Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue

During the spring of 1995, Woody Guthrie's daughter Nora contacted British urban folk troubadour Billy Bragg about writing music for a selection of completed Guthrie lyrics. This was no minor task — Guthrie left behind over a thousand sets of complete lyrics written between 1939 and 1967 that had no music other than a vague stylistic notation. Bragg chose a number of songs to finish, as did Jeff Tweedy of the alt-country band Wilco (often with bandmate Jay Bennett). Nora Guthrie impressed a common goal upon them: Rather than recreating Guthrie tunes, they should write as if they were collaborating with Woody, creating new, vital music for the lyrics. Both artists completed more songs than could fit on Mermaid Avenue, which is neatly split between Bragg and Wilco, with Bragg taking lead on eight of the 15 songs. The results are almost entirely a delight, mainly because all involved are faithful to Guthrie's rowdy spirit — it's a reverent project that knows how to have fun. There are many minor, irresistible gems scattered throughout the album, and most of them come from Bragg. Where Wilco's fine contributions sound inextricably tied to the '90s, both for better and for worse, Bragg's music sounds contemporary while capturing Guthrie's folk traditions. That's not to say Wilco's contributions are failures — it's just hard to imagine Guthrie singing the plaintive "California Stars" or the plodding "Christ for President," neither of which quite fit the lyrics. Nevertheless, their hearts are in the right place; more often than not, they come close to the target, and their joyous playing invigorates Mermaid Avenue. The blend of Bragg's traditionalist sensibility and Wilco's contemporary style ultimately illustrates that Guthrie's words, ideals, and aesthetics remain alive in the '90s. It's a remarkable record that deserves a sequel.

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Owen - No Good For No One Now

Mike Kensilla has created a beautiful peace of art work with his third solo album 'No Good For no One Now'. The album was released in November of 2002 off of polyviny records. Although it contains only seven songs, they are well constructed. Sure the album leaves you wanting more...Kensilla's voice is completely refreshing. All of the songs on the album are slow and inspiring. If you like coldplay or travis, Owen isn't far behind. Kensilla writes and performs all of his music on the album.

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Her Space Holiday - The Young Machines

Her Space Holiday is the pseudonym of Marc Bianchi, who comes from San Francisco. Practically unknown in Europe, he's yet the mentor of Audio Information Phenomena, a label able to sign country, hip-hop and industrial music at the same time. Author of a dozen productions, including remixes for Elastica, The Faint and Dead Prez among others, Marc Bianchi, who wears thick glasses, looks like a false nerd who hides a collection of tattoos on his arms, signs of a hardcore past. The artist seems to have assimilated these origins quite well like his cousin Fugazi. So, "The Young Machines" is the last opus of his artistic way of working which consists more in the art of writing a good song rather than trying to impress everybody with sound coquetries. Nothing to do with the pseudo Aphex Twin filiation the press tries to give him. Even if, here and there, you can find some experimental touches, they're quite anecdotic, they may just disperse our attention on the fundamental quality of the tracks of this album. It starts with a perky, bittersweet ambience, underlined by sequences of metalophones, arpeggios of synthetic cords and crunchy percussions. The other compositions reveal a real talent of short story writer. Humble, moving, the simplicity of these rhymes give him a rare sensitivity. The benevolent spirit of The Beatles glides above his young machines. Nice work.

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Owen - I Do Perceive

Mike Kinsella continues as Owen on his third full-length, I Do Perceive, out on Polyvinyl. Kinsella constructs sensitive, emotional music, showcasing nice hooks and skillful guitar picking against electronic and acoustic drumbeats. Whispery vocals crack from exhaustion throughout I Do Perceive — dramatic words weigh physically on Owen to the point where Kinsella can barely get anything out. The music is in the emo-indie rock camp with the likes of Pedro the Lion and Dashboard Confessional, songs of relationships and longing with melodramatics included. Kinsella is most successful when he changes up the structure and instrumentation within a song. "That Tattoo Isn't Funny Anymore" and "Bed Abuse" are standout tracks with interesting time changes and lush switches from solo acoustic guitar to full band atmospherics. I Do Perceive is more of the same from Owen — a decent, melancholy release that stands up with others from his discography.

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Echo & The Bunnymen- Heaven Up Here (Remastered & Expanded)

Digitally Remastered and Expanded Version of the Bunnymen's Second Album. The Mood of this Affair is Much Darker and More Intense Than their Debut Album "Crocodiles". The Songs Tend to Be More Atmospheric and Textured as Well. Highlights Include What was the First Single "a Promise", "All I Want" and the Breathtaking Studio Version of "Over the Wall", which was First Heard on the Live "Shine So Hard" EP that was Issued Between Albums. The Five Bonus Tracks Include an Extended Version of "Broke My Neck" and Four Previously-unreleased Live Tracks. The Package also Includes New Liner Notes and Plenty of Photos in the Booklet, Housed in an "o" Style Slipcase.

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Apoptygma Berzerk - Welcome To Earth

Stephan Groth (the young Norwegian techno-head who records under the name Apoptygma Berzerk, as well as other aliases) has found a winning combination of industrial textures and the beat-happy grooves of the techno subgenre known as Electronic Body Music. On "Welcome to Earth" he keeps things dense and mildly sinister (lots of chord washes in minor keys), but gives in to his poppier side on the choruses, and good for him. "Starsign" starts out creepy enough, but features a genuine sing-along refrain; similarly, "Paranoia" is built on a pounding techno beat and barely-there chord progression, but the melodic content builds up layer by layer until it arrives at a chorus New Order would have killed for. And there are even some funky breaks that provide welcome relief from the skull-numbing techno rhythms. Highly recommended.

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Apoptygma Berzerk - 7

Starting an industrial dance album with a mock-classical organ recital isn't the easiest of propositions, but when Grothesk kicks his arrangement in gear fully with the EBM pulse and beat of "Love Never Dies (Part 1)," then 7 hits its stride and for the most part doesn't lose it. By this point, Grothesk and his act had moved from being inspired by a sound to being one of the few straight-up practitioners of it, and like the best of his own heroes, his range of inspirations had widened considerably. KMFDM may have sampled Orff's "Carmina Burana" first, but the inclusion of source material ranging from the Shadows and Red House Painters to Aphex Twin is reflected in the just-varied-enough flow of the album. The prime Depeche Mode-inspired jones of Grothesk, in particular, is showcased to wonderful effect throughout the album, often shading the more intense songs like "Deep Red" and the amped-up remix of "Mourn" with a calmer, almost tearjerking air.

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Head Wound City- Head Wound City

Welcome to Head Wound City, now die alone in the street, skull crushed flat by the bumper of that yellow cab you didn’t see coming—the one with wheels made of cyanide-laced donuts, and GG Allin’s grinning ghost grinding the gears. Jordan does the singing. Gabe plays drums. Cody does guitar stuff. So does Nick. JP plays bass. Most everybody sings along. They’ve been in some of the bands that have burned out the backs of your eyeballs, Yeah Yeah Yeahing you into a jitter sex frenzy, Locusting your flesh down to bare white bones, and spurting Blood Brothers all over your clean white sheets. It was always fun, though, wasn’t it? We always came back for more, did we not?The new record is an EP, written and recorded in a week’s time. (That same week you stayed inside mostly, jacking off to Suicide Girls and IMing your idiot friends.) It opens with a death squall of feedback, 48 seconds of pure white noise bleed, before Jordan busts in the frontdoor, running past you, chased by a barrage of blast beat missiles, screaming surrealist madtalk about holding hands in a head wound city

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Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole

To follow up their bombastic 1995 album Exit Planet Dust, the Chemical Brothers fine-tuned their bombastic beats and produced a rock-solid pop album (pun intended). Dig Your Own Hole finds the common ground between rock & roll and techno, both in spirit and substance. Singles like "Block Rockin' Beats," "Elektrobank," and "Setting Sun" (featuring vocals by Oasis's Noel Gallagher) may lack the big hair and pomposity of rock music, but they make up for it in spades, with sampled and real guitars battling for space with sirens and distorted hip-hop drums. The album reeks of pure enthusiasm and energy, evoking a crowd-pleasing exuberance that makes Dig Your Own Hole a Back in Black for the late 1990s. Pure stadium techno.

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Chemical Brothers - Push The Button

Having marked their 10th anniversary at the top of British dance music with a greatest hits collection, it would be easy to write the Chemical Brothers off in a genre that requires a certain freshness. However, Push the Button is a spectacular jump back to the top of their game, intensified by the rise of dance music in 2005.


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The Locust-Safety Second Body Last:

Safety Second, Body Last veers away from the short, pained bursts of the Locust's 2003 Plague Soundscapes. Instead, its two tracks (topping out at just over ten minutes) space out the grindy noise with disquieting lulls. There might be some kind of concept here, but good luck discerning it from lyrics like "Plaster every sore" and "hyponagogic logic dictates, quite cogently, that it is your turn to wear the lampshade." Don't worry about meaning. With the Locust it's all about feeling. The first track's twists and turns are particularly rewarding as it rolls through skittering song-splatter and swirling sub-Mars Volta soundscapes and culminates in a moment that's too quiet, the keyboards ticking off like overused engines before a plodding electronic pulse starts gaining from behind. Watch out!

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Behind Enemy Lines - The Global Cannibal

"The Global Cannibal" is the second release from Pittsburgh's Behind Enemy Lines. Featuring ex-members of Aus Rotten, React, The Pist and Penance, this is ideal for fans of Aus Rotten, Conflict, Icons of Filth, Amebix, Tragedy, and Motorhead, among others. Featuring 12 tracks, just shy of 30 minutes total length, "The Global Cannibal" is thematically influenced by the current political GWBush (mis)administration.


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Korn - See You On The Other

Korn's cathartic alternative metal sound positioned the group among the most popular and provocative to emerge during the post-grunge era. Korn began its existence as the Bakersfield, CA-based metal band LAPD, which included guitarists James "Munky" Shaffer and Brian "Head" Welch, bassist Reginald "Fieldy Snuts" Arvizu, and drummer David Silveria. After issuing an LP, the members of LAPD in 1993 crossed paths with Jonathan Davis, a mortuary science student moonlighting as the lead vocalist for the local group Sexart; they soon asked Davis to join the band, and upon his arrival, the quintet rechristened itself Korn. After signing to Epic's Immortal imprint, they issued their debut album in late 1994; thanks to a relentless tour schedule that included stints opening for Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Marilyn Manson, and 311, the record slowly but steadily rose the charts, eventually going gold. Its 1996 follow-up, Life Is Peachy, was a more immediate smash, reaching the number three spot on the pop album charts. Yeah obviously no review.

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Mirror one

Pennywise - Unknown Road (Remastered)

These re-issues have been digitally remastered for your listening pleasure. Finally hear these classic Pennywise albums the way they were meant to be heard! On Unknown Road, Pennywise steps up their songwriting, maintains all their fury and intensity, and lays out their philosophy of independence and the importance of daring to live every moment to it’s fullest. This album featured a number of songs that played on tons of skate, surf and snowboarding videos, making this, and other PW records to come, the soundtrack to the exploding extreme sports board scene. Featuring such Pennywise classics as “Homesick,” “Unknown Road,” “It’s Up To Me,” and “You Can Demand,” Unknown Road is arguably the quintessential So Cal hardcore record of the ‘90s.

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portable games

Well, theres been two games that every psp fan ( or well, most) have been raving about for quite some time, waiting on the edge of their comp chairs for the leak of a lifetime, or well..close enough. And that would be Harvest moon, and capcoms Monster Hunter (on this blog , meaning i'll post it soon enough, tho im sure most of you music loving folks could care less and wouldnt be coming here for that but! if u do have a psp, horray!) . However yall's gatta keep in mind these games are obviously still in japanese, so just be awe'd by the images. Who doesnt love the mere awesomeness of Harvest moon, young old, uh blue coller workers, corporate employees and farmers alike love it! especially the part where u can hook up with the priests daughter (ooh yeah). I know that was quite retarded but eh, fortunately im not a lez :( . ANYWAYS i digress, and spelt that wrong. Anyways in this version you get to pick between a guy or a girl, so mack on the ladies or be a hoochie whatever you may like. Or maybe both? or maybe a lady on lady action, i duno i dont think thats possible( in the game) but sure. and dont you just love to see ur newly hatched chickens and such, its so emotional and delightful it almost makes me cry joyous nerdy tears of happiness. Erg. i ramble too much. :( Anyways.

Link Here - Harvest Moon - Psp


Coming Soon...Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable

Ooh, i know, the wait is painful.

The Shins - Chutes too Narrow

Reality television, actors-turned-governors, and wrestlers-turned-rappers aside, it's hard to think of many things that elicit cynicism and offhand dismissal like a sophomore album on the heels of a hyped debut. The dreaded "sophomore slump" is hardly a fictional pitfall fabricated by bitter music journalists and defensive cred-mongers; the pressures of turning out a second record can be crippling for bands who've encountered early success, and it often results in an album that pales in contrast to its predecessor. Yet, for every band that falters in the wake of initial success, there's another that puts their newfound experience to work for them, producing a second record-- a sophomore hump, if you will-- that delivers upon all the promise of their first. And with Chutes Too Narrow, the second album from much-lauded Pacific Northwest popsters The Shins, that sophomore hump is in full effect. - Pitchfork (8.9)

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The Walkmen - Bows + Arrows

Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone was among my favorite records from 2002; the debut full-length was warmly luminous, equal parts humility and grandeur. The Walkmen tiptoed where other bands stomp, and if they broke a few eggshells, they did so only when least expected, and in a strangely elegant manner. Their hollow, reverberating guitars and "cinematic" atmosphere earned a few apt comparisons to War- or Joshua Tree-era U2-- keyboards aren't made that placid, or guitars that jangly, by accident, folks-- but this comparison still strikes me as ridiculous. I might be more willing to accept the parallels had U2 played Christmas music in Vaudeville; I know the song's called "The Blizzard of '96", but the last time I heard so many bells was on a sleigh ride to grandma's house. - Pitchfork (9.2)

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Cut Copy - Bright like Neon Love

The debut by Melbourne's Cut Copy is a collection of dream and love-laden tunes pulled together with Dan Whitford's inside-out knowledge of 80's flavored synths and studio trickery. Influences range from house to low-slung, fuzzed up punk garage, and seminal 80's raincoat-wearing Mancunian electro-pop to nouveau disco, often within one song. Impossible to pigeonhole. Pop and dance. Happy sad. Simple yet complicated. Sincere yet cool. Naive but clever.

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I Am The Avalanche - s/t

The record starts off with a catchy tune, "Dead and Gone," which will mostly tell you what the rest of the album is about. Most of the guitar work, drum and bass work is actually very good considering the Movielife's past simplicity. Most of the songs are either fun with a catchy rythm, or powerful with some strong lyrics that are definitely noteworthy. And even though most of the album revolves around the emo cliché of girls, they are still rather entrataining to listen to. The single and probably my favorite song on the album, "A New Disaster," is the album's most powerful song and definitely tells you that I Am the Avalanche will be going places if they ditch their pop influences for a more solid punk rock sound. "Murderous" is a downfall, not because the entire song is bad, but because there is this reggae guitar strum going through almost half the song that prevents any strength the song would otherwise carry. "My Second Restraining Order," the album's closer, is actually a breath of fresh air because it's a rather slow song yet not slow enough to leave a "boring" ending to the CD. <>

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Cursive - The Ugly Organ

Whereas 2000's Domestica explored the intense pain of Tim Kasher's divorce, Ugly Organ is a tale of empty sex, overwrought melodrama, and metaphors of which the album's title is only the first. Kasher likes making you feel queasy, and Cursive backs him up with unpredictable instrumental turns. "Butcher the Song" could be about a lot of things, but it's definitely not happy, and its instrumentation lurches in stops and rushing starts like a drivetrain gone bad. "Art Is Hard" is much louder. "Keep turning out those hits! Till it's all the same old sh*t!" The clattering guitars shoot backward at Cursive's louder roots, but the knifing lyrics stab wildly at fans, the band, the industry — any target available. Kasher and co. are similarly restless throughout Ugly Organ, and that sentiment makes the album both rewarding and frustrating. They're capable of great beauty, particularly in the sure hand of cellist Gretta Cohn, who first appeared on the Burst & Bloom EP but is a true force here. She adds a soaring melody to "Driftwood: A Fairy Tale," making it sound like Spoon with a fuller lineup. But the band also throws a thousand ideas into the wind on Organ, and a lot of them become just hints and melodrama. The ten-minute "Staying Alive" is flush with intensity but goes in too many different directions, while the brief "Herald! Frankenstein" doesn't expand far enough. Kasher's always pretty clear with his lyrics; he's having a post-coital conversation in "Gentleman Caller," he's the post-divorce depressive in "Recluse." But Cursive could use a little more clarity throughout Ugly Organ, to fully capture the band's fractured and anxious, but always exuberant sound.

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M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts

Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts is the second album from French electronica duo M83 (Anthony Gonzalez and Nicolas Fromageau) who, thankfully, derive their name from a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Hydra and not from an interminably lacklustre stretch of noxious British motorway. The name certainly nods to where their wide-eyed spaced-out technicolour imaginations are fixed, but they also know how to sound ponderously intense--hence the cold, cello-aided sonority of "Gone", possibly the only track on the album that defies the lambent warmth of the purring analogue synths and beguiling reveries that make the rest of the album as enticingly therapeutic as a thermal spa.Humane post-rock is clearly M83's strongest attribute because both "Run into Flowers" and "On a White Lake, Near a Green Mountain" are curiously pretty cameos, far removed from the automatic anaemia of other workmanlike button-pushers. The high point, though, is the symphonic sweetness and motherly female choral vocals of "Beauties Can Die", which is rather like being cradled in the arms of an angel, or at the very least the arms of Sigur Ros and Lesley Garrett. If one really has to die and go to heaven, one rather hopes the journey up there will sound like this.

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Minor Threat: Complete Discography

Complete Discography compiles Minor Threat's entire body of recordings on a single compact disc. Hardcore, as a rule, wasn't particularly musically diverse, but Minor Threat were one of the genre's groundbreaking acts and their music has held up better than most of their contemporaries. As the de facto leaders of the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, the band pioneered the straight-edge mentality by emphasizing impossibly fast tempos, brief songs, political lyrics, and a drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle. Besides setting the precedent for several generations of punk rockers with their music and ideals, Minor Threat were simply a better band than most hardcore groups. They had a tight, distinctive sound that wasn't as heavy as their Californian counterparts and, therefore, were often more bracing and effective. Although some of the music on Complete Discography, like much of hardcore in general, hasn't aged particularly well — with its cheap production, rigid song structures, and political concerns, it is very much a piece of the early '80s — the sound remains invigorating; the band possessed a visceral energy matched by only a handful of their peers. Complete Discography, in fact, is not only one of the cornerstones of any hardcore collection, it's not a bad way to become acquainted with hardcore.

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Brand New - Deja Entendu

As the popularity of emo and punk-pop plateaued, many bands had a lot to prove to stay in the game. As of 2003, Brand New had sidestepped any notion that they'd be stuck in the prototypical mold found on Your Favorite Weapon. Unlike their debut, Deja Entendu isn't all about bitter breakups and doesn't fall into a permanent punk-pop hole. Produced by Steven Haigler (Pixies, Quicksand), this sophomore effort finds Brand New maturing, reaching for textures and song structures instead of clichés. They still, however, alternate their full-on blasts with slower acoustic work, which doesn't hurt. Many antiromantic lyrics such as "my tongue is the only muscle on my body that works harder than my heart" saturate the disc, but there's still some resentment with downers such as "I hope you come down with something they can't diagnose and don't have a cure for." "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" is one of the stronger tracks and isn't so much a fresh entry as it is a rewrite of their semihit "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad." It's not quite déjà vu; it's just consistent.

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Audio Bullys - Generation

Two years ago the Audio Bully’s delivered their visceral, zeitgeist-capturing debut album Ego Wars. This sophomore effort wisely avoids echoing the same nihilistic manifesto (see "We Don’t Care"), drawing instead on a broader palette of sounds and some genuinely effective attempts at songwriting. It wouldn’t be an Audio Bully’s album without a couple of obligatory floor-wreckers of course, which is what "Keep On Moving" and "Shot You Down" are there for. But the best cuts on Generation are not beefed-up house-rants, but the more introspective recordings like the gritty "Made Like That" (featuring Roots Manuva) and laid back songs such as "Get Myself On Track", "I'm in Love" and "Struck By Sound".Lyrically and musically, Generation is more cerebral than their debut, providing unequivocal evidence that this talented duo are much more than simply a "Streets Pt 2".

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Rent - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

It's not that surprising that Rent, a successful musical with a strong youth following, would have transferred from the New York stage to film. What is remarkable is that the material has aged very well and that most of the original cast have made the trip to the silver screen. This is no small feat since nearly ten years have elapsed since the show's Off-Broadway debut and the film's release. When it opened in 1996, Jonathan Larson's rock musical based on neobohemian life in the gritty East Village felt a bit hackneyed at times; now, Rent feels more like a Broadway fantasy about life on the edge, and that new element actually works in the show's favor. The two cast additions--Rosario Dawson (replacing Daphne Rubin-Vega as Mimi) and Tracie Thomas (replacing Fredi Walker as Joanne)--act well and with emotion, but aren't quite powerful enough. They are eclipsed by vets such as Anthony Rapp, Idina Menzel, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, and Taye Diggs, who of course had the chance to perfect their roles on stage and can also be heard on the original cast recording. It's a pleasure to hear these stalwarts New York performers strut their stuff again. This soundtrack will please the show's fans, and probably attract new ones.

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Longfellow - and so on

Longfellow was a Southern California based band who has since broken up. There is some shitty band from Ohio who now are also using the name Longfellow, but this isn't them, and they have no affiliation with this band other than the stolen name.This is the band the drummer from Home Grown was in before he joined Home Grown. It's melodic poppy-type punk, but the singer has a better more unique voice, instead of the whiny high kind of voice alot of the bands in the genre have. It's good stuff.

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Screw 32

Behold the uncanny, superhuman musical prowess of SCREW 32, a band that has unfortunately joined the legions of rock bands that break up before their time. What does their record sound like? A mixture of SoCal melodic punk with D.C. Dischord-type tunes drop kicked 'em into the East Bay. Screw 32, gone but not forgotten.


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The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike

The Go! Team’s piecemeal approach to music-making and their zest for block-rocking party sounds makes for an interesting sonic jumble. This re-release of Thunder, Lightning, Strike, their 2004 debut album, features several modifications from its original incarnation due to US licensing laws (a new verse from MC Ninja and two new tracks), but the changes are largely cosmetic: the album remains a belligerent brew of guitars, drums, old-school hip-hop, rock, harmonicas, banjos, flutes, rhymes and cheerleader-chants that illustrates the band’s famous anything-goes attitude. From the audacious assault of pop-tastic tracks like "Panther Dash" and the cartoonish rumble of "Feelgood By Numbers" to the jump-around anthem "Get It Together", the incessant – and sometimes overwhelming - joie-de-vivre of the document remains unrivalled by anything their contemporaries has produced in the meantime.

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The Beatles-1

Proving yet again their willingness to dice 'n' slice their burgeoning legacy into new--if not exactly fresh--product, the Fab Four Minus One have released this single-disc compendium of their No. 1 hits. Though obviously superfluous to the faithful (who may also find themselves quibbling over the precise definition of "No. 1 hit" and the exclusion of seeming contenders like "Please Please Me" and "Strawberry Fields"), newly arrived visitors from the Pleiades star cluster and other neophytes will find it a concise and generous (nearly 80 minutes) single-disc introduction to the band's career-spanning, unparalleled dominance of pop music in the 1960s. But beyond being a mere trophy case of commercial success (and it won't be hard to find critics who'll argue that these singles aren't even the band's best work), it's also a Cliff's Notes take on a remarkable seven-year run of musical evolution, one that stretches from the neo-skiffle of "Love Me Do" through a remarkable synthesis of R&B, rockabilly, Tin Pan Alley, gospel, country, and classical that still defies efforts to effectively deconstruct it. This is the pop monument equivalent of the '27 Yankees and '90s Bulls; it's every bit as obvious and dominating--and just as essential.

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V/A - Kill Rock Stars - Fields And Streams

Super collection of unreleased tracks from forty-five of your favorite and soon-to-be indie rock bands-thirty-seven of which are female-driven. You get it all with cuts from MOONEY SUZUKI, BEEHIVE & THE BARRACUDAS, YEAH YEAH YEAHS, CARLA BOZULICH, RED MONKEY, BRAILLE STARS, ROCK*A*TEENS, LONG GODDBYE, DISHES, QUAILS, AISLERS SET, CONVOCATION OF, MARY TIMONY, TWO TON BOA, DANIELLE HOWLE & THE TANTRUMS, BUTCHIES, DIRT BIKE ANNIE, ERASE ERRATA, LOVELIFE, DEERHOOF, and many more.

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Thorn For Every Heart - Things Aren't So Beautiful

A Thorn for Every Heart follows up its 2003 EP with this tight and smart follow-up, a 30-minute-long exclamation point of screamo/punk fusion that offers multiple layers of bludgeoning power chords, chiming arpeggios, angelic harmonies, and hoarse roars of rage. There are even occasional incursions of piano and violin, just to keep you guessing. Lyrically, there's nothing here that will really grab your attention, but in sonic terms, A Thorn for Every Heart is surprisingly advanced for such a young band. The vocal arrangements on "February" and "Night to Remember" will catch you by surprise, and guitarists Phil Nguyen and Jeff Harber are gratifyingly unwilling to just build a lazy wall of sound for the singer to yell at; instead, they toss unexpected rhythmic changeups ("Prediction") and elaborate contrapuntal chime-and-grind arrangements ("99 With an Anchor") into the mix at every opportunity, keeping things both interesting and, frequently, jaw-droppingly pretty. Great stuff — it will be fun to see how they follow this one up.

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Dashboard Confessional - The Place You Have Come To Fear The Most

Of all the downtrodden intellectuals turning skate-punk into emo, Dashboard Confessional's Christopher Carrabba is by far the most bruised. With just an acoustic guitar and some choice words, the Ben Folds sound-alike turns the concept of the love song on its head with The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most's torrent of poetic abuse aimed at girls who've taken advantage of his good nature. From "Saints and Sailors" ("This apartment is starving for an argument / Anything at all to break the silence") to "The Good Fight" ("I claimed you as my only hope and watched the floor as you retreated") to "Screaming Infidelities" ("So kiss me hard because this will be the last time I let you"), Carrabba is unapologetically bitter. Yet while his love life may be a tragic mess, the pure cathartic joy he derives from putting the ladies in question back in their place--evident from his venomous acoustic attacks--is unmistakable, infectious, and fantastically liberating. Wallowing in self-pity has seldom been so much fun.

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Dashboard Confessional - The Swiss Army Romance

A solo effort from Chris Carrabba, this album is essentially acoustic emo. The music involves the acoustic guitar and how beautiful the instrument can sound. The lyrics are very personal and relatable. The only problem is Carrabba's voice. Even though he has a very powerful and heartful voice, he ends up sounding like every other emo singer. His voice is very similar to Jeremy Enigk. All of the songs tend to sound the same, but they are all very good songs. Stand out cuts are "Screaming Infidelities" and "Living in Your Letters."

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Saves the Day - Through Being Cool

Possessing a fiery dynamism lacking in their debut Can't Slow Down, Saves the Day's sophomore release on Equal Vision is an emocore classic. More anxious than emo godfathers Get Up Kids, Saves the Day opted for punchier production and faster tempos to provide a backdrop for singer Chris Conley's romantic teen declarations. True to the genre Conley helped define, his lyrics walk a thin sentimental wire. Just when the stories lose balance, leaning toward the obvious, sappy, or both, Conley pulls it together with plain-spoken honesty, as in "Third Engine" when he describes seeing his long-distance love in the face of another girl while riding a train: "I looked out past her cheeks/Through the glass-light conduit/But the sun had sank already/Disappeared into New Jersey/Oh, why don't they have phones on these things." Conley's disclosures resonate wildly with his teen audience — validating their shallow, but still open wounds — while the band's tightly wound arrangements gyrate around his language of casual suffering. Highlights of this most elevated combination include the melodic, quick-paced "My Sweet Fracture" and "The Last I Told You." Ending Through Being Cool with the metallic "Banned From the Back Porch," Saves the Day toys with expectation, revealing an eagerness to explore outside the emocore form that is all but mastered on this 1999 release.

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Mae - Destination: B-Sides

Nothing says "fans only" like a collection of B-sides. Especially when the band has only existed for a short while and has only released one full-length album anyway — it's not like there's a deep catalog of single releases and compilation tracks to draw upon for a collection like this. So it's a tribute to Mae's quality and depth as a band that this compilation is as rewarding as it is. Some of the credit should go to whoever was responsible for programming the tracks — Destination: B-Sides opens with a powerful one-two punch in the form of the funky and complex "This Is the Last Time [Wave Remix]," which is followed quickly by the gorgeous "Suspension." A nice acoustic version of "Sun" follows, after which things start tending a bit more toward the fans-only side: live versions of "This Is the Last Time" and "Sun" don't bring much new insight to the original versions, and the live version of "Futuro" is lackluster at best. But a remix of "Goodbye, Goodnight" ends the album with bang rather than a whimper, and even at its least inspired this collection will give newcomers plenty of reason to go back and find a copy of Mae's debut. Recommended.

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The Format - Snails EP

After bursting onto the indie-ish scene back in 2003 with Interventions and Lullabies, The Format have been on the road almost non-stop. But they haven't been too busy to work on new music. The band hopes to drop a second full-length release by early next year, and they've recently put together a new EP to tide fans over – it should accomplish that and then some. Snails has two fresh tracks and three acoustic takes on previously released material which, by our assessment, rival the originals.


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Copeland - Know Nothing Stays The Same EP

Copeland copeland copeland, It has been said the god of emo obviously shivers in the soul of copeland. Atleast i've always thought emo was more consistant with copeland rather than rites and spring and whatser elese. but then again i dont know all that much. I DO know however copeland is quite emo, and one ofthe greatest emo bands oout there, obviously. Its sucha i broke up with my gf/bf and are sad and need sad music to make this heart ease from the pain cuz i will live no longer stuff. mmhmm! This album well ep also has a cover of Billy Joels "always a woman" obviously its not as GOOD as the original but its cute none the less.Definately interesting.

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Sublime - 40 Oz To Freedom

Ska music has been deeply ingrained in the punk rock culture since the Clash adopted their rude boy stance near the end of the British punk invasion and the 2-Tone label put ska on the map. Suddenly, punks stopped kicking the crap out of each other long enough to dance. The debut release by Orange County, California's Sublime is a positively infectious record that marries varied styles of dub, reggae, rap, sampling, scratching, and badass dancehall ska with old-school punk overtones. Musicianship on this record is exceptionally tight, featuring Brad Nowell's innovative guitar work and bright, soulful voice. Packed with 40 oz. of rock (21 tracks) including the ultimate pot-smoking anthem "Smoke Two Joints" and the novelty hit "Date Rape."

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Goldfinger - The Best Of goldfinger

The year 2005 marks a decade of Goldfinger. As John Feldmann says in his entertaining liner essay, that's ten years of playing 2,000-plus shows, ten years of seeing bandmates naked too often, ten years of trying like crazy to just be entertaining. And The Best of Goldfinger is certainly that. Of course it kicks off with "Here in Your Bedroom," and as a ska-punk anthem and southern California jam, the cut still resonates. Alongside No Doubt's "Just a Girl" and Sublime's "What I Got," it's a relic from a summer that somehow seems much longer ago. The Best of Goldfinger's remainder highlights the band's Mojo and Jive output, adds a previously unreleased cut (the pop-punk 9/11 meditation "Innocent," co-written with Benji Madden), and tidies their soundtrack and tribute album appearances. "We've really only had one 'hit'," Feldmann says in the liners. "But I think we've got some other pretty cool songs." "Mabel"'s singsong chorus and "She's the bomb" punchline is a hoot, "Counting the Days" (from 2000's Stomping Ground) is a rowdy and pogoing primer for the Good Charlotte/A New Found Glory, etc. explosion of the early 21st century, and "Spokesman" is a solid enough, only slightly bitter rant against the plastic stars on MTV. The Best of Goldfinger also surveys the band's stock of punk-ified cover songs. Their take on the Cure's "Just Like Heaven" is a forgettable double-time skate-ramp shouter. But "99 Red Balloons" is brash, hyper, and totally great — Feldmann even sings the last verse in German. It also summarizes Goldfinger's approach, which as The Best of Goldfinger shows, has always been to be loud, funny, and fun. The collection also included a DVD with videos and live material.

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The Planet Smashers - s/t

The mindless frat-boy lyrics of the Planet Smashers on their debut album make lowbrow third wave ska bands Reel Big Fish and the Pietasters sound like English literature professors. Tracks like "Pee in the Elevator" and "Shithead" pretty much speak for themselves. However, the band still managed to put together a few somewhat memorable, if not decent tunes, including "So Happy," a song about getting dumped and "Pierce Me," which rips on just about every form of alternative culture. Odds are Planet Smashers fans aren't looking for anything deep or musically complex (they play about three chords), making this a rather decent debut album.

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The Planet Smashers - Attack of the planet smashers

Second full-length of insane, tight, catchy ska goodness. Well, i couldnt really find a proper review on this yummy selection so i'll just say that. This is my favorite Planet Smashers album, favorite song being The 80 bus, duno why honestly. Whats the best thing about ska? regardless of what mood your in, it kicks you back up and keeps you going. Ah Ska, lovely are thee. Planet smashers find heavenly love..stuff. yeah.

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Comeback Kid- Wake The Dead

Imagine the perfect circle pit in your CD player complete with nonstop driving guitars, gang vocals, fist pumping anthems, and intensity that won’t let you stop even when you’re completely exhausted. You have just imagined Wake the Dead, the perfect outing from straight edge hardcore outfit Comeback Kid. It’s one of those albums that is over before you know it, which makes you sad but so completely satisfied that it immediately is started over.

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Haste The Day - When Everything Falls

Haste the Day returns with a sophmore effort that is the musical equivalent of a burlap sack full of anvils: heavy metal. Their record, When Everything Falls, is a blazing mix of crisp, fast metal with a bit of emo-core thrown into the fray.


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Echo & the Bunnymen - Crocodiles

Along with the Teardrop Explodes's Kilimanjaro and the Psychedelic Furs' self-titled LP, Echo and the Bunnymen's Crocodiles was one of several debut releases in 1980 that ushered in the U.K.'s neopsychedelic movement. Darker and less reliant on typical pop conventions than the work of most of their peers, Crocodiles presented Liverpool's Bunnymen as a truly original and inspired fusion of punk's nihilism and the psychedelic era's open-ended experimentation. Will Sergeant's innovative guitar sound, slipping seamlessly between sharp, brittle attacks and warm, lush embraces, made a perfect foil for frontman Ian McCulloch's somber vocals and self-conscious, introspective lyrics. With his rich, gloomy voice and cryptic tales of despair and disillusionment, McCulloch recalled influences as disparate as the Doors' Jim Morrison and Joy Division's Ian Curtis on haunting songs such as "Stars Are Stars," "Villiers Terrace," and the apocalyptic "Happy Death Men." However, it's when McCulloch lightens up and the band loosens up that they realize their full potential. "Do It Clean" is a potent three-chord rocker propelled by Pete DeFreitas's dead-on drumming and a frenzied organ courtesy of producer (and Teardrop Explodes keyboardist) David Balfe. "Rescue," the LP's single, is a soulful pure-pop gem that would have been a huge radio hit in an alternate, ultimately more just universe.

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Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel

The blasphemous opinions surrounding Depeche Mode's 2001 release Exciter were well warranted. Exciter didn't supply Depeche Mode diehards much in the way of dance tunes, and the experimental sounds drummed up by Bjork producer Mark Bell strayed from the industrial standard in an overly delicate, less than welcoming way. True fans, luckily, forgive and forget and as well they should, given Playing the Angel's return to dark, brooding greatness. The first single "Precious" is an emotionally loaded, characteristically long faced, distortion-pocked masterwork - a "Personal Jesus" level accomplishment. Also on that order are "Suffer Well;" the droning, lovely and altogether danceable "Lillian"; "I Want it All," whose muffled beats and blasts of suck-you-in static recall the industrial glory days; and the simple, synthy exercise in hyper-intelligent pop that is "John the Revelator." Those songs make it easy to salute the band for parting the sea of imitators and returning to its roots, but an obvious stain prevents Playing the Angel from being a perfect album. Two tracks are the problem: Martin Gore may be a brilliant lyricist, he wrote every song on Playing the Angel, but pull David Gahan away from the mike and pretentiousness prevails. Some will find "Macrovision" lovely, but it's arguable that there's no room for trilling on a Depeche Mode disc. The same goes for "Damaged People," a dangerous, show-tune-ish flirtation. A couple of clunkers don't spoil the lot, though, and this return to form will alienate few. All hail the 80s

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The Faint - Media

The debut recording from Omaha, NE's the Faint is a far cry from the danceable, beat-heavy records the group went on to produce, but it is nonetheless a fine record and a worthy addition to the collection of anyone who enjoys the music that has come out of the band or their town's overflowing music scene. Bearing likeness to peers ranging from Cursive to Lullaby for the Working Class, as well as to influences like the Cure, Media is a rock record with new wave sentiments and melodic ideals. Vocalist Todd Baechle has a powerful presence, and his mildly affected vocals consistently build toward slightly abstract yet hook-laden choruses. Tracks like "Some Incriminating Photographs" feature bouncy drumbeats and loose guitars, and others, like "Lullaby for The...," contain uncharacteristic acoustic string arrangements. There are also plenty of songs that point clearly in the electronic direction the band would later head, but for the most part, Media is a rock record, and a good one at that. Jagged guitar lines take the lead on a number of tracks, and the mood is fairly dark, though at times the sheer genius of a song's refrain propels it toward a more triumphant plateau. Fans of the band's later expansive electro sounds may be disappointed by the polished rock act that surfaces on this disc, but the straightforward presentation proves that the members are just as talented without the aid of machines, and the memorable rock moments are so good they don't have to prove a thing.

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Primus - Sailing The Seas Of Cheese

The first Primus album to achieve much widespread airplay (thanks to its release on a major), and the one that broke them on MTV, Sailing the Seas of Cheese completely redefined the possibilities of the electric bass in rock music for those who'd never heard the group before. Slapping like a funk player, but strumming power chords and finger-tapping like a metal guitar hero, Les Claypool coaxed sounds from his instrument that had rarely if ever been made the focus of a rock band. Claypool's riffs were so full and dominant that they hardly needed to be doubled by guitarist Larry LaLonde (and wouldn't have had the same effect anyway), which freed him up on most songs to launch into dissonant, atonal solos that essentially functioned as texture, complementing Claypool's oddly whimsical sense of melody. The combination results in a weird atmosphere that could be transformed into something dark or eerie, but Claypool's thin, nasal voice and demented blue-collar persona place the record firmly in the realm of the cheerfully bizarre. The compositions are mostly riff-driven, fleshing out their heavy metal roots with prog rock tricks from Rush and Frank Zappa, as well as the novelty side of Zappa's sense of humor. The willful goofiness may alienate some listeners, but it can also obscure some genuinely dark humor, and it never detracts from the band's frequently stunning musicianship. Somewhat analogous to jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, Claypool hasn't inspired many direct imitators because of his tremendous feats of dexterity. But his stature as a virtuoso able to take his instrument into previously undreamed-of realms is without question. Though Sailing the Seas of Cheese tones down Primus' penchant for jamming, it's the tightest, most song-oriented representation of their jaw-dropping, one-of-a-kind style.

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Michael Buble - Its Time

Although it took more than a year of concerts and promotional appearances, Michael Bublé's 2003 debut disc of swinging pop standards finally ascended the Billboard album chart and landed at number 47. That peak may not seem impressive at first, but in a musical world dominated by rap or the latest flavor of alternative rock, Bublé's upper chart appearance was a real accomplishment and it sparked a renewed interest in music associated with great vocalists like Frank Sinatra. With his second studio disc, It's Time, Bublé builds upon the musical foundation he laid with his debut and demonstrates that he is much more than a flavor-of-the-month celebrity. Like his debut, It's Time mines the rich history of pop music as Bublé applies his own technique to classic standards and incorporates his Rat Pack sound into modern pop songs. Other pop vocal giants have made attempts to reinterpret the pop songs of their day with appalling results (Mel Tormé's version of "Sunshine Superman" comes to mind), but Bublé has the knack for selecting the right songs that he can properly transform into edible works that avoid a cheesy aftertaste. Having a standard like "A Foggy Day (In London Town)" share space with the Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" may seem like a lounge lizard joke waiting to happen, but the arrangements (most courtesy of producer David Foster) and performances are seamless. Therefore, the quiet groove of "I've Got You Under My Skin" can sit comfortable next to Bublé's smoky version of Leon Russell's "Song for You," featuring Chris Botti on trumpet. Perhaps it is due to this formula working so well that Bublé has incorporated more of his unique takes on modern pop than on his debut. He even ventures into R&B territory with older hits like "Try a Little Tenderness" and "How Sweet It Is," all the while giving these songs a retro freshness that breathes new life into these gems. Pop starlet Nelly Furtado sounds lovely and elegant in the duet "Quando, Quando, Quando," while Bublé ends the disc with a beautiful reading of Stevie Wonder's "You and I." Another positive step forward is the inclusion of the lovely original tune "Home," a somewhat autobiographical "too long on the road" song co-written by Bublé. The success of this ballad provides yet another direction that he can explore and expand upon. Throughout the disc Bublé emits the feeling that he loves these songs and truly enjoys what he is doing. He sounds pure of voice and pure of heart. Those are rare commodities in the recorded world and they, along with Bublé's talent and vision, help to make It's Time a wonderful listening experience.

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Stars Disco

Alright, so since I was finally able to stumble upon the comeback EP, i thought i'd share the Stars goodness with yall fine folks of internet land. Its indeed a great listen.





A Lot of Little Lies for the Sake of One Big Truth


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Nightsongs


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The Comeback EP

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Heart


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SEt Yourself On Fire

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Sharing a fondness for sophisticated soul and pop artists (the Smiths, New Order, Marvin Gaye, et al.), Stars was formed by Torquil Campbell and Chris Seligman in New York. Along with friends Evan Cranley (also of Big Rude Jake) and Amy Milan (who contributed to the soundtrack for the film Drowning Mona), the band relocated to Montreal. Its debut full-length, Nightsongs, was released in early 2001, followed by an EP, The Comeback, later that year. Besides playing with Stars, Torquil has appeared in films, plays, and television (including Law & Order and Sex and the City). Seligman has performed with several orchestras, including the orchestra for the Broadway musical The Scarlet Pimpernel. Before 2002 came to an end, the band headed back into the studio to record a sophomore effort. The soft-hued Heart was released to critical accliam in the U.K. before Christmas; Heart appeared stateside on the Canadian label Arts & Crafts during summer 2003.

The Clash - Combat Rock

The final album by the Clash's original Strummer/Jones incarnation is also their most inconsistent. There were musical and ideological rifts developing within the band, and it shows: the experimentation is almost as wild as Sandanista!'s (and the biggest experiment is heading away from their punk shiftiness and into a commercial rock sound), but they seem to be enjoying it less. The band's stabs at funk and poetry aren't terribly successful, but it all came together for two massive hits: "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" has the biggest, stupidest, most perfect riff this side of "Louie Louie," and "Rock the Casbah" pulls the band's politics, fine-honed sarcasm, and saw-toothed guitar sound into the service of a dance-floor beat.

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Sublime - S/T

For all his tattoos and bulked-up frat-boy persona, singer Bradley Nowell had real soul, which made his fatal heroin overdose even more tragic. There's more to this Long Beach, California, trio's debut, released shortly after Nowell's death in 1996, than white suburban punks imitating Jamaican ska music. The band comes up with great songs, notably the catchy MTV hit "What I Got"; spooky dub-reggae undertones, produced by the Butthole Surfers' Paul Leary, to go with the snappy horns; and surprisingly progressive lyrics that attack sexism and other social ills, especially on "Wrong Way." Like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone, obvious forebears, Sublime become slightly tiresome after 17 songs, but the band is great in short doses.

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Interpol - Antics

Interpol are often accused of paying more attention to their haircuts than music. But good grooming habits don't always equate hollow souls. The New York band's sophomore album revisits the dark themes of its classic debut, Turn On The Bright Lights, drawing further inspiration from the likes of Joy Division and early Duran Duran. The band sounds more energetic in places ("C'Mere") and infinitely more depressed in others ("Next Exit"). The best songs, however, such as "Evil" and "Slow Hands," not only strike just the right balance but sound totally emotional, mournful, debauched, and ultimately, inevitably life-affirming.

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Fort Minor -The Rising Tied

In November 2005, Linkin Park co-founder Mike Shinoda debuted as a solo artist with Rising Tied, an ambitious collection credited to his alter ego, Fort Minor, that blended hip-hop with electronics and rock elements. The set was exec-produced by Jay-Z, who had previously collaborated with Shinoda and Linkin Park on 2004's Collision Course. Tied also featured plenty of guests like Common and John Legend, as well as newer artists from Shinoda's Machine Shop imprint. The album was a labor of love for the Linkin Park MC. Not only did he produce and mix it, but Shinoda played 99 percent of the instruments; did all the sequencing and programming; and wrote some very personal raps about his life, youth, and family. "Kenji" was a standout, exploring the experience of Japanese-American internees during World War II. The track featured recordings of Shinoda's relatives discussing their experiences in the camps.

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Mirror One
Mirror Two

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Thrice - The Illusion Of Safety

The outbursts of '80s thrash, classic British metal, and post-punk melodies forge The Illusion of Safety into an emocore epic of rare proportions. Atypically dynamic for its genre, Thrice stabs at punk-pop with grandiose guitar harmonies, hardcore vocal wails, and a Metallic (note the big "M") chunk that transforms its emo turnarounds into progressive hardcore theater. These design accomplishments warrant recommendation by themselves, but when the hooks of "Deadbolt" and "A Living Dance Upon Dead Minds" are set, Thrice reveals a stunning pop instinct that invites comparison to late-'90s rock & roll greats like At the Drive-In. Less inspired moments ("The Red Death") resemble Incubus on crank -- superior for sure, but annoyingly familiar. The emocore filler that concludes The Illusion of Safety ("So Strange I Remember You," "The Beltsville Crucible") verifies the group's fallibility. Probably the class of any No Motiv record, these tracks come off like throwaways here. One great producer away from unanimous Top Ten status, Thrice demonstrates transcendent potential on this 2001 sophomore full-length.

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Sugarcult - Palm Trees and Power Lines

Another album of unapologetic pop punk songs from this Santa Barbara outfit who have smartly filled in the void that Green Day left when they decided to dabble into rock's early canon and eschew self-loathing for more mature introspection. Sugarcult has none of those pretensions; instead their rock anthems are rather unadulterated and athletic--even when they're trying to sonically extricate themselves from complicated and claustrophobic romantic entanglements. With lyrics more clever than smart, Sugarcult makes romantic fatalism oddly entertaining as they take listeners through a wistful post mortem of a love affair gone awry.

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Something Corporate - Audioboxer

With a name like Something Corporate, this outfit set themselves up as sitting ducks for rock critics who like nothing better than leading a hapless young band to slaughter. This release wasn't as faceless as their name portended, but they did have some standard issue major-label pop/punk/alternative rock features to their approach. Singer/songwriter Andrew McMahon is the focal point on this six-song debut EP, which is often given over to the yearn-whine of fresh high-school graduates. That's especially true of "iF yoU C Jordan," which actually kicks off, "I have a story, a bitter anthem for everyone to hear, about this kid who just don't like me." Most of us have been picked on at some times in our lives, too, but do we really want to be reminded of it with such blatant posturing? Where they did differ from the pack is their emphasis on McMahon's piano, though there's plenty of modern rock guitar muscle on most of the cuts. The closer, "Walking By," largely discards the usual rock lineup for a piano-string arrangement. It made one wonder if McMahon's true forte would turn out to be as a more sensitive singer/songwriter rather than as the leader of a bratty, um, corporate rock band.

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Further Seems Forever - Hide Nothing

The greatest change to FSF is their overall sound, which is still melodic with a taste of emo, but also more anthemic—at times, like an '80s pop metal band. It shouldn't be enough to deter fans, though they should also know that the album runs barely over 30 minutes, averaging three minutes a song. If this seems like shortchange, be sure to pick up Hide Nothing at Best Buy, where they are offering an exclusive version that includes three bonus acoustic tracks of some of the album's songs—they add value to the album and fresh variation to the overall sound. Though not quite as strong as their previous effort, Hide Nothing is strong enough, proving that FSF can continue to carry on … as long as they keep finding the right singers.

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Faith No More - The Best Of Faith No More

Often snickered at by critics during the band's colorful career, it wasn't until after Faith No More's split that the group began receiving the recognition that it deserved the first time around — when a legion of "nu-metal" bands admitted that FNM was a major influence. With one FNM "hits" compilation already in the marketplace (1998's Who Cares a Lot: Greatest Hits), it's rather confusing as to why another set, 2003's This Is It: The Best of Faith No More, would surface relatively soon after. What makes the two releases different is that the former was a double-disc set (one disc being "hits," the other rarities), while the latter is solely a "best-of" set, and contains a slightly larger track listing. Starting off with the "Chuck Mosely Years" (FNM's original vocalist), you can trace the band quickly building its own original sound on such tracks as "We Care a Lot" and "Anne's Song," before Mike Patton's arrival proved to be the final piece to the FNM puzzle. The majority of the selections on This Is It are with Patton at the helm, including their breakthrough rap-metal hybrid "Epic," as well as more challenging material when the group really hit its stride — "Midlife Crisis," "Be Aggressive," "Digging the Grave," "Evidence," "Last Cup of Sorrow," and the band's cover of the Commodores' "Easy." In addition to the hits, a smattering of rarities is included, such as the Real Thing outtakes "The Cowboy Song" and "The Perfect Crime," plus a 1990 live version of the early track "As the Worm Turns." As with most "best-of" sets, longtime fans may squabble about key tracks that are absent ("Caffeine," "Ricochet," "Gentle Art of Making Enemies," "Stripsearch," etc.), but overall, This Is It: The Best of Faith No More is a fine collection of one of hard rock's all-time best.

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Jimi Hendrix - Experience Hendrix

Experience Hendrix brings together the major singles with a stack of majestic album tracks and the career-defining live Woodstock version of "The Star Spangled Banner" on a fat 20-tracker. While best used as a sampler to direct new listeners to the immortal Are You Experienced, Electric Ladyland, and so on, the CD (which supplants the short-lived Ultimate Experience collection) does hang together as a listen. Its blend of Hendrix the rocker and Hendrix the underrated soul man is suggestive, painting a picture of a multifaceted genius and transcending its plainly mercenary origins. In the end, its effect--like that of all Hendrix's best records--is to remind us of a Jimi very, very much alive.


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Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy

Okkervil River continue to break the glass between messy nerves and orchestrated elegance on their fourth full-length, Black Sheep Boy, titled after the lovely song penned by Tim Hardin with which the band opens the record. However, their take on the song feels a bit rushed and uneventful, which knocks the tender breath from the lyrics and presents a clumsy start. Opening the record this way is the singular yet major complaint of the album, ironically pushing "Black Sheep Boy," the intended centerpiece, to the outskirts of the album's overall feel. Thankfully, the song spans only a short minute, so when "For Real" gently slips into motion, then cracks with a surprise beating of guitar stabs, that's when the confident dynamics Okkervil River established on their fine 2003 album, Down the River of Golden Dreams, break free. This confidence never wanes through the remainder of the album; it is here that the bandmembers sound like they are emotionally attached to the material and here that the album should've begun. Black Sheep Boy's mix of warm strings with Wurlitzer, barroom piano, horns, and vibes effectively creates a spatial and moody balance to the electric guitar attacks and roomy drums. With these songs, clear desperation creeps through and gives the impression that the band could've fallen to pieces at any moment — but somehow held it all together — and the catalyst of the whole passage is Will Sheff's thick, spitting voice pleading with the cascading dissonance and majesty of the arrangements. Tracks like "In a Radio Song," a song similar to the moody explorations of Saturday Looks Good to Me's precursory group, Flashpapr, are where these arrangements take the foreground, but equally effective are the forward, uptempo tracks that are less expansive, such as the super-hooky "The Latest Toughs," with its compressed falsetto singsong backing vocals, and the bouncy screaming "Black." Save the title track, Okkervil River continue to deliver the quality of Down the River of Golden Dreams, and though sonic evolution is barely existent from that recording, perhaps it doesn't need to be; certainly Sheff's songwriting still floats above that of his peers.

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Daft Punk - Homework

Daft Punk's full-length debut is a funk-house hailstorm, giving real form to a style of straight-ahead dance music not attempted since the early fusion days of on-the-one funk and dance-party disco. Thick, rumbling bass, vocoders, choppy breaks and beats, and a certain brash naiveté permeate the record from start to finish, giving it the edge of an almost certain classic. While a few fall flat, the best tracks make this one essential.



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Armor For Sleep - Dream To Make Believe

This 11-song album from Armor For Sleep showcases another band partaking in the propagation of the emo movement. And like many of the acts involved with this genre, slight variations have been made to the sound so as to distinguish them from the rest of the pack, but overall things aren't dramatically different. That's not to say that what's here isn't good. This four-piece has a darker style while still keeping a pop structure on much of their material. They do a capable job of combining Hum-like dark space rock with The Get Up Kids-flavored emo-pop. The vocals are reminiscent of John Ralston from Legends of Rodeo, with a plain-spoken, honest delivery, and the lyrics tend to dwell on subjects like time-travel, dreams, and space, which make for an interesting, open-ended take on interpretation. The utilization of hooks and some good lyrics are key and come in at the right places, making Dream To Make Believe a pleasant and refreshing take on a somewhat clogged genre.

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Link 80 - 17 Reasons

Link 80 has always fit in well with the rest of the Asian Man Records scene that spawned it. The band has always made an effort to manage the right amount of pop hooks, ska horns, and heavy guitars — and occasionally, as on a song like "Pretty Girls," everything comes together right. However, most of this record seems like an unfortunate attempt to mimic the style of bands like MU330 and the Blue Meanies, with all the trappings (a horn section, barked vocals) and very little of the talent. None of the ska revival bands of the mid-'90s could be accused of originating a new style or even expanding on one; however, many of these acts were able to expand the formula enough to keep things interesting. This band doesn't lose points for not trying something new — Link 80 is simply just not very good at copping something old.

Bright Eyes - Don't Be Frightened of Turning

Their assemblage here, with the addition of two extra tracks, represents a quantum leap for Bright Eyes as a band, and perhaps the most coherent song cycle they've released yet. Forget for a minute that four of the songs on this disc have already appeared on the OH HOLY FOOLS split CD, interspersed with four tracks from Son, Ambulance. To be sure, the lyrics and voice of Nebraskan wunderkind Connor Oberst dominate the scene, but the tasteful inclusion of flute, horns, back-up vocals, and electronics lend this record the feel of a true "band" recording. The formula hasn't changed a great deal from last year's FEVERS AND MIRRORS, but Oberst and company meld better than ever, and the lyrics and vocals seem to be growing in leaps and bounds with each new song they record. A must.

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Finch - What It Is To Burn

Finch's full-length debut is a phenomenal account of a band riding the thin line between hardcore and pop-punk while retaining a trademark sound that stands out from the crowd. Incredibly catchy while retaining a shred of independent integrity, Finch brings with them a familiar sound that speaks of years of finely tuned development and maturity, yet in all reality the group has only been together for a few short years. This young group builds on the style they introduced on 2001's Falling Into Place EP, further establishing Finch as one of the most promising bands inhabiting the scene in 2002. "Letters to You" and "Perfection Through Silence" also find their way onto this album from the band's earlier EP, allowing old favorites to feel right at home with the new material. Nate Barcalow's vocals ooze with passion and drip with the expected punk angst, yet where other groups fail at making an emotional connection with the listener, Finch excels at it. Barcalow's prominent melodies woven between the harmonic guitars bores holes in the heart.

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Name Taken - Hold On

It's more emo on the brain with Name Taken, whose full-length Fiddler debut roils with the urgent, slickly produced fury that defines so much of this genre. "Don't stop this is your life/There's no heart and no soul," pleads vocalist/bassist Chad Atkinson on opener "Control." "Stop selling to yourself that you want control." Can't you just picture the band's front line pogoing in time to the track's half-time roil? "Control" is a pretty strong slice of rousing emo-osity; unfortunately, it's probably Hold On's best track. For the album's duration, it's Name Taken's adherence to formula and the glossy production of Beau Burchell — not memorable hooks or unique dynamics — that keep things together. "This Was Never" and "A Year Spent Cold" employ similar metaphors in a quest to channel Atkinson's romantic pain; the latter does tick along at an upbeat Jimmy Eat World pace, but the former track's dull guitar roar and meandering vocal steer it off course (the same goes for the wavering lilt/meaningful instrumental crash of "Panic"). "It Sounds Prettier in Spanish" gets points as the best song title on the album, but its lyrics seem like random phrases lifted from the Big Book of Emo Empathy ("I can't kill the memory," "This was never supposed to happen," "No one's supposed to know about us"). Likewise, "I Quit My Scene" works the tired template of dramatically slow verse rushing into harmony-laden chorus. In the end, Hold On just doesn't make much of an impression. The majority of the album rises and falls in a cycle so similar to Name Taken's peers (Early November, Stars Hide Fire, to name only two) that the Cali-based group's bland name almost seems like a gag. Maybe they should change it to Sound and Fury Taken.

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Spitalfield - Stop Doing Bad Things

The question with bands like Spitalfield is always the same: can they grow and mature without losing the edginess and passion that initially attracted their fan base? So far, the answer seems to be yes. Spitalfield's second album for the Victory label does a nice job of balancing enhanced sonics (courtesy of alt rock star producer Ed Rose) and sometimes intricate vocal harmonies with solid, gutsy guitar and straightforward songwriting. Nothing here will offend or disappoint those who fell in love with Remember Right Now, and those for whom this album constitutes an introduction to Spitalfield will almost certainly want to go back and fill in their collections with the group's earlier releases. If Stop Doing Bad Things fails to yield any truly superlative high points, well, maybe that's just another way of saying that Spitalfield is one consistent band. Actually, "Tampa Bum Blues" does pack a distinctive wallop, and "Building a Better City by Design" sort of offers an extra-heavy dose of good fist-pumping fun as well. But none of the other tracks falls far behind those two in quality. Recommended.

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Fall Out Boy - From Under The Cork Tree

Fall Out Boy's 2003 LP stacked sarcasm, wronged romance, and hardcore-derived passion on the head of a punk-pop pin. Take This to Your Grave was urgent at every turn, and though it fit the conventions of its genre, it was bolder and more memorable than the average release on Kung Fu or Drive-Thru. The kids responded — Fall Out Boy were fast favorites of the online social networks (MySpace, etc.), and an endless tour schedule solidified their rep. With 2005's From Under the Cork Tree, the band fully delivers on their first full-length's promise. Sure, it nods a little more to the standard dynamics and production tweaks of pop-punk and emo in the mid-2000s — Cork Tree was produced by Neal Avron, who's worked with A New Found Glory. But in many more ways it's the same album as Grave, a youth-intense blast of pop culture reference, pop-punk hyperactivity, and the feeling that we'll never understand life until Patrick Stump or Pete Wentz tells us about it. And we believe them. Stump is Fall Out Boy's vocalist and guitarist, Wentz its bassist and lyricist. Wentz' verbiage can be lengthy — "I Slept With Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me," one title goes — but he has an innate ability to simultaneously acknowledge and deconstruct the mushy emo soliloquy.

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Open Hand - The Dream

When a rocker who is known for his association with one band forms a new band, some people inevitably assume that the new band will be similar. But that isn't necessarily the case. Take Open Hand founder Justin Isham, for example. The singer/guitarist is known for his association with the Los Angeles-based hardcore band I Awake, but Open Hand isn't hardcore. Even if one has a very liberal and far-reaching definition of that term, The Dream cannot honestly be described as a hardcore release. Rather, Open Hand favors alternative pop/rock with a post-grunge orientation; the L.A. combo draws on Live and Bush as well as the seminal Nirvana. Isham has cited Peter Gabriel as a major influence, and why not? There is no reason why Gabriel's writing couldn't have some type of impact on a group of modern alterna-rockers — it isn't as though every artist who came along in the '90s or 2000s is totally oblivious to older artists who were active in the '60s, '70s, or '80s. The Dream, Open Hand's first full-length album, offers a healthy balance of melody and aggression. The material is loud and forceful, but it's also intricate and highly melodic; the band's melodies can be hauntingly pretty, and those melodies usually work well with the CD's introspective lyrics. Ultimately, Open Hand has as much to do with craftsmanship as it does with volume, which is why tunes like "11th Street" and "Forever" wouldn't become unappealing if the band had to perform them in an acoustic setting. The Dream isn't groundbreaking, but overall, Isham and his fellow L.A. residents make a decent contribution to the post-grunge field.

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Count the Stars - Never Be Taken Alive

Never Be Taken Alive leans toward the pop sound of emo, though there's plenty of punky grit on this collection. Chris Kasarjian is certainly the focal point of the group, singing lead and writing all of the material, while Adam Manning frequently chips in with harmonies. Kasarjian's vocals are a decent mix of ebullience and aggression with a slight spit. And what is it that sets the band apart from a lot of other twenty-first century pop-punk acts with moderately melodic songs about psychological struggle and reflection as young people find their identity? Not a lot, but Count the Stars do it reasonably well, and in a balanced fashion, sounding neither too pissed off nor too goody-goody to be playing so loudly. While most of the tunes seem grounded in relationship examination, Kasarjian's lyrics are non-specific enough not to be obvious, creating a mood of earnest conflict rather than clear-cut judgements. There's an air of painful wisdom gained through experience in these songs, which does, though, beg the question: where to go after absorbing that experience into your worldview?

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The Black Maria - Lead Us to Reason

Boasting one-time Grade frontman Kyle Bishop, the Black Maria achieves a comfortable balance of alluring hooks and sonic chaos on its impressive entry, Lead Us to Reason. Airwave-ripe screamo is in abundance here, as evidenced by the accessible roar of "Betrayal" and the aggressive opener "The Memento." If the latter's bleak lyrical tone ("I have this overwhelming urge/To suck in one good breath and scream/There is no love left inside of me") permeates the album, the dark albeit big rock roar of tunes like "Organs" and "Ash" are a perfect match. By lending pop subtleties to metallic punk, the Black Maria has proved its motives come closer to crafting a top-notch disc than reaching for the brass-ring peers like My Chemical Romance and the Used have already snagged. Financial rewards may be imminent, but they are also well warranted.

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Thursday - Waiting

Heres a random review offa uhm, amazon since im a lazy lady with the claws of STEEELNESS WOWOWOWow. yeah.

Still a very good album. "Waiting" is a perfect example of what Thursday has the potential to do. This album illustrates how good Thursday can be, and is even more obvious after listening to War All the Time and Full Collapse. The album starts off with a song called Porcelain, and right from the beginning these guys set the stage for a good album. Porcelain starts up this band which is, even in this album, not filled with whining and crying about girls, and this trend is continued throughout the next albums.

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Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American

After being dropped by Capitol, Jimmy Eat World returned in 2001 with their most consistent and accessible album to date. Recorded entirely on the band's dime, before they had a new record deal, Bleed American features compelling lyrics, driving guitar work, and insanely catchy melodies. Left to their own devices during the recording process, it wouldn't have been surprising if the band had turned out another layered, sprawling album akin to their previous full-length masterwork, Clarity. Perhaps sensing that they wouldn't be able to top their previous work when it came to spacy emo, Bleed American heads in a new direction. There are no 16-minute songs here, just straight-ahead rock & roll, performed with punk energy and alt-rock smarts. The title track sets the tone for the album with its blistering guitar attack and aggressive vocals. "A Praise Chorus" and "The Middle improve upon that formula, maintaining the forceful instrumentation but toying with the lyrical themes. "A Praise Chorus" uses the most basic of rock emotions for lyrical inspiration, "I wanna fall in love tonight," while lifting lyrics from Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover," They Might Be Giants' "Don't Let's Start," and Mötley Crüe's "Kick Start My Heart," among others. When used in a song about the comfort and trappings of nostalgia, this borrowing comes off more like a well-placed tribute than stealing. "The Middle" offers a pep talk about self-acceptance and fitting in, and one of the most memorable guitar riffs this side of Angus Young. Bleed American's quieter moments recall some of the band's signature instrumentation from their previous work. Gentle keyboards, bells, and stirring background vocals from former that dog. member Rachel Haden enhance the understated beauty of ballads like "Hear You Me" and "Cautioneers." Haden's most enjoyable contribution, however, is to the up-tempo rocker "The Authority Song." On the surface a song about a song (John Mellencamp's "Authority Song), it also name drops the Beatles' "What Goes On." The numerous references to other bands and other songs reveal that although Jimmy Eat World is a critically acclaimed and incredibly talented band, the members are really just rock fans themselves. If they maintain this level of quality, however, don't be surprised if the next generation of ambitious rockers start writing songs that pay tribute to Jimmy Eat World.

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Starting Line - Based on a True Story

Starting Line were just kids when they made Say It Like You Mean It, their 2002 full-length debut. The Philly combo's energetic emo blushed with first-time love and heartbreak, and not coincidentally their songs resonated most with kids in the midst of similar drama summers. Everyone's a little older for Based on a True Story. Kenny Vasoli is still singing about girls in his life and the feelings in his heart, but in 2005 those topics mean marriage, long-distance relationships, and "What does it all mean?" examinations of purpose. But while it's all very touchy-feely and sincere, the band doesn't find many hooks on which to hang the pain. Say It Like You Mean It cranked up the guitars and kept energy in the tempos — that approach made its maudlin lyrics easier to take. But True Story takes a cue from the softer touch of 2003's Make Yourself at Home EP, incorporating acoustic guitars, emphasizing Vasoli's edge-of-tears vocal, and favoring busy breaks that distract from actual rocking. Growing up is important, as people and as a band. But with Based on a True Story, Starting Line have only matured into a more grandiose version of A New Found Glory.

At least that band has some fun once in a while. Starting Line's "Photography" is an emo-adult contemporary ballad with surging keys and strings and love-dizzy lyrics ("You're making a small change to the way that you wear your heart/I like it better!"). The safely midtempo "Bedroom Talk" relies on smarmily risqué lyrics like "I'm gonna tear your ass up like we just got married" to make an impression, and "Inspired By the $" buries its cynicism and promisingly ragged core in plodding rhythms and elliptical guitars that fade into a mushy mess. Throughout the album, the band dilutes its passion in layers of status-quo production and the kind of melodrama that's making emo a mid-decade cliché.

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Hawthorne Heights - The Silence in Black and White

The closest Hawthorne Heights' debut album comes to originality is that they rip off bands in two different genres, trying to blend the pop-emo of Thursday, Jimmy Eat World, and the other post-Weezer bands with the glossy, commercial pop of bands like Good Charlotte. With J.T. Woodruff's faceless alternative rock vocals alternating with Casey Calvert's equally generic metalcore barking over Micah Carli's heard-it-before power chords, the band is doing absolutely nothing new. That said, what they do, they do pretty well. Most of the songs have reasonably catchy choruses, there are no particularly egregious mistakes or failed experiments, and the leadoff single, "Life on Standby," is actually quite good in a completely disposable way. The overall lack of personality on this album is its fatal flaw, however. There's nothing on The Silence in Black and White that'll make anyone turn it off and throw the CD across the room in a fit of rage, but it's hard to remember anything about the album an hour after it's over.

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Head Automatica - Decadence

Head Automatica is the somewhat unlikely pairing of Glassjaw screamer Daryl Palumbo with gonzo beatmaker Dan the Automator. The collaboration rocks a brazenly superficial sound on Decadence, drawing freely from furiously en vogue dance-punk, assemblist modern rock, and bits and pieces of the Def Jux crew's underground aesthetic. The result is not 100 percent consistent, and occasionally skates right past irony and straight into empty-headed pomposity. But in its best moments, Decadence is a dizzy paint shaker, as garish and morally bankrupt as you want your art sleaze to be. (Pink Grease fans, take note.) For Head Automatica, Palumbo's plastic man Mike Patton yowl has been tuned down, doused in cheapie cologne, and sent out on to the mirrored dancefloor in search of coquettish dance-punk groupies. His wingman is Automator, who enjoys punching up Automatica's live instrument complement (including organ, guitar, and drums) with big beat sequences and processed back-alley pigments. "Brooklyn Is Burning" cuts bumpy dollar store disco under a crackling sample suggestive of "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy," while "Please Please Please [Young Hollywood]" channels Duran Duran straight west to the steamy pavement of L.A. and fluorescent fabric reflecting in Silverlake swimming pools.

For whatever reason, Rancid's Tim Armstrong contributes vocals to the frenetically distorted "Dance Party Plus"; the cut aims for that Hullabaloo in Hell, satyr-sock-hop-feel popularized by Queens of the Stone Age. Elsewhere, Automator's spooky processing guides the deconstructed verses of "King Caesar." But its chorus is too calculated, offering catchy gibberish over a loping drum track and simplistic instrumentation. The song ends up as filler, since unlike Decadence's stronger moments, it never challenges the inherent emptiness of this non-genre. It doesn't revel in the ribald and XXX; it stops unwisely at Shifty territory. "I Shot William H. Macy," too, makes a two-tiered titular reference but forgets to make the song more than an overdriven guitar riff. Decadence works when it forgets about everything but effectively filling up the next five minutes of your house party. The rest of time it's as vacant as last year's cool club.

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Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun

Reykjavík-based noise quartet Sigur Ros are the biggest band in their native Iceland, which should say much, much more about the collective insanity of that earthquake-ridden, blizzard-beaten crag of an island than anything to do with Sigur Ros' sound. But in their music, Sigur Ros reflect all the breathtaking glory of the Icelandic wastes--a fairy-tale explosion of unhinged elemental majesty that's finally crystalised here, their debut European release. Poised somewhere between the haunting soundscapes of Labradford and the lilting Celtic falsetto of Enya, Agaetis Byrjun is a truly breathtaking listen. Frontman Jon Por Birgisson sings in a language that Sigur Ros dub Hopelandic--an otherworldly mutation of Icelandic, sung in the falsetto cadence of angels; similarly, he plays his guitar with a violin bow, opening the floodgates for brilliant waves of feedback. And while it's the opening "Svefn-G-Englar" that's Sigur Ros' defining moment to date, there's far more that Agaetis Byrjun has to offer; the pomp and flourish of a full orchestra on "Flugufrelsarinn", or the awe-inspiring near-religious mantra of "Ny Batteri"

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Sigur Rós - Takk

Many a critical evaluation of Icelandic quartet Sigur Ros has resorted to stock imagery of molten magma, omnipotent ice fields and burbling hot springs--and reasonably so. There's no disavowing the geophysical heartbeat which invigorates the very soul of this most supernatural of bands. Takk may well be Sigur Ros's most stimulating interpretation of their habitat yet--verdant serenity to pregnant anticipation to brutal paroxysms of volcanic thunder via icicle-like celestes, howling electrical winds of curving guitar feedback and hymns seemingly sung by castrato pixies.Strange and overwhelmingly beautiful. Some may think of Sigur Ros as a permafrosted Pink Floyd (circa Zabriskie Point) and while it's facile to say as much it's an honour certainly worthy of them. There's a seamless, symphonic poetry to Takk where the exultant "Gong", the euphoric choristry of "Hoppipolla" (like the Beach boys turned into snowmen) and the National Geographic panoramas of "Glososli" blend with intuitive homogeneity. You'll wish you were here.

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Sigur Rós - ( )

Anyone expecting Sigur Ros to have abandoned their emotional and majestic approach will think again after hearing the opening bars of their new album, ( ). When Sigur Ros released their second long player Agaetis Byrjun back in 1999, they caught everyone on the hop. Though it was pretty much the first anyone outside of their native Iceland had heard of them, the quartet had been studiously honing their sound for the last five years, developing a spellbinding mix of rock guitars scraped with violin bows, angelic falsetto vocals and dramatic builds of percussion fuelled tension that offered all the ineffable quietude of religious music.

( ) is a slightly rawer, undoubtedly heavier experience than its predecessor, but it still manages to shine a torch into the darkest corner of our souls, describing accurately the aching beauty and the hopeless anguish that makes up the contradictory essence of human existence. Experimental flourishes hark back to their eldritch debut album Von, and Jonsi's vocals-–which have devolved over two albums from Icelandic to his own "Hopelandic" half-language–-finally melt into lyric-less harmonic textures that still float across the band's earthy tapestries as naturally as clouds cross the night sky. Rest assured though that any changes are slight; the melancholy brilliance that made Agaetis Bryjun such a life-changing event is still very much the driving force behind Sigur Ros's music, making this new album every bit as essential as the last.

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Daphne loves derby - On all the strengths convinced

As the record industry continues to crumble, the digital revolution gradually finds its footing to provide the artistic freedom and everyman accessibility that are supposed to counterbalance the fact that Metallica can't move units the way they used to. Enter Daphne Loves Derby, a three-piece band from Kent, WA, with members so young they would have most certainly been eaten up and spit out by the recording industry machine of an earlier era, despite the fact that whiz-kid singer Jason Call graduated college (yes, college) by 18. This band built its reputation on the strength of several demos circulated on the Internet via websites like Purevolume and the ubiquitous Myspace. Of course, the result of their high-bandwidth success is a regular old-fashioned record deal, and the sound of their first album rides so close to Death Cab for Cutie, Jimmy Eat World, and the like that they could have been assembled in a record company meeting. But as Reality Bites teens of a new generation overtake the rap-rock ignorance of their older brothers, no one need complain about the stop-start sway of "You Versus the World" or the wash of garage-tuned power chords that drives "Sundays." It's still been a bit of a wait for some honestly surprising music to reach listeners' attention via the Web, though.

Tilly and the Wall - Wild Like Children

The first thing you have to mention when you're talking about Tilly and the Wall is the drummer. She, Jamie Williams, is a tap dancer. Literally. Her hoofing provides the beats for this utterly charming release. Wild Like Children is the Omaha quintet's first album and it is a straight-out-of-nowhere gem. The tap dancing is pretty darn cool. The moment when she breaks into the "Be My Baby" beat on "Fell Down the Stairs" or the couple of bars of wild soloing on "Reckless" are like nothing you've heard on a pop record. But before you write the group off as a novelty act, listen to the wrenching tale of lost love "Let It Rain" or the tough punk ramble "Nights of the Living Dead" or the sweeter-than-NutraSweet ballad "I Always Knew." The tap dancing doesn't even enter into it; these are just fabulous songs performed with passion and imagination. The vocals are 100 percent committed — the male voices insistent, the female unerringly lovely.

When the voices all mass together like near the end of "Reckless" or in the choruses of "A Perfect Fit" they sound like the hippest high-school choir ever. And despite the claims of the title, this record is totally high school. It's wrapped up in passion, each love being the one, each moment being the greatest or worst ever. The wildly careening music, the epic lyrics, the surging harmonies, the emotions in motion — it sounds and feels like every high-school dance since the beginning of higher education. And if that isn't rock & roll enough for you, what possibly could be? So don't be calling Tilly and the Wall twee or precious or any of those code words that would consign them to the fringes of the music world. They are what rock & roll should always be about: passion, imagination, commitment, and songs that make you want to mend all the broken hearts you can find. Powerful stuff, indeed. Don't let it pass you by.

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Park Ave - When Jamie Went To London...We Broke Up.

Park Ave. was born in January of 1996 when Oberst and Baechle, still in high-school at the time, chose to exchange their typical roles, landing Oberst behind the drum kit and Baechle behind the guitar. To round out their band, the duo required only "cute girls," which they found in keyboardist Jenn Bernard, bassist Neely Jenkins, and guitarist Jamie Williams — none of whom had their own equipment or knew how to play well. Over the course of the two-and-a-half years Park Ave. was together, no musical gear was ever procured for the girls, instead, the band borrowed instruments and amps from other local bands; it seems as though the group was just a means for the five to hang out and call themselves a band — a kind of glorified imaginary band — but Park Ave. did play a handful of shows over their lifespan, even if they occasionally tried to talk their way out of it, as was the case when a promoter tried to book them at the Fireside Bowl in Chicago. It wasn't until Williams announced her plans to move to England that the quintet decided to get their canon down on tape, dragging out a 4-track recorder to do so. The result of these sessions constitutes Park Ave.'s only full-length, titled When Jamie Went to London...We Broke Up, which was released posthumously on Urinine Records. As mentioned, Oberst went on to critical success with Bright Eyes, Baechle with the Faint, and when Jamie Williams returned back to the States, she reunited with Neely Jenkins to form Tilly and the Wall.

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Bright Eyes - Motion Sickness

If you didn’t get a chance to see Alternative Indie band Bright Eyes on their “I’m Awake It’s Morning” tour then you can get the next best thing. Bright Eyes’ live album Motion Sickness is compiled of songs from several shows between January and April of this year. The tour was supporting tunes form their newest album also called I’m Awake It’s Morning


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Melee - Everyday Behavior

If there’s any guarantee that Orange County, Calif.-based MELEE could offer its potential fan base, it’s the satisfaction of offering just about something for everyone. Unlike most budding bands, who choose to emulate a specific genre or what’s in and what’s cool, MELEE have opted for the approach as a quintessential common-denominator rock ensemble, traversing a multitude of musical planes — whether it be punk, indie, rock or pop.MELEE’s piano oriented pop songs will appeal to fans of BEN FOLDS, TED LEO and even Gavin Degraw, but the guitars have just enough edge to appeal to fans of JIMMY EAT WORLD, THE ATARIS and ALL AMERICAN REJECTS.With the release of their first full-length CD, Everyday Behavior, MELEE have taken huge strides with their songwriting and live performances.They will have a chance to share their newly developed talents as they head out on the Warped Tour immediately after the release of Everyday Behavior.

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MuteMath - Reset E.P.

MUTE MATH's seven-track debut EP, RESET, is guaranteed to be one the most innovative new projects in music this year, fluidly combining elements as diverse as jazz, rock and electronica. Their cutting-edge, distinctive sound melds organic instruments (often pulled apart and reassembled in radical new configurations) with electronic elements ultimately creating a powerful artistic statement.


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65daysofstatic - One Time For All Time

By far the best band to have emerged from Sheffield in years (and yes we know about the Arctic Monkeys), 65daysofstatic are purveyors of stunning post-electronica that pays equal lip service to Autechre and Steve Reich as it does Mogwai and Slint. Criminally overlooked, their 2004 debut 'The Fall of Math' established a blue-print which they've stuck to then refined on their follow-up 'One Time For All'; bringing together bone-shaking riffs, Nyman-esque piano and crisp'n'dry electronica in a thrilling bout of aural infectiousness to rival Leishmaniasis. From the opening peaks of 'Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here' and the frantic beat arrangements of 'Await Rescue', through to the muted reticence of 'The Big Afraid' and the string fortified bluster of 'Welcome to the Times', 65daysofstatic have crafted an awesome album that could redefine the post-rock fraternity. Further bolstered in my affections by being the last ever band I heard John Peel mispronounce, 65daysofstatic's 'One Time For All' is brute pleasure personified.

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DeerHoof - Reveille

San Francisco's strident Deerhoof is a much-loved deconstructionist art-pop outfit. The band is part no wave skronk, part Yoko Ono meets the B-52's, and part weirdo J-pop, and continues to push the musical envelope on each new recording. Reveille is a pretty good example of what Deerhoof is capable of. Quite a few of its songs are instrumental, for the most part, helter-skelterish flare-ups with primitive Casio-like bloops and bleeps, angular fizz-pop guitars, and epileptic drum freakouts. Those few songs that feature Satomi Matsuzaki's purring falsetto — her very presence elevates this band above most avant pop groups — have a simplicity and sugar-soaked sweetness, enticing listeners with charm before boxing their ears with an all-out aural assault. Reveille begins with an unassuming spoken word opening before launching into a variety of sounds. "All Rise" has a baseball stadium-cum-church organ feel, and "Days & Nights in the Forest" starts off with progressive jazz elements before introducing other elements. Though Deerhoof reportedly has to be seen performing live — when the bandmembers are able to temper and balance the explosive quiet-loud of their tunes — to be fully appreciated and to get the full effect, this album is as good a place to start your journey as any of the group's recordings.

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Cauterize - Paper Wings

The album blends together, but as each song is listened to separately, it becomes recognisably different to the previous song. As mentioned above, the album is mostly guitar-dominated, but because of talent in the other instruments, you won’t notice upon first hearing the album unless you listen for it. Some songs are heavily melodic, and others bring forth a jolt to make you tremble (if it’s on loud enough). Some songs, such as Paper Wings (not to be confused with the album name) are so slow and beautiful, it is almost as though they are made of porcelain. Only one track, Wake to the Sun, can get pretty annoying, as there’s a vocalist screaming a bit too much. It’s not a bad song, but ,oh boy, is that screaming annoying. Personally, my favourite patient on the album is Dare You to Scream because it is so unique.

At one point it’s going steady, at another it’s soaring through the chorus on a pair of paper wings. It’s a great song that really sum up the albums, but doesn’t sum it up in the sense that it incorporates everything, in fact, it incorporates things that aren’t present in the other songs. Each song is clearly different, and contains distinct material, but Dare You to Scream has the originality that Cauterize are known for. Whether it was miracles or medicine, this record has essentially the same feel and enjoyment level as So Far From Real, but it's grabbed a different slice of amazing from the pie of talent. If this is your first Cauterize album, chances are you’ll love it, and chances are that you’d love ‘So Far From Real’ too. As the final track plays, and you glance at the name, you’ll wonder, why this last dance? Paper Wings is definitely worth a listen if you’re into the labelled punk-pop scene. I dare you to scream.

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Showbread - Human Beings Are Too Shallow To Fall In Love

This is a band out of Savannah, Georgia that's doing national tours trying to get their music out and make a living. I picked this up at a show they did at my local skate park about a month ago. These guys played their hearts out when they played, even though it was an outside show, it was freezing cold and it was at night. They all stood around and talked to everybody after the show, and they're really nice guys.Anyway, on to the album, this is album is one of the best hardcore albums I've heard in a while. This reminds me of the first time I heard "Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence" by Glassjaw (not comparing the music, just the experience of listening to the CD).For the most part the singer(s) are screaming/yelling/whatever.

The 3rd song "Letters To April" is a soft song with yelling background vocals but the other 4 songs on the EP are pure hardcore bliss. "I Had Music In My Heart, But Now My Heart is Broken" is my new favorite song. This is the opener and what a great way to open a CD. The second song "Better World" is a political song with great, and I mean amazing vocals on it. This song is where the band capitalizes on the fact that there are 6 people in the band, which makes for some great background vocals.This band is one of my new favorites, with this CD, they're newest CD, and the sampler they gave out getting constant rotation in my stereo. If you're looking for a comparison to another band/bands, I don't know if I could give you one. Josh Dies and Ivory Mobley have very unique voices and I can't think of a comparison to them.

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Behind Crimson Eyes - Pavour Nocturnus

Success has always been a homespun proposition for Aussie emocore aggressors, Behind Crimson Eyes. They've been all about DIY demos and pressing sweaty flesh with fans since their first gigs in early '04. A second EP, Prologue, ups the grunt with input from 28 Days/ Bodyjar producer Richard Stoltz.

With Josh Stuart's self-diagnosed "brutal screams" to the fore, BCE have hit the punk-pop market hard and fast in the past 18 months, giving away fists full of demo CDs at gigs supporting New Found Glory, MxPx, Alexisonfire and like-minded local screamers Gyroscope and Blueline Medic.

This year they've made decent impact in Triple J's playlist and the AIR indie charts with their debut EP, Pavour Nocturnus (Night Terrors if you're ancient Roman, apparently), which included a somewhat premature DVD documentary. A track from Prologue provides the suitably explosive title of this tour: The Art Of War.

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Laika - Silver Apples Of The Moon

Starting off with a clattering, noisy loop but soon settling down into calmer but no less fascinating waters, Silver Apples of the Moon makes for a great debut from the Laika collective, inventive, modern, and unafraid to take chances. Unlike many efforts from folks with a more rock-oriented background that took an electronic plunge, Silver Apples of the Moon sounds like both Fiedler and Fixsen have been working in that field for years, and with confidence at that. Certainly Fiedler's experience with Moonshake and Fixsen's production skills didn't hurt, but Laika is, in many ways, a leap into the beyond for both, slinky and dark, with an obsessive focus on rhythm and groove. Comparisons are hard to draw — all the better for it, as it demonstrates the group's uniqueness — but there's something of the pioneering post-punk/electro/funk spirit of the early '80s here (check out "44 Robbers," in particular), only for a later generation with a broader background palette.

Kindred spirits might be early Seefeel or contemporaneous Tricky, but more for the sense of sonic adventure than specific sound. Breathy shared vocals from the two at points suggest easy listening grooves and erotic tension (it's actually appropriate that My Bloody Valentine drummer Colm O'Ciosoig worked on the arrangements), but Fiedler takes the lead most times, and very well at that. The outrageously playful "Marimba Song," which understandably lives up to its name with certain key samples, and the crisp, punchy strut of "Coming Down Glass," with a truly purring bassline, are just two highlights of many. For all the darker moods and Fiedler's breathy, attractively low-key singing, what comes across most from Silver Apples of the Moon is a sheer sense of joy, of playing with music and creating atmospheres at once lively and maybe just a touch melancholy.

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Ambry - Holding On By The Blindfolds We Hide Behind

If there were a cheat sheet for pop punk success, Ambry would had it tattooed on their forearms by now. Or maybe they've already written one of their own: they hit all the basic requirements without adding anything new. Take some Jimmy Eat World, add a dash of Green Day, stir in a sprinkle of Yellowcard for color, and you'll have Holding On By the Blindfolds We Hide Behind. Lucky you.

Chugging guitar riffs are the base currency here, often coupled with throat-searing vocals, pounding drums and bass lines that love the root a little too much. The exceptions are few, and even the band's best moments are couched in cliché. "Linguistic Relativity for Horses" stands out by simple virtue of being coffeehouse fare rather than the standard pop-punk fodder; guitarists Justin Bloch and Geof Gagnon switch to acoustics, and frontman Christopher Thibault musters his best sonorous drone. It's an adequate effort, but you could hear stuff just like it at almost any open mic night in the Western world.

Indeed, there's nothing here that you can't find elsewhere, without even looking particularly hard. Holding On... is forty seven minutes of familiar sounds and cribbed melodies. If you're looking for a pop-punk fix, grab American Idiot instead.

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Bullet Train To Vegas - We Put Scissors Where Our Mouths Are

Another day, another record and another misleading and over hyping press sheet seems to be an all too familiar feeling lately. In 2001 when BTTV formed with the ideals of creating music that contradicts the dull and predictable state of punk and indie (I paraphrase) they were probably on to something good. Move on four years and it would seem that a record with jagged angular guitar lines and grating sloppy vocals is very much predictable and somewhat dull. Bitter? Me? Nah.

This is a record I’ve given several listens but have failed to really identify any particular stand-out moments. A problem I find with records containing songs with such disjointed structures, which are often based all around the same basic idea, is finding the beginnings and ends. So whilst I cannot fault the band for consistency and general lack of anomalies I can’t seem to list any definable moments either. Granted this sub-genre is not something I’d choose to listen to and no doubt the user reviews will inform me to listen to MCR or some other dross in an ignorant retort. However I can tell you that what BTTV do on this record is competent enough to sit well in its field and just about stand its ground against its contemporaries. It does not, for me however; offer anything novel or exciting in the slightest.

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The Gloria Record - A Lull in Traffic

The second effort from The Gloria Record and an amazing display of talent. Combining traits from the epic British pop sound (Radiohead) with contemporary American indie (Seam), TGR have found their groove. The music at the same time soothes and rocks, while Chris Simpson's vocals glide you through five songs of heavenly bliss.



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He Is Legend - 91025

This is a pretty promising debut for a band that has just signed with Solid State records. Tribunal has been known for catapulting bands onto bigger and better things by releasing EP's such as this (Atreyu and From Autumn To Ashes come to mind). He Is Legend seem to be a combination of metal, hardcore, emo, and a touch of southern rock. What is most impressive here is the variance in the songwriting, from the emo influenced, melodic track "Either They Decorated For Christmas Early Or They're All Dead"(which is probably one of the most impressive, head turning tracks released in 2004) to the metal and hardcore influenced tracks like "Scram Toots" and "You Sound Like A White Boy." This EP doesn't dissapoint and shows a promising future for a band about to release a debut full length on Solid State Records. Keep an eye out for these guys.


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Kaddisfly - Buy Our Intention; We'll Buy You A Unicorn

Put aside what might be the most pretentious album title of the year, some pseudo-intellectual filler ("Horses Galloping On Sailboats"), and some pretty self-indulgent song titles ("For The Ejection Of Rest; They'll Dance" and "Let Weight Be Measured By Merit"), and you'll have one very interesting and effective rock album. It's not quite emo, it's not quite prog-rock, it's not quite alt-rock -- it's an amalgam of all those things, but there's still more. There's some space rock, new wave, and some hard rock leanings on Buy Our Intention; We'll Buy You A Unicorn, Kaddisfly's second and first album released nationally through Hopeless Records.

The album is really just something you'll have to hear to understand, and you'll need some time before you can really form an opinion. You might hate it at first because it sounds like everything at once, but if you give it a chance, it just might win you over and completely envelop your life. You might even like it a lot at first -- it just depends. Regardless of how you come around, you'll notice how clear this album's production is right off the bat. There's so much attention given to each instrument, and it's rare that an album on an indie label gets as much of a treatment as this one does. Make sure you check out "La Primera Natural Disaster," for it's one of the hardest-hitting tracks on the album, and the delightful "The Calm of Calamity." Hopefully, you'll like it.


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Hollywood Ending - Praying To Fiction

Hollywood Ending’s debut album will bring joy to the ears of many. The sounds on Praying To Fiction have been put together for maximum impact and intensity, taking the best bits from post-harcore and metal. Parts have been lifted straight out of the songs of other bands (Deftones are a big influence, I’d say) but overall the music hits all the right spots.Praying To Fiction should cement Hollywood Ending’s place in today’s UK rock scene and probably the world too, if they can make it that far.

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland

Jimi Hendrix's third and final album with the original Experience found him taking his funk and psychedelic sounds to the absolute limit. The result was not only one of the best rock albums of the era, but also Hendrix's original musical vision at its absolute apex. When revisionist rock critics refer to him as the maker of a generation's mightiest dope music, this is the album they're referring to.

But Electric Ladyland is so much more than just background music for chemical intake. Kudos to engineer Eddie Kramer (who supervised the remastering of the original two-track stereo masters for this 1997 reissue on MCA) for taking Hendrix's visions of a soundscape behind his music and giving it all context, experimenting with odd mic techniques, echo, backward tape, flanging, and chorusing, all new techniques at the time, at least the way they're used here. What Hendrix sonically achieved on this record expanded the concept of what could be gotten out of a modern recording studio in much the same manner as Phil Spector had done a decade before with his Wall of Sound. As an album this influential (and as far as influencing a generation of players and beyond, this was his ultimate statement for many), the highlights speak for themselves: "Crosstown Traffic," his reinterpretation of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," "Burning of the Midnight Lamp," the spacy "1983...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be)," and "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)," a landmark in Hendrix's playing. With this double set (now on one compact disc), Hendrix once again pushed the concept album to new horizons.

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Jamie Cullum

On "Catching Tales", Jamie Cullum has modernized his sound. There's electric piano and sampling, and some good mature lyrics (as well as others about, well, catching tail) and Cullum even plays acoustic guitar on "My Yard". But it's not as magical to me as "Twentysomething", which still ranks as one of my favorite albums - perhaps because Twentysomething was more cover-heavy, making the originals that more special.

Musically, this sounds on this album mine from standards (I'm Glad There is You) to 70's style disco jazz (Mind Trick) to trip hoppy jazz (Get Your Way) to bossa nova (I Only Have Eyes for You) to straight ahead pop-rock (London Skies, also with Cullum on guitar). Much of it reminds me of Billy Joel or Ben Folds, and that's a good thing, and there's a lot of Fender Rhodes electric piano, giving the CD a definite 70s r&b jazz feel. It all sounds very good, but I would have like a little more of the organic feel of "Twentysomething". And I don't think the original songs on here have quite the instant hook that those on Twentysomething did, although "My Yard" is ready for top-40 radio and "Photograph" almost captures the greatness of "All at Sea". That said, this is heads and tails above other current releases and is a great breath of fresh air that you can easily lose yourself in.

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Tuesday - Free Wheelin'

Powerful melodic hooks with driving rhythms describe the music of Tuesday (who are also ex-members of Slapstick). Emo-influenced punk rock reminiscent of Promise Ring, Seam, and later Jawbreaker.




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Jupiter Sunrise

Jupiter Sunrise is one of those bands that soon everyone will be talking about. They tread the line between indie rock, pop-rock, and pop-punk for a sound that's both addictive and yet oddly almost familiar. Only having formed in 2002, Jupiter Sunrise is already set to dominate the charts of both Billboard and CMJ with a sound comparable to the likes of Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, and Dashboard Confessional.


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From Autumn To Ashes

Drummer/singer Francis Mark has been quoted as saying that From Autumn to Ashes is almost like "a band with an identity crisis." His point was that F.A.T.A. thrives on contrasts -- clean alternative pop/rock melodies are contrasted with the sort of screaming, tortured vocals associated with metalcore. Actually, F.A.T.A. does have an identity and it's an appealing one, even though The Fiction We Live (the Long Islanders' second full-length album) isn't quite as consistent as it could have been -- some of the performances are more successful than others. But when the band does hit its mark, F.A.T.A. has much to offer. F.A.T.A.'s basic concept -- melody and lushness meets brutality -- is a good, intriguing idea and it has the necessary equipment to pull it off. Mark provides the melodic, accessible, more conventional vocals, while Benjamin Perri provides the metalcore-like screaming. The Fiction We Live, however, isn't a full-fledged metalcore disc -- certainly not in the way that Brick Bath, Hatebreed, Rotten Sound, and Throwdown have provided full-fledged metalcore. For the most part, the playing isn't all that heavy -- and the hardcore/metalcore element has more to do with Perri's vocal style than with the actual musicianship. Take away Perri and The Fiction We Live wouldn't be all that different from a Smashing Pumpkins CD. But Perri's presence is definitely a plus, and his screaming is often beneficial because it adds emotional emphasis to the angst-ridden lyrics. There are times when F.A.T.A. should have used him more sparingly; some of the material would have been better served by less screaming from Perri and more of Mark's "normal" singing (whatever "normal" is). But despite its imperfections, The Fiction We Live has more plusses than minuses and paints a generally appealing picture of the Long Island alterna-rockers.

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Minus The Bear

Minus The Bear - Bands Like It When You Yell 'Yar' At Them EP


1 Spritz!!! Spritz!!! 2 Women We Haven't Met Yet 3 You're Some Sort Of Big, Fat, Smart-Bug, Aren't You? 4 Drop It Like It's Hot 5 I Lost All My Money At The Cock Fights



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Minus The Bear - This Is What I Know About Being Gigantic



1 Hey, Wanna Throw Up? Get Me Naked 2 Lemurs, Man, Lemurs 3 Just Kickin It Like A Wild Donkey 4 Potato Juice & Liquid Bread 5 Pantsuit....Uggghhh



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Minus The Bear - They Make Beer Commercials Like This



1 Fine + 2 Pts. 2 Let's Play Clowns 3 Dog Park 4 I'm Totally Not Down With Rob's Alien 5 Hey! Is That A Ninja Up There? 6 Pony Up!


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Minus The Bear - Menos El Oso



1 The Game Needed Me 2 Memphis & 3rd 3 Drilling 4 The Fix 5 El Torrente 6 Pachuca Sunrise 7 Michio's Death Drive 8 Hooray 9 Fulfill The Dream 10 The Pig War 11 This Ain't A Surfin' Movie



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Minus The Bear- Highly Refined Pirates

1 Thanks For The Killer Game Of Crisco Twister 2 Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!! 3 Absinthe Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse 4 Hey, Wanna Throw Up? 5 Get Me Naked 2: Electric Boogaloo 6 We Are Not A Football Team 7 You Kill Bugs Good, Man 8 Spritz!! Spritz!! 9 Women We Haven't Met Yet 10 Damn Bugs Whacked Him, Johnny 11 I Lost All My Money At The Cock Fights 12 Andy Wolff 13 Let's Play Guitar In A Five Guitar Band 14 Booyah Achieved

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Sherwood

Sherwood’s sophomore effort his stores May 31st on Side Cho Records, and it just may be the happiest thing to hit your ears all year. In an explosion of pop and rock, Sherwood has not abandoned the style of music experienced on their self-titled EP, but rather embraced it. The EP was full of generic tracks that were easily forgettable, and it seemed like it was time for Sherwood to add some flair to their musicianship or forever be lost in the world of piano-pop emo rock. The EP had some moments of pop bliss to it, and Sherwood has taken those parts they did best and blown it up into an excellent full-length album. Well-produced and full of tender, beautiful melodies, Sing, But Keep Going is an outstanding pop record to transition the seasons into summer.It’s apparent that Sherwood isn’t breaking any rules on this record, but instead they’ve created an incredibly tight album with very few holes. I have a ton of respect for the band for staying true to a style of music and making it as good as possible. There’s nothing ground-breaking here, there’s no crazy transitions or hugely varied song structures, but each song is its own little morsel of sugar pop. The first track “We Do This to Ourselves” starts the mood off right, with an instantly memorable chorus with gentle backing vocals, hand claps, and a group vocal breakdown. “Traveling Alone” matches vocal melodies to harmonizing guitar parts. The vocals skate the line between soft and whiney, but the whine aspect is normally nullified by the great balancing of backup vocals. The album progresses nicely with the darker and slower paced track “The Town That You Live In.” The lyrics aren’t deep by any means, but the accessible tone of voice matched with lyrics about flowers being in bloom and friendship brings a smile to the face. It’s just great pop music, structured well and produced even better.

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The Forecast

Illinois-bred indie rockers the Forecast conjure up a likable albeit hardly daring take on the Promise Ring/ Jimmy Eat World model with Late Night Conversations. Offering one unique dynamic, where lead singer/guitarist Dustin Addis is complemented by the female supporting vocals of bassist Shannon Burns, the group's outlook isn't always sunny. Dark numbers like "Exorcise Demons" attest to this, but if the Forecast get heavy, it's never in a metal kind of way. Most often, the outfit is contagious, as the opening blast known as "Seating Subject to Availability" and the urgent "Fade In Fade Out" assert, and damn if "Helping Hands" isn't one of the best tributes to the Get Up Kids yet.

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The Junior Varsity

On their second album, Junior Varsity sound something like the Police might have had they been a post-1980s heartland American rock band. They're more inclined to crunchy guitars than the Police were, but the resemblance is there in the strident declarative phrasing of the high lead singing, the frequent tempo changes, and the perky vocal harmonies. Though indebted to alternative guitar rock, they have a slightly different texture than the usual such band owing to the inclusion of a synth player in the mix. Lyrically the songs don't go anywhere too specific, aside from conveying the sense of fellows trying to sort out the world and themselves with subdued bewilderment. It's an unmemorable record that's not so much alternative rock (though it might get classified as such) as a reflection of the degree to which alternative rock approaches were becoming mainstream at the time of this 2005 release.

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Circa Survive

Without question, the first noticeable quality about Circa Survive's Juturna debut is frontman Anthony Green's voice: a wailing, whiny instrument, which may just mark his band as the Darkness of the post-emo landscape. Love it or loathe it, you certainly can't ignore it, and by that measure alone it must mean he's onto something, right? Maybe, maybe not, and here's why. Written almost exclusively in an emo-approved first person, his stream-of-consciousness lyrics prove utterly impenetrable, and, perhaps most damning, show no apparent relation to their often smart-aleck song titles ("Holding Someone's Hair Back," "The Glorious Nosebleed," etc.). This inevitably leads one to ponder whether they inhabit a higher plane of meaning, constitute a collection of in-band philosophies yet to be made clear, or simply represent tales told by a fool, signifying nothing. Whatever the case, one can't help but feel excluded from the fun. And if you're wondering why this review has focused on Circa Survive's vocalist thus far, that's not an oversight so much as a reflection of the indistinctive instrumental backing on hand. This, too, is for the most part unruly and seemingly stream-of-consciousness, as if the band believes that wandering aimlessly is in itself a sign of progressive songwriting.

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Badly Drawn Boy

If you count Damon Gough's About a Boy soundtrack as the second Badly Drawn Boy album — and the caliber of its songs make a strong case for it to be treated as such — then it seems that the sophomore slump has skipped a generation, ignoring About a Boy and affecting Have You Fed the Fish? instead. Interestingly, the boundaries placed on Gough's style by working on a soundtrack didn't impact his music as much as the limits he sets for himself do here — on the surface, Have You Fed the Fish? is Badly Drawn Boy's most focused and polished set of songs to date. For most artists, this would be a good development, but on this album at least, it's a poor fit. On his best work, Gough's intricate, lilting melodies, quirky but heartfelt lyrics, and offbeat production touches are woven together as tightly as the knitted caps he wears, but on Have You Fed the Fish? it feels like he forces his sound to straighten out, and the brilliance displayed on Hour of Bewilderbeast and About a Boy unravels. The album's main problem is its glossy production, which adds an unwelcome, brassy sheen to even the most seemingly heartfelt songs, such as "You Were Right," which features the line "I'm turning Madonna down/And I'm calling it my best move." Actually, this lyric encapsulates many of Have You Fed the Fish?'s drawbacks at once — it's trying to be quirky and yet mainstream at the same time, it's initially cute and yet a little too clever-clever to really make an impact.

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Demon Hunter

Demon Hunter - The Triptych
Sgt. Serpent, Chuck Knuckles, Utah Biggs, Arm and John Gredal comprise the heavy, aggressive metal sounds of Demon Hunter. They hooked up with Aaron Sprinkle (MxPx, Dolour, Poor Old Lu) for their Solid State self-titled debut, which appeared in fall 2002.


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Scary Kids Scaring Kids

Heres two, been too lazy to write reviews so here ya be!

The City Sleeps in Flames
The Phoenix-based sextet Scary Kids Scaring Kids manage better than most of their aggro-melodic peers to balance gracefully the aggro and the melodic. Don't look for much melody from vocalist Tyson Stevens — he sings in tune and he's got a strong, clear voice, but he spends as much time yelling as he does actually singing. Sometimes the transition back and forth between the two is highly effective in and of itself, as on the impressive title track and "My Darkest Hour." And sometimes the yelling comes across as kind of rote and half-hearted, as if he's realizing that he hasn't screamed for a few choruses and it's time to do it again before the mosh kids get restless. Most of the melodic interest comes with the formidable twin guitar attack of Steve Kirby and Chad Crawford and the tasteful contributions of keyboardist (!) Pouyan Afkary. Lyrically, these guys are far from embarrassing — and in this genre, that's relatively high praise. The songs often have a fairly clear referent (such as the World Trade Center, which is referred to unambiguously in "City Sleeps in Flames") and are generally pretty low on tired cliché. Overall, this is an impressive full-length debut from a band that is likely to make even more and better noise in the near future.

And Scary Kids Scaring Kids - After Dark ep


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Texas Is the Reason

Far better than the follow-up full-length, the debut EP from Texas Is the Reason is a short but sweet portrait of a young band both at the top of its game and also helping to define a genre. Making "emo" a consumable form, this record is both boldly powerful and noticeably frail, without ever becoming a mockery of itself. Backed by the thunderous drums of future Jets to Brazil star Chris Daly and led by the impressive vocal strength of hardcore fixture Norm Arenas, Texas Is the Reason's approach is heavy as ever without sounding silly or contrived. The unforgettable record-ending "If It's Here When We Get Back It's Ours" is one of the better "emotional" rock songs ever recorded, and its intense delivery demands repeated listening. The two tracks that open the three-song suite are just as memorable, and while it all makes for a rather small serving, there's nothing included that isn't completely worthwhile. An underground sensation, this EP should not be overlooked by anyone who knows that challenging music can still be tremendously strong.

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RUFIO

The Comfort of Home will be shoved into the pop-punk slot into which Rufio's first two albums really did fit quite nicely. The problem is that, like all smart punks, these guys have grown up in the course of five years, and their maturity is evident on this, perhaps their most musically impressive and emotionally developed album. Although there are plenty of high-energy, high-distortion, tightly harmonized rave-ups here, the only musical category that Comfort of Home really fits comfortably is "rock & roll." The band claims influences as diverse as Coldplay and Metallica, but listen closely and you'll hear more than a hint of such power pop forebears as the Clarks and Material Issue, and there's a hint of whimsical weirdness going on with the guitars on "Simple Line" that wouldn't sound out of place on one of Adrian Belew's solo albums. The songs on Comfort of Home move from strength to strength, varying in quality from solidly good ("Out of Control," "Let Fate Decide") to borderline breathtaking ("Mental Games," "Questions and Answers") with most falling somewhere in between. When the worst songs on your third album are all very good, that bodes well for the future. Long may Rufio fail to fit its categories.

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Relient K

This is Relient K's Christmas Album

Canton, OH's Relient K joined the parade of Christian punk-pop artists (MxPx, Ghoti Hook, Slick Shoes, etc.) with their self-titled 2000 debut, mixing catchy melodies and snotty attitude with spiritual concerns; the record was produced by dc Talk guitarist Mark Townsend. The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek followed in August 2001. The album sold 300,000 copies and Relient K's momentum continued to build as they played nearly 200 shows in North America before the year's end. A third full-length, Two Lefts Don't Make A Right, But Three Do, debuted at #38 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart upon its release in spring 2003. The band didn't waste any time recording a fourth album; Mmhmm, which was produced by lead singer Matt Thiessen and dc Talk's Townsend and mixed by Tom Lord-Alge, was released in November 2004. MMHMM scanned over 51,000 copies sold during its first week.


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Crossfade

Hometown Crossfade fans will recognize the majority of this eponymous major-label debut, as it's been retooled from the band's self-released 2001 effort, when they were still known as Sugardaddy Superstar. Columbia's signing of the band makes sense, as Crossfade combines the most marketable elements of Nickelback and P.O.D. (check "No Giving Up"), throwing in the brooding aggression of Cold and Disturbed as bonus glue. Its occasional flirtation with synths and sampling is negligible, as discordant guitars dominate the album's mix. Speaking of cold, that's also the name of the 'Fade's first single. Ed Sloan has a powerful voice, and he sells the track's somewhat generic chorus ("What I really meant to say/Is that I'm sorry for the way I am") by really lighting into the melody. He goes on to apologize for his "screwed-up side" as dull power chords lurch in the background. "So Far Away" and "Disco" follow a similar formula, marrying thick, glowering riffs to rousing choruses; that Disturbed feel really drifts in on the latter, where you half expect an "Oh wah ah ah ah!" yawp after its payoff chorus chant. Crossfade actually runs into trouble with tracks like this or "Death Trend Setta," where they try too hard to soak their considerable rock power in played-out angry guy raps. The band is more successful with cuts like "Starless," the aforementioned "Cold," or even the atmospheric "Deep End," where Sloan hits huge vocal hooks over serviceably powerful riffs. "Dead Skin" is another relative highlight of Crossfade. Musically it's an awkward facsimile of Staind's embittered melodrama, but its tale of addiction and relationship destruction feels like the record's emotional core.

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Senses Fail

Senses Fail consisted of vocalist Buddy Nielsen, guitarists Dave Miller and Garret Zablocki, bassist Mike Glita, and drummer Dan Trapp. Forming in 2002, SF's slick amalgam of post-hardcore chuggery and emo heartbreak was solidly in line with the sound of other New Jersey groups like Saves the Day. Senses Fail quickly issued a debut EP through Boston indie ECA, and began to play out frequently while spreading the word with a thriving Internet presence. Drive-Thru Records took notice, and signed the group in late 2002. A revamped version of the From the Depths of Dreams EP appeared in April 2003; it featured better mixing, one new song, and an acoustic version of "Ground Folds." A tour with the Used wrapped up the year in a successful fashion.

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Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice isn't the type of band one ordinarily expects to record for Metal Blade. They're a Christian band, and the people their members thank in the credits include President George W. Bush, the Republican Party, and Liberty University (as in the Rev. Jerry Falwell). In other words, they represent many of the things that KRS-1, Rage Against the Machine, Ani DiFranco, Nellie McKay, and a long list of other left-leaning musicians have railed against — not so much the Christianity part (there are some very left-wing Christians out there), but definitely the far-right militant fundamentalist part. But if the First Amendment of the United States Constitution gives liberal musicians the freedom to state their views, there's no reason why right-wing artists shouldn't do the same — and besides, The Fall of Rome is far from an album that beats listeners over the head with an overtly Christian Right message. You have to read the credits to find the metalcore band's pro-Bush, pro-Christian Right views; the lyrics are a lot more subliminal, and on the surface, this 2004 recording doesn't seem much different from all the secular metalcore discs that were recorded in 2004. Musically, The Fall of Rome is as metalcore as it gets — a harsh, claustrophobic, ferocious, extremely dense CD that is without a trace of musical subtlety. The lyrics promote Christianity in a subtle fashion (much like many of the bands that record for Solid State/Tooth & Nail), but musically, Winter Solstice is as skull-crushing as Hatebreed, Throwdown, Deadsoil, Brick Bath, or Rotten Sound. Winter Solstice's material isn't terribly distinctive — they're far from the only Christian band in metalcore — but even so, this 40-minute CD is a decent, noteworthy demonstration of the fact that a Christian perspective and metalcore ferocity are not mutually exclusive.

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Project 86

While most metal bands who supposedly "rage against the machine" deliver little more than a few fist-pumping choruses, Project 86 savagely attacks the hypocrisy of the music industry on Truthless Heroes. A Christian band making a significant statement on the state of musical integrity? Sure enough, this biting concept album is a no-holds-barred deliberation on the state of modern music that points fingers at the corporate machine, clueless musicians, and even fans who take part in the process. Instead of coming off as bitter, they almost seem to be warning listeners against buying into the hype surrounding most popular music. Lines like, "I don't even like the taste of blood/But it was all they had for sale today" are an example of how the band approaches the topic, discussing the way bands are bought from the underground and sold to the public in a clever manner that takes the listener by surprise. Musically, the group can be somewhat generic, but in a backwards twist their passionate lyrics salvage the weaker material and keep the material interesting. When the music matches the words, like on "Another Boredom Movement," the result is an immensely powerful treatise that stands on a molten mass of discordant guitars and screamed vocals. A hollow life under the corporate microscope is no place for this band, and no proof is more powerful than what Truthless Heroes offers. By pulling no punches, Project 86 has crafted one of the most topical metal albums of the turn of the century. Good for them — someone from the outside had to do it.

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TRUST Company

With True Parallels, commercial hard rockers Trust Company do little to undo the anonymity the band brought forth on its 2002 debut The Lonely Position of Neutral. Sure, "Stronger" is an energetic, riff-laden high-production number, but the group might as well be Hoobastank or Papa Roach, as it does little to carve its own mainstream identity. Produced by big-name heavy rock knob-twiddlers Howard Benson and Don Gilmore, melodic noise like "The War Is Over," and loud faceless crunch rock like "Fold" and "Surfacing" may keep the cash registers ringing at Sam Goody, but it's still steeped in mediocrity.

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EITS Peel Sessions

Okay so this is the Peel Sessions for one of the Best Instrumental bands out there atm, YEAH Explosions in the Sky. And since theres obviously no cover for it, or if there is im just a retard. i made one. yeah it sucks. :( ANyways it includes sngs like.

The Only Moment We Were Alone
The Long Spring
With Tired Eyes Tired Minds Tired Souls We

Cek It OUtZZSkf

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Xiu Xiu KP

Well well, what can i say about Xiu Xiu, they are a san jose(my hometown) group, so me not having any of their albums wouldjust be the lamest of lame. one of the actual nifty bands out of San Jose. well theres smashmouth, but i do not fancy them too much. Also trapt played their first show in san jose downtown, but i dont like them too much either. heh. Anyways the band took their name from a chinese film entitled : Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl , they be post punk. and the REST is history! Here is their album Knife play(as requested), i dont really like it too much as it doesnt have a flow in the entire album. It kinda jumps around like a retarded squirrel loooking for a perfect..uh nut. weird vocals on this one too, but eh! enjoy!

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Edit'd Link due to missing files, this link has all the tracks now, horray!

Brian Eno

Brian Eno's Another day on earth is a terrific example of ambient goodness, hes quite old but age really does not show in his music, or in his voice. obviously when tehres a huge instrumental explosion with a band/song/artist its more of a feel rather than a oh that sounds like deliciousness. if that made sense which most likely it didnt . Eno's had many a releases before this one, probably the most popular song of the album being "And Then So Clear" yadda yadd. judge it urself!


Link Here

Various Emo bands

Dear folks that like Cartel, Let go, the panic devison, and rufio and others. Have i got the album for you! it woould make you giggle like a lil girl constantly till your poor lil mieky mouse doll gets stolen cuz then you'd want to stab someoe in the face with the spacula from your easy bake oven! its true. happens daily. ANyways its got honesty and matter of time from Cartel. and if you like these bands give it a listen, it just muke make u like other bands that u either thought were gay, or didnt like or thought were gay and u didnt like them.

voila!

The Cure

so Wow! huge gap, huge! horray for shitty wireless and non albe to upload fantilly astic albums cuz its been sad and stuff but lets get to going on whats for today. One of the many might i add, so randomly check back to the very small audience that actually looks here :) . Anyways right now its The Cure - greatest hits acoustic OMGOGmg, whats better thanthe cure????? tHE CURE ACOUSTIC BABY! and it is quite awesome i must say, been whoring this album out all week. and i still love it. High being one of the many bestest tracks. anyways i dont think the cure need much of a review so i'll just leave this at that, i sure hope thats the right cover, pretty sure, this is the 2nd cd that comes with that cd..so..yeah

Link here

Muse

Though some may still consider them Radiohead mimics, obviously Muse continue to strike a nerve with their alternative hard rock audience, here releasing their third album of heavy guitars, haunted harmonics, and paranoid musings in Absolution. Frontman Matt Bellamy and company stick to the same disturbed, and sometimes disturbing, formula that's worked in the past: the emotional intensity and style of Radiohead, a rock thunder descended from Black Sabbath, and the baroque drama of Queen. Longtime producer John Leckie sits this one out, and in steps indie uber-engineer Rich Costey. With Costey manning the desk, the music feels more polished and slick, but less epic and raw. Longtime fans won't miss a beat though, because Bellamy delivers the same Thom Yorke vocal impersonation for which he's known, and continues the same anthemic posturing he's lifted from Freddie Mercury. With song titles and subject matter fueled by fear of the apocalypse, and worries about infidelities and random murders, the subject matter is as gloriously pretentious and lovably unlovable as ever. Newcomers to the band should expect killer guitars reminiscent of jackhammers and chainsaws, bloodcurdling choruses, and, of course, tender passages of falsetto. A recurring motif of racing samplers suggests nothing less than a rock opera version of the score to Koyaanisqatsi, and then there are the occasional spooky moments where funky rhythms mingle with heavy metal guitars, suggesting a progressive Italian zombie flick soundtrack. There's little point in selecting highlights, because other than some slow moments that feel tacked on, there's not much variation in theme or mood. Many listeners will probably prefer to tackle the album in small doses, and only the most headstrong won't require a breather. Muse continue to make unrelenting hardcore art rock; Absolution is a tad cheesy, a bit too grandiose in its ambitions, bursting at the seams with too many ideas, and thus exactly what any Muse fan craves.

Link here

Enjoy The Fall

for some reason i have a huge earge to spell it as "Enjoi" SO ghetto. Anyways i dont really know too much about this band, dont like them too much but uploaded the album for someone on the ET forum board, thingy. So i figured i MIGHT AS WELL put the links and a little something up in herre, before i go towards my daily routines once again. since they dont really have a bio i dont know what to put here, cant find reviews yes they must suck THAT bad. But who am i to judge obviously theres some kids out there that just adore them, oh by the way this is their "New years revolution" album. check it out, who knows, you might like this "hardcore" emo.

Link One(YSI)

Mirror One

Xiu Xiu L n L

Heres another one from Xiu Xiu called Life and Live released about less than a month ago. has a lot of emoness in it, heartbreak blahblahbl. poop, heres a review

Distorted or no, it's impossible not to hear the agony in Stewart's lyrics, which is the make-or-break thing about Xiu Xiu. You can truly hear the shuddering, quaking posture as Stewart sings, "I can't wait for you to realize your mommy's heart has been broken / I can't wait to watch you grow up around the people who broke it." The fact that each piece sounds like the saddest song you've ever heard is a marvel, and that he comes up with 10 or so of these a year is just astoundingly heartbreaking. It almost comes as a relief, then, that Xiu Xiu can't out-Morrissey Morrissey with his version of "Asleep." You know, since the entire Xiu Xiu catalogue makes The Smiths sound like showtunes and all.


Link Here

Seaweed

Alright so heres something different, well not too different but good good god gog doogodogo. Anywho now its Seaweed's album Four, yes the album is called four. Why?! i dont know, and im pretty sure you dont care. so lets just get on with it. You almost dont need much of a brain to detect the nirvanna ism in this album. THeyare eagarly grundge driven. So of course why wouldnt Nirvana be a huge influance on the band. and why the hell is my spelling getting so horrid. GRR. THey are one of the very differnt bands to come out of sub pop records, atleast that i have thought so, im not sure how the rest of their albums are like due to the fact that i only currently have this one . but i suppose theres a bit of indie ness in it. ah i duno wtf im talking about so lets just shut down here.!

Link here

Sons and Daughters

Sons and Daughters , heh i almost typed SONGs , oh man am i tired. album Dance Me In EP, is what we us people would call.Sexy. actually yes im not kiding, ha thought i was gonna say i was kidding huh but i wasnt ha. Yeah. Anyways they are infact from glasjow, which Always seems to remind me of glassjaw, for obvious reasons. but its kinda annoying. Anyways they were made famous from belle and sebastian(which would i think is the besst name for a lil male kitten aww). but they are probably a lot like smog and uhm Cat power, if you dont know who im talking about look it up. But be forwarded a lot of vocals can get pretty damn annoying after a while, and since muting it does not make it better. i would suggest taking sons and daughters in porportionally doses around this month or even year. Peace N Love. *cool smiley*

Link here

The Soviettes LP btw

Ah, The Soviettes, what such lovely music have they brought to thou hearing of such shitty hearing that cannot be describbled by words of any kind! For those of you that do not know They are a Minneapolis, formed back in the 00's WHOA LONG TiME ES GO LOLOLOLolo. Arg, sorry :( . Anyways its MAINLY a girl band cept for a dude on the drums. EH interesting. They've had a few uh outing as in LP(which is what this is) and LPII and LPIII and roller girls, or something like that. yeah WEIRD yo! hrm, they are infact a punk band, yes i said it, PUNK band. Short songs, a lot of spazzing drums and seizure riffs. But its so hard to just hate them, even tho to any sane minded person their stuff would suck the hell out of the ozone and leave us for dead. but they just make you want to dance and dance and dance and DANCE some more, because you know why! BECAUSE YOU SIR AND MAAM SECRETLY FANCY them! ITS CORRCNT, i spelt that wrong. AH well anyways

Link Here

Incubus

I know i know, plentyful of people already enjoyed their heart outs with this album or hated it with a very hatered vengense...or something cuz i spelt that wrong. Either way you caN NOT deny incubus' greatness. Granted this may not be their best album(it really isnt) but it has some very fine tunes on it to be enjoyed I really dont get why they were compared to the likes of Korn , but whatever. I would however say this album has far more lyrical defination then the others but i really think it lacks the instrumental SOUL it once had and the vocals are a bit sad angst whiney. But YeaH!

Link Here

A punk Rock Christmas

Well hello there, its been fruitful! some short gap but i shall make it up in due time. Today i have a very lovely selection for y'alls its called A Santa Cause: It's a Punk Rock Christmas, Various artISTS. Such as FOB, Mighty mighty bosstones, mxpx, and many many more. Its a nifty album, get you into the mood the fantilly astic way. I myself am not a big fan of christmas music, since in elementry school they drowned us kids with that stuff from kindergarden to 5th grade even if you werent the kid to celebrate it back at home. But However it can be pretty spiffy at times, especially if its your favorite band doing a cover of an old awesomness. Anywho There ya be!

Link here