The Parlotones - A World Next Door To Yours

They're a quartet from South Africa and this is their newest album. Slickly produced pop/rock that reminds me quite a bit of the new Killers album. That being said, they're pretty good, but they need more of an edge if they don't want to be the next band supplying songs for television dramas (but they probably do, so they're in good shape).

www.myspace.com/theparlotones
www.parlotones.co.za

The Weather Machines - Bones and Brains EP

Really nice poppy rock music with male vocals. Breezy and light, with 70's pop influences. Good stuff. The opening track, "Parts Of Speech," has handclaps! Recommended if you like A.C. Newman and Fancey.

www.myspace.com/theweathermachines
www.theweathermachines.com

Drazy Hoops - Into The Red

His seventh full-length. It's singer-songwriter pop/rock with alt-country influences. He has a deep voice, in the same vein as Nick Cave/Tom Waits/the dudes in American Music Club and The National. It's nice pleasant music. Guitarist Sean Eden has also played with Luna.

www.myspace.com/drazyhoops
www.drazyhoops.com

Army Navy - Army Navy

Much wimpier than their name implies. Their debut; it's 'indie' rock/pop with nasally male vocals. They had a song on the Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist soundtrack so they've probably got, like, a million fans already. You've heard this band's sound before but you still like it. Recommended if you like Ted Leo and Death Cab For Cutie (DCfC's Ben Gibbard used to play with Army Navy's lead singer Justin Kennedy in Pinwheel).

www.myspace.com/armynavy

U2 - Get On Your Boots (single)

What is this? It's crap U2, that's what it is. I don't like this. It's stuck between wanting to be uptempo like "Vertigo," chiming guitars at one point like Rattle and Hum era U2, and being like Achtung Baby-era songs with the guitar solo. The song feels like it was copy and pasted together in protools from a bunch of different songs, with no coherent nature to any of it. The lyrics are atrocious: "Get on your boots / sexy boots" and "You don't know how beautiful you are, you don't know how beautiful you are, you don't get it", are just two examples. I am not impressed at all, this is not the U2 I used to know and love. Also, I don't get the album cover. I understand that it has to do with the title, No Line On The Horizon, but it looks like a cover to a post-rock instrumental band's cd, not a U2 cd. We need U2 album covers with red, black, and white in them.