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| Celtic Frost | Monothesis | Devastating on every possible level. A magnificient and massive powerhouse that redefines "heavy". |  |
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| Kate Bush | Aerial | Sony | A thought-provoking cozy blanket, stunning in its simplicity and warmth. Truly fantastic. | |
| Gary Numan | Jagged | Metropolis | His voice rules. I just long for less "modern" sounds and more "futuristic". |  |
| Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan | Ballad of the Broken Sea | V2 | Mark Lanegan sounds great, the rest is saddly just bland, boring and ordinary. |  |
| Some Girls | Heavens Pregnant Teens | Epitaph | Bite sized brutality melded together into a fist pumping monosyllabic violent noisy assault. |  |
| Venom | Metal Black | Sanctuary | Metal Black is all primal effort, making it equally kick ass and endearing. | |
| Alarm MMVI | Under Attack | EMI Int'l | Like watered down Maker's Mark, this lacks the flavor and bite thats expected. | |
| Solea (ex Samiam, Texas Is The Reason) | Solea | Textbook | Although not as earth-shattering as it's parts, this is solid and true. |  |
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1. The Darkness
"To Hell And Back Again" |
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| Renee Heartfelt | The Death Of The Ghost | Textbook | Phenomenal powerhouse that overflows with emotional anthems. A unique diamond cut from (quick)sand | |
| New Model Army | Carnival | Attack Attack | Yet another stunning album permeating with Justin Sullivan's wondrous conviction and staggering delivery. | |
| All American Rejects | Move Along | Interscope | I reject every second of this cd. Move along and outta my life! |  |
| Attractive (ex Snapcase and 6 going on 7) | Attractive EP | Welcome Home | Snappy songs exentuated with vibrance and accents. This is a train worth jumping. |  |
| Institute | Distort Yourslelf | Interscope | It is not as bad or as good as it could have been. | |
| Gorgol Bordello | Gypsy Punks | Side One Dummy | "A" for effort....unfortunately this is a band that sounds better on paper. | |
| Sigur Ros | Takk | Geffen | A mood enducing musical whirlwind. Calming yet entrancing enough to make you hyperventilate. | |
| David Bowie + Arcade Fire | Wake Up (from Fashion Rocks) | T.V. | Oh my god that was fucking amazing!! I want to marry that performance! |  |
| Bayside | Bayside | Victory | Teen angst lyrics sang like an American Idol. I don't believe a word | |
| Avenged Sevenfold | City of Evil | Warner Brothers | Biggest poser album this year. This is not metal, or punk, it's shit! |  |
| Medications | Your Favorite People All In One Place | Dischord | Clue: Ex Members of Faraquet being aMUSEd AT THE DRIVE IN by LUNGFISH. | |
| The Dan Band | Live | Side One Dummy | Novelty act that makes Me First and the Gimme Gimme's sound like Zeppelin. |  |
| Dropkick Murphy's | The Warrior's Code | Hellcat | Another fine batch of uplifting hard-hitting melodies. Lift a pint and cheer! | |
| 400 Blows | Angel's Trumpets and Devil's Trombones | GSL | Minimalistic, primal and noisy. This band captures the purity of unforced emotional power. | |
| Lungfish | Feral Hymns | Dischord | Slow churning elegance that evolves from repetition and focus. Buy all their albums! | |
| Team Sleep | Team Sleep | Maverick | Chino's perfect circle. For those who think his vocals are dreamy... like me! | |
| Limp Bizkit | The Unquestionable Truth V.1 | Geffen | The musical definition of "crap". Rock's worst band doing it worse than ever. |  |
| Robert Plant & the Strange Sensations | Mighty Rearranger | Sanctuary | His voice is gonna make you sweat, music is gonna make you groove! | |
| Coldplay | X & Y | Capital | Like an Old Navy white shirt, it fits good, it's just so.... gappy |  |
| The Life and Times | Suburban Hymns | DeSoto | A shoe gazing shine(r) that completely captivates, as its waves wash over you. | |
| Mark Lanegan | Bubblegum | Beggars Banquet | A fiercely dark album of great words and melodies. Lanegan's voice is truth. | |
| Bob Mould | Body Of Song | Yep Roc Records | Thankfully, the rock and the stressed voice are back. Not 100% but enough. | |
| P.S. | Double Standard | PS | Enthralling album of mood enducing arty songs entwined with a unique vulnerable voice. | |
| White Stripes | Get Behind Me Satan | V2 | Charming and fresh album I got behind once I heard the "doorbell" ringing. | |
| Bruce Dickinson | Tyranny Of Souls | Sancturary | Better than Maiden was without him, but not as good as Maiden with him. | |
| Chariots | Congratulations | Troubleman | Wreckless and noisey, pulsating and punchy, catchy and riveting... this is the bomb! | |
| T.S.O.L. | Who's Screwing Who? | Nitro | Albums of "re-recorded classics" are lame, but these songs are so good... forgiven | |
| The Evens | The Evens | Dischord | A bitter lemonade initially, but now I sip and enjoy... ahhhh refreshingly sweet! | |
| Jim Camaco | Stalker Songs | TMG Records | One of the most emotive voices ever does his obligatory boring acoustic album. | |
| Le Tigre | This Island | Universal | Certainly not killing anything or starting anything new, but it's a decent party | |
| Gameface | Four To Go | Revelation | A stellar, painful "goodbye" album. They certainly left on the highest note. Shame.. | |
| McClusky | The Difference Between You & Me Is That I'm Not On Fire | Too Pure | Frenzied and dynamic second album that is has wings of ugly and crazy beauty. | |
| Corrosion of Conformity | In The Arms Of God | Sanctuary | Moving more into the swamps and away from anything anyone should care about. | |
| Unsane | Blood Run | Relapse | This is stronger than King Kongs heart. Beats and bleeds. Screams and leads. | |
| Cy Curnin (the Fixx singer) | Mayfly | Rainman | Cy's voice is a beacon that cuts through the ordinary songs and shines. | |
| Clutch | Robot Hive: Exodus | Rte / Drt | With so many great rock jams, they should now be annoited GOD status. | |
| Concrete Blonde | Mojave | Eleven Thirty | Everything I like about Concrete Blonde is missing on "Mojave". Avoid the desert! |  |
| Bruce Springsteen | Devils and Dust | Sony | Well it sure does suck when the big man ain't in the band. | |
| Nine Inch Nails | With Teeth | Interscope | A bit more scaled back, wisely showing more organinc snarling than machine force. | |
| Paint It Black | Paradise | Jade Tree | A new brutality fueled with sounds of living a lifetime raising black flags. | |
| Audioslave | Out Of Exile | Interscope | Is this a Bad English album? So misguided, a pitiful waste of talent. | |
| Tony Iommi / Glenn Hughes | Fused | Sanctuary | A great riff-rock album, with songs that remind you Ozzy is not Sabbath. | |
| The Black Maria | Lead Us To Reason | Victory | Ex-Grade singer's lame album that sounds worse than the bands Grade once influenced. | |
| Judas Priest | Angel Of Retribution | Sony | Korn guitarist heard this, realized he sucks, and quit... HAIL THE METAL GODS! | |
| A Frames | Black Forest | Sub Pop | Incredibly stupid. Unforgivably tenth rate garbage that's even worse than Family Circus cartoons. |  |
| 7 Seconds | Take It Back, Take It On, Take It Over | Side One Dummy | My heart swells and races with every beat. Strong after all these years! | |
| Peter Searcy | Couch Songs | Initial | God I hate this "couch folk" idea, put his voice pulls it off | |
| Tony Iommi + Glen Hughes | 1996 DEP Sessions (8th Star) | Sanctuary | Overshadowed by Ozzy / Dio, these two sound fucking amazing together. Soulful-Sabb- Rock! | |
| Loved Ones | Loved Ones EP | Jade Tree | I mean, c'mon they have an acoustic song... disappointingly average, expected alot more! | |
| Mars Volta | Frances The Mute | Universal | More spaced out and spazed out mambo from the 'fro's. I dig it. | |
| Earl Greyhound | Earl Greyhound EP | Some Records | Classic rock vibe. Dashes of personality and kick make it "refreshing" not "rehashing". | |
| Autolux | Future Perfect | Red Ink | This was buddyheads top LP of 2004. Their review's pretty damn right on. | |
| Gratitude | Gratitude | Atlantic | Stunning and brilliant. Not enough hours in the day to listen to it. | |
| ......Trail of The Dead | World's Apart | Interscope | ..and you will know us by our trail of great albums like this! | |
| Mando Diao | Hurricane Bar | Mute | Went fishing for some glam sounds, ended up catching a flat tire. BORING! | |
| Arcade Fire | Funeral | Merge | A neighborhood you think you know, only to find new things each visit. | |
| Alva Star | Escalator | Princess Records | Mellow 70's radio vibe with vocals that are sugary and make you sway. | |
| The Sound | Jeopardy | Renascent | Where has this band been all my life? A real new wave masterpiece! | |
| Blues Explosion | Damage | Sanctuary | Played out big beats. They had a good idea, like a decade ago.... | |
| Autolux | Future Perfect | Red Ink | This was buddyheads top LP of 2004. Their review's pretty damn right on. | |
| Flogging Molly | Within A Mile Of Home | Side One Dummy | Sounded pretty good while drunk, the next day with coffee... not so good. | |
| Kid Dakota | The West Is The Future | Chairkickers | A record that plays more like a book of psuedo-intellectual short stories. | |
| Bright Eyes | I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning | Saddle Creek | His most consistent album to date. Less highs, but no lows: Solid throughout. | |
| Bright Eyes | Digital Ash | Saddle Creek | Slightly different canvas, same colorful voice and melodies . Should have gone more Basquiat. | |
| Twilight Singers | She Loves You | One Little Indian | Dulli's soulful voice "covers" you like a warm bath on a cold night | |
| Roses Are Red | Conversations | Trustkill | ....violets are blue, I smashed this in little pieces when I was through! | |
| The Firebird Band | The City At Night | Bifocal Media | They had me at hello last time, but I'm saying goodbye this time | |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Abattoir Blues / Lyre of Orpheus | Anti | Double the dose of enigmatic music and astonishing melodies. Much better than "Nocturama" | |
| Isis | Panoptican | Ipecac | Full of spendor and confrontation, this is truly brutal and yet completly engaging. | |
| Gwar | War Party | Dirt | Solid soundtrack to conquer the world, hosing everyone with blood. Don't wear white. | |
| Tom Waits | Real Gone | Epitaph | His new whiskey lovin' howling mule is branded with turntables, beats and hispanicana. | |
| The Exit | Home For An Island | Some | The scooter mod was replaced by a laid back moped... both good rides | |
| Voodoo Glow Skulls | Adiccion Tradicion Y Revolucion | Victory | Am I evil? I hear the horns and I laugh... can't help it. | |
| Renee Heartfelt | Magdalene | Limekiln Records | The 'sand sound we adore with passionate vocals and heartfelt emotions in motion! | |
| Pleasure Club (featuring James Hall) | Fugitive Kind | Purified | Ex Mary My Hope. This is the soundtrack of the future. TOTAL PLEASURE! | |
| These Enzymes | The Henry EP | Doghouse | Sorry Ma, I forgot to throw this piece of crap in the trash! | |
| Olympic Hopefuls | The Fuses Refuse To Burn | 2024 Records | Wearing snazzy track suits while writing catchy songs.. pretty damn easy to swallow. | |
| Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez | A Manual Dexterity - Soundtrack, Vol. 1 | GSL | Can somebody please tell me how and why records like this are released? | |
| Converge | You Feel Me | Epitaph | Today's The Day's willpower meets Neurosis's pain.. A frightenly powerfully knockout punch record. | |
| Anthrax | The Greater of Two Evils | Sanctuary | Pumped up new versions of old Belladonna / Tupin classics.. a damn fun listen. | |
| Mendoza Line | Fortune | Bar/None | If you read No Depression, this is definitely a fortune you want read. | |
| Happy | Sincerely Without Wax | Double Plus Good | Catchy and hooky, in every way. Strained vocals ignite the primitive, gyrating rythyms. | |
| Reeve Oliver | 1800 Feet Polyester | Militia Group | This is worse than anything Winger ever recorded.. even worse than Crazy Town. | |
| Futureheads | Futureheads | Sire | The funnest and coolest parts of the 80's coliding with The Clash: RAD! | |
| The Nervous Return | Wake Up Dead | LaSalle | Like a televised version of a great book... missing the best part = emotion | |
| U2 | How To Dismante An Atom Bomb | Interscope | Not as vibrant as the single suggested. It's smart, sweeping, exhilarating yet smooth. | |
| Isidore | Isidore | Brash Music | Church / Remy Zero collaboration lifts you up with coaxing vocals and soundtrack music. | |
| Burning Brides | Leave No Ashes | V2 | Have your heard the news? There is good rockin' tonight! Up the Brides! | |
| Social Distortion | Sex, Love and Rock n' Roll | Time Bomb | Some of their best stuff. Staying strong despite age, death and life. Powerful! | |
| Owen | I Do Perceive | Polyvinyl | Lame ass songs. They attempt to sound edgy by cursing.. Complete "confessional" crap! | |
| Aqui | The First Trip Out | Ace Fu | Pretentious art punk, the music equivalent of mimes... oh how I hate mimes! | |
| Shanghai Vallentine | Shanghai Vallentine EP | Ghostwood | I love this band (insert Misfits "whoa-oh" here) great late 80's punk sound. | |
| Helmet | Size Matters | Interscope | It was once Helmets' world, we just lived in it.. can't go back. | |
| Kane Hodder | The Pleasure To Remain So Heartless | Suburban Home | Nothing to hold onto, too many cooks spoil the brew.. overcooked, bland, heartless | |
| Walking Concert | "Run To Be Born" | Some Records | The kinda record you'll listen to your entire life. United by Walter, indeed!!! | |
| Instruction | "God Don't Care" | Geffen | The best Nu Modern Rock album you'll ever listen to. Modern Rock???? Capone solos!!! | |
| Dio | "Master Of The Moon" | Sanctuary | Good news: album = tour. Bad news: worst album of a thirty year career. | |
| Various Artists | "Neurot Recordings 1" | Neurot | Proof positive: Neurot is a true force. Beyond music, this is a movement! | |
| Death Threat | "Now Here Fast" | Triple Crown | The lowest common demoninator, metal tough guy punk. Absolutely nothing of value here. | |
| Only Crime | "To The Nines" | Fat Wreck Chords | Bill Stevenson + Good Riddance + Bane = collectively sounding like what you would imagine, THANKFULLY | |
| C.aarme' | "C.aarme" | Burning Heart | Driving and dictating low-end pushes their Dillinger Four/RFTC/Refused international vibe | |
| Planes Mistaken For Stars | "Up In Them Guts" | No Idea | Upping the power with each release. This is no holds barred Plane Rock!!! | |
| Retisonic | "Return To Me" | Silverthree | This is downright amazing. Sounds like a rejuvinated, amped up, kick ass Bluetip!! | |
| Human Television | "All Songs Written By" | Gigantic | Sugary 80's catchy pop that doesn't contain a single original idea. Purely lame. | |
| Funeral For A Friend | "Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversations" | Ferret | Bringing the best of both worlds, they make the phrase Metal Emo palatable. | |
| Bloc Party | "Bloc Party EP" | Din Mak | Syncopated Gang/Radio 4 stylings. Lots of variety in five songs. Hand claps! | |
| The Eventide | "Last Days of Stereo" | Romance | One foot in Quicksand, the other running towards new fields, this is powerful. | |
| Eighteen Visions | "Obsession" | Sony / Trustkill | Just a bit too pretty. It's shamful that some great parts go wasted. | |
| Keane | "Hopes and Fears" | Interscope | Hi, I work for Interscope. We're looking for bands that sound like Coldplay.... | |
| Libertines | "Libertines" | Rough Trade | The latest soundtrack to their soapopera, shows they lost the spirit and attack. | |
| Constantines | Debut album: Re-issue | Sub Pop | Total rock-n-roll bliss. An updated version of our favorite 80's replacements-type bands. | |
| Kill Radio | "Raised On Whipped Cream" | Columbia | Like S.T.U.N. before them, it's so horrible I'm at a loss for words. | |
| Engine Down | "Engine Down" | Lookout Records | Syncopated rythmns, droning guitars, sweet sounding vocals.. a bit commercial this time around. | |
| TV On The Radio | "Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes" | Touch & Go | Distinctive voice slithers through jagged-repetitive arrangements. Creating a truly moving listening experience | |
| Channels | "Open" | Desoto | There should be monuments erected to honor J.Robbins. This EP should be forgotten. | |
| The Break | "Handbook For the Hopeless" | Ferret | A bit more settled than previous recordings. Nice Samiam type rock still delivers. | |
| Motorhead | "Inferno" | Sanctuary | Still louder than everyone else. Motorhead consistently delivers every single time. Lemmy rules! | |
| Head Automatica | "Decadence" | Warner Brothers | Grove-y Glassjaw side project. Good break beats with splashes of this and that. | |
| Say Anything | "It's A Real Boy" | Doghouse | I have absolutely nothing good to say about this shitty piece of garbage. | |
| Action Action | "Don't Cut Your Fabric To This Years Fashion" | Victory | Their fabric was cut in 1982. Synth-Popemo. Dance, scream, dance, scream... sweat. | |
| The Datsuns | "Outta Sight / Outta Mind" | V2 | They have energy and they rawk, but it's just missing that special something. | |
| Das Oath | "Das Oath" | Din Mak | The sound of urgency - - A screaming loud, fast emergeny! Wake up the neighbors!!!! | |
| Monty Love | "Girls Are the New Boys" | Immigrant Sun | Remember that "punk" band in highschool that didn't get "it"? This is them. | |
| Clinic | "Winchester Cathedral" | Domino | Oh Clinic, how I love thee.... don't ever change a thing! Again, Again!! | |
| Scatter The Ashes | "Devout / The Modern Hymn" | Epitaph | Dispite good drumming, this is essentially a boring, hippy, trippy, quasi-screamy stretch. | |
| The New Transit Direction | "Wonderful Defense Mechanisms" | Some Records | Salt Lakers jaw box some hot snakes and come out with a victory. | |
| IQU | "Sun Q" | Sonic Boom | Really bad quirky "we want to be The Waitresses" trite garbage. Delete, delete. | |
| Har Mar Superstar | "The Handler" | Record Collection | If you have the Saturday Night Fever, this just might be your 'thang. | |
| Elevator Divistion | "Years" | Second Nature | Sporting a medium paced 80's progressive rock sound... it's friendly and not distinguishable. | |
| Today Is The Day | "Kiss The Goat" | Relapse | Steve Austin scares me! Scathing, brutal, brain melting blasts. I miss "Willpower"days. | |
| Secret Machines | "Kiss The Goat" | Relapse | Not unique at all, but it does have that Flaming Lips drum sound... | |
| Janus | "Armor" | Janus | A pretty standard issue rock sound at times spurts bright spots of promise. | |
| Hot Rod Circuit | "Reality's Coming Through" | Vagrant | Another dose of easy to swallow geek-rock, a poor man's Jimmy Eat World. | |
| Elvis Costello | "North" | Universal | Kept falling asleep while listening to this. Diane Krall stole his rock-n-roll heart | |
| Hott Beat | "A Hot Mess | Parxysm | Numan-esque keyboards lead the grrrrl sound that has a definitely killer bikini wave. | |
| Lords | "The House That Lords Built | Initial | Short songs burst out of this Louisville band like firecrackers on the 4th. | |
| Mystic Chords of Memory | "Mystic Chords of Memory" | Rough Trade | Sounds like stoners around a campfire. I'd put the marshmellows in my ears. | |
| For Stars | "It Falls Apart" | Future Farmer | Instantly endearing vocals lead their tender, dark, enchantng sound. Comes across as uplifting. | |
| Coliseum | "Coliseum" | Level Plane | Black Cross guitarist leads this Motorhead type crossover band into the power zone. | |
| Guttermouth | "Eat Your Face" | Epitaph | All that's funny, is how bad and by the numbers the music is. | |
| Dek | "Boner" | Finger Records | Kids! 13-16 bring the OC sound pretty damn well - pretty damn impressive. | |
| Various Artists | "Metaphysics for Beginners" | Redder Records | 18 good bands, but it's all about the unplugged song by The Ghost. | |
| The Concretes | "The Concretes" | Astralwerks | Portis-Deal-esque vocals with a definite love of 60's teen love vibe. | |
| Ministry | "House of the Mole'" | Sanctuary | Scraping the bottom of the barrell. Hard to believe they were once good. | |
| Traindodge | "The Truth" | Ascetic | Has great Shiner type grooves, but comes up short in the vocal department. | |
| Mission of Burma | "On Off On" | Matador | How does it happen? 20 years later, they come back and kill everyone. | |
| Gary Young's Hospital (ex Pavement) | "The Grey Album" | Omnibus | I'd rather shove pencils in my ears than ever listen to this again! | |
| Hint Hint | "Young Day" | Suicide Squeeze | Well alright, this is damn good. Off kilter vocals. Tragically Lungfishy and Hip | |
| Pleasant Stitch | "Capacitar" | Sacriledge - They wreck the holy grail Rites of Spring "Theme", why oh why? | |
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| Squad Five - 0 | "Late Breaking News" | Capital | Anothersimpleton, lame ass band that plays excruciatingly boring poppy lame ass music. | |
| Sonic Youth | "Sonic Nurse" | Geffen | Their best album in years. Pouring more fuel over their mid life sound. | |
| Anodyne | "Lifetime of Grey Skies" | Level Plane | Aggressive hyper noise with great drumming. Never pushes far enough to hold attention. | |
| Voivod | "War and Pain" re-issue | Metal Blade | 1983: this is what crossover was all about. A frigid, scary, heavy classic. | |
| Maritime | "Glassfloor" | Desoto | The musical equivalent of watching grass grow. Even paint drying sounds more exciting. | |
| Bad Religion | "The Empire Strikes Back" | Epitaph | They're pissed again, so they rock again! Their most powerful record in years! | |
| Good Life | "Lovers Need Lawyers" EP | Saddle Creek | Holy shit, this truly sucks! Pull the plug, this life ain't worth livin'!!!! | |
| Amen | "Death Before Musick" | Columbia | Attempting to combine old school and new school, should go back to school. | |
| The Thermals | "Fuckin A' | Sub Pop | Wow, wow, wow. A rowdy and fast musical bomb. It's fuckin a awesome. | |
| Communique | "Poison's Arrow" | Lookout! | Their pseudo intellectual sound lacks bite and pretty much any redeeming qualities whatsoever. | |
| Neurosis | "The Eye of Every Storm" | Neurot | Cascading calm moments with lurking thunder and lightning. This is the perfect storm! | |
| PJ Harvey | "Uh Huh Her" | Island | Raw and beautiful, brooding and howling. Skeletal recordings, expose her soulful musical remedy. | |
| Despistado | "The Emergency Response" EP | Jade Tree | This is the real deal. Jubilant refreshing sound that's infectious, rocking and catchy. | |
| Black Cat Music | "October November" | Lookout! | Randy Batezore's voice is a national treasure. Words ring with conviction and humanity. | |
| Black Cross | "Windows Bloody Windows" | Initial | Essential collection of previous singles from Louisville punk heroes. Buy "Art Offensive" too! | |
| Black Dice | "Creature Comforts" | DFA | You would be better off listening to the sound of a downtown bus stop. | |
| The Ghost | "This Pen Is A Weapon" | Some | Disturbed sing alongs fortified with pulsating experimental tirades fill this progressive second record. | |
| !!! | "Louden Up Now" | Touch & Go | These boogie shoes are tied together. The politics of dancing are getting stale. | |
| Piebald | "All Ears, All Eyes, All The Time" | Side One Dummy | Annoying voice sometimes less annoying and sometimes more, but this is annoying | |
| Avoid One Thing | "Chopstick Bridge" | Side One Dummy | More melodic second album. Retains their solid mature punk overtones. Slightly above average. | |
| Various Artists | Buddyhead Suicide | Buddyhead | Dillinger Escape Plan's "Rebel Yell", need I say more? Great bands, great songs! | |
| Alice Donut | "Three Sisters" | Howler | They once were unique and interesting, then they returned as this dull mess. | |
| Black Eyes | "Cough" | Dischord | A spastic, innovative and certainly interesting band. However, the replay level is low. | |
| Xiu Xiu | "Fabulous Muscles" | 5 Rue Christine | Strong and vulnerable voice soars over unique instrumentation.... Fragile, wavering voice envelopes you | |
| The Matches | "E Van Dahl Killed The Locals" | Epitaph | A "Brand New" tribute band? This is HORRIBLE! Someone please make them stop! | |
| Tight Phantomz | "Night Fool" 5 song EP | Southern | Circus of Power with a bit of Shellac. Dianno vocals with riffs! Rawk! | |
| Calla | "Calla" re-issue w/3 live tracks. | Arena Rock | Sigur Waits music intertwined with whispers and unique instruments, like typewriters. Transfixing, smoldering | |
| Trapdoor Fucking Exit | "Be Not Content" | No Idea | Part Voivod, part Planes, part Unsane, part inexplicable. Total fucking power, total fucking brilliance | |
| Fontiane Toups | T.F.T. | Teenbeat | Versus solo effort. Diverse with questionable outcome. Best songs hint toward Concrete Blonde. | |
| Waxburn | "Hey Hey" | CD Baby | Jim Camacho has one of the greatest rock voices. Songs are mostly "average". | |
| The Kicks | "Hello Hong Kong" | TVT | Poppy, clean, watered down... you've heard it all before. Boring as a pet rock. | |
| No Means No | "Peoples Choice" compilation | Ant Acid Audio | Forgot how good they were. Sounds better today, than back in the day. | |
| Boyskout | "School of Etiquite" | Alive Records | Seem to base their sound on "Kids In America". Not Wild(e) about it. | |
| Decahedron | "Disconnection_Imminent" | Lovitt | 2 Frodus, 1 Fugazi: mathy, spacey and solid. Sort of what you'd expect | |
| Bright Eyes / Neva Dinova [ep] | "One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels" | Crank | They should have switched the wine with strong bourbon. This is uncharacteristically hum-drum | |
| Icarus Line | "Penance Soiree" | V-2 | Mesmerizing, pounding full-on punch. Melts your mind and then blows it away! | |
| Bumblebeez 81 | "Printz" | Geffen | Summer time super-fun distorto-dance that starts strong, but wears thin QUICKLY | |
| Pedro The Lion | "Archilles Heel" | Jade Tree | Owning one of "their" albums is enough, but this shouldn't be the one. | |
| Your Enemies Friend | "You Are Being Videotaped" | Buddyhead | Over the top AWESOME! Unparalleled in it's delivery, this is stirring and practically perfect! | |
| Onelinedrawing | "Volunteers" | Jade Tree | Spine tingling and moving. FINALLY, the awesome solo album Jonah's been hinting at. | |
| Divison Of Laura Lee | "Das Not Compute" | Burning Heart | There's amazing songs underneath the guitar fuzz. Shame we can barely hear it. | |
| The Grails | "Burden of Hope" | Neurot Recordings | Stunning instrumentals (like "the Dirty Three"). Filled with soul-stirring beauty and intrigue. | |
| The Catheters | "Howling It Grows & Grows" | Sub Pop | Definite differences, but still the same fast rockin' dirty punk. Reaching and succeeding. | |
| Read Yello | "Radios Burn Faster" | Fenway | Comparative to Guy's half of Fugazi with added dash's of noise. Unpredictably passionate. | |
| No Choice | "Dry River Fishing" | No Idea | Heard it all before. So incredibly average. Buy a Dillinger Four album instead | |
| Brazil | "How The West Was Won" | Atlantic | If you like Coheed, you will certainly dig this. Big improvement over EP | |
| Some Action | [ep] | Gigantic Music | On the Dead Boys tip, they bring the skinny tie punk, with good vocals. | |
| Led Zeppelin | "How The West Was Won" | Atlantic | Proves once and for all, Zeppelin defines "ROCK", and Jon Bonham is god. | |
| Descendents | "Cool to Be You" | Epitaph | An amazing pop punk "ALL" record that is actually a disappointing "DESCENDENTS" record | |
| The Hold Steady | "Almost Killed Me" | French Kiss | ex Lifter Puller: Great pop references, great songs, guitar solos. Rocks the soul! | |
| Clutch | "Blast Tyrant" | Rte / Drt | Same great grovin' and a rockin'. Somehow comes across different each time: Brilliant | |
| Modest Mouse | "Good News for..." | Sony | Strange rock. Taking their quirky noise into a new, more developed pop realm. | |
| Probot | "Probot" | Southern Lord | Tom Warrior, Snake, Lemmy, Cronos all deliver! Gotta give it up for Grohl! | |
| Beauty Pill | "Unsustainable Lifestyle" | Dischord | I cannot believe this is on Dischord. Extremely boring, sappy coffee house tra-la-la. | |
| T.S.O.L. | "Divided We Stand" | Nitro | A couple missteps, not much new, but it's damn solid and riveting nevertheless! | |
| Snapcase | "End Transmission" | Victory | Like pitbull brains that outgrow their skulls, Snapcase push the envelope and attack! | |
| Gary Numan | "Hybrid" 3xCD Special Edition | Artful | Do we need ANOTHER cd of new versions of old Numan songs? YES! | |
| Sultans | "Shipwrecked" | Swami | A new twist on the RFTC tip, less frantic, just as much fun! | |
| Liars | "They Were Wrong So We Drowned..." | Mute | Whoa! This isn't yesterday's Liars. Totally reinvented, totally wired. Not totally feeling it. | |
| The Means | "The Divine Right of the Means" | DoublePlusGood | Ex-Spivey lowers the noise a tad. Still rocks, so divinely. and so righteously! | |
| Courtney Love | "America's Sweetheart" | Virgin | Begins good. As a (w)hole, it's more of a mess than Courtney herself. | |
| Salem | "Love It or Leave Me" | Fiddler/Geffen | Catchy and emotional. Great vocals. Offers nothing new to the post punk genre. | |
| S.T.U.N. | "Evolution of Energy | Geffen | The worst band ever. The worst band ever. The worst band ever.... EVER! | |
| Red Tape | "Radioactivist" | Roadrunner | Political nu-punk-metal. Try hard but comes our overdone, yet completely vapid. | |
| Challenger | "Give People What They Want..." | Jade Tree | Powerful anthems from ex-Milemarker. So damn catchy, yet all over the place. | |
