Green Day - International Superhits
Paul Westerberg - Stereo
The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols