International Airport / Nothing We Can Control / Overcoat Nothing We Can Control is the musical equivalent of a Sunday morning that follows a late Saturday night spent drinking and debauching. It's warm, sunny, fuzzy and blurry, suffused by a pleasant sense of otherworldliness that suggests that you might not really be awake at all. It's music for a morning when you get up slightlier earlier than you need to, wrap yourself in a comfortable bathrobe, enjoy the feeling of soft carpet under your feet and the warmth of the sunlight trickling through shrouded windows...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Octant / Car Alarms and Crickets / Up Populated by a charming and puzzling array of electronic follies, Car Alarms and Crickets is utterly seductive. While the layers of otherworldly instruments are deep, they're skillfully arranged to create irresistible rhythms laced with glossy, ghostly vocals. If the instrumentation sounds alien, it's with good reason: Octant's captain, Matt Steinke, creates many of the instruments employed to weave these love songs for shimmy-shaking 'bots...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Tyro / Audiocards / Mute They used to be Toenut, or two of them did anyway. Katie and Skipper Hartley are the core of Tyro. They were in Toenut, although Katie wasn't Katie Hartley back then; she was Katie something else. I guess they got married. Ooolala. Katie sings and does samples. Skipper plays guitar and does some more samples. Other people play other things, like bass and drums and guitar. There is a lot of strange stuff on Audiocards. Track One: scary broken computer sounds with Katie singing "yah, yah, yah" in a really spooky fasion over the top...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Coach / Package Deal / Doghouse Package Deal is intended to be somewhat emo -- the band is big fans of Favez, the Swiss emo band, and heck, their label's Doghouse -- but all I hear is fun pop with a bit of emo crossover. Perhaps this isn't so surprising from a band who lists Destiny's Child as a guilty aural pleasure. The disc is fabulously cheerful; on the first track, "Hey, You're Ok", Daniel Jude sings in his rasping tenor, "Hey, this song could be a number one/ Even though the lyrics are quite dumb", and I was instantly suckered into liking them for being so honest...more»
		The Dead C / Self-Titled / Language Recordings While the band has consistently manipulated textures, sounds and moods throughout its extensive career, it has always retained a belief in utter, free-flowing improvisation. Ranging from subtly ambient to flagrantly overpowering, the inventive sounds of The Dead C are about the only thing that fans have come to (and can) expect. Each member’s willingness to experiment, and to avoid the banality of contemporary rock, is one of the ultimate reasons for The Dead C’s cult status and continued success...more»
		Don Caballero / American Don / Touch & Go American Don is the fourth album proper from these longtime math-prog-post-whatever-else-you’d-care-to-lump-them-in-with rockers. They've reconfigured themselves as a three piece in the wake of the departure of long-time guitar wizard Mike Banfield. With the loss of their seminal guitarist behind them, remaining members Damon Che, Ian Williams and Eric Emm set out to prove that a stripped-down lineup does not necessarily equal a stripped-down sound...more»
		George Koelle / Ready, Steady, Go... / Burning Hand I go through phases in which I like the Red House Painters. I think that's why I like George Koelle's album. It has the same gentle, melodious, folk style. It's not as polished as RHP stuff, but that's actually a plus -- it helps to stave off the boredom that comes from too much pretty, perfect music. Koelle recorded this album in his bedroom on a 4-track and a PC, giving these tracks an immediacy which can't be obtained with fancy production tricks...more»
		Molasses / Trilogie: Toil and Peaceful Life / Fancy The disc begins with a five-minute stretch of pealing church bells, which should clue you into the fact that the next three songs will address issues of faith and work. Steeped in a spiritual atmosphere of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century -- albeit with a lingering prog-rock edge -- Molasses unleashes a troika (hence the title) of downtrodden, drunken dirges, wheezing with faded grandeur but possessed of bright-eyed quasi-religious zeal...more»
		Various Artists / Moonshine Over America 2000: The Music DJ Mixed / Moonshine Cirrus' new single, "Ghetto Blaster", opens this disc, and it seems inspired by both disco and old school rap. There is a difference, though, and that's because its beats are bigger, fatter and better. Too bad its occasional lyric ("Ghetto Blaster, Mix Master") makes no effort to convey a feeling...but the song manages, by the sheer strength of the music, to be both deliriously happy and funky. That should leave listeners eager...more»
		Ravenous / Phoenix / Metropolis There is no denying the Depeche Mode comparison -– the club-friendly beats, gothic pop and Fockenbrock's melancholy croon are clearly influenced by Martin Gore and crew. This isn't to say that Ravenous are a simple tribute band. Tracks like opener "Religion" are steeped in arpeggiated keyboards, giving the music a Front 242-ish industrial feel. Elsewhere, as on "The Abbey", the drum machine slows to a sexy slitherthat packs more pelvic punch than anything Gore has written in a decade...more»