The Delgados / The Great Eastern / Beggars Banquet As is often the case with CDs I end up really liking, The Great Eastern took a little while to seep into my brain. The first few listens left me thinking, "well, that was pretty, but not all that memorable." But I kept listening to it again and again, and eventually realized that it was all I wanted to hear...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Sleater-Kinney / All Hands on the Bad One / Kill Rock Stars In several weeks of listening, I’ve found my brain getting stuck on the lyrics of "Youth Decay" and the Who-inspired guitar work of "You’re No Rock’n’Roll Fun". The addition of Janet Weiss as a vocalist is an exciting new development. Her turn at the mic on "Milkshake’n’Honey", reminiscent of a sly, meandering Chrissy Hynde, becomes even more striking when, at the end, it melts into tightly harmonized backing vocals and swirling organ...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Calexico / Hot Rail / Quarterstick Hot Rail is laced with desert themes -- references to fire tail bats, scorpions and sonic winds about. Not only is there a Southwest feel; several of the tracks have a very South-of-the-Border mood. Here, diversity comes in again, as Calexico not only captures the mariachi sounds of Mexico, but travels closer to the equator and stir up references to Samba great Antonio Carlos Jobim...more»
		Fiver / Strings on Satellites / Devil in the Woods Fiver take traditional guitar-based rock and run it through a series of shape- and structure-altering funhouse mirrors. The result is an album of beautifully melodic guitar soundscapes that manage to bend, twist and stretch themselves into shapes unlike most music being made today...more»
		Fontanelle / Self-Titled / Kranky The overall feeling here is one of potential -- not potential as in "some day this band's gonna be great", but potential in terms of stockpiled energy. Over six long tracks, Fontanelle undulate towards crashing jazz climaxes, only to sublimate them, tantric-style, like ocean waves that swell ominously and then subside...more»
		The Mendoza Line / We're All In This Alone / Bar/None The vocals in particular pander appealingly to indie rock tastes, offering a tasty array of unaffected male and female voices. It's not until track four -- "Baby, I Know What You're Thinking" for those of you following along in the CD booklet -- that we hear a singer who clearly knew in advance that he was going to be recorded...more»
		Plastics Hi-Fi / Home Brewed / Plastics Hi-Fi Before you ask, yes. Home Brewed is a CD-R. Does the title make sense now? It's a very nicely-presented CD-R, attractively and inventively packaged (the disc itself is also labeled with a piece of masking tape, which somehow seems cool), but a CD-R nonetheless. However, unless you attach your favorite CDs to the fridge with magnets, this is unlikely to present a significant problem...more»
		Quix*O*Tic / Night For Day / Igor Stix There are songs about witches, ghoul girls and plastic flowers (the tombstone's perfume), all done with much more seriousness than you'd get from, say, the Cramps. Vocal chores are split between Christina and the other spooky-voiced members, but it's the drums and guitars that make these songs extra-special...more»
		Sneakster / Pseudo-Nouveau / Shadow British electronic scenester Mark Clifford and newly-discovered singer Sophie Hinkley clearly know what it takes to create compelling music. Take the masterful "Fireheart" as an example... It begins with a static synth arpeggio ("Is this some poor-man's Philip Glass?", you might ask) which gradually becomes more riveting as it is combined with Hinkley's gently piercing, repetetive vocals...more»
		Matt Suggs / Golden Days Before They End / Merge "Skeleton Blues in B Flat Minor" kicks off the album with an instantly hummable hook that perfectly defines the word "ditty". Knocking about from low-key footstompers ("Soon the Moon Will Glow") to bayou waltzes ("Farewell to a Tightrope Queen"), Suggs' approach is antique in feel, yet consistently fresh in execution...more»