Actionslacks / The Scene's Out of Sight / The Self Starter Foundation Forthwith, "Five Reasons to Love Actionslacks": 1. Titular. The band succeeds in immediately conjuring an image of plaid rayon pants straight off K-Mart rack. "The Scene's Out of Sight", the lead/title track, concisely conveys the album's worldview: consciously naive, enthusiastically optimistic, just a little ironic. 2. The home town: Actionslacks come from Berkeley, CA, home of the mega-famous Green Day and the seminal power-pop-punk label Lookout! Like rock 'n' roll itself, the Bay Area music scene is regularly declared dead...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		The Industrial Jazz Group / Hardcore / Ugly Rug Were you looking for Nine Inch Nails crap or something to do with a blonde, two fake ones and protruding rods? Well folks, instead of that same old-same old, we present...jazz. That's right, playful jazz that pushes West Coast bop and has a flair for ubiquitous horn phrasings. Ready for a bit of enlightenment? It's probably important to dispel the mystifying words on the CD cover first. There's nothing hardcore or industrial here, but rather five gents who obviously have the keen ability to play off each other's every note and verse...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Corrina Repp / I Take On Your Days / Hush Corrina Repp keeps a busy schedule by offering assistance on many HUSH and Jealous Butcher releases. Pick any album recorded in Portland in the years since her great debut, A Boat Called Hope, was released; chances are, if the record was good, Corrina helped out. On her second full length, her generous support on friends' records has been paid back handsomely. The first six tunes far surpass any hopes or expectations a person could have, while tracks seven through ten live up to the promise of Repp's debut...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Blake Babies / God Bless the Blake Babies / Zoë God Bless... exists not because of any perceived need for a new Blake Babies record, but because the band (in particular, drummer Freda Love Smith, who reportedly instigated the reunion) felt the urge to make one. The Blake Babies' story doesn't need an epilogue; it's easily concluded with "And they all went on to other bands and varying degrees of success." They were popular, perhaps even influential on a very modest scale, but not revelatory...more»
		Campground Effect / Self-Titled / Glue Factory Despite the fact that Campground Effect has a lot of things going for it, this album has me totally conflicted. As of this writing, I've probably listened to it about twelve times. Sometimes I love it, and sometimes I can't stand it. For example, the band does a cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Money Changes Everything", which alternately makes me smile and cringe. As a Cyndi Lauper cover it’s sheer brilliance; outside of the Lauper context, it’s just not that interesting...more»
		The Donnas / ...Turn 21 / Lookout! Fresh from my purchase of Turn 21, I've bought out The Donnas' back catalogue and vowed never to let this happen again. That's is how great Turn 21 is. It is infectious in the best and most viral sense of the word -- the songs get under your skin and thrash around. I'm so taken with this album that I have been playing it morning, noon and night. 7:00 a.m. on a Monday morning, I'm playing the The Donnas Turn 21. Middle of the day at work, ignoring calls to turn down the music, The Donnas are on...more»
		Fantcha / Viva Mindelo / Lusafrica Most of the songs here are in a happier, lighter vein, as suits Fantcha's higher, more shrill voice. Her style is clear and direct, and her phrasing is quite good. Even if your Portuguese is spotty you can pick up most of the words. She's not as deeply emotional as Jobim or Gilberto, Brazilian jazz/pop stars to whom you could easily compare her; indeed, she seems almost detached from her songs, which is a bit odd...more»
		The Foxymorons / Rodeo City / American Pop Project You know how some records always remind you a very happy period in your life? Maybe you were driving down country roads with someone special, singing the silly lyrics together and marveling at the beauty of a rural river in the springtime? Then suddenly it all goes wrong and then you can't listen to that particular CD any more because every time you do you can't help but thinking of that really happy time, which makes you sad since it's all gone now? Sure you do...more»
		Hangtown / Eleven Reasons / Black Dog Hangtown can spin a damn catchy guitar tune. Kudos to the guitarist who, with only two measures, can capture an audience's attention and compel one to stick around and see what happens next. The similarities between these two acts ends there. Hangtown's vocals share nothing with Morrissey. Rather, they're more along the lines of what you'd expect from a smart country band. The harmonies fall right into place and the choruses dare you not to sing along after only a couple listens...more»
		The Minders / Golden Street / spinART Here, at last, is the official follow-up to the Minders’ 1998 debut, Hooray for Tuesday (the singles collection Cul-de-Sacs and Dead Ends filled the interim). In the three years since their debut, the Portland-based trio has matured in both songwriting and arrangement. While their debut reveled in jangly, Kinksian glory, Golden Street finds the group eager to stretch their musical canvas, adding keyboards, television dials, harpsichords and saxophones into their already eclectic mix...more»
		The Sixth Great Lake / Up the Country / Kindercore I've yet to discern a difference between The Essex Green and their alter-egos, The Sixth Great Lake; they have the same members, the same sound, share the same label, and use the same retro-cover art. One uses the Elephant 6 logo on their releases, while the other evidently feels the name change also distinguishes them from the E6 tag. Up The Country is an altogether solid and mood-enveloping listen, yet the album is far from a pastoral masterpiece...more»
		The Soft Boys / Underwater Moonlight...and How it Got There / Matador Arriving in the midst of the original punk explosion, the Soft Boys were defiantly intelligent and harmonic in an era that celebrated blunt aggression. Matador's reissue of their seminal Underwater Moonlight album more than triples the material found on the original; in addition to retaining Rykodisc's eight bonus tracks from the 1992 reissue and slipping in a ninth, they've added ...and How it Got There, a supplemental disc of rehearsal recordings and oddities. Is this necessary? Not really. Underwater Moonlight's original ten songs more than justify the purchase price...more»