Come on people… Just look at the artwork!

With the almost catatonic demand for listeners to “Sing us the song of the century,” so begins Green Day’s 8th studio album 21st Century Breakdown, their first release since 2004’s chart topping, and “politically” wrenching American Idiot. And apparently fans are eagerly awaiting a chance to understand current politics again through the lyrical chants of a band who 15 years ago wanted nothing more than to masturbate and lay on the couch all day.

This album is getting some hyped reviews from major publications through the United States, as Rolling Stone proclaims that “21st Century Breakdown is even better, so masterful and confident it makes Idiot seem like a warm-up,” while Entertainment Weekly equates frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s chants with “the fervor of a high school anarchy club president.” Clearly, the mass media news outlets don’t understand punk rock in the slightest… or anarchy for that matter. But, what actually sits behind the chants of “Know Your Enemy,” the three acts of political-punk opera, and that heart-wrenching story of a couple trying to face the struggles of a post George W. era? Well… not too much of anything.

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Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Bland

Remember the days when being a socially conscious teenager meant turning to a Bright Eyes record for poetic verse that summed up all the political and social grievances that you thought you had? I’d like to think that most of Conor Oberst’s followers have outgrown the angst-ridden dismissive remarks against religion, the government, and conformity, and somehow managed to devise personas of their own; but Mr. Oberst seems unwilling to make this realization.

Fans may have heard that his newest release, Outer South, is a step in a different direction. And while the first release under the moniker “Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band” represents a whole lot of change, he still seems as lost as he had on the teenage ramblings of Lifted or the Story is in the Soil.

Oberst must have traveled somewhere warmer and grown a beard, because long gone is the Bright Eyes seasonal appeal of winter-like balladry. Ever since the final Bright Eyes release, the boy-like appeal of relationship problems and pity has been replaced by the boy-like appeal of a teenager who has found his first Johnny Cash record. He’d like for you to think he were a man, noticeable on the guttural singing of tracks like “Ten Women” where he tries to fill the hole that a 1960’s Bob Dylan had left behind.

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This summer, the Voice’s “Critical Voices” feature makes it’s way to the internet in a bold new way. We’ll be doing weekly album reviews and, thanks to the glory of the internet, you now have the immediate ability to listen to the music we’re promoting (or panning).

What better way to begin a discussion on a hip musical culture than to talk about a man completely in tune with the Voice’s basic ideologies of rebellion and drug usage: Bob Dylan. His newest venture into the world of sly rock’n’roll, Together Through Life, was released this past Tuesday on Columbia Records to favorable reviews, which doesn’t really mean anything credible in the world of Bob, as reviewers like to pat this man on the back for his dying efforts as he manages to somehow continue to put out music over 40 years after the quintessential Highway 61 Revisited.

Personally, I found pleasure in the fact that hype-machine Pitchfork made the effort to avoid acclaiming his newest release, as they ultimately came to the conclusion that “This guy’s pretty OK”. That means that thousands of 18-21 year olds will simple write this off in favor of the newest obscure, lo-fi hit recommended to them by a tight-pantsed individual that smokes a few too many Camel Lights.

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The new Wolf Parade album, At Mount Zoomer, isn’t as good as 2005’s Apologies to the Queen Mary. It’s better. Dan Cook tells you why, over on the main site.