It is high summer, usually a dead-zone for new album releases, but being a man of exceptional taste, I can find winners any time, any season. Indeed, I have found this summer to be pretty good all things considered. I am way behind on reviewing the music I have been consuming, so I hereby offer another drop in the bucket.

Devo - Something For Everybody: I like Devo, and always have. They would have to try very very hard to put out an album with nothing of value on it, at least of value to me. I can't say I have bonded greatly with their stuff from Shout onward, but even then, there are many flashes of brilliance in these last few decades. I don't know why they chose now to put out a real album of new stuff, but now is as good a time as any I guess. From what I have read, they generally think of themselves as being on a victory lap in that the America of GWB proved to be exactly what they warned us would happen if we were to continue our rush to evolve in reverse. I tend to think they are entitled to that victory lap, but it happens to have the effect of making the lyrical content less memorable than their peak stuff, which is understandable all things considered. There really is only one or two duds on this album. The only significant mistake here is that you have to buy the "Deluxe" version to get the cut Watch Us Work It, which they put out as a single last year. That should be on EVERY version since it is classic, and would fit seamlessly on any best-of compilation past, present, or future. With even a slight interest in Devo, you should be all over this. If you are new to them, go back and start with the catalog, but don't skip this once your apprenticeship is passed. (B-)

Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs - Medicine County: This is disc #3 in the countrified-Holly Golightly series. She appears to have cut ties with her old Headcoatee past (though I am not sure), and she seems to have relocated to Athens GA (I hope she doesn't confuse that with Texas.) It would be no major surprise to suggest that Ms. Golightly's catalog contains a certain "sameyness" within it, at least in the macro sense. When she does Kinks'-style stuff, it all kinda runs that way. Now she has a kinda High-n-Lonesome Texas thing (naturally, being a Brit, it all has a yippe-yi-yi-o element each and every time), and she does it nicely enough. True to form, she also brings some of her old songs back for a retreatment and re-recording, and in this case, it is mostly to good effect. I have never been blown away by any of her albums end-to-end. There are lots of her albums with a mix of excellent, good, ok, and fair cuts on them, and this one is no different. I guess I will just keep punching in and punching out when her new stuff hits the racks. It is a known quantity, I like much of it, and whenever nothing else is going on, there always seems to be a new one. Could be worse. I could be a Dave Matthews fan doing the same. (C+)

M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts: The song Jim & Jessie has a pretty awesome video, and of all the 80's retro being done of late, the song stands out as being pretty tight too. I can't say I bought THAT album in spite of liking that some as I do - instead, in reading up on them, I saw much love aimed not at this most recent album, but rather an older one, and that is what I bought. I understand the love aimed towards this album, as it is quite good. Not at all the slavishly retro thing the new one is, but not totally different from this one either. I can't compare the songs on the new one to this, but I would be surprised if it was as think-piecey as some of this album is. I can't say it is my top priority, but in the months to come, I fully expect to work my way thru their catalog based on the strength of this album and what they had out in the last year or so. (B)

Magnetic Fields - Realism: So, with time, my affection for the Magnetic Fields catalog grows. 69 Love Songs is a challenge to take as a whole, but very rewarding to date. Distortion is much more than a Psychocandy tribute, and as songwriting goes is half excellent, half merely quite good. I have a few other cuts here and there from the group and some solo stuff from Stephen Merritt. The more I hear, the more I am convinced he is an alpha male of songwriting. I am not sure I would want to be his drinking buddy, but I will, from here on out, always give his music a chance. This disc is sort of a follow-up/companion to Distortion, being the acoustic counterpart. That's nice enough, but I think approaching it in that way has kept me from bonding with it as I expect I one day might. For now, I am being too critical of it because I expect it to be like Distortion, and I am not sure it really is in any ways that count. It probably is too soon for me to put thoughts down on this disc because I don't love it - I just kinda like it, but I don't have any urgent attachment like I came to have with half of Distortion. Maybe with time it will come, but I have decided to put it in the back of the queue and go through catalog before re-approaching it. I hope that will help me have a breakthrough with it. (C+)

Various Artists - My Mind Goes High: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults: I am a sucker for compilations like this - major label dreck from an era in which they chased trends they neither understood nor controled. The 60s are polarizing, but they are excellent universally for their ability to show just how clueless and horrible mainstream media were/are. The whole counter-culture produced loads and loads of excessive crap, but 99% of it was done by the studio musicians and kept producers of the major labels. Going back to review their most exploitive and clueless moments is something I pretty much could do all day, every day (see Golden Throats, Psychedelic Drums, or the first disc from this series A Whole Lotta Rainbows, which is a STONE COLD classic!) This collection is good without being as over-the-top good as others; even so, I recommend it highly. (A for effort, F for content - C)

Holland - I Steal and Do Drugs: I don't know how I got on the trail of this disc. It falls WELL outside my usual fare, but for whatever reason, I went with this and it turned out to be a nice little summer find for me. As much as I say I like all kinds of music, it really isn't true. I generally don't like electronic music, or much of what is called electronica. I am not sure that this really fits under that umbrella definition other than due to the instrumentation (if all electronica was was music played on synthesizers, Dream Weaver would be a rave favorite.) It isn't an end to end dance party, and has enough of an arty veneer to not simply function as background music. Whether or not I will be pumpin' this in a deep and dark december, or at any time of year 5 years from now I have no idea, but it has been a good call for me this summer so far. (B-)

First Aid Kit - The Big Black And The Blue: I am a sucker for sibling harmony. It isn't always serendipitous, but stuff that is serendipitous is very often sibling harmony. These are just basically two kids, and so I don't expect tons of super-ponderous awesome from them lyric wise, but I am at a point where I almost don't hear the words. I just hear THAT SOUND that they can do. What is also awesome is that between the two there is obviously a lead voice and obviously a counterpoint voice and I think if only the lead were here, I would be often stopped by what comes out of the speaker when this album. When the two are together and they are on, those "I can't believe they can do that" moments come often. I am sure lovers of harmony will sniff and say "nice enough", but I have a soft spot for them and really really dig this. I am sorry I missed their visit to SF this month, but in time, I hope to see if they can pull it off. All indications are that they can. One last thing - I prefer to listen to this album in reverse. (B-)

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach: I like the first Gorillaz disc ok, but for me, it was #2, Demon Days that really was the peak. The reggae remix album of the first album also was excellent. I have never been a massive Blur fan, and am not sure they were all that great. Of all the Damon Albarn work, it is proving to be the little Good, Bad, & The Queen album I have bonded with more than anything else of his. I have enough faith in the quality of the Gorillaz singles and work in general that I buy their remix discs and b-side collections too. Across it all there is much enjoyment for me, which is why I am so disappointed in this album. I hope I have it wrong. I hope I am just not hearing it and will warm to it in time. That is the hope. However, I was really in the mood for a Gorillaz album when this came out, and so far, I just have no feeling for it, and even the stuff I like I don't feel any compulsion to seek out. It just sits in the middle of a long non-Blur playlist, and it nice enough, but I don't fast forward or rewind to it. If I am wrong, I will be quick to correct this impression, but usually if I catch myself missing something, it would have happened by now. Sigh. (C)