In this month's Downloader's Diary, Michael Tatum argued that there's too much good music this month to waste time on also rans or wannabes. That hasn't been my experience. Below you'll find the shortest monthly Streamnotes of the year, also the latest, and most significantly one with only one A-list album (and that a leftover from 2011). (I added the extra graphic because it was already on file, and a near miss.)

I have 31 records this month. My average for the first six months of the year has been 57, with only March dipping below 50. Had I listened to 20 more I might have found something, but it's been a bad month for finding things I looked for on Rhapsody, and few of the tips I usually follow have panned out. But I did bother to check out such unlikely prospects as Kindness, Usher, Mount Eerie, Smashing Pumpkins, and the Walkmen -- it continues to baffle me how anyone can like them.

Tatum's prime picks (Fiona Apple, Frank Ocean) are in the queue, my processing slowed down by actually having the luxury of real copies. (I did play Apple on Rhapsody, and on that one turn it would have been a mid-to-high B+, a record with one exceptional song, otherwise well-crafted but not something I much like. Ocean is still in the shrinkwrap.) Thought I might try to squeeze more into this month, but as late as I am, best to flush it out and start next month fresh.

These are short notes/reviews based on streaming records from Rhapsody. They are snap judgments based on one or two plays, accumulated since my last post along these lines, back on June 12. Past reviews and more information are available here (2760 records).

Action Bronson: Dr. Lecter (2011, Fine Fabric Delegates): Ben Johnson, from Queens, of "Albanian and Jewish descent," chef on the side, must eat well too; namechecks Barry Horowitz, Larry Csonka, Ronnie Coleman, Buddy Guy, and Chuck Person, not to mention "Jerk Chicken" and "Forbidden Fruit"; beats by Tommy Mas are enough to get by on. A- [dl]

Action Bronson: Blue Chips (2012, Fool's Gold): One of the golden rules of rap -- yes, cash pun intended -- is that the bigger you get, the more guests you wind up hosting, until the whole neighborhood goes to hell. Some of that here, bumping up the drugs and hoes quotient to no good effect. More outlandish samples too, although Nick Nolte takes a bit too long to deliver his line. B+(***) [dl]

Alt-J: An Awesome Wave (2012, Infectious): Anglo alt-rock group from Cambridge, or maybe Leeds, UK anyhow, named after the Mac keyboard shortcut for a triangle, an instrument they employ along with a kitchen sinkful of effects. Highly elaborate, careful, arty, nothing I particularly go for but they make it work more often than not -- e.g., more often than Coldplay. B+(*)

Stephen David Austin: A Bakersfield Dozen (2011, self-released): Debut album, cover pic looks like he may have some gray in his beard, but that could just be photoshopped, for he's as up-to-date as "MySpace," as timeless as "Heroes and Heroin," Bakersfield enough to eulogize "The Day Buck Owens Died," and to underline the concept he covers a Beatles song ("Baby's in Black"). I'd be more impressed, or at least amused, if I hadn't heard "The Fat Kid" -- not that his heart's not in the right place, but I wonder about his head. B+(*)

Baloji: Kinshasa Succursale (2010 [2012], Crammed): Congolese rapper, grew up in Belgium and made a mark while based in Paris, then returned to Kinshasa to hook up with Konono No. 1, his raps all the more effective when he's got the whole junkyard beat going, or some soukous, or something real spare. B+(**)

Azealia Banks: 1991 (2012, Interscope, EP): Four cuts, 16:06, including a couple minutes of comic skit sans punchline. Grade is kind of an extrapolation since Rhapsody isn't giving me a straight runthrough -- the dead track is "212," which I've sought out the video on, and would at least get you over the skit. B+(**)

B.o.B: Strange Clouds (2012, Atlantic): Guest list: Morgan Freeman, Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, Trey Songz, a couple more that don't ring my bell. One song even features Bobby Ray Simmons. Half are pretty listenable. Some aren't. B-

Chicha Libre: Canibalismo (2012, Barbès): As near as I can figure out, a Brooklyn group put together as a sort of live tribute band after the label/club came out with its collection of vintage Peruvian "psychedelic cumbias," The Roots of Chicha. This has some of the same appeal, but one risk of catching up is overshooting. B+(*)

Rocco Deluca: Drugs 'N Hymns (2012, 429): Intent on being a bluesman, comes off a bit understated, at least when he's not flat out whiney. B

William Michael Dillon: Black Robes and Lawyers (2011, self-released): Convicted of murder in 1981, freed 27 years later when DNA testing proved him innocent; has several songs about that, a couple strikingly matter of fact, and has a few more songs about, uh, life. He's white, but on injustice he reaches for black music idioms -- backup singers, organ, even some reggae on his simplest freedom paean -- even though it doesn't come naturally. B+(**)

Far East Movement: Dirty Bass (2012, Interscope): LA group, mostly (or all) Asian-Americans -- rappers Kev Nish, Prohgres, and Jae Chong, backed by DJ Varmin -- but they recall Black-Eyed Peas and NERD with their big beats and synthy bass fuzz, and they draw lots of guests (including Justin Bieber), evening out the gender mix. Deluxe ed. adds remixes. B+(***)

The Hives: Lex Hives (2012, Disques Hives): Swedish group, established themselves as garage punk avatars in 2002 with Veni Vidi Vicious, and seem likely to repeat that formula ad infinitum. The crunch remains classic, the songs too loud for me to care about, but others may consider that a back-handed compliment. B+(*)

Hot Chip: In Our Heads (2012, Domino): Brit electropop group, been around since 2000; the dance beats still do the job, but the vocals make me wonder who these people are, not that I'm sure I care. A band that I once found intriguing, but lost the thread on. B+(*)

Kindness: World, You Need a Change of Mind (2012, Female Energy/Polydor): Adam Bainbridge debut, starts out with a spacey beat that soon turns incoherent on a couple of covers -- a clever choice might have been Paul Westerberg's "Swingin' Party," but by the time I placed it it had turned out dead ass dull. And there's nothing clever about writing originals that don't even measure up to that. C+

Lorn: Ask the Dusk (2012, Ninja Tune): Marcos Ortega, from Milwaukee (I think), crafts electronica with a lot of industrial overhang: crashing beats, hornlike synths merging into drones, voices adding to the effect (or not). B+(**)

Lushlife: Plateau Vision (2012, Western Vinyl): Philadelphia MC, has a couple priors but I'm not finding much bio. Can't make much sense of this either, but he keeps threatening to get interesting; then, uh, what? Feats include Shad, Heems, Cities Aviv, and there's something about Einstein and the founding of Israel. B+(*)

Pat Metheny: Unity Band (2012, Nonesuch): A serious jazz musician -- has recorded on separate occasions with Ornette Coleman and Derek Bailey, made a very public spectacle of despising Kenny G -- with popular and populist instincts, probably the most commercially successful SJM in America, comes up with an impeccably serious quartet -- Chris Potter on sax, Ben Williams on bass, and Antonio Sanchez on drums -- and turns them into an arena-worthy showboating outfit. Potter is game -- he's rarely blown this hot -- and Sanchez has never played this loud. The guitarist starts with a nice intro, then segues into the horribly synthy "Roofdogs." B-

Metric: Synthetica (2012, Mom + Pop): Canadian synth-pop band, singer is Emily Haines who was born in New Delhi and at various points has been based in Montreal, London, New York, and Los Angeles -- father was Paul Haines, who wrote the libretto to Carla Bley's Escalator Over the Hill. Fifth album since 2003. I liked 2009's Fantasies a lot. This has the same general soundscape, but I can't find much to grab onto. B+(*)

Rhett Miller: The Interpreter: Live at Largo (2011, Maximum Sunshine): Live, as advertised, solo too, just the singer and his guitar, and all covers -- Dylan, Beatles, Kinks, Bowie (twice), Paul Simon, Tom Petty, Elliott Smith, Francis Black (twice again), a few others -- a ramble through a personal past neither here nor there. B

Rhett Miller: The Dreamer (2012, Maximum Sunshine): Original songs, the best ones sorted to the top of the album, leaving you wondering how such a promising album managed to outstay its welcome. B+(**)

Mount Eerie: Clear Moon (2012, PW Elverum & Sun): Phil Elverum, based in Anacortes, on the Puget Sound north of Seattle, started out as the Microphones, then recorded an album called Mount Eerie, then switched monikers. Conjures up a complex moodscape with choral vocals and electronics, at one point getting dense enough he might be onto something, but soon pulled back into the murk. B

The Mynabirds: Generals (2012, Saddle Creek): Laura Burhenn plus band, second album, from Nebraska but more reminiscent of the strain of English singer-songwriters that descend from Kate Bush. Has promising moments, but doesn't quite cohere -- or maybe I'm missing something? B

Peaking Lights: Lucifer (2012, Mexican Summer): Husband-wife lo-fi synth duo, their second album started low but wound up on a lot of year-end lists. This has been called "more professionally recorded" [AMG] but they still aim lo with dub-like redundancy and just enough humor. B+(*)

A Place to Bury Strangers: Worship (2012, Dead Oceans): Third album, echoes of Jesus and Mary Chain, but louder, with more space overdrive, a very impressive sound carrying deadpan vocals I can't begin to make out (or didn't bother). I was equally impressed with their second album, and must have been in a better mood: rated it higher, then never returned to it. B+(***)

A Place to Bury Strangers: Onwards to the Wall (2012, Dead Oceans, EP): Five song, 16:41, came out four months before the album above. Some day these will be bonus tracks to a reissue of the album; now they're just advance outtakes, as strong as the album if you're besotten by the sound, as useless if you aren't, and more or less as cost-effective if you're somewhere in between. B+(**)

Royal Headache (2011 [2012], What's Your Rupture?): Punk band debut from Sydney, Australia; only runs 26:45, but gives you 12 songs, with bridges even, so what more do you want? Sharper edges? More rudimentary power? Less royalty? B

Smashing Pumpkins: Oceania (2011 [2012], Martha's Music/EMI): Never bothered with Billy Corgan's group's three highly regarded 1991-95 albums, recently reissued to much acclaim, in part because I often heard that this was one of the worst-ever live groups, also because I thought the whole Seattle grunge scene was vastly overrated. So I don't know whether this is entering into a prog phase or just adding to something that's always been there. Thick, with a singer who doesn't grate quite as much as Michael Stipe, but it's all quite tolerably uninteresting in the end. B

Otis Taylor: Otis Taylor's Contraband (2012, Telarc): Bluesman, leads with his voice rather than his guitar, and pulls the voice back into the songs, where he earns his craft. B+(***)

Usher: Looking 4 Myself (2012, RCA): Deluxe ed. ends with the upbeat "Hot Thing" -- the only one worth having of four extra tracks on an album already too long, plus it spoils the concept of ending in "Euphoria" (not that I noticed being there). He's a jack of all trades -- can go fast, slow, hip-hop, soul, listenable in all, exceptional in none. B+(*)

The Walkmen: Heaven (2012, Fat Possum): Garage rock group from New York, not that I remember many garages there -- more like a studio apartment group with surly neighbors always threatening to call the cops on them if they don't keep it down, and they've learned that lesson, managing to keep it way down. Closes with this inspirational lyric: "Oh, no, no, no, no. no." C

Bobby Womack: The Bravest Man in the Universe (2012, XL): Produced by Richard Russell, last heard framing Gil Scott-Heron's last hurrah, with help from Damon Albarn, who's scoured the ends of the earth in search of rough voices to back with his catchy, chintzy keyb. Womack has been around since the mid-1960s, a second- (or third-) tier soulman occasionally blessed with a hit, but his voice is shot and his swagger has gone, which oddly works here. B+(**)