Boy Sets Fire / After the Eulogy / Victory One listen to After the Eulogy and you, too will envision the day when Boy Sets Fire replaces the clueless brand of faux-hardcore that's currently being hyped as cutting edge and oh-so-politically-minded. Any single song from this album is packed with more energy, more vision and more grit than anything Durst & Co. have ever done...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Impaled / The Dead Shall Dead Remain / Deathvomit A brief perusal of The Dead Shall Dead Remain's lyrics will leave you either stricken with horror or bizarrely amused. An example from "Trocar" boasts "Muscles are imbued with a gelatinous mix/Prepatent secretions from your bowel make me sick" among its lyrical lines to live by...or is that by which to die? ...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Camper Van Beethoven / Camper Van Beethoven is Dead. Long Live Camper Van Beethoven / Pitch-A-Tent Funny thing about music: if you leave it sit for long enough, it starts to ferment. Bits of songs swirl around and mix together, the rhythm from one imprinting itself backwards onto the next track. That's what's happened here, though cynics might suggest that the band had a hand in the aging. To the uninformed eye, this might look like a bog-standard B-Sides and obscurities album, but it isn't...more»
		Various Artists / Flag: A Hush Records Sampler / Hush Including two songs each from nine acts on the label's roster, Flag suggests that Portland ranks far above many well-established cities (like David Wilcox's Asheville) in this musical genre by its dedication to creating a mood through the music alone, and its insistence upon good playing as well as intelligent lyrics...more»
		Macha and Bedhead / Macha Loved Bedhead / Jetset The six-song, 35-minute EP is a fine collaborative effort between the two bands. Fittingly, no credits come with this joint effort, so I don't know who's most to blame for the beauty. I know that much of the drumming and sensual guitar work come from Bedhead, who forwarded these half-naked songs to Macha to fill in the blanks...more»
		The Makers / Rock Star God / Sub Pop Would any band that scorched the Earth back in '91 still be around, let alone doing the same style of music? It's doubtful, so junk any preconceived notions on how The Makers should sound in 2000 and get ready for another rebirth -- one full of sexy, glam inspired rockdom that continues to belittle as it bashes stereotypers with another marvelous, black eye inducer...more»
		No Merit / Fomunda / No Merit With the second coming of heavy metal, a band like No Merit had to happen. This trio from Virginia was weaned on the pop metal of the ‘80's and is not afraid to let that influence shine. Musically, they pick up the torch Eddie Van Halen dropped a decade ago and up the ante by introducing a touch of Helmet's start/stop precision...more»
		Omni / Red Shifted Forever Phase / OMNI I had no expectations for Omni. Their CD, stuck in the middle of a pile of discs on my desk, looked like nothing particularly special. However, Omni's mixture of orchestral sci-fi prog-rock and death metal proved unexpectedly satisfying. I'm not normally a particular fan of either genre, but something about Omni's approach appealed to me...more»
		Martin Phillipps / Sketch Book: Volume One / Flying Nun The most minimal moments of Submarine Bells and Soft Bomb are echoed here, as Phillipps' sing-song vocal style is paired with simple-yet-enveloping keyboard and guitar melodies and deceptively facile lyrics. As is the case with many Chills songs, wordplay is important; the repetition and interaction of sounds gives Phillipps' voice its hypnotic quality...more»
		Elliott Smith / Figure 8 / Dreamworks Figure 8 is XO done with fresh tubes of watercolors and fine hair brushes versus pastels. For proof, skip ahead to "Happiness". After you listen to it seven or eight times, try and think of a time in the past month when you felt happier about being a human being and being able to love someone else...more»