Various Artists / Caroline Now! The Songs of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys / Marina Nearly three years in the making, Caroline Now! is a fitting tribute to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, and features a high-profile group of artists paying homage to the man from whose playbook they have been stealing pages for years. Rather than trawling out greatest hits like “God Only Knows,” “Help Me Rhonda” or “Fun Fun Fun”, Caroline Now! focuses on more obscure pieces culled from the Wilson canon. In fact, many of the songs here will be unfamiliar to anyone but the most devout of Wilsonophiles...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Chixdiggit! / From Scene to Shining Scene / Honest Don's I totally blew off Chixdiggit! when Sub Pop released the band's last CD. Obviously, this was a terrible oversight on my part and I'm glad Honest Don's has given me a shot at redemption. The quartet's foundation is a sense of humor that's immediately noticeable on the opening track, "My Dad vs. P.M." After a few listens (and perhaps a glance or two at the lyrics!), we discover that P.M. is Beatle-gone-politico-pig Paul McCartney, and vocalist K.J. Jansen is narrating a tale about a PETA boycott mishap that rages against his clueless, meat-eating Dad...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Elks Skiffle Group / The Space Age Sounds of... / Happy Beat If you're willing to believe the assertions made by the CD jacket, the Elks Skiffle Group are a quartet of four stalk-eyed, brightly-colored, suspiciously finger-puppet-like aliens who've come to Earth -- specifically, the British seaside resort community of Blackpool -- to make a hit pop record (and possibly to do a bit of conquering and enslaving while they're at it). Of course, it's also possible that the Elks Skiffle Group could be the creation of a bunch of publicity-dodging, gimmick-friendly Brits...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		764-HERO / Weekends of Sound / Up It wasn’t until I heard Weekends of Sound that 764-HERO won me over. These nine songs are a great mix of mid-tempo rockers and sleepy ballads that showcase how well the trio plays together. While the general tone of the record is dark and sad, the hooks and melodies shine throughout. Bertram and Johnson reach far beyond the standard rhythm section, adding as much to each songs as Atkins’ guitar and vocals do...more»
		Einstürzende Neubaten / Silence is Sexy / Mute These days, the "unlistenable noise" bar has been raised well beyond the reach of Einstürzende Neubaten's efforts, which even at their most extreme betrayed a foundation in and/or functional awareness of pop music conceits. Influenced by their moods, their collaborations and the world around them, EN grew into sophisticated, often abrasive purveyors of dark, sophisticated industrial kabaret-pop. Silence is Sexy finds them working in the 21st century equivalent of Brecht and Weill territory, their songs a mixture of broken clockwork and morbid sensuality...more»
		Jet Black Crayon / Low Frequency Speaker Test / Function8 I notice first off that it’s Tommy Guerrero’s deal. You know: Bones Brigade. Skateboarding has always been kinda like the hip-hop thing. Dig it, but don’t really do it. So anyway, I’m totally intrigued cause it’s Guerrero (who swears music’s always been bigger than half-pipes for him) playing bass and Monte Vallier (of Swell) playing a second bass and sound effects. Gadget is on turntables and “other madness.” Slow jam beats from Tim Degaugh give all this a place to rest...more»
		Jeff Kaiser & Ernesto Diaz-Infante / Pith Balls and Inclined Planes / pfMENTUM The music on Pith Balls and Inclined Planes is thoroughly improvised and has the kind of nervous, excited energy that is often found when accomplished players manage to let go and have fun together. Much of the music exists in that interesting space where it's not entirely clear what's acoustic and what's electronic, what's an accident and what was carefully planned, or at least imagined. There are seven tracks here, all sharing a hyper, busy vibe...more»
		Paxton / Self-Titled / Razor & Tie Paxton started out as a country singer, then changed to a brand of very accessible power-pop. From what I gather, the change was based less on aesthetics or taste than on the realization that Nashville radio didn't want to play "Jack and Diane" rewrites about lovers named John and Joe. Dollyworld didn't seem to take to his songs either, so Paxton went back to New York, dabbled in homelessness and did enough odd jobs to make rock seem like the only natural environment for his music...more»
		Thievery Corporation / The Mirror Conspiracy / ESL Thievery Corporation’s greatest asset is the ability to lift the best qualities of disparate camps within the electronica brigade and synthesize them into beautiful, polished, refined tracks. Are you a fan of the atmospheric French-language trip hop of Hooverphonic? Try TC’s "Le Monde" on for size. Are you into Talvin Singh’s drum ‘n’ bass meets raga/Asian underground sound? Then "Indra" is for you. Do you like Towa Tei’s bossa nova-ridden Future Listening!? Take an aural gander at "Air Batucada"; I think you’ll be pleased...more»
		Deanna Varagona / Tangled Messages / Star Star Stereo Tangled Messages is good rainy day music. Sparse and moody, these eight songs keep Varagona's musical and vocal performances in the spotlight, mixing the emotional weight of country, blues and folk traditions with the cinematic spatial experimentation of contemporary country-tinged rock. An envy-inducing multi-instrumentalist, she's also a vocalist of unusual subtlety. Varagona favors emotional range over flashy vocal acrobatics, bringing coy sweetness and austere sincerity to the David Lynchian "In Deep"...more»