If you thought the last mix was sedate well, it wasn’t. But this one is, for the most part. Y’know I don’t think every song on every mix is brilliant, but at minimum they’re worth a critical assessment or two.

The Absence of Tenderness

David Sylvian – Landing somewhere between the full-on abstraction of Blemish and the more sultry song-oriented Nine Horses project, this teaming with the boys from Fennesz yields a field day of fractured fairy tails (or tales) that should please fans of either artist but doesn’t do much to combine their best elements beyond a cursory “Hey that’s David Sylvian singing over a Fennesz tune” recognition.

Grant-Lee Phillips – Speaking of former frontmen whose solo career has outlasted their more famous band tenure, here’s the former head of major label failures Grant Lee Buffalo. No, not Buffalo Tom … so wait, you’ve never heard of Grant Lee Buffalo? If you’re from the US I can’t say I blame you, check out their 1st album Fuzzy instead of this unfocused solo effort.

Richard Hawley – Ok you knew it was coming, and given the leadoff batter in this mix you knew it was coming very, very soon. The latest Hawley at least gets back some of the emotional focus left behind on Lady’s Bridge but doesn’t seek to do much more than wander around in a hazy fog bourne dusk of post-romantic failures.

Rose Melberg – Anything touching the legacy of The Softies (a band that truly embodied their name) always gets an immediate spin in my buffer, but this solo effort from half the band is as disappointing as anything either of them has released. Most of the tunes barely earn that designation, feeling more like demos that didn’t get proper warming in the studio’s toaster oven.

Anna Ternheim – I knew trouble was on the horizon when I first heard this release in Starbucks, and sure enough the Grey’s Anatomy crowd has gotten a hold of our promising Swedish transplant in hopes of luring housewives and hipsters to her troth. It’s not as terrible as that sounds, but nowhere near as positive as her stateside debut.

7 Worlds Collide – The Finn brothers try to load up their crowded house with relatives and collaborators from every continent, I think. Well, there’s some such lame concept at play which didn’t interest me enough to get through the press release. Just know that this song features Lisa Germano, and it’s better than the one where Johnny Marr lends vocals.

The Bats – These gentlemen feel like the Elvis Costello of the wave of quality New Zealand late 80’s/early 90’s exports in that they still have a well-deserved cache of goodwill thanks to their stellar early releases despite the fact that they’ve done little to entertain us in 15+ years.

The Clean – Staying back down below the equator to visit another former Flying Nun superstar effort, and luckily a far more entertaining one at that. Suffering from none of the slightness of their previous release, here they’ve made a good thing better by staying strong with a core of hazy jangle goodness throughout the whole enterprise.