Music: Four Good, Four Bad (an uncalled for rant)

Four new albums I'm excited about:
Ryan Adams - Easy tiger
Josh Rouse - Country Mouse
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Jesse Malin - Glitter in the Gutter
Alright, so the last one isn't so new...but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Stumbled upon the itunes indie spotlight, which is focused on singer-songwriters this week, one of my favorite genres, but I have to make a confession, which is sacrlege or heresy or whatever among hipsters, especially neo-Christian-hipsters. Seriously, this could get me shot in Silver Lake, but it has to be said:
Connor Oberst sounds like the whiney kid in second grade who always wet his pants. Do we need more whiney, brittle white boys spilling their angst on us? I suppose I fit that bill more often than not, but still. Maybe there's some self-loathing at play here. I'll have to ask my therapist. I've had so many people who know I'm a Dylan lover recommend Bright Eyes. Really? You think so?
Second, what's the big deal about Sufjan Stevens? Maybe I haven't given him a fair shake, but I suffered through Seven Swans twice through way back when and couldn't name a single line or remember a single song title or melody from the album. I remember it being like glorified elevator music, but, y'know, sincere. Not that it was bad, just fairly typical for the genre and kind of unremarkable. Good enough for the background and...oh well, you get the point. I go out of the way here, just because these two artists specifically are recommended to me so often.
Another guy who has been granted Sainthood in these here parts is Elliott Smith, whose stuff is interesting and I like in theory, yet I always feel extremely drowsy by the third song or so whenever I put him on. Not that that's a bad thing
Lastly, I've tried to like him. I have had three or so of his songs in heavy rotation at one point or other, but another New Dylan who just doesn't pull his weight is Jackie Greene, except for "I'm so Gone." I suppose part of the draw of the modern troubadour is the subversiveness. You take a song like "Momma you've been on my mind" which leads you to expect a conventional, sentimental piece, which is subverted with a lyric like "I don't even care who you'll be waking with tomorrow/Momma, you're just on my mind." The point becomes memory, or the ways in which past experience shapes the present, not banal romanticization. Along with Dylan, Elvis Costello, Leonard Cohen, and other "singer-songwriters" do a better job at playing with convention and not falling into trite sentimentality. Greene swings and misses with "But I guess the good die young and life just isn't fair/Emily's in heaven and she's waiting for me there." Sounds like a Mitch Albom rip-off (which is funny if you scroll down, cos I actually like Mitch Albom) Even Death Cab, with "If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks/I'll follow you into the dark" if dripping with sentiment, is a powerful and memorable line. The difference, I suppose, is the use of figurative language, always a good device for a lyricist. And another thing! How did what was supposed to be a four line blog turn into the curmudgeonly ramblings of a never was? And so good night unto you all...