Fall is winding down, the chill is in the air. A tingling feeling somewhere in between the excitement of the holidays and the anticipation of the cold thereafter. These are my top 12 recent releases that are my soundtrack.

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12) Tokyo Police Club – Sweetness (feat. Michael Angelakos of Passion Pit) (Cover)

11) Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie

10) Blink 182 – After Midnight

(tie) Lissie – Bad Romance (Cover)

Lissie – Nothing Else Matters (Cover)

7) Jane’s Addiction – Irresistible Force

6) Polar Bear Club – Screams in Caves

5) Keepaway – Hologram

4) AWOLNATION – Not Your Fault

3) Switchfoot – Where I Belong

2) Atlas Genius – Trojans

1) Florence + Machine – Shake It Out

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Summer 2011 isn’t disappointing in the heat department. Here’s my pick of the top 12 tunes to make it through to the end.

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Top 12

12) Limp Bizkit – Shotgun (It’s for running, ok?)

11) Unwritten Law – Sing

10) 311 – Sunset in July

9) Cults – Abducted

8 ) 311 – Time Bomb

7) Beastie Boys – Don’t Play No Games that I Can’t Win (feat. Santigold)

6) The Lonely Forest – Coyote

5) Yeasayer – Swallowing the Decibels

4) The Sounds – Something to Die For

3) Kings of Leon – Back Down South

2) Grouplove – Colours

1) The Naked and Famous – Punching in a Dream

> More: Follow me on Rdio

Top Picks

The Dirty Heads – called one of the best new bands of 2010 by Rolling Stone, caught them at the St. Patrick’s Day festival.  Pretty good in general, but as a Sublime/311 reggae type mix, nearly the ultimate band to welcome in Spring.

Check out their album “Any Port in a Storm” and take it for a spin. Featuring the semi-hit “Stand Tall” but it’s better as a straight-through listen.

The Limousines - Having trouble categorizing this band. Their sound isn’t that odd, but the peppy rock band with a tint of pop gets infectious. Play the album from start to finish…hard to turn off. Running mix approved.

- Dancing at Her Funeral (* * * 1/2 out of four stars)
- Wildfire (* * * out of four stars)

Linkin Park – The End (* * * out of four stars) Running mix approved.

Airborne Toxic Event – Changing (* * * out of four stars) Running mix approved.

Unwritten Law – Starships and Apocalypse (* * 1/2 out of 4 stars) Been a while since I heard an old favorite. Not bad for their return. Standard Unwritten Law sound, if you’re a fan it won’t disappoint.

Awolnation – Sail (* * * out of 4 stars) Slow. Rhythmic. Moody. Probably depressing. Just the way we like it.

The Decemberists - acoustic guitar driven light alt rock. Throw in some harmonicas and you’ve got yourself a barbeque soundtrack.

- This is Why We Fight (* * * out of 4 stars)
- Don’t Carry it All (* * * out of 4 stars)

Yellowcard – For You, and Your Denial (* * * out of 4 stars) Running mix approved.

Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) (* * * out of 4 stars) Running mix approved.

Black Eyed Peas – Just Can’t Get Enough (* * 1/2 out of 4 stars)

Go Steelers.

Summer winds down, here were the songs that got me through the creeping heat on the drive and in the park.

10) Yeah Yeah Yeah – New Politics

9) Hannah – Freelance Whales

8 Madder Red – Yeasayer

7) Impossible – Anberlin

6) Undisclosed Desires – Muse

5) Cameras – Matt & Kim

4) Little Lion Man – Mumford & Sons

3) Let Love In – A Cursive Memory

2) Internet Killed the Video Star – The Limousines

1) The Cave – Mumford & Sons

With Winter: The Sequel hitting for what hopefully is its last gasp before Spring arrives (please) next month, here are the tunes (new and not-so new) that I have been spinning. Or whatever an iPod does…I guess electricking?

Alkaline Trio – This Addiction (* * * out of four stars)
While not a fan necessarily, I enjoyed their older single “Time to Waste.” Their new release is more straight-up pop/rock and nothing too unique, but it is a bright jam compared to the more Top 40 pop/rock that’s out now.

Phoenix
I had previously reviewed their single “1901″ at first as typical American Eagle background music (which it probably is) but as I’ve continued to listen this and more of their songs have become my favorite so far this year.They mix up the smooth and peppy quite well, and are barely unique..but just unique enough that they won’t sound just like anything else you’ve got.

1901 – (updated review) (* * * 1/2 out of four stars)
Lizstomania (* * * out of four stars)
Girlfriend (* * 1/2 out of four stars)

Four Year Strong – Wasting Time (Eternal Summer) (* * * 1/2 out of 4 stars)
It’s been a long time since I really liked this type of music (makes you want to drive fast, tap the table, air guitar, and beat someone up), but since my tastes were once “what goes best with the weather” it hits the spot. Ironically with “Summer” part of the title, it’ll probably get me through winter, into spring, and I’ll stop listening to it right before summer.

John Mayer – Heartbreak Warfare (* * * out of 4 stars)
Shutup. It’s not bad.

The Soft Pack – C’mon (* * out of 4 stars)
I bought it based on the chipper, breezy 60′s beach boys beat in the preview. It went on sale for “free” one week later. Which is about 25 cents less than I should’ve paid for it. This story is getting dumb.

Passion Pit – Little Secrets (* * 1/2 out of 4 stars)
Sometimes it sounds like the Jackson 5. Sometimes it sounds like a song from 1988 produced by Paula Abdul. It has clapping, kids singing, an electronic background, and I’m not sure why I downloaded it. Listen to the preview and you’ll probably be wondering as well while you download it.

The Rural Alberta Advantage – Drain the Blood (* * * out of 4 stars)
A bright, untampered with, sound in the mix lineup..the song builds from a very straight forward beat to a blast of intensity in the home stretch. Real guitars, real drums, unrefined. Nothing too indie, but something that sounds good on the iPod, and would love to hear it live.

Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright – Set the Fire to the Third Bar (* * * out of 4 stars)
Even though I owned the album a few years back with this song on it, I never got into it enough to remember it. Apparently it was in the trailer for the movie Dear John and jumped the charts, finding me once again. I’m not sure if it is about something depressing, but don’t listen to it while you’re driving. Somewhat haunting and dream-inducing from the eerie combination of Snow Patrol’s monotone singing and Wainwright’s intricate tuning.

Timbaland (feat. Justin Timberlake) (* * out of 4 stars)
Big disappointment from their previous efforts together, otherwise a standard tune aimed straight at the 2am dance floor, but nowhere else.

Number One Gun – The Victory (* * 1/2 out of 4 stars)
Has a very good beginning and builds slowly to…nothing really. It’s almost like they had a good idea, just didn’t quite have a chorus that worked. After 3 years of trying they just decided to record what they had. Pretty good listen otherwise.

Ke$ha (yes, with a dollar sign. I’m legit.)
As with some pop music, there’s a weird vein of genius in her act. The lyrics are pretty bad (put a little love in my glovebox) and the singing is just “ok.” But she’s playing a character, that if you listen, sings ever so slightly off rhythm and stretches each line a nano-second too long as if she’s a little “tipsy.”  Eh, nevermind, not going to try to rationalize it anymore. It’s dumb, annoying, and it sounds good with the bass turned up.

Blah Blah Blah (feat. 3OH!3) (* * * out of 4 stars)
Your Love is My Drug (* * 1/2 out of 4 stars)
Tik Tok (* * * out of 4 stars)

The iTunes model and software are quickly showing their age, and as Apple tends to do (iTunes was originally software from a company Apple up and bought the whole thing) they’re gearing up in advance for the next generation. By stealing the idea of some small dude who already thought of it.

For those of us in the age of Pandora..who no longer buy CDs but singles, who only use media to play our music about half the time (as opposed to streaming), this is a big announcement that I look forward to seeing how it plays out.

I first heard of LaLa just days before this announcement, and I was really interested in their model of looking at music in the cloud, and having a price structure that matches your use. What it will mean is much more music, much more options, less cost, and the bands should still be able to make some money. Far superior to filesharing (great for us, bad for bands), hard CDs, and iTunes as it exists now.

The future of music looks bright once again. Now I’m going to go download a 1.29 song that I will only listen to once.

Here’s what  Lala’s all about (from Gizmodo)

It’s three things, really: A CD trading site (its original emphasis), a streaming site, where you can “upload” your own music and stream it anywhere (your collection is matched with what Lala’s got, and anything they don’t have is actually uploaded); and a streaming site that’ll let you stream a song once for free, or pay 10 cents to stream it an unlimited number of times. In other words, It’s a music service that’s all about streaming and the cloud, both for the music you already own, and for finding and playing new music.

Released November 2, 2009

My Review:

It’s notoriously hard to review Weezer albums. Especially for me, a late-comer to the original Weezer phenomenon. I enjoyed their tunes growing up on the radio, but didn’t hear the entire Blue album until I was near college. It was quite a stunning piece of work, and one of my top 10 favorites probably of all time. I never got into Pinkerton, but I really enjoyed the Green album. Each album after the first was quite different, and none as good as Blue to me. They started going downhill the past few years, but I thought the Red album recently was a recovery.

So I enjoyed the single “I Want You To (see video below) and nabbed the recent Raditude release. I have to admit I cannot exactly tell what they were trying to do here. As always with Weezer, they balance a fine line between satire and actually being what they’re making fun of.

However, there are quite a few catchy tunes, but none on par with any of my previous favorites. The defining song of the album is “Can’t Stop Partying” which features pop star Lil’ Wayne. It’s relatively catchy, and obviously a parody of some kind, but it’s not clever enough to figure out the point. So it fails as both in the end, similar to the album.The bonus track on iTunes “Story of My Life” is probably the closest thing to Weezer of old as you’ll get.

Weezer, whose lyrics were once much less tongue in cheek and captured the raw emotion of growing up..never seemed to be able to catch the raw emotion of actually being grown up. Perhaps they have been describing what life is like in stardom, but that’s a far place from the “Garage.” And maybe that’s the point, and perhaps I just don’t get it. Either way, it’s an album that will get a few spins in the car, at the gym, and working on projects..but will quickly fade away. You’ll like what you hear, but won’t learn any new insights, and sometimes cringe at the lyrics.

Not their worst effort, but for a band that can do more, in a sense it is. It sounds as if you’ve heard all these songs before..but not on a good album. The Blue album still rolls through the playlist from time to time, but in ten years I don’t imagine any of these songs will still be playing for me, and they definitely won’t help me remember anything similar to real life. And I guess that’s always what I want Weezer to do. I’ve got enough pop songs on my iTunes and I don’t need anyone to tell me how shallow they are, just write something better.

and a half out of 5 stars

Best Songs – I’m Your Daddy, (If You’re Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To, Can’t Stop Partying, The Story of My Life (Bonus Track).

Other Reviews on the Net:

411 Mania (2.5 rating – Very Bad) the same riffs we’ve heard a thousand times before, the same cliche lyrics we’ve heard a thousand times before, and a bunch of hooks that don’t stick with the listener past the first couple of listens.

Pop Matters (1 out of 10 stars) Raditude is not art. It’s not a serious rock album nor is it a collection disposably fun songs. No, Raditude is product. Coldly calculated, joyless product that is designed to be sold, not to be enjoyed. As a Weezer album, it is nothing short of a profound disappointment.

Spin (3 out of 5 stars) Old-school Weezer fans won’t like it, and neither will blog-rock acolytes. But that’s the point. Raditude is the murderous revenge of the middlebrow.