Today, two new records were released by bands I highly regard -- Gimmie Fiction by Spoon and Make Believe by Weezer. Although I've only listened to Weezer's record once, I have no qualms about crowning Gimmie Fiction the winner.

After two amazing records, Kill the Moonlight and Girls Can Tell, Spoon manages to keep things going. The record isn't quite as strong as the last two, but that would be tough to do. I'm just happy to see they didn't crash and burn. "I Turn My Camera On" is easily the best song, but the drop-off is tolerable. I'm also a big fan of "My Mathematical Mind" and "I Summon You".

Gimmie Fiction's a safe bet if you're looking to drop $12 on an album. In regards to Make Believe, I'm only gonna buy it if I can find it for $8.

Speaking as a long, long, long-time Ben Fold fan, the new record is my least favorite of all his output. It's unfortunate, but Ben Folds has gotten wimpy and I completely attribute this to his level of happiness. Having incredibly cute twins and a beautiful life in your Australian home does not help to produce good music in nearly all cases, Ben Folds being no exception. See the graph below:

As you can see, as he's gotten progressively happier, his albums have gotten progressively worse. Although I completely made up these happiness figures, I'm only mildly ashamed to say I hope his life gets a little tougher in the next year. He just needs something, anything, to get some of that angst back.

I can't say I'm happy about Ben's newfound wimpiness, but I'm also not totally disappointed with the album. Despite my misgivings, I have listened to it over ten times since getting it. Almost all of these songs are technically good and plesant to listen to. The problem is that I couldn't sing one of them to you right now.

I wish I could tell you that you should go out and give this album a shot, but I think you're better off buying his three EPs, which he put out over the last year or so on his own label, Attacked by Plastic.

The critics seem to like this record, but no one loves it. Critics be damned because I think it's awesome. The band hardly takes a breath on this record and that's how I like it. No one buys a Hot Hot Heat record for their ballads and I think they know that. This is a band that just wants to rock and that's what they do.

In the week that I've owned this I've listened to it nearly a dozen times, which is a lot for me. I hope all the indie rockers make a point to at least give it a listen. I recommend the song "Shame on You."