Birds Make Good Neighbors is the first Rosebuds release not to include the band’s name in its title. This year’s wonderfully lush but fleeting EP, The Rosebuds Unwind (Merge), followed the band’s debut full-length, The Rosebuds Make Out (Merge, 2003). Had they wanted to continue the trend they could have named their latest record The Rosebuds In Control, because it’s a seamlessly smooth set of breezy pop melodies by a confident, talented band that’s found its groove. The Rosebuds honor timeless pop traditions like singing without words, placing the emphasis on simple, memorable refrains, and utilizing plenty of call and response choruses. But their recycling of what’s tried and true never sounds slavish or empty. The reverb-drenched guitar on “Outnumbered” and the doo-wop feel of “Blue Bird” link The Rosebuds directly to the past, but a more recent reference point would be Cinerama. Most of Birds Make Good Neighbors continues in the sweet, dreamy direction of “Wishes For Kisses” and “Back To Boston” from their debut disc, or “Unwind” and “Is There Room?” from The Rosebuds Unwind. Absent is the jolt provided in the past by some raucous rave-ups. This time they choose subtle nuance over fast rock blasts. Singer and guitarist Ivan Howard croons beautifully over delicate beds of instrumentation, and his wife, keyboardist Kelly Crisp, makes a strong impression in her first lead vocal turn on the western-tinged “Leaves Do Fall.” Lee Waters’ drumming and Wes Phillips’ stand-up bass give The Rosebuds a more assured, cohesive band sound than ever before.

Covering Beatles songs is a lot like performing Shakespeare; it’s very hard to bring anything new to the table and it’s very easy to fuck it up. Like The Bard, The Beatles stumbled upon an almost undefinable quality of greatness: the band's music was of it’s time and yet somehow timeless, able to cross generations with both its lyrical and melodic structure, and (perhaps most importantly) contained passages that stayed in the brain forever after being placed there once. Ever since the group first rose to international popularity over forty years ago, there have been countless tributes to Mop Tops. Back in the day, some of those musical appreciations came in the form of a campy response songs like “Yes, You Can Hold My Hand” an affirmative response to a question that no one asked. Recently, the group has provided a musical touchstone for film soundtracks. Everybody knows Beatles tunes, they’re simply ingrained into our subconscious, so everyone will “get it” if a Beatles song is used during a love scene, or a party scene, or a death scene. Which brings us to This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute To The Beatles’ Rubber Soul. While the idea of paying tribute to a particular Beatles album seems novel it’s a process that has already been successfully completed before (check out Booker T & The MGs’ McLemore Avenue, a funky take on Abbey Road, for proof). Yet in choosing to create a track-by-track tribute to one of The Beatles’ most important and enduring albums, the organizers behind This Bird Has Flown open themselves up to a certain amount of thankful praise and brutal criticism. Packed with cult level indie-rock stars and critically hailed singer-songwriters, the songs on this tribute fall into three categories: reverential readings that provide nothing new (read: boring), re-interpretations that actually breathe new life into the familiar (aka interesting) and new takes that fall far from the mark (i.e., whaaa?). Falling into this first category is the Donnas’ perfunctory take on “Drive My Car,” Rhett Miller’s uninspired rendition of “Girl” and Ben Kweller’s limp version of “Wait.” Of course, the second category provides more worthy listening. Sufjan Stevens wonderfully re-invents the clunky-country Ringo sung “What Goes On” into a half-minstrel, half-punk opus. By adding touches of mandolin and a dance beat, Mindy Smith turns out “The Word.” Both Dar Williams and The Yonder Mountain String Band successfully bring a touch of modern twang to “You Won’t See Me” and “Think For Yourself” respectively (Williams’ new arrangements on the song’s backing vocals is particular inspired). Ben Lee’s spare take on “In My Life” helps to further underscore that song’s breathless beauty and wisdom. In the final, more questionable category, you'll find that near-Shatner-esque hamminess of The Fiery Furnaces’ “Norwegian Wood,” Ben Harper’s ill-advised dub reggae reading of “Michelle,” and Ted Leo’s rushed punk take on “I’m Looking Through You.” This Bird Has Flown is a mixed bag, sure to please fans of the artists present here and sure to infuriate some Beatles purists. It’s a testament to the Beatles’ enduring greatness that even a tribute can create such debate.

Yeah, this is the Adult Swim cartoon album, featuring guest voices Master Shake, Meatwad and Harvey Birdman, among others. What makes it worth your time is that it also features one of the greatest rappers collaborating with one of the hottest producers, and guest MCs like Ghostface, Cee-Lo and Talib Kweli. MF Doom, after a long absence, now can’t seem to go six months without releasing a new album under a new name, and yet each release is still totally amazing. Dangermouse originally made his name with The Grey Album, the mixing of Jay-Z’s Black Album and the Beatles’ White Album. Both produce stellar work on The Mouse and the Mask. The record is leisurely paced and generally upbeat. I mean, it’s got Talib Kweli rapping about eating cereal and watching Saturday morning cartoons (“Old School”). DangerDoom was not going for social upheaval with this record, is what I’m saying. “But,” you retort, “are the Cartoon Network characters irritating and out-of-place?” Not at all. If there is one person in the world with experience in mixing cartoon voices and hip-hop, it would be MF Doom. Basing his resurgent career on Dr. Doom and cartoon villainy in general, Doom weaves Carl, Brak and the team of “Sealab 2021” in and out of the fabric of the record just fine. If this is your introduction to MF Doom because of the cartoons, then welcome, and go out and pick up Madvillainy and last year’s MM…Food.