Julien-K "Death to Analog"

Produced by Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, this band tries to mix the angry electronic angst of '90s Trent Reznor with the synth fashion-pop of Depeche Mode, or something. It sounds decisively retro, but not in the hipster way- more like this would have been cutting edge back when Bennington was still sprouting his baby teeth. Every production trick in the book can't hide bad lyrics like 'nobody knows where the fun is going, nobody knows when the end is coming.' I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Roxy Epoxy & The Rebound

Roxy Epoxy sounds a lot like Siouxsie Sioux, with testicles. Thats certianly not a knock, as her deep, musky voice is unique and well suited to this punk-by-way-of-the-Pretenders album, but each song sounds almost exactly the same- oh, there's the synth part, there's the slow part, there's the much faster chorus, there's the part where she talk-sings and repeats something like 'you're a toy doll.' The lyrics are as generally uninspired, not necessarily cringe-worthy, but one begins to suspect they spent most of their time with one hand on the guitar and the other on a thesuarus. Much as I'm a fan of Siouxsie and the Banshees and 70's revival punk, I wouldn't even download this.

Telling on Trixie "Ugly, Broke & Sober"

Telling on Trixie had this whole gimmick where they set up a website, got $20,000 from their fans and listened to fan input on everything from the name of the CD to what their music should sound like and how the lyrics should go. That's cool. The CD sounds exactly what a pop-punk CD made by a committee would sound like- soaring choruses, sweet-voiced singers, snappy drums, all smothered in lameness. Honestly, I think this is the least creative, most corporate friendly CD I've ever heard. The whole CD is so lifeless and tame I kept thinking I had been secretly transported to a Starbucks, only without the promise of coffee to make the whole thing bearable.