One of the nice things about a week of working in an office -- besides new opportunities to whine and excuses to skip the gym -- is the Tower Records in the building lobby. So, two micro-reviews for you guys:

Rilo Kiley's just-released More Adventurous must have been named ironically. This is their major label debut, and as you might expect they've traded some guitars for cheesy string arrangements and ditched Jenny Lewis' cute-as-a-button profanities. In general it seems like a bid for adult-contemporary crossover success. I can't begrudge them that; their previous effort, The Execution Of All Things was outstanding. I hope they find enough success with this album to be able to afford to return to the sound of that album. If not, go pick up TEOAT, and download "Portions For Foxes" from the new album. I hereby officially absolve you of any guilt you might feel in doing so -- "Portions For Foxes" is a great song, but the stuff surrounding it is pretty weak.

You wouldn't think it from reading Catherine's posts, but I didn't own Ted Leo's The Tyranny Of Distance until this week. Well, I had a copy my sister burned for me, but I was kind of disappointed in it: the sound was pretty lousy after who-knows how many CD->MP3->CD conversions within her college buddies' music-sharing ecosystem. And the album just didn't grab me the way Hearts of Oak did. Well, what a difference clean audio makes. I still like Hearts of Oak's rhythm-heavy experimentation a bit better, but this is a great rock & roll CD, with Mr. Leo in full guitar-hero mode. Definitely recommended.