New Releases:

01 Sonic Youth - "Rather Ripped" (Geffen)
Perhaps the closest SY will ever get to making a "Pop" album. Often accessible but still wonderfully focused & experimental - this is the best album of the year.

02 Paul Westerberg - "Songs from 'Open Season'" (Lost Highway)
Paul's first recordings in a proper studio since '99 - and with former bandmate Tommy Stinson in over 15 years to boot. While recorded for an animated children's film, each song stands on it's own as classic Westerberg. This is actually a vinyl 10" which only sports PW tracks (the actual soundtrack has a few crappy tunes by other people as well). Two of the songs here are exclusive to this release - and are two of the best as well. (Disclaimer: you have to buy both the CD and the vinyl to collect all of the tracks)

03 Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 - "Olé! Tarantula" (Yep Roc)
Sounding almost as if he recorded it 20 years ago (thanks in part to Pete Buck's Byrds-jangle thoughout), this ranks with some of Robyn's best work - a wonderfully energetic throwback to his time recording with the Egyptians in the late '80s.

04 Gob Iron - "Death Songs For the Living" (Sony)
More folk than rock, this collaboration between Son Volt's Jay Farrar and Anders Parker of Varnaline-fame is framed with reworked old country death tunes (ie: the Stanley Brothers and Carter Family) that are dusted off given a fresh & unique breath of fresh air. The perfect Sunday morning pick-me-up.

05 Radio Birdman - "Zeno Beach" (Yep Roc)
Australia's Birdmen are back! Reuniting with former band mates after 25 years should never work this well - but each track roars & scores. Turn it up loud, mofos!

06 The Hold Steady - "Boys and Girls In America" (Vagrant)
While I'm fairly sick of the hype already, this album actually deserves all the kudos it's getting. Even better than last year's "Separation Sunday", this record has more anthems, hooks and tasty guitar licks than their other discs combined. And it doesn't hurt that singer Craig Finn is actually singing than "talking" more than not this time around.

07 The Paybacks - "Love, Not Reason" (Savage Jams)
Raw, tuneful & sassy - Detroit's Wendy Case writes some of the best post-Runaways garage rock found today. Joan Jett would be proud.

08 Outrageous Cherry- "Stay Happy" (Rainbow Quartz)
"Stay Happy", the Detroit quartet's 7th album overall, is a wonderful hodge-podge of AM-radio pop and glammed-up flights of fancy. This time around, the band sweeps out the last of garage rock's dust and cobwebs from its practice space, and mixes up a batch of weirdly tuneful psychedelia.

09 The Lemonheads - "S/T" (Vagrant)
"Louder, faster, more like Buzzcocks pop-punk—and way less introspective." Evan Dando's first album under the Lemonheads-moniker in over 10 years is a great return to form. Written and recorded with drummer Bill Stevenson and bassist Karl Alvarez of The Descendents, this album packs a punch not seen nor heard on a Lemonheads record since the late 80s.

10 Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - "Ballad of the Broken Seas" (V2)
An unlikely but extremely successful combination, former Belle & Sebastian's Campbell and former Screaming Trees' Lanegan have joined forces to create a wonderfully sophisticated and timeless effort. In the tradition of Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra, "it's a classic beauty and the beast alignment, with Lanegan's gruff baritone sounding like the protector of a beautiful little bird."

Bubbling Under:
11 Freeheat - "Back On the Water" (Planting Seed)
12 Yo La Tengo - "I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your Ass" (Matador)
13 Lucero - "Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers" (Liberty & Lament)
14 Mudhoney - "Under a Billion Suns" (Sub Pop)
15 Sparklehorse - "Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain" (Astralwerks)
16 The Figgs - "Follow Jean Through the Sea" (Gern Blandsten)
17 Mission Of Burma - "The Obliterati" (Matador)
18 Cheap Trick - "Rockford" (Big 3)
19 The Gossip - "Standing in the Way of Control" (Kill Rock Stars)
20 Johnny Cash - "American V: A Hundred Highways" (American)

Reissued For the 8th or 9th Time:
01 The Replacements – "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?: The Best of The Replacements" (Sire/Reprise/Rhino)
Finally - The 'Mats entire body of work is brought together (and courtesy of Rhino - it's never sounded better)....even if it's just one measly little platter. But the big draw is the fantastic two new tracks which prove that Paul & Tommy SHOULD work together again - and often.

02 R.E.M. - "And I Feel Fine: The Best of The I.R.S. Years" (I.R.S./Capitol)
It's about time that Capitol got off it's lazy ass and decided to do something with this catalog after almost 20 years since the final I.R.S album dropped - and more so than the great remastering of these recordings is the utter delight of the 2nd disc and all the rarities and demos galore. THIS comp represents the R.E.M. I truly love - long before the great 3-legged bore took over.

03 Gram Parsons - "The Complete Reprise Sessions" (Reprise/Rhino)
Finally. I'm not entirely sure as to why it's taken SO long to reissue a version of these recordings that didn't sound like complete shit on CD – but here it is...with some sweet-ass packaging to boot. The bonus acoustic radio sessions are worth the price tag alone.

04 The Beach Boys - "Pet Sounds 40th Anniversary" (Capitol)
Seriously, how many times have I bought this f'n thing now?! It doesn't matter, 'cuz the DVD and fuzzy-green packaging totally made it worthwhile. But I swear this is the LAST time!

05 The Jesus & The Mary Chain - (Rhino catalog reissues)
I've waited a LOT of years for 'Psychocandy" to sound this good on CD. These would have ranked higher had Rhino tagged on all those fantastic b-sides, etc. as bonus tracks - but instead all we get are a few videos on each DualDisc that would have been better served compiled on to one DVD. Whatever.