Jesse Malin

Although it’s not a bad album, on The Fine Art of Self Destruction Jesse Malin seems to rely on his producer Ryan Adams’ name (it’s mentioned five times through the artwork) rather than his own talent to earn respect. Bad choice. Besides only really offering a medium-talented pseudo rock fan boy image to the project, Adams’ production job sounds like that of an internet porn distracted teenager working on a borrowed eight-track. Still, some of Malin’s songs manage to shine through ("Queen of the Underworld,” "TKO”) in a "if Bruce Springsteen wasn’t around this would be really cool” kinda way.