Nu Mew Sick (plus a second opinion)

Been slogging through the stack of CDs that I received last week. A couple of more thoughts, and keep the change:

Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous - Great album. When the Captain put "Portions For Foxes" (a great song, by the way) on It Will Grind Your Dick 14 a couple of years ago, I had dismissed RK as a cutesy one-shot wonder, kind of a modern-day Letters to Cleo or Frente! (each having had excellent singles and mediocre albums). I was wrong. This album delivers ample portions of heartbreak ("Does He Love You?"), wry humor ("It's A Hit"), yearning ("I Never," "Portions For Foxes") and love and loss ("Love and War (11/11/46)," "A Man/Me/Then Jim"). Aimee Mann is the obvious reference point - the lyrics are smarter than the average bear, but the songs pack more heft, and when necessary, Jenny Lewis' pipes can be called upon to be more solid and packed with emotion as anything you'd hear on American Idol (without being overwrought). This is a fabulous rock album from beginning to end, with not a clunker in the bunch, but I'm curious to see how their big-label debut coming later this summer will affect their edge. Favorites: "I Never," "Does He Love You?", "Love and War (11/11/46)"

White Stripes - Icky Thump - Other than the hurdy-gurdy shit that plagues the title track and a couple of the middle tracks, I'm really impressed that the Stripes continue to get excellent mileage out of their current model. Start with the title track, a energetic, raw rocker worthy of Led Zeppelin II (replete with monster riff). The radio-ready "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)" has a big chorus perfect for singalong, while the goofy "Conquest" is sort of the Stripes' "Immigrant Song." "Little Cream Soda" is another driving rocker that recalls their own "Astro." It may be a slight step backwards from Get Behind Me Satan, but if so, it's only a baby step. Favorites: title track, "Effect and Cause," "I'm Slowly Turning Into You"

Toadies - Hell Below/Stars Above - Upon further review, I've gotten major-league hooked on this one. Out of the 12 songs, I could have imagined about 6 of them getting major radio play if they were still playing good music on rock radio back in 2001. Monster choruses ("You'll Come Down," "Push The Hand") abound, and "Little Sin" is just off-kilter enough to avoid being pigeonholed as cock-rock, but still damn memorable. This album is a perfect example of why I actually need to listen to something more than twice before spouting off about it. "It's samey. It's interchangeable," I whined. Bullshit.