With Mark Eitzel putting out mediocre records and Joel Phelps off the radar, a man needs someone to tell it like it is. Ben Barnett of Kind Of Like Spitting is that man. On Bridges Worth Burning, Portland’s finest come off like a more tormented Good Life with a heavy Death Cab For Cutie fixation. Not a real surprise, as KOLS and Death Cab are now labelmates and Death Cab’s Ben Gillard and Chris Walla provide production wizardry and drumming on Bridges. It’s a good time for a collaboration, as both parties are at the top of their game. Songs like Canaries and Crossover Potential are right up there with Barnett’s best. Walla has fleshed out the songs out with unobtrusive production, polishing the songs while retaining the warm intimacy of KOLS previous lo-fi efforts. Someone must be impressed, as they will be opening the entire Saves The Day tour this Fall. Not a bad step up from a guy who just played to twenty people at Mercury. The phrase "mixed blessing" comes to mind, but there’s not too much danger of a Dashboard Confessional-type explosion here. Ben’s not nearly pretty enough and when you get down to it, he’s just too good to cross over to the average emo kid. That sucks for the short term, but it should get him a career at the end of the day rather than becoming the Richard Marx of the 21^st century.

Buddyhead the website is known for talking shit. Buddyhead the record label is known for putting out the good shit. They got the ball rolling with the Icarus Line, got screwed out of The Revolution Smile by Fatboy Fred Durst, and are off to the races with Your Enemies Friends. These five kids are a product of 21^st century LA like Jane’s Addiction were to the 20th. Distill all the glam and grit of 80s and 90s into a Primal Scream-esque lethal drug cocktail and you’re just starting to get Your Enemies Friends. Imagine waking up from a terrifying nightmare to find that you’ve had a wet dream and that’ll get you closer. Out there enough to attract the bizarro San Diego crowd, retro enough to grab the new wavers and the scum rockers, yet current enough to attract the hipster music geeks, this is pretty much a major label’s wet dream. The Wiretap EP is a little schizophrenic, owing to many songwriters, I’ll bet, but I also bet their full length will be huge when they drop it. Maybe there is something good about LA after all.

So you probably know that The Mars Volta is Cedric and Omar (they of the crazy hair) from At The Drive In. C & O love to spout off about how they hate being labelled as emo, how they hate what their management made ATDI into and a whole other bunch of revisionist hooey. So after their LA hipster party with Ross Robinson and the Beastie Boys, they hightail it over to GSL for a transfusion of hipster cred. No more major label alliances with Rage Against The Machine, it’s all about partying with The Locust now. Whatever, guys. This is a good record, a little too calculated in its mix of rock and electronica, but really smart and well done nonetheless. And for all the crowing about what a departure the new band is, The Mars Volta sound a lot like At The Drive In. Not a lot new here, but if you liked At The Drive In, this is pretty much a must have.

It’s funny how things come full circle. After Patty Griffin got signed on the basis of her solo act, there was an aborted attempt to record her first record with a full band. Living With Ghosts was ultimately released as a solo performance and it’s a more powerful, immediate record for it. Record number two was recorded with Jay Joyce and the rest of Iodine backing her up, and it didn’t sell anything. Back to square one and another sparse, pretty much solo, record in 1000 Kisses. ATO is the vanity imprint of soft-rock anti-christ Dave Matthews. Now it’s hard for me to condone anything that our boy Dave does, but it’s a hell of a lot better than David Gray. 1000 Kisses has a pleasant laid back vibe that reeks of an artist liberated from a major label deal. Patty has a devoted following and the respect of her peers, including Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Kelly Willis; it’ll be interesting to see if Matthews and ATO can get her to the same level. It’s the least Dave can do to right the wrongs he’s propagated on modern music.

If you haven’t seen Ted Leo play, you must be trying not to, as he plays constantly. It’s been interesting to see his progression as a solo artist. From his early shows with reel to reel backup to his recent shows with a dream band of DC heavy-weights, Ted is rapidly leaving the specter of Chisel behind. The solo shows and the mix-tape style of Ted’s first record could get damn annoying at times, to the point where most people I know have actually burned copies of the first record without the irritating interludes so they could enjoy the songs without constantly skipping tracks. The Tyranny of Distance dispenses with arty interludes and weighs in as one of the best records of the last five years. Simply put, Ted Leo is a pop genius. People love to compare him to Paul Weller and Elvis Costello, I’d say more Chris Tilbrook and Joe Jackson, but either way Ted is carving himself out a big niche in the pantheon of great songwriters. With hooks like Under The Hedge, there’s no reason why Ted Leo songs shouldn’t be blasting from every open window in America. Ted’s a little too DIY to blow up huge, but take advantage of his populist values now and go see Ted, then buy all his records. If for some reason you don't like it, I suggest taking something sharp and jamming it repeatedly into your ear, as you don’t deserve the gift of hearing.