Steven Severin, Peglegasus, Scattergun Reflex, Marianne Faithfull, Acoustic Junction, Millencolin, Kitten Factor, Come On, Radiolaria, Mister Karate, Nerf Herder, Test Pilot/Origami, The Cult, Jeff Talmadge, Diane Labrosse, Super XX Man, What is Little, Day One

	Steven Severin / Visons / Re (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "Come Deliver Us" Although his name might be foreign to you, Steven Severin is no newcomer to the music world. Severin was one of the founding members of (and a co-lyricist and songwriter for) Siouxie and the Banshees. Throughout the years, he's also collaborated with the likes of Lydia Lunch, Marc Almond, Robert Smith and others, while somehow also finding time to be a music critic, producer, poet, webmaster, musical director and label owner. Visions is Severin's first solo instrumental album. Sounding much like music for a planetarium, all nine tracks feel very ambient, with an underlying tone of some classic upbringings very reminiscent of Philip Glass. All songs are textured, mournful and a bit spooky. It's a record to get lost within, a record where time stops and nothing else really matters. -- ha-n
	Peglegasus / Tired of Adventures / Mad Entropic Carnival (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "The Soup Was Mine" Sonic Youth doing covers of Rush doing covers of Santana? Can you hear it? Think guitar gods, complex, driving rhythms, hyper drums, goofy lyrics, earnest and/or goofy vocals... These fellows sure can play their instruments! They may have been born a decade or two too late, but that's no reason to fret. Besides, no one in the 1970s would have been able to get David Byrne and the Eagles together on a tune like "The Soup Was Mine," and hobbit-rock purists would have never accepted the purposeful silliness of "La Fouche." While much of the music on Tired of Adventures is a little too prog-rocky for my tastes, it's a good natured, very well played, thoroughly energized disc, sure to please the non-humor-challenged. -- ib
	Scattergun Reflex / Laughing at a Dead Man / Laser Trax Records (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "The People Vs Sammy" The only way to adequately appreciate Laughing at a Dead Man is to give ear plugs to your cats, then crank up your stereo's volume to 11. The stuttering intro on the opener is perhaps explained by the track's title ("I don't have to go back, do you?"), but only on this, "Damntriloquist", and "The Sky Is Blue" does the band successfully execute bad ideas. Otherwise, Scattergun Reflex do a great job executing good ideas loudly, making the slightly complex, always charging melodies found on "Goats of Progress" and "Briefers" very welcome to the ears. It's also nice to have an instrumental rock band be joyfully hard, fast and defiantly anti-jazz. Scattergun Reflex, recommended for any who have wondered what Braid would sound like without vocals, help mark a successful beginning for the new Laser Trax Records label. -- td
	Marianne Faithfull / Vagabond Ways / Instinct (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "Vagabond Ways" Even the youngest of you should have heard of Marianne Faithfull, if only from legendary and/or apocryphal tales of bear skin rugs, Mars bars, rock stars and heroin. Now in her 50s, Faithfull has become rock's true grand dame, her cigarette-ravaged voice as distinctive as a signature. Vagabond Ways casts her, in many ways, as a female Leonard Cohen, narrating tales of indiscretion from a distant, knowing and regretful perspective. She even sounds like Cohen -- except, ironically, on her cover of his "Tower of Song," which seems friendlier and less forlorn. Elton John and Bernie Taupin contribute a new song, too, and Roger Waters digs out an unrecorded 1968 Pink Floyd tune, "Incarceration of a Flower Child," which fits Faithfull almost as well as it describes Syd Barrett, while also hinting at the Wall to come. She might sound like she's at death's door, but Marianne Faithfull can still deliver a riveting performance. Don't be surprised if you get completely caught up in Vagabond Ways -- it's a bewitching album. -- gz
	Acoustic Junction / Strange Days / Omad Records (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "Strange Days" Acoustic Junction's Strange Days should take the radio waves by storm, not because it's great, but because it sounds so familiar. These (ahem) acoustic rock jams have been played in every bar on earth, and this album fits in snugly with all that have come before it. The five-piece band uses pedal steel and harmonica to appropriate country authenticity, and by the time the organ arrives the sentiment is so overwhelming that it's hard not to give in. Nevertheless, the songs still feel forced. This music feels like home, and although it's nice to visit, I wouldn't want to live there anymore. -- rd
	Millencolin / Pennybridge Pioneers / Epitaph (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "No Cigar" They're Swedes. They're armed with skateboards, jaunty guitars and drum kits that roar. They're four cool, camera-ready fellows who were raised on Southern California hardcore. Millencolin's Pennybridge Pioneers keeps the fire of punk pop burning in 2000. Picking up where Green Day's Dookie left off, Pennybridge Pioneers has all the requisite elements for tight, brawny anthems made for sk8 enthusiasts. "Duckpond" and "Stop to Think" are exemplary tracks dedicated to pounding drums that set the speedy tempo paired with punchy chord changes. Never mind the banality of the lyrics. The music is the message. -- dd
	Kitten Factor / Surround EP / Sunday (7") Sample 30 seconds of "Surround" Playing supple female vocals off of chiming guitar notes, this Chi-town-based band has me thinking about Stereolab and (Splendid favorites) Fonda as each track sparkles with clarity and precision. An unassuming run through meandering indie-rock rhythms and bouncy melodies, you can't help but like this airy three song 7". Add some farfisa and a touch of trumpet and the lascivious Kitten Factor will be teasing your ears with a familiar, yet charmingly pleasant sound after a few spins of the faithful turntable. -- am
	Come On / New York City 1976-80 / Heliocentric(CD) Sample 30 seconds of "Disneyland" Come On were a band of New York new-wavers supposedly appreciated by the likes of David Bowie. Their music, released now on the Heliocentric label (along with all other George Elliot projects), shows a band very content with imitating early Devo and Talking Heads material. As with David Byrne, they have a deliberate sense of childlike whimsy ("Tommy gets his paper/But forgets his change/Wait till he finds out/Oh boy") and charm that sometimes propels their songs to modest heights. Though always inessential, the tracks are at least interesting, and singer Jamie Kaufman bears a nice vocal resemblance to Tom Verlaine. For me, the CD helps to provide a wider perspective on the New York scene in the seventies; if you don't care about such things, you'll need to listen to something else. -- td
	Radiolaria / Fuzz is Verse / Twist Top (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "Fizzle" This is the indie-pop sound I'll never tire of: huge gusts of blurry, squalling guitar melody mixed with breathy boy/girl vocals and thunderous drumming. My Bloody Valentine descendants, in other words. The ladies and gentleman of Radiolaria seem content with getting this formula exactly right (barring muffled production that's probably a budgetary issue), so don't expect to hear anything that's going to radically redefine your notion of reality... It may not be breathtakingly original, but it's well done. -- gz
	Mister Karate / !Mister Karate Wins Again! / General Ludd Music (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "Sunlight" With a name like Mister Karate and mad props for the clever packaging (a ziploc bag with a lyric book, CD slipcase made from silkscreened rice paper and some fake Chinese money), one would think that Mister Karate would have an exotic flair. Instead, we get singer/songwriter/boy rock. Simple male vocals with guitar strumming and occasional casio accompaniment makes the packaging on this album and a few of the song titles ("The Ballad of Frosty and Sam the Panda" and "Samantha Took my Whiskey Glass Away") more entrancing than the music itself. Oh, the songs aren't awful -- in fact there's one that sounds like an Irish jig that's quite catchy -- but overall they just aren't anything special. Deception by name and packaging left me feeling a bit....cheated? -- ha-n
	Nerf Herder / How to Meet Girls / Honest Don's Corn Dog Emporium (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "Courtney" In the world of pop-punk, Nerf Herder holds the place of the Three Stooges. While the Marx Brothers were sly enough to hint at an underlying intelligence, the Stooges were content to shoot for the lowest common denominator. Unfortunately, How to Meet Girls is Shemp-era Stooges, in that it simply rehashes earlier work with new scenes. When the most entertaining part of an album are the song titles ("Pantera Fans in Love"), you're in trouble. The hand that keeps Nerf Herder from getting poked in the eyes is its talent for writing catchy sing-a-long choruses -- but this just isn't enough to save the day. Despite these shortcomings, the album should still appeal to the band's core audience just as Moe and the boys still appeal to guys in their boxers on a Sunday morning. (Insert n'yucking sound here.) -- rd
	Test Pilot/Origami / Test Pilot meets Origami / Kittridge (7”) Sample 30 seconds of Test Pilot's "Boy’s Life" The spirit of the sixties is alive and well on this split 7” single. Both Test Pilot and Origami display a knack for layering syrupy sweet harmonies atop playful, chiming guitars. Test Pilot’s “Boy’s Life” is quite reminiscent of sixties surf popsters Ronny and the Daytonas with its ringing guitars and gentle backbeat, while Origami’s “All That Was Lost” couples a plaintive acoustic strum and wiry bass line with precisely incessant female vocals. Both songs will find you longing for the days when men looked a lot like women and moccasins were actually in style. -- jj
	The Cult / Catalog Sampler / Beggars Banquet (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "Go Go Guru" I don't think you can buy this disc -- Beggars Banquet sent it to us to publicize their reissues of the Cult's catalog, which includes the Death Cult and Southern Death Cult stuff. If you weren't into the Cult the first time around, you might find them interesting now, if only to watch them evolve from a punkish goth band to a goth-tinged metal band to a boozed-up guy flogging a Steven Tyler imitation for a few more bucks, shedding words from their name as they go. Of course, it's easy now to tell when the Cult took a wrong turn, but it wasn't hard in 1987 either...covering Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" has never been a good career move. Choose your reissued Cult albums carefully; there's a difference between nostalgia and flushing money down the toilet. -- gz
	Jeff Talmadge / The Spinning of the World / Bozart (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "The Spinning of the World" Singer/songwriter Jeff Talmadge writes mature, meaningful yet still listenable folk songs. While his lyrics have all the depth, power and subtlety of a seasoned songwriter, they also have a refreshing twist of humor which sets them apart from some of the folkie-fare out there. What's even better is that this humorous side is subdued enough not to take away from the legitimate impact of Talmadge's poetic voice. His music is generally of the breezy folk/country variety, and it can be pleasant in the right context. Admittedly, I generally have a difficult time swallowing such mainstream, feel-good folk music, but Talmadge's deft lyrical ability and subtle musicianship is the sugar coating that makes The Spinning of the World go down. It won't make my list of favorite albums for the year, but I can't deny that it's finely crafted work! -- nw
	Diane Labrosse / Petite Traite De Sagesse Spratique / DAME(CD) Sample 30 seconds of "Eloquence" If you've ever heard and enjoyed avante garde works like David Byrne's The Catherine Wheel (or even The Body by Roger Waters and Ron Geesin), then you might find the sound sculptures by Diane Labrosse to be delectable. Of the 29 short pieces, I particularly enjoyed the hymn "Temerite", which is graced with a surprising willingness to be musical, and the minimalist "Pudeur", which features some spooky cool whispers. I wasn't really fond of anything else, but at least there aren't too many back-to-back-punches (like the unfathomably irritating "Ponderation" and "Discernement") that make you want to throw a brick on her CD. -- td
	Super XX Man / Vol. IV / Peek-a-Boo (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "The Destroyer" Super XX Man, a.k.a. Scott from Silver Scooter, is the sort of bedroom pop that shoe-gazers have been making since the invention of the home four-track. In fact, this collection of recordings was indeed recorded at home, although the production does not make that glaringly obvious. Filled with gently strummed guitar and twee keyboards, the music reminds me of my 70's childhood with its lazy, simple fantasies of being Han Solo. For example, on "The Destroyer" Scott uses what I swear must be samples from an Atari game as they rhythm track. Despite some variation, such as the pedal steel on "Dreamin' Man", overall many of these tunes come off as overly sleepy. Although the songs on Vol. IV are hummable enough, as a group they're just a bit too dreamy to really wake me up. -- rd
	What Is Little / s/t / Unread (7") Sample 30 seconds of "Song #1" There's lo-fi, and then there's What Is Little, in which a lightly strummed acoustic guitar guides dreary vocals through a self taught lesson in DIY-ness. As a matter of fact, these tunes are so stripped down that What Is Little may as well be playing in your living room, as everything from recording crackles to in-between-gasps for air can be heard. Innocent and unobtrusive, here's a good round of unassuming pop that sparkles with sincerity as simplicity quietly trickles from the speakers. -- am
	Day One / Ordinary Man / Melankolic (CD) Sample 30 seconds of "Waiting For A Break" Something about Day One failed to inspire me. Perhaps it's their lyrics, which too often resort to overly simplistic and predictable rhymes. Perhaps it's their music -- a lazy, summery blend of hip-hop and pop that leaves too many of its best ideas unfinished. Or maybe it's vocalist Phelim, whose stereotypical UK rap drawl reminds me of the guy from the Stereo MCs, especially on rare uptempo tunes like "Bedroom Dancing". I didn't loathe Ordinary Man, but nothing about it -- good or bad -- moved me to write anything whatsoever. Just getting these sentences out was like pulling teeth. That can't be a good thing. -- gz

gz - george zahora | nw - noah wane | am - andrew magilow | ib - irving bellemead | jj - jason jackowiak
ha-n - heidi anne-noel | dd - deirdre devers | td - theodore defosse | rd - ron davies