June 12 Notable Releases

A few of the 2,035 new and re-released albums coming out this week.

Queens of the Stone Age -- Era Vulgaris. While it remains tempting to look at everything QotSA does through the, "what if Oliveri was still around" lens, it's a fact that few bands have cultivated such a unique and consistent voice in the rock vein in the 2000's.

Various Artists -- Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. It's difficult to put a dollar amount on these kind of things -- because they do bring awareness to serious problems like Darfur that for whatever reason, often fail to capture the popular consciousness -- awareness is expensive, trust me. But at the same time, the money and effort that goes into the album sometimes seems difficult to recoup. Honestly, I'd just suggest buying a couple of John Lennon albums and making a donation straight to Amnesty International -- no reason to bring Green and Day into this.

Toby Keith -- Big Dog Daddy. Boots. Ass. Whiskey. Beer. Strong preference for domestically branded full-size pickups... check, check, check, check. If it ain't broke don't fix it, you know like the War in I-raq. Honestly, instead of buying this I'd just suggest you support America's troops with a donation to the USO's carepackage program -- if you feel so inclined, include a note with your donation that alludes to the fact that things are bad enough for the troops over there without the periodic USO sponsored visits from Toby Keith.