Try Harder: A.F.I.

One of the albums I fully anticipated to be on my (forthcoming) year-end top 10 list was A.F.I.'s "Crash Love," which instead ended up being one of the biggest musical disappointments of the year, in my opinion.

Coming on the heels of their exceptional previous release, 2006's "Decemberunderground" (which will be on my also yet-to-be-written Best of the Decade list), "Crash Love" had a high standard to live up to. And there's a few great songs on the album, most notably "End Transmission" (see link below). But for the first time, in my opinion, Davey Havok and company just seem to be ... well, uninspired. Like they're phoning it in.

And I know that's harsh, and untrue. Having seen the band perform live last month, I can say with confidence that they're just as passionate about their music as ever. I just wish I was as well.

Try Harder: Patrick Wolf

Oh, Patrick Wolf, I hate what I have to say

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Try Harder: Rihanna

Man, year end lists. Things are going crazy over here. Liz is threatening to just write The Con 10 times. Ben has turned his list in but thinking about finding his music, half of which I've never heard, makes my head hurt.

So I thought I'd turn to the idea of folks who didn't make the cut, but who came close to being on our individual lists, for what I'm dubbing "Try Harder". For me, one of those is Rihanna, and her new Rated R album.

"Umbrella" was a great song, but Rated R is almost a great album.

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