Complaints... And Some Good News

I have a few things to complain about in the music world right now:

1.) Rolling Stone and Blender both gave the new Coldplay album 3 1/2 stars out of 5. There are few things in the world I hate more than bland, noncommittal music reviews from "professionals". Basically, these reviews say "we don't want to give it a bad review because they are the biggest band in the world, but we don't want to piss off the indie hipsters who are too cool for Coldplay, so we can't give it a good review".

Isn't your job to give a well-informed opinion of new music? Isn't giving an album 3 1/2 stars the rough equivalent of not showing up for work? Please stop writing half-assed reviews like this - they say absolutely to people who actually listen to music. Of course, those might not be the people you write for.

2.) The Hold Steady gave a big middle finger to CD buyers by releasing their new album on iTunes a month early. Thanks guys. There are about five people in America who still collect CDs, and we really deserved to be punished. Plus, this month is already filled with great releases: why not wait until July when nothing is coming out?

So now I already hate the new Hold Steady album, and I haven't even heard it yet. Good job guys. It's probably a great album, too....

3.) Two weeks later, I'm still trying to not hate the new My Morning Jacket album. This is way too much effort I'm putting into this. Although, it is a lot easier if you skip "Highly Suspicious", which I am convinced it the worst song recorded since "Rollin" by Limp Bizkit. In fact, "Highly Suspicious" could be Limp Bizkit song. Like that band, let's forget that song ever happened.

And now, the good news:

1.) Lil Wayne sold a million copies in a week! Not only is this a huge victory for CD buyers, but this is actually a good, deserving artist (I say that because the last time that happened, it was 50 Cent). CD Buyers win, hip-hop wins, pop radio wins... not too bad. Let's hope Coldplay does this well too.

2.) Next week brings Hercules And Love Affair, which sounds like it might be a great record based on the single "Blind". Next week also brings me the new Alejandro Escavedo album Real Animal, which I'm very excited about based on a 4 1/2 star review from Allmusic.com (who are, by the way, about the only good professional American music writers alive right now).

3.) Speaking of Lil Wayne and Coldplay - the best selling albums this year are some of the best albums released this year? Really? Pop music is good music right now? I think I'm in heaven.