Olo / Still Life With Peripheral Grey / No Karma The opening track, "Tennis on Swaymore... Swaymore", begins with the drawl of a winding-up tape deck which then coalesces into a swaying bass pattern. A gentle and odd keyboard line drops in after the verse, lending the song an innocent melody. Just when things seem as guileless as a Magical Mystery Tour, the song swerves into serious musicianship with horn punches and convoluted, intertwined bass and guitar parts. A similar formula of innocent pop leading to accomplished jazz is employed in "The Multitudes"...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Usurper / Necromenesis / Necropolis Look past the ridiculous cliché metal and here's a band that not only sticks assiduously to its guns, but does a superb job of throttling old-school metal through a sieve of modernity. Album after album, this monstrous metal lineup has refined its sound into a gung-ho delivery of pumping double bass drums, razor sharp guitar riffs and an intense "vokill" delivery of troubling proportions. And if you’re needing a fix of enticing mega-metal-riffage, Ricky Scythe seems to have a limitless amount of them ready to spring from his pickups...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Whitey on the Moon / Special New Band / Vela Para Todo What we have here, I'd say, is an extremely-pleasing, jazzy mix of The Velvet Underground and Mercury Rev, with ample doses of Rollerskate Skinny, Pavement, Photek (trust me) and Beat Happening. On a few songs, you're reminded of Soul Coughing, but Soul Coughing were never this experimental, and they were a bit more polished, for better or worse. If all of these bands combined and broke down their sound to a sort of "indie soul-hop", this might be the result. Did I mention that this CD is excellent...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Blue States / Nothing Changes Under the Sun / Eighteenth Street Lounge The music is still determinedly slow, but it's more the languorous pace of a sleeping sunbather than the morose metre of squalid failure. Sixties ambience abounds, most notably the overt influence of James Bond themes. "Diamente" does this most obviously with its opening sample, but you'll also detect Connery-era orchestral opulence in the squiggly-beat- infused "Stereo 99", not to mention the seductively feline proto-funk of "Golden Touch." It's also fairly obvious that principal Blue Statesman Andy Dragazis owns a few Air records...more»
		Bratmobile / Ladies, Women and Girls / Lookout The songs on this album are more thoughtful than the visceral, spontaneous stuff of yesteryear. A song like "In Love With All My Lovers", with its sorrowful yet somehow serene attitude, could only be written by someone who has attained the wisdom that comes with maturity; the old Bratmobile didn't have that depth. It shows up again in the ambiguous and piercing "It's Common (But We Don't Talk About It)", which touches on themes of communication and emotional repression...more»
		The Gossip / That's Not What I Heard / Kill Rock Stars If you ever find yourself in a middle-of-nowhere roadside juke joint that serves up corn liquor in jam-jar glasses -- assuming there are such things, and I'm not just fantasizing about the fictional worlds of Faulkner and Welty -- I expect there'll be a band playing there that sounds something like The Gossip. The juke would be lucky to have them, though. The pop-punky That's Not What I Heard grabs you by the collar and won't let you go until you're rocking right along with the band, whether you want to or not...more»
		Plaid / Trainer / Warp Trainer is, in the group’s own words, a 2xCD set consisting of "selections of the duo’s early releases with a few previously unreleased tracks thrown in for good measure". It all adds up to an amazing collection, charting Plaid'ss progression through the years leading up to their stellar Not For Threes and Rust Proof Clockwork full-lengths. Throughout the collection’s marathon duration (each disc clocks in at over 70 minutes), the duo explores every nook and cranny of the electronic jungle...more»
		The Silent Type / Self-Titled / Self-Released The songs are mostly just acoustic guitar and voice, although "A Nightmare I've Had Lately" sports some goofy analog synth noodling, "Phone a Friend" has some nice Regis Philbin and Dick van Dyke samples on it, and a robot drum machine makes an appearance on "Companion Piece". As you may have guessed from the titles, which also include "Last but Certainly Least" and "The Years Since You Left Me", there's a certain angstiness to these songs...more»
		The Tear Garden / Crystal Mass / Nettwerk cEvin Key has always had an ear for detail; he helped give Skinny Puppy their distinctive sound, and his participation in early Tear Garden efforts gave them a baroque air far above and beyond the Legendary Pink Dots' starkness. Here, he and his cohorts constantly surprise. "The double spades effect" begins in typically brittle industrial style with a twinkling keyboard melody, then brings in an undulating bass line and dreamy proto-surf guitars. The result recalls Echo and the Bunnymen; it's unexpected, but quite enjoyable...more»
		Vancouver Nights / Self-Titled / Endearing If you've been a follower of the great Yo Yo compilations from Washington, this will come as a "No duh" statement: Sara Lapsley, formerly of Kreviss, is a wonderful singer. She can sing cool like Debsey Wykes (the Birdie gal) and is able to hit the higher notes on "Dark in My Heart", enabling even the most nondescript lyrics to breathe life into your tired stereo. Through "Julep" (their Yo Yo appearance) and their Sub Pop 45s, Sara and Kreviss gave us riott grrls with bubblegum hearts -- and now, on the piano, she's blowing bubbles big and sweet with a band made up of members from many of Canada's better groups...more»