The finest work to date by one of my all-time favorite musicians, ***Drama City*** sounds like the souls of Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits channeled through early Whiskeytown, 16 Horsepower and The Old '97s and the middle ground between ***O Brother, Where Art Thou*** and ***Appetite for Destruction***. Heartbreaking, honest, witty, bitter, joyous, cutting and sarcastic, singer/guitarist Jabe Beyer's songs, lyrics and gift for melody are on par with any of the greatest songwriters you can name. He writes at least one song every day, and you're guaranteed to be humming (and singing at least half the lyrics to) any of them after the first listen. ***Drama City*** includes a bonus CD-Rom of videos and MP3s and was recorded in a mere eight days by the band in their home studio for next to nothing, and it turned out sounding better than albums that are the result of months and tens of thousands of dollars spent in the studio. If a better, more affecting album is released this year, I'll eat my keyboard.

Mike Baldino