Various Artists / Commercial Ad Hoc / Illegal Art In this third installment of the Illegal Art series, a smattering of artists take aim at the gizmo-hawkers and widget-makers who foist conspicuous consumption on us at every turn. Building upon a groundwork laid by Negativland in such releases as A Big 10-8 Place, the artists collected here start with a simple ingredient: an ad man's rap, be it infomercial banter, a jingle or a tag line. Then each artist sends the message through his own meat grinder...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		The Olivia Tremor Control / Presents: Singles and Beyond / Emperor Norton Exactly why the Olivias have decided to release Presents: Singles and Beyond now is a bit of a mystery. It's possible that the band was tired of watching their loyal fans get bamboozled by collector scum. Or perhaps they just wanted a piece of the action themselves. Regardless of their motivations, Singles and Beyond is a thorough compendium of the band’s early output, including compilation appearances and out-of-print 7” material...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys / The Spectacular Sadness of... / Bloodshot With an old-school sound that harkens back to mid-sixties legends like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, Hobart and his four-piece backing band spin booze-sodden sad-sack tales of broken hearts. Everything you could hope for is here: songs about cheatin', songs about fightin' and songs about the juice. Although those unfamiliar with Bloodshot Records' output may think this sounds like a parody, Hobart and the boys are completely sincere...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Build Your Own Monster / Giant Sized Wonderment / Throw Your Voice On first listen I admit that I had Build Your Own Monster pegged as a boring boy-guitar band. I was wrong. First of all, there's a girl, Annie Chang, who plays bass, keys and sings a bit. Second, there are some nice non-guitar touches like tasteful keys, sax and vibes added to the BYOM sound. Third, the songs aren't boring! They're not exactly revolutionary either, but the lyrics are fun/interesting, the guitar playing is sharp and nicely narsty-sounding and the rhythm section is solid...more»
		Eleventh Dream Day / Stalled Parade / Thrill Jockey Stalled Parade, the band's second album for Thrill Jockey, isn't grim at all. There are sad moments, such as the downtrodden country-blues wail of "Valrico74", but it's safe to say that the Year 2000 finds Eleventh Dream Day fairly content. They've moved past the stark and threadbare Neil Young-isms of their early work, bringing the same ideas to life on a far grander scale on the title track. No longer an active live ensemble, Eleventh Dream Day clearly feels less of a need to limit their compositions to what they can reproduce on stage, resulting in sweeping visions of mature -- but undeniably Midwestern -- rock...more»
		Chris Knox / Beat / Thirsty Ear Like Squeeze, Richard Thompson or Robyn Hitchcock (whom he apes most ably on "The Man in the Crowd"), Knox's material doesn't always hit you on the first go-round. His sound sketches are like line drawings, with fuzzy guitar and assertive drumming used sparingly, more to define sonic space than to fill it in. Knox works with only the essential details, trusting your ears and imagination to flesh out the sound. Beat seems to be a bit of a concept album, addressing affairs of the heart on the lyrical side while tinkering with tempo on the mechanical front...more»
		Rotten Sound / Still Psycho / Necropolis This six song CD will give most of the metal public its first listen to this restless outfit, which has been around since 1993. Subsisting on a diet of early Napalm Death and groove-oriented thrash like Kreator, Rotten Sound does a superb job of blending the intensity of the former with discernible riffs from the latter. The result is a band that offers skull-crushing ferocity, as well as a melodic (as melodic as bloodthirsty metal can be!) side, coming off as multi-faceted rather than sounding confused...more»
		The Matthew Shipp Quartet / Pastoral Composure / Thirsty Ear Shipp claimed that he was done recording, that it was time to move on -- but when Thirsty Ear approached him about kicking off their new Blue Series of jazz recordings, he couldn't resist. He seems to have grasped the opportunity to redefine himself. Pastoral Composure is the most straight-ahead album in his catalog. For starters, he's leading a traditional jazz quartet rather than the drummerless duos and trios of his past. Some of the tunes he's playing are pretty orthodox, too...more»
		Randall Smith / Sondes / empreintes DIGITALes Sondes is a good bet -- both for newcomers to electroacoustic composition, and for old hands bored by bland, self-indulgent works. Smith writes for a combination of acoustic instruments and found-sound tapes, creating mixed electroacoustic music. He makes use of instruments with distinctive voices -- double bass, cello, alto flute and even accordion -- and pairs them with truly striking sound effects. From the first seconds of "Insideout", which delivers a veritable "Dolby jolt", you'll realize that this is an album for active listeners -- and for headphone fans...more»
		Paul Weller / Heliocentric / Island Weller's fifth studio record as a solo artist,contains his typical handful of wonderful singles, but separates itself from recent strong efforts with firmer, tighter, more acoustic-based compositions and lyrics which suggest Weller has reached a new peak ("She may look back and blame you, but you only blame yourself/And what good would it all do you if you thought she blamed herself?")...more»