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Reviewers this issue:
Al Burian (AB), Sean Husick (SH), Dave Laney (DL), Roby Newton (RN).

VIDEO
Braid "Killing A Camera" Video 5stars
Bifocal Media www.bifocalmedia.com
Everyone familiar with the Urbana/Champaigne sound of emo knows and loves the hard-working, always-touring Braid. This is a video documentation of their final five days playing shows, an end to an era. It is certainly has the best sound quality of any Bifocal video so far (past efforts: "The Actuality of Thought" and "The Whistle of the Missile") and has great, multiple-camera shots of live shows. The shows are throughout the midwest, the homeland of those emo superstars, and due to their incredible popularity, all appeared to be totally packed. Interspersed with the show footage, the band is interviewed about their breakup and reflections on the life of their band. Several different forms of film were used, then transferred to video, which created wonderful texture and depth to the piece as a whole. Bifocal is doing great things on their own terms. Keep on the lookout for their next projects.
Design: Bifocal Media 5stars
Consistent quality in cover design with these folks, they encorporate painting or painterly styles with tight design, a rarely functional feat. A well-placed film strip with stills of the band cuts a diagonal and indicates the content. Maps form the base of the layered look while some cut-and-paste punk flyers spell out the title. Beautiful packaging for a beautiful document.

MUSIC
American Heritage “Through the Age of Quarrel and Into the Era...” 3.5stars
Troubleman, www.troublemanunlimited.com
American Heritage play the most intensely confusing math-metal precision rock out there. Odd time signatures and beats that leave you thumping your hand, trying aimlessly to keep rhythm. It’s a instrumental three-piece from Chicago, one guy of which I often see from a distance at the lumber store. Think of Paul Newman if all the members were metal heads. I like the and last song the best- an electronic piece that pushes along, ending on the same computery note they begin with: a singing Macintosh voice. Solid and innovative
Design 1.5stars
a computery, futuristic collage of newspapers, post-it notes, and a figure probably modeled in the 3d computer program “poser.” the main thing i don’t like is the nude woman on the covers. The back highlights a close-up of her boobs and crotch. this is a pc magazine, right?

Anasarca “Discography” CD 3.5stars
Second Nature Recordings
POB 11543, Kansas City, MO 64138
Collection of all material, 1994-1997, from a real stand-out emo band. “Classic” quiet/loud, start/stop, screamo, mid-tempo hardcore. Lots of bands sounded like this at the time, but few could turn heads at their shows. This band could. They were of the best emo emo emo bands that existed. It’s still good, and nice to see the whole collection in one place.
Design, Planaria 4stars
most sn releases look nice. this one looks great. placid, soft feel overall that relies mostly on a series of great photos. Solid job. “no complaints.” ha ha! (DL)

Anti-Flag “Underground Network” 4stars
Fat Wreck Chords
As far as a slick punk rock record goes, this is a pretty commendable release, veritably oozing sincerity and effort. The lyrics, while at times simplistic, are passionate in their articulation of in-your-face leftist politics. There is not an ounce of cynicism to be found here: on the title track the singer intones, “a pirate radio transmits into the night/ and from DC to Peking e-mail warns of our lost global rights/ and the hoax the world leaders wanted no one to see/ comes crashing down on their heads.” (E-mail?!?) Almost every song comes with some elucidating statistics or quotation; the song “Panama deception” even includes liner notes written by Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States, specifically for the album. And, in keeping with the liberatory power of e-mail theme, they’ve got a whole page of e-mail contacts for people who want to get involved with various worthwhile-sounding organizations. So I really have to give them an A for effort and intention here, and, while I personally find the music somewhat formulaic and by-the-numbers (it’s better than average Rancid-type fare), I can’t say that it is played mechanically or without passion, and, in truth, for the audience this seems intended for (and who will probably get the most out of the message it’s conveying) the music is probably right on target.
Design: John Yates. 3stars
it’s hard to separate the packaging from the album, in a way, because the whole thing is obviously intended as a total package (i.e., you’re supposed to be looking at the graphics, reading the lyrics and information, etc. while listening, not doing homework or playing this as background music). so, again, the same basic assessment: obviously a lot of work and good intention went into this, and the overall effect conveys a really good, positive message. at the same time, everything about this, from the color scheme to the choice of fonts to the outfits the band members are wearing, serve to give the consumer exactly what they expect, rather than challenging their assumptions in any way. And again, as with the music, i guess in some sense that’s good. why alienate people with your art when, essentially, the function of the art is propagandistic? muzac for the revolution, sure, complete with pre-fab graphics, wardrobe, posters, patches- but, fuck, at least it’s for the revolution. (AB)

The Album Leaf "In An Off White Room" 4stars
Troubleman Unlimited
16 Willow Street, Bayonne, NJ 07002
Subtle, atmospheric, at times almost trip-hop, the Album Leaf creates soundscapes and environments that aren't so ambient to be boring, but continue with such a flow that you couldn't really label it "song". The sounds and samples have great beats supporting them, a good deal of the appeal. This should come as no surprise, as the Album Leaf is none other than Jimmy Lavelle, drummer of Tristeza. This EP is right in line with emotive soundtrack movement (think Godspeed, Movietones), and definitely another score to add to the collection.
Design: i lost the sleeve, but it looked good. Nice contour drawing, i remember it being a three-star design job. (RN)

The Aquabats "Myths, Legends..." 1star
Fearless Records
13772 Goldenwest #545, Westminster, CA 92683
The Aquabats are one of those feel-good comedy ska/funk/metal bands, appealing to those who always wanted to skank/mosh to They Might Be Giants. This particular CD is a collection of B-sides, outtakes, and other random unreleased items. It's well-recorded, however I'm not certain that the world needs more Weird Al.
Design: Christian and Parker Jacobs 3stars
brightly colored castles and monsters vaguely resembling those present in greek mythology adorn the cover, rendered in a childish manner. a photo of the band in full medieval garb spans the centerfold. the artistic concept is consistent wit h the musical theme, and i like that. (RN)

Bad Astronaut “Acrophobe” 1.5stars
Honest Don’s Recordings
More or less bad pop music that sounds a lot like Weezer most of the time but gets “sentimental” and slow at others. It’s pop punk that isn’t very funny or witty or challenging to the genre, but you just may hear it on alternative radio.
Design 1star
almost funny but just straight up busted. (DL)

Beauty Pill “The Cigarette Girl From the Future” 4.5stars
DeSoto, POB 60932, WDC 20039
Dischord, 3819 Beecher St, WDC 20007
Chad Clark and Abram Goodrich of Smart Went Crazy unite with two others to form the amazing Beauty Pill. Male and female vocals play off each other to form a quirky and listenable indy pop outfit that isn’t describable in terms of other bands. The outstanding lyrics haunt you, entertain you, and humor you. Though it’s quite different, I like this better than anything SWC ever did. The recording of this 5 song EP features a superstar cast from the DC area includes cameos by people from Fugazi, Burning Airlines, The Dismemberment Plan, etc. I highly anticipate the follow up LP to this recording. Simply one of the best things I’ve heard in a long time. Innovative and true.
Design 3.5stars
i used to love digipacks, then i grew to hate them. then hydrahead released a few that redefined the form. then they were too expensive to keep in print, so my sentiment returned. problem is, they came out with a new digipack that is straight up busted. it’s for people on a budget, which all indy music is, so they got around everywhere as not many people like the format of the jewel case. well this is the first “budget” digipack i have seen that is really good. all the lyrics fit on the inside, so no insert is needed. simple and pleasing colors. figure drawings on top of a nice texture compose the front. not totally eye grabbing, but this is nice and pleasant and a solid package. (DL)

Big in Japan “Destroy the New Rock” 2stars
Honest Don’s, POB 192027, San Fran, CA 94119
Starts a lot like Green Day but not as catchy. Goes somewhere a bit more generic. All songs are © one guy, so maybe it would be better if a little control was surrendered to the others. Really obviously a power/pop/punk songwriter dude. Why aren’t people able to experiment with interesting things to do with the genre they play? How many songs do we need that sound exactly the same? Play with your vocals patterns a lot more, stop palm-muting every song, maybe even listen to 24-Hour again instead of the radio. I’m trying to be suggestive at least…
Design, Pete Menchatti 3.5stars
cool looking record. don’t like the hiwatt amp head on the cover, but the graphic hidden by it is really nice with good colors. nice photography and colors over all. not much attention paid to the lyric side of the insert, but at least the lyrics are legible. and, in fact, honest don’s has one of the best logos out there, and it’s prominent.

Black Dice "Cold Hands" CD 2stars
Troubleman Unlimited
16 Willow Street, Bayonne, NJ 07002
Starts out noisy-ambient, then predictably drops into knee-jerk nonsensical chaos. Black Dice is strange, in that for all the seemingly improvisational spontaneity, they drone on and on in a rather uninteresting manner. Perhaps I anticipate something more varied, based on the "craziness" of their live show. The sounds that are delivered on this recording are repetitive and very quickly monotonous, less like a train and more like someone driving on the rim of a flat tire.
Design: Not credited. 1star
many psychedelic references, mushroom print 1970's picnic blanket, bubbles landing on the water, close-ups of "nature", the problem is there is not much relating these images. nothing brings it all together, and the font is awful, handwriting would have been a more appropriate choice. if it were consistently "bad", as in kitschy bad, they might have pulled it off. however, it appears to be simply inconsistent. (RN)

Blood for Blood “Wasted Youth Brew” nostars
Victory, victoryrecords.com
POB 146546, Chicago, IL 60614
Songs about drinking and doing tough things from a super macho perspective. Probably the most offensive and least interesting record reviewed.

Bright Eyes & Son, Ambulance “Oh Holy Fools” 3.5stars
Saddle Creek, www.saddle-creek.com
POB 8554, Omaha, NE 68108-0554
This CD mixes the songs of both bands, starting with the less-known Son, Ambulance (who have a great name). The main problem I have with this record has nothing to do with either band specifically, but that they clash so intensely and you’re forced to listen to them one track at a time. Son, Ambulance play a smoother version of the singer/songwriter thing that I find pretty good at times and relatively offensive at others. It seems more like stereotypical singer/songwriter material, which means it seems a bit more worked out than open-mic night, but still a little too faux-personal and demo-esque for a recording. It’s decent stuff, but I think the pairing with Bright Eyes may emphasize it’s weaknesses. Bright Eyes return with more amazing songs. This is my bid for best band of the last 3 years. Can’t really get into the “Early Years” CD, but the rest of it has yet to disappoint me in the least. On these songs the mood is slower and less intense than previous recordings, but the power is still there. Slide guitar, acoustic guitar, tons of other instruments, and a keen knack for recording. Awesome!
Design, Doug Koepsel 4.5stars
one of the most memorable record covers i’ve seen in a long time. simply a painting of a man riding a horse, waiving a banner of the album title. the well rendered bold colors are also featured on the inside and back paintings. great artist. features a stilt walker. brilliant. like some of the other design reviews here, not much attention paid to the inside and lyrics. however, very legible. thumbs up saddle creek and bands and artist! (DL)

Burning Airlines “Identikit” CD 4stars
DeSoto, www.desotorecords.com
POB 60932, WDC 20039
J. Robbins and crew are back with another strong release. Great guitar work and songs. You should know Jawbox, and you either hate J’s voice or you love it. I side with the latter. The slower songs are my favorite, reminding me of a crazy cross between Karate, Jawbox, Sleepytime Trio, and the Beatles. Fuck yea! Imagine that. Innovative, strong, solid. This is the type of feeling that made me like the genre that is so poorly done by so many bands. Burning Airlines is a gem is a sea of fool’s gold.
Design, Jason Farrell 4stars
great folds that come together to make an interesting cover composed of parts of the panels. hard to explain, but definitely well done. cool colors, good lyric design, and cholla sans as the font for you design nerds. very cool. (DL)

C Average “Second Reckoning” 4stars
Kill Rock Stars
I can’t decide how I feel about the new wave of Indy rockers doing ironic metal (NWOIRDIM). A band like the Champs would have us believe that there is no irony involved, but that seems spurious, and besides, without an element of reinterpretation, aren’t you just faced with the bands being weaker imitations of the bands they are aping? The Northwest seems a hotbed for this whole ironic regurgitation thing, and C Average are, admittedly, far above the letter grade they give themselves when it comes to chops and licks and all the other vaguely sexual terms you use to describe music like this. I mean, really, this record rocks like a motherfucker. C Average falls somewhere between the instrumental math-metal of the Champs and the AC/DC-revisited school of the Tight Bros From Way Back When. I like that it’s a two-piece: in stripping down the overblown arena-rock formula to the basic elements- the riff and the beat- the record manages to remain unpretentious and fun, still validly holding on to the “Indy” end of things in terms of a consciously formulated aesthetic, rather than wishing they were arena rock but simply not having the skillz. So, overall, pretty damn good, fun to listen to, it rocks, but haunting questions about sociological trends in alternative culture remain unanswered.
Design: C Average 5stars
this is one of those records where the cover is almost worth the price of admission on its own. You have to see it to fully appreciate it, but essentially it’s a portrait of the band members, pictured as medieval saints in a faux-stained glass motif which is really convincingly rendered. the silver metallic ink adds that touch of class. bonus points for the band designing and creating the artwork themselves. (AB)

Chroma Key “You Go Now” CD 4.5stars
Fight Evil Records
990 North Hill St.# 206 LA, CA 90012
Slow, grooving electronica with excellent vocals. You can put this record on and listen to it intensely, or you can put it on and barely realize it’s their. Chroma Key transcends the boundaries between stale computer generated tone synth and rock music. This is electronic rock that does just that, rock. But don’t expect to get all pumped up to go run a marathon, put it on to think about how insane it is that you’re getting ready to run a marathon and get psyched on that. One of my favorite releases this issue, and you can be sure that none of the other release sound like this. Plenty of indy bands are incorporating electronic stuff, but this band is electronic that incorporates live music.
Design 2stars
unfortunately, the packaging is not super interesting. blue dominates and they use a font that is being vastly overused lately. one of those futuristic cyborg looking fonts. still though, look to the music on this one, not the design.

Crushed Stars “Self Navigation” CD 1.5stars
Simulcast, www.simulcastrecords.com
POB 703463, Dallas, TX 75370
Non-descript post-music-is-fun-to-listen-to demo-esque basement-style recordings of mostly pretty guitars chiming while drums usually are soft. Introspective but not interesting. Good inoffensive background music for emo kids to put on while making out. A lot of this post-indy rock Elliot Smith type of stuff on the market now, not much that’s catching me.
Design 3.5stars
simple, introspective photo of airport. nice clean, almost sterile, and very lonely design. fits music well. only complaint is that the blue screen where the lyrics appear was printed cmyk rather than pms, making the dots of the blue show and the words hard to read. (DL)

David Singer “The Cost of Living” 4stars
Deep Elm, www.deepelm.com
POB 36939, Charlotte, NC 28236
Surprising good listen. I thought this would be just another singer/songwriter Elliot Smith type, but it’s a canvas of well structured songs. Easy to listen to with smooth vocals, but nothing like Elliot Smith, not even comparable. Didn’t like the electronic sample song much, but all the others are great. Sometimes quirky, sometimes smooth. ES, Bright Eyes, and the Beatles are rough comparison points, as this thing is about melody and storytelling. The eerie lyrics is the shine. I’m sure this thing took a hell of a long time to put together, with the guest performances and recording construction. I’d say time well spent. I want to hear more.
Design, John Szuch 3stars
this is almost really good, but it’s really marginal. great colors and real stand out images, but the computer ruined it! I hate the grunge font that is used throughout the entire package. not very appealing on the cover, but not very legible for the lyrics. cool colors, cool images, bad font. i wish there was more attention to typography. (DL)

Diesel Boy “Rode Hard and Put Away Wet” 1stars
Honest Don’s, POB 192027, San Fran, CA 94119
The first song on this CD is a complete rip from NOFX “Radio Song.” Since Honest Don’s is some sort of Fat Wrech Chords subsidiary, I can only hope and imagine that this is an inside joke between Fat Mike and Diesel Boy. I didn’t think it was too funny, just foreshadowing how derivative this entire CD would prove to be of NOFX. Thing is, this band doesn’t really have the same wit as NOFX, so a good chunk of it comes off as fairly misogynistic and trashy. But then again, this band is openly out there to offend the overly PC with songs like “Emo Boy” that talk trash about Jawbreaker, “Tangled Up and Blew” discusses the whole Clinton/Lewinsky fiasco from the “insert cigar” angle, and 13 others of mostly obnoxious crap. Lots of talk about being overweight or fat or whatnot. Way to go guys! Enforce some sense of punk rock beauty standard to the 12-15 year olds who will actually listen to this crap. If your parents still don’t give you some sort of “allowance,” I seriously doubt you’ll enjoy this record. If they never did, you definitely won’t enjoy it.
Design, Winni @ 3am.net 3.5stars
horse theme is a definite plus. nothing too fancy here but great photos and composition create one of the records that stands out in the pile. nice use of space, overlapping most of the photos on two panels makes the booklet seem much less panel-ized. nice and clean.

Dingees “Work- for the Crucial Conspiracy!” 2stars
Tooth and Nail, www.toothandnail.com
POB 12698, Seattle, WA 98111
From the first song, I thought this band was going to give me some type of Op Ivy flashback. Making me totally psyched to rock out to the whole thing. What this becomes is horrific ska record with reggae songs thrown in Bad Brains style. Lyrics about Jah that I don’t understand. Mostly positive lyrics though, which is refreshing and good. If you’re into the horn punk thing, this could easily become your favorite CD and I suggest checking it out.
Design, Suzy Spiab & Pegleg 4stars
doing the spy thing seems so passé right now. this band pulls on the confidential file thing inside a cover that’s a cross of old american and soviet propaganda. defying my initial reaction, they actually pull it off well. everything fits together on this record, and i’m sure a hell of a lot of time went into every aspect of it’s production. my only valid complaint is to lose the x-files office photo. very strong. (DL)

Dynamite Boy “Somewhere in America” 1star
Fearless Records • www.fearlessrecords.com
13772 Goldenwest St. #545
Westminister, CA 92683
I love the way this opening riff sounds like quickly varying melody between Bad Religion and Iron Maiden. This is a very, very good combination. Unfortunately, the vocals come in just a few seconds later and start the album by proclaiming: “I may not be the smartest guy.” What a fucking crusher. You had to start your brand new CD with that line? The first riff is killer, once you get beyond those few seconds, the CD becomes completely generic pop punk separated in no way from the vapid pool they have jumped into. But is there hope? I have heard something on this CD that maybe only this band could pull off. If there was more of this classic metal guitar harmonizing over the pop-punk parts, this thing would have gotten 5 stars.
Design, Logan 4stars
i’m into the drawings. pop type art, but in a good way. sketchy but intentional, bold colors, misregistration. very cool and well done. plus, this guy logan drew everything through the entire record. it’s nice to see someone getting away from computers and using skills that take more than a Photoshop crash course. very refreshing. (DL)

Earth Crisis “Last of the Sane” 2stars
Victory Records
If the formation of Earth Crisis and similar militant vegan straightedge bands marked the beginning of the end of hardcore as a forum for radical political discourse, much like the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 marked the beginnings of the end for civilization (prompting the initial creation of hardcore as a forum for complaining about that), the release of Earth Crisis’ cover of a Led Zeppelin song comes, appropriately, as the third-generation genetically-watered down Reagan III enters office. Both occurrences lead one to ponder why civilization and culture seem so intent on just going and going, considering that everything seems to be getting weirder and more unpleasant and ludicrous. Shouldn’t the world have ended a few years ago? Earth Crisis play like machines, achieving their presumable goal of sounding like Slayer if only those guys would quit drinking and consume only muscle-building protein shakes. They sound particularly like Slayer on the opening track, a Slayer cover. The Next two choices of cover material, the aforementioned Zeppelin and a Black Sabbath song, are just weird- both bands, despite having some importance in the history of “heavy” music, were rooted in over-testosteroned versions of rhythm and blues. The Earth Crisis robot approach to music making hits all the notes, but effectively erases any connection to any sort of “soul” or feeling contained in the originals. By the time they lurch into the Rolling Stones’ (!) “Paint it Black” the listener is having a good deal of difficulty believing there was not some “sweet leaf” involved in these recording sessions. The barking singer ad-libs on the mosh-breakdown section (not present in the Jagger-Richards version), “I wanna paint it Black! Blaaaack! Paint it... Buuu—lack!!” Speaking of Black, Apparently the reason all those racist Norwegian black metal records sound so bad is that they turn up the treble and mix all the low end out of their recordings, considering bass to be the frequency of the lower races. In a strangely similar way Earth Crisis seems intent on taking the earlier generation of white artists who drew influences from what was at the time regarded as black music (r+b) and distilling from it the essential caucasianness in the Stones, Zeppelin and Sabbath. I’m not accusing Earth Crisis of being racist by any means (although, like new Attorney General John Ashcroft, Earth Crisis have a history of using a disturbing coded “wipe away the drug-dealing scum” type rhetoric which is, at best, open to some nasty interpretation), just of having a pretty limited, sterile take on music which is only exacerbated by comparison to the original songs they are covering. In any case, they go on to cover the Dead Kennedy’s “Holiday in Cambodia” (this is PRE- Jello Biafra losing the rights to the song, so just imagine how bad it’s going to get now that he has). I was excited to see how the singer would handle warbling Biafra’s signature warble, but his only vocal innovation is changing the line “right-guard will not help you here,” to “your PC shit won’t save you here.” Good one. An unrecognizable Misfits cover and a few moshoriffic originals round out this masterpiece.
design: 2stars
sean husick has been driving everyone crazy lately by shrugging his shoulders and going, “whatev.” it’s like he’s trying to say that he’s so ambivalent that the extra “er” is just too much effort. that is how i feel about this record cover. guitarist jumping six feet in the air, scary band photo. “whatev.” (AB)

Edie Sedgwick “First Reflections” 3stars
Mud Memory / Dischord
The gimmick with this band is that every song is named after a celebrity, with some songs seeming to have a certain correlation to the title-bearer (Christina Ricci: “Giving low spooky hips/purse lush changeling hips”), and some seeming to be non-sequitors (Sean Young: “Left side/stay alive/right side/suicide”). I don’t find the premise particularly intriguing, in fact I find it a little distracting and annoying. I don’t insist that every band have something valid and important to say, but if you don’t, why advertise? Nation of Ulysses style manifesto liner-notes only compound the issue. “WIth a modern heart and a postmodern mind, Edie Sedgwick says, ‘We Care!’... not for a struggle or the want of a struggle, but for the icons adorning the pages of People magazine.” OK, dude, that’s your thing. Musically, this is two-piece mathy bass-drum-vocal stuff which does sound at times like the Minutemen (actually more like Firehose, seeing as the singing sounds more like that guy). It is Ok, but, as with the shtick, grows tiring after a few songs. This would probably have appealed more as instrumental music.
design: 3stars
the color scheme is nice. inoffensive overall. the font is a little new-agey, but otherwise this looks nice in that particular way that made me think, initially, that it would sound like braid. (AB)
El Guapo “The Geography of Dissolution” AAA
Mud Memory Records
1645 Monroe St. NW, Washington DC 20010
Oh, I bet at least one person in this band goes to music school. Skronky free-jazz which I was able to play at work without offending any customers. Two sets recorded live to ADAT- the sound quality is good, the audience is either reverently silent or non-existent. If you like this sort of thing, check it out. If you just need background music to make your apartment seem like a hip bohemian crash pad, check it out.
Design: 2.5stars
not much going on here; front and back cover depict band members, cd insert folds out to reveal two more shots of band members. inside tray cover has a tinted blue photo of a door from which to glean “cool jazz” ambience, i suppose. the main problem we have going on here is the back cover image, a photo of the buzz-cut-adorned aggro-looking bass player screaming into a microphone while veins in temples and tendons in neck bulge and strain á la some victory record circa 1988. i was misled by this into expecting something altogether different. then again, maybe that’s a good thing. (AB)

Ex Models “Other Mathematics” 4stars
Ace Fu
A more accessible Arab on Radar? Maybe a little early Braniac? These are the musical reference points I can think of for the quirky contortions of this band. It’s off-putting, almost grating at moments, but the overall effect is strangely alluring; it pulls you in to its weirdness and you find yourself strangely satiated by it. The lyrical content certainly helps to solidify the creepiness. General theme seems to be sexual dynamics/mechanics, and the crazy singing and well-written lyrics are, in the end, what really makes this band work for me.
Design: 2stars
while there is nothing patently wrong with the design, it is pretty bland and doesn’t convey much about the band. both the band name and album title seem like they would evoke stronger graphics and images. after hearing the record, i was surprised that the cover was so innocuous. (AB)

Fabulous Disaster “Put Out or Get Out” 2stars
Pink and Black Records
POB 190516, San Fran, CA 94119
Thirteen fast and tight pop-punk ballads in the vein of what you’d expect from Fat Wreck Chords, with lyrics not too far from Screeching Weasel. Seems like it could be the positive revolution soundtrack to movie about high schoolers, which is pretty much a positive thing. These four women make solid music that’s been done before, but it is rare to see it from a non-male (which is frequently misogynistic and testosterone pumped) perspective. Unfortunately, I absolutely despise the way this band is being marketed, from the title of their record to their promo sheet playing up their sexuality more than their music. As my friend Steve would say, “Come on and keep it positive. More message, less exploitation.”
Design 1star
lots of pictures of tattoos and rock promo shots. sketchy pieced together look that somehow conveys a more personal feeling or sort of romance. modern and punky, i suppose. (DL)

Fall Silent “Six Years in the Desert” 4stars
Revelation Records, RevelationRecords.com
POB 5232, Huntington Beach, CA 92615
This is the type of release I expected from Rev before Earth Crisis and Pantera completely ruined metal-ish hardcore. This CD is fucking good. It’s tough, it has double bass rolling like crazy, the singer screams, and the guitars chug. But not like most bands releasing songs nowadays. This is smart and not generic. Super positive lyrics that are political and well written. Complicated music and a singer that’s not afraid to do a little hardcore rap every now and then. Very powerful without being typical tough guy bullshit. Great record.
Design, Tom D. Kline 5stars
funniest record cover to come into my review bin. the general concept here is that these guys are some type of punk cowboys, speaking out from the wild west, becoming assassins of wrongdoings and spokesmen of positivity and change. robert and katie kline take photos of the wild west and the band dressed up as six shooter swinging cowboy guerrillas. I love it! (DL)

Frenzal Rhomb “Shut Your Mouth” 3.5stars
Fat Wreck Chords, www.fatwreck.com
POB 193690, SF, CA 94119
This band is more or less doing a “classic” genre: a melting of early Green Day and Weezer. At times they turn like a much harder New Bomb Turks. And where most bands that are doing this thing are pathetic and either sound like a bad Green Day or a bad Weezer, this band is doing their own thing. The Australian accent probably helps them in standing above the level of genericism. Whatever it is, this band also has very good lyrics, which counts for a lot when you’re doing music like this. I dig all the recording tricks and effects that most band would never do. You should here the delay on his voice sometime! Funny cdrom if you got a computer. This is great!
Design 1.5stars
japanimation renderings of band with a bad faux-handwriting font. if you’re going to write the lyrics by hand, write the lyrics by hand, but don’t give me a synthesized interpretation of what a computer thinks hand writing looks like. the ONLY thing keeping this record from 1 star is that the cover looks ok in a goofy faux technicolor way. I wish I didn’t have to compare all this stuff to faux-something, but this hits all the pop-don’ts at the worst type of buy-it-at-mall endorsement. bad, and i wonder if the person doing the design had ever heard the band. (DL)

Guyana Punch Line “Irritainment” CD 4.5stars
Prank, POB 410892, SF, CA 94141
This just may be the best hardcore thrash record of the year. Members seen in In/humanity, Antischism and Initial State have come together to create something so much better and more powerful than any of the aforementioned. A sense of humor reels through their lyrics, musical quirks deconstruct their music, and screaming somehow seems “fashionable” again. This is a band made of hardcore kids with the purpose of fucking with hardcore kids and the assumption that there is only one style of the genre. This release gets hardcore out of the rut it’s been stuck in for some number of years. Maybe this is the year’s “Shape of Punk to Come.” Maybe this record wouldn’t exist without Refused, but GPL sounds nothing like them, and hopefully others will be able to take this level of innovation and go somewhere just as different as GPL have.
Design 4.5stars
in/humanity had amazing design and so does gpl. whoever does the covers rules. witty cut and paste. this is modern day dada. (DL)

Howard Zinn "Heroes and Martyrs” 5stars
Alternative Tentacles/AK Press, PO Box 419092, San Francisco, CA 94141/ PO Box 40682, San Francisco, CA 94140
Zinn's heroes and martyrs occupied turn-of-the-century America, the era that introduced industrialization and capitalism as we know it, the labor relations and class struggle issues that are now absolutely established and taken as part of American Life. This is a vital period, where capitalism would be pushed to its limits, and the United States, bastard prodigy child of Europe, could excel at the game it was born to play. Finally, a nation rich with natural resources to fuel the factories and the brilliant minds to utilize those resources, supplying product for demands still unrealized by the agrarian world. The industrial machine was kept running by the hordes of immigrants that flocked to the US to participate in this great experiment that would end the sustainant existences with which they were familiar and hopefully make them rich in the process. As a new nation with a new socio-economic system, possibility for social mobility had no obvious limit. Unfortunately, the workforce, willing and capable, were rewarded with exploitation and more work rather than a leg up on the social ladder. In addition to a lack of an established hierarchy, there was a decided lack of regulation regarding the treatment of workers.
The heroes of this era were the ones who chose to see the non-existent labor relations and insist that something be done about it, the ones who could foresee the eventual consequences of industrialization and the inevitable problems of capitalism, Emma Goldman, Sacco and Vanzetti. These are fighters who paid dearly for their belief in human rights, the people whose stories are not told in history class, the dissenters and those who stood against. The industrialization of the United States has been proclaimed far and wide as a good and natural process. We learn history as a process culminating in the American Dream, the highest standard of living in the world. The United States meets the standard because we invented it. Dissent is marginalized, if it appears at all. Howard Zinn invites us to look closer at an era of great relevance to our current condition, to get to know the ones who questioned the path America tread. By understanding the tradition in which we continue, perhaps we can learn to fight better today.
Design: John Yates (Stealworks) 5stars
black and red, the colors inciting revolutionary minds worldwide, predominate this simple cover. photos of emma goldman, nicola sacco, and bartolomeo vanzetti grace the booklet throughout. straightforward and elegant design for an informative package.

Industrial Jazz Group “Hardcore” 2stars
I’ve got to say that after reading the press sheet for this record I was totally psyched to listen to it. As it turns out, it’s not half as interesting. Well executed cool and smooth Jazz. It’s good for what it is and everything, but I’d rather listen to my old jazz records or new jazz that’s incorporating new instruments and/or pushing the limits. This isn’t what I’d expect from an “industrial” jazz group. I was hoping for some late night warehouse bi-polar jam session, so “hardcore” is a hell of a title when this thing is in the same review section as Guyana Punch Line.
Design, Daphne Robinson 2stars
pretty basic. maybe this is a self-release? nice and minimal. again, not too interesting (DL)

Junction 18 “This Vicious Cycle” CD 2.5stars
Fearless Records, www.fearlessrecords.com
13772 Goldenwest St. #545, Westminster, CA 92683
When this CD started up, I thought I put on Face to Face by accident. This is upbeat pop-punk, not FAT style, but more Face to Face style, maybe more pop than punk, but fast pop. Whatever it is, they manage to use more minor chords and seem more sincere, creating that certain nostalgia that you can feel sad to while listening to songs about girls, lost dreams, and late-night strolls. Actually sounds a little too much like Painted Thin for me, but somehow fused with Weezer. There’s some good guitar work going on in here. The recording is tight and huge, coming off much different and better than the pop-punk your probably used to. The music, however, is pretty standard.
Design, Forrest Kline 1stars
bicycle on cover is nice. some live photos, some text. seems like the 2 colors could have been used a bit more interestingly. (DL)

Kleenex/LiLiPUT Discography 2xCD 5stars
Kill Rock Stars
Thank you to the folks at Kill Rock Stars for reissuing this classic and making it accessible for everyone's enjoyment! LiLiPUT was a late '70's all-girl punk band from Switzerland, whose influence spanned generations and continents, predating the Riot Grrl movement by a decade, yet practically defining the sound. This is a comprehensive history of the band, from the more standard Wire-like post punk songs to the quirky, sing-a-long marches.
LiLiPUT exemplifies the way that women play punk music and this collection is absolutely essential.
Design: promo, no art.

Last Days Of April “Angel Youth” 4stars
Deep Elm, www.deepelm.com
POB 36939, Charlotte, NC 28236
Wow. Talk of unexpected! This record rules! Almost music you’d expect to be the soundtrack to a movie. Anthemic yet bittersweet and interesting. This Sweedish band comes into their own when the string section kicks in, driving the pop force they maintain to a new level. Solid production and great songwriting. This is by far my favorite release Deep Elm has done. Lilting harmonies, drifting guitars. Imagine that you’re in Sweden during their months of darkness, and this is the only light. It is light, and it’s not cheesy even thought the description is.
Design, Henrick Walse 4stars
minimal colors. cool and reminiscent of chris ware, though much different pictures. mostly degenerated parking lots and coney island style amusement parks. color comes in to accentuate and accompany my whole “soundtrack” analysis of the record. very well done. (DL)

Lightning Bolt "Ride the Skies" 5stars
Load Records, PO Box 35 Providence, RI 02901
"Ride the Sky"? Godheadsilo? Perhaps, but this duo probably blew a hole through North Dakota while recording this masterpiece of noise. The fastest human drummer living today accompanying effects-laden "wall of sound" bass, thick enough to deafen even Phil Spector, resulting in blasting tirades of songs similar to the Ruins or the Boredoms or maybe even our referenced friends from Fargo. Lightning Bolt is currently the most exciting American noise band, and we are very fortunate to finally have a recording that does them justice.
Design:
promo, no art. (RN)

Love Life "The Rose He Lied By" CD 4stars
Troubleman Unlimited
16 Willow Street, Bayonne, NJ 07002
If Edgar Allen Poe were still living today, Love Life would be his favorite band and he would listen to this CD while he was getting wasted on absinthe for inspiration. Masters of creep, Love Life construct dark repetitive dirges, with incredible female vocals that are somehow reminiscent of Danzig. Heightening the eeriness is a miraculous instrument called the guitorgan, a spine-tingling combination, certain to draw a tear or two. Love Life embody all the haunting melancholy of Baltimore, beautiful and terrifying and timeless. XOXOX.
Design: The Image Mill, Inc 2.5stars
the cover is a dark color photo of the band in the forest, performing a seance or conjuring the devil or something. the liner notes and lyrics are printed in script font, white on black. the cursive is a bit too cheesy to uphold the scary image, though i see where they were trying to go. (RN)

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes “Blow In The Wind” 2stars
Fat Wreck Chords, www.fatwreck.com
POB 193690, SF, CA 94119
This is one of Fat Mike’s side bands (front man of legendary NOFX). Goofy and kooky renditions of 60s pop hits. It’s rocking retro punk with a sense of humor. Super tight and well executed, I just don’t think it was a very good idea for an album.
Design 3.5stars
modern-retro looking cover and booklet. cool effect on the photos to make them look like paintings. gaudy and good and goofy. martini’s and rock n’ roll. (DL)

Juno “A Future Lived In Past Tense” 4stars
DeSoto, www.desotorecords.com
POB 60932, WDC 20039
Solid construction that almost defies genre comparison. Captures the same feeling as Cave In’s Jupiter, but from a much different direction. Powerful pop wouldn’t do it justice, unless you can call the later Jawbox recordings powerful pop without the attached meaning of “bubblegum.” Intense guitar work not to far from My Bloody Valentine or even Radiohead or (gasp) Pink Floyd. This is well recorded, intricately powerful, abusively sentimental rock from Seattle. I’m not too fond of starting the album with an instrumental, but I see the point they were getting at. Recommended.
Design, Jason Farrell 4stars
jason farrell has been doing some cool stuff lately (see also Burning Airlines review). lots of running photos over weird spaces on the panels and atypical folding booklets. a very rare and much appreciated super clean text section, even though it was running cmyk. cool package. (DL)

Mad Caddies “Rock the Plank” 1.5stars
Fat Wreck Chords, www.fatwreck.com
Ska pop punk. Some songs sound like Bad Religion with horns. Some sound like the Bosstones crossed with Bad Religion. Some sound more like Veruca Salt. Pop punk that I catch myself tapping my foot to, less counting rhythm than counting the seconds until it goes off the CD player. I don’t even know what to say really. If you’re the type of person who loves to be in the pit at a Voodoo Glow Skulls or NOFX or any of the derivative Nuevo-pop-punk concerts, you’re going to love this. I am not that type of person.
Design 3.5stars
cool pirate theme. photo booth photos. nice looking overall. cool textures on the booklet. nothing mind-blowing but well done. (DL)

Man Afraid “Complete Discography” 5stars
Half-Mast Records, www.p1w.net/half-mast
POB 8344, Minneapolis, MN 55408
This CD is inspiring. It’s the one drop of hope in a bucket of mediocre reviews. Charged, political music with punch, sincerity, meaning, and intelligence from a band that makes me proud to know about hardcore. This is punk rock in a 90s incarnation of the Dead Kennedys. It’s dangerous; it makes you think; and it makes you want to go blow up buildings in the most honest, soul-emancipating way possible. It makes you want to stand up for what it right without being dogmatic or condescending. This band released material from 1995-1997. If you don’t already know of them, you absolutely should put this release on your “next to buy” list. It’s that good.
Design, Pat 4stars
great packaging for a discography cd. lots of extra writings, memos from the band and commentary from friends on the band. live photos, flyers, the works. clean and well-done packaging that keeps the same tone as all man afraid releases.

Matt Schickele “Cities Filled With Lights” 1star
Feldspar, www.feldsparrecords.com
POB 1698, NYC, NY 10013
This is painful to listen to. Bad singer/song writer stuff that wouldn’t be half as bad if the singer could hit the notes he sings. Sounds like Kermit the Frog guest singing on the Mr. Roger’s Show. My description may sound good, but I assure you it’s a very off key Kermit.
Design 2stars
once again, the computer has ruined a cover. what is a nice black and white print has been butchered by a font that looks like it was printed without the postscript file (which basically boils down to it looks “computery” and pixilated). i wish that people would let art be art, and realize that the computer is an entirely different medium- that combining the two rarely works. in fact, out of the last zillion records i’ve seen, only two or three have worked with combining computer type with artistic renderings. those were created by people like john yates, people that place emphasis on the importance of typography as a graphic element and understand the relation of type to graphic. again: nice print, bad cover. (DL)

The Mercury Program “All the Suits…” 3.5stars
Tiger Style, www.tigerstylerecords.com
149 Wooster St. 4th Floor, NYC, NY 10012
Pretty, instrumental post-rock. Well done and interesting. Reminds me of Aloha at times, probably because of the vibes and electric piano. Jazzy, easy listening instrumental indy rock. Solid record, but not terribly interesting.
Design, Planaria 1star
uses that light photo trick where you leave the shutter open while waving a lighter in front of the camera, creating some type of firecracker effect. hmmm, not too interesting at all. (DL)

None of the Above “Live at...” 5stars
Prank, POB 410892, SF, CA 94141
This may be the best record recorded in this entire magazine and the funny thing is: I thought it was going to be terrible. It’s a live CD released 17 years after the Oklahoman performance at a local cowboy bar’s “punk night” by what seems to be a bunch of highschoolers. It comes with the sketchiest photocopied cover and insert that’s ever been sent to this magazine. And still, it fucking rocks like no other. A very short, but very amazing and inspirational liner note that band member Jeff Klein wrote for this release. 17 years after recording this stuff, Prank asked them to put out the record. The actually dug up the original 4-track demo cassette and re-mixed it for this release. Apparently a band that Tim Yohannan fully endorsed, NOTA play music very similar to Bad Religion, Black Flag, and Agent Orange. This is early 80s punk rock, before it started sucking in the early 90s. This is the most honest music and the most brutally political lyrics, all of which are still completely valid right now in 2001. Lyric: “Poison the water / poison the air / nuclear waste and you don’t care / against abortion in your church / while pollution kills the earth / sick society.” This CD sure doesn’t sound like the new Sunny Day album, it sounds like MIA: dangerous.
Design: 5stars
i commend prank for releasing a record with such an intensely sketchy cover. photocopied picture of the band from almost 20 years ago. bold move, bold record. (DL)

Phantom Patient “Songs from Downstairs” 3.5stars
Entartete Kunst POB 411194, San Fran, CA 94141
Cool, laid-back electronica from a label that’s been putting out a good amount of great, more lo-fi style releases. This CD is marketed as a “Glaswegian subversion electro gothic hip hop nightmare” and I suppose it is indeed some type of electronic evil. Nice use of sampling, voices, and ambient electronica. Not the type of CD made for dancing, but solid listening for most of everything else. I imagine you wouldn’t find this in your local record store, so take the chance and send the label the $8.
Design 2stars
lo-fi computer work. a ton of illegible type on one of the panels, some kraftwerk looking stuff on another. skeletons and faceless people, surgery, death and the like.

Propagandhi “Today’s Empires,...” 5stars
Fat Wreck Chords, www.fatwreck.com
POB 193690, SF, CA 94119
Propagandhi’s decision to be on Fat has upset just about every kind of punk kid in the world. From the archaic and fundamentalist DIY squat rocker to the Nuevo I-only-know-NEW-Bad Religion-and-Lagwagon type of crowd. They’re the band that doesn’t fit, and to this day I still have no idea how the deal worked out. On one hand you have a label that has a history of releasing fairly misogynistic - overtoned songs from tons of bands that all sound, more or less, the same; and on the other, you have a band that is so over the top in expressing their left-wing, super PC political ideals. They essentially use their music the same way that Howard Zinn uses books: it’s a functional outlet for their ideas. So what do you do with this scenario, and how do you analyze it? Everyone has their own take on even the most trivial matters, and I respect both the label and the band for this group effort. On one hand, all the Ebullition fans have guilty thoughts about buying this record because of the label it’s on; on the other hand, kids who listen exclusively to more mainstream punky pop have no idea what they’re getting when they buy a brand-loyalty-induced “safe” release at Tower. And really, how much are you really missing the entire point of what these people are singing about if you’re willing to talk about a record label’s representation more than something that is actually real: something that is actually affecting people’s lives more than one indy label vs. another, or one corporate label vs. another, or whatever stone you are quick to pick up. So this is it, Propagandhi’s first LP in three years. During that time, old bass player left and started the Weakerthans. New bass player came into band, aptly that of the now defunct I-Spy. The product is a political hardcore record. Not like any of their past efforts, but hardcore like the great Reagan-reactionary Dead Kennedys. This is not poppy, and it’s not jokey. It’s fucking good, and, unlike almost every other band that exist nowadays, the lyrics are important because they’re political and intelligent. Will this blow some kid’s mind who will never give this magazine a read, and will never understand what DIY means, and will never listen to the Dead Kennedys or the Minutemen? It should, and if it doesn’t, there is no hope left. The TV shows and the flickering fluorescents have numbed us down and rendered us incapable of standing on any type of ethical ground or understanding of equality. I think there’s still something there, some flicker of hope, and I do think that someone who will pick up this record and have her mind blown. It should be all of us.
Design, 4stars
great painting of us flag imprisoning the rest of the globe, legible type, and loads of information on independent media outlets and kingpins. enhanced cd contains much more reading material and profiles other points that should be of interest if you have a computer. beautiful cd-rom design as well. solid package. (DL)

Red Animal War “Breaking in an Angel” 3stars
Deep Elm, www.deepelm.com
POB 36939, Charlotte, NC 28236
Pretty cool songs that you can sing along with without feeling stupid. Interesting songs and complicated break downs. Start/stop formula but done better than most new bands coming out now, not quite as good as the bands that used to do it. Maybe it’s because this formula has been done a lot now, but nothing here is really catching me. Solid vocals, but definitely not unique or forging new ground. Take it or leave it.
Design, David Slack 2stars
the package looks an awful lot like the cover of photoshop. computer literate, but not too interesting. the song lyrics are hard to read because each individual line is too long. “professional,” but not very good. (DL)

Red Scare “Strangers Die Everyday” CD 4stars
Troubleman, www.troublemanunlimited.com
16 Willow St., Bayonne, NJ 07002
The final album from Knoxville’s most loved band. Eight songs of Shotmaker-inspired hardcore. Thundering music and spoken screams reveal a life of horrid abstraction-induced post-industrial terror. My only complaint is that, where their previous recordings were fusing early 90s hardcore with their more Shellac-esque math tendencies, this recording heavily lends itself to the Shotmaker side. Though this may not be the most experimental Red Scare record floating around, this is the most solid recording and execution of their style. Great release!
Design, Red Scare 3.5stars
more solid red scare album art. pulling away from the more obvious communist propaganda thing is a good move. silver, black and red create the coldness and silence. simple yet elegant. fucking amazing picture on the inside, it should have been the cover. (DL)

Rise Against “The Unraveling” 3.5stars
Fat Wreck Chords, www.fatwreck.com
POB 193690, SF, CA 94119
Best pop-punk record I’ve heard in a long time. Upbeat and “hard.” This feels honest, and the singer rocks. Gruffy voice and he sings with no reference to the bubble gum pop edge that’s infected most of his contemporaries. If you want to give the genre another chance, check this band out; if you’re into this label, definitely check this record out.
Design, L. Rey 1.5stars
cover looks like “new school” in 1997. the quirky cover art is cool and well-drawn, alluding to a futuristic, impressionistic world. the computer work here with font, arrangement, etc. gives it the “new school” comment. i’m not sure where this band is from, but lots of bands from both orange county and boston release records that look like this. slick but not catchy, but not offensive. can’t read the lyrics at all. (DL)

Roto “The Low Power Hour” 1.5stars
Resin, www.resinDC.com
POB 5601, WDC 20016
Very bad attempt at avant-garde. Two tracks of poorly executed dueling vocals that are usually dissonant with each other, either indicating the singer can’t sing or this band has succeeded in perfectly executed terrible music. Noodle guitars. The drummer to DC based Q and Not U makes a cameo on this album, which is not enough to make this album good.
Design, John Davis & C. Ingram 2.5stars
i really like the photos, i really dislike the font. new age techno feel. wish they would have pushed more towards the photos than feeling like they had to crop white space into them. font font. come on, the font is just crazy bad! (DL)

Swallowing Shit CD 4stars
G-7 Welcoming Committee
www.g7welcomingcommittee.com
Another brilliant and important release from G7. I assume this is the discography release of this band, but it’s a bit unclear. Nonetheless, Swallowing Shit, who features a member that went on to be in Propagandhi, play unflinching grind core punk rock thrash with the most political lyrics you’ll ever read. Sense of humor and what’s going on. This band apparently disbanded in 1997 when 300 Christians swarmed one of their shows. Lyrics: “The religious right must be crushed and every law governing the right to choose [abortion] must be repealed now.” This was way before apolitical contemporaries like the Locust, and to quote a review from a previous issue of this magazine, this makes the Locust sound like a flock of seagulls.
Design, 2stars
this is punk rock, black and white, blurry image. cool and fitting, but definitely not genre defying, shocking, or very interesting. (DL)

Right Brigade s/t CD 2stars
Revelation Records, RevelationRecords.com
POB 5232, Huntington Beach, CA 92615
14 more songs of the classic Rev sound. In the vein of the greats: Youth of Today, GB, etc. Nothing too special, but well done hardcore without the youth crew parts. Personal lyrics about alienation and not trusting people that allude to being political, but remain personal. Big minus on the name of this band, as I don’t think they are “in line” with the same things that the Bad Brains were trying to promote or aspire to. Also think it’s weird to name your band after a song by perhaps the most important punk band that ever existed, a band who came into the scene from an angle never before seen or even understood. This band isn’t breaking down any walls or demonstrating any PMA. Regardless, good record if you still find the genre inspiring or meaningful. And you’ll probably love it if you don’t know what the second half of this review is about.
Design, James Woodlawn & Scott Prospect 3stars
probably the simplest cd i have for review, but really nice. just two colors here, a metallic reddish and black, but they’re arranged so they both have lots of space to breath, never getting too busy. no photos, mainly dark silhouettes that have been manipulated into being “photocopied.” nice job overall.

Starflyer 59 “easy come easy go:1994-2000” 4stars
Tooth and Nail
A two-CD set documenting the 6 LP career of a band I’ve never heard of. Really quite good, actually. It’s hard to say, in retrospect, whether this band was as innovative as the liner notes claim, but SF59 knock out a pretty varied bunch of styles, from drop-d tuned shoegazer rock to reverby Cure-sounding stuff, and even some early-Radiohead sounding songs- in other words, a good cross-section of what was called “alternative rock” from 1994-2000; innovativeness would depend on that fine line of whether certain songs were released six months before Radiohead or six months after. Not that it really matters— history is written by the victors, and at this point the “important” bands of the 90’s have probably been set in stone by Rolling Stone, and SF59 is an also-ran. This just goes to show the arbitrariness of it all, because while there are plenty of bands that sound like this, this band do what they do really well, at least as well as their better-known contemporaries.
design: Cory Little. 4stars
somebody at tooth and nail really likes this band, apparently, because the packaging is extravagant and oozes love. a thick, full-color booklet contains extensive liner notes, reproductions of all their record covers (which are consistently good- the band seems to have a good aesthetic sense in general), a cool gatefold package, and a simple, eye-catching, silver red and black color scheme. (AB)

The Stereo “No Traffic” 3.5stars
Fueled by Ramen, www.fueledbyramen.com
POB 12563, Gainsville, FL 32604
Weezer with a heavy classic rock influence. The singer can really sing and lets it go sometimes with “Oh-E-Oh” harmonies. Quickly played, tight, pop music. Feels good to listen to and these guys have stumbled on the formula. I hadn’t heard Weezer, I just may love this band. However, a big part of Weezer is the rediculous lyrics they sing, satire and humorous articulation. We don’t necessarily have that here. But hell, there’s room for a zillion NOFX rip offs, and this smokes that, so there’s definitely room here as well.
Design 4stars
this band always has great looking records. very strong typography and photography. they’ve invented a “look” for themselves and it’s great. i do hate the digipack though. the lyric sheet just slides into the case loose, wanting to fall out. go the extra yard and get the digipack with a pocket! (DL)

Ultivac “s/t” CD 2stars
the Buddy System, www.thebuddysystem.com
302 Bedford Ave. #264, Brooklyn, NY 11211
2/3 of the Hal-al-Shedad unite for a bass and drums combo with the addition of Year Zero front man Jonathan Lukens. Musically, this album is superior to most stuff coming out right now. Interesting patterns, great bass playing, and cool electronic elements. I just can’t take the singing. The tortured, early DC-esque emo-core vocaling completely gets in the way of the band. Seems like it could be great with interesting singing or almost anything but what’s on it. End analysis: super music with bad singing. If you can get past the negative, you’ll love the positives. I can’t seem to move on.
Design 1stars
orangey-yellowish gradiated image on both sides with name of band and songs in a relatively generic font. not that interesting any way you cut it. (DL)

Unwound “leaves turn inside you” 3stars
Kill Rock Stars
Unwound’s music is the music of profound mopeyness, the soundtrack not to dissatisfaction or rebelliousness, but to total spiritual malaise. At least that’s how I’ve always thought of them. Even when they rock out, it’s never euphoric in intent, there is always a sense of moroseness to it- The Future of What’s first track screamed its accusation to the youth: “where’s your energy? There’s no energy,” and it wasn’t intended as a call to arms, it seemed more a description of our sorry state. But this new Unwound album: where’s the gloom? It drones, it plods, it rarely rocks, which is OK with me, I like the band best when they are in slow and epic mode, but in this sprawling double album there seems to be a heretofore absent sense of ease and comfort in the songs. The intent no longer seems to be to crush your will to live. Sad but true: they’ve “mellowed out.”
design: 1stars
i can’t comment too extensively, as there was no artwork included in the promo copy. saw a copy at the record store. looks like it took about two seconds to put together. there’s a fine line between minimalism and just boring. (AB)

V/A - Juno & The Dismemberment Plan split CD 4stars
DeSoto, www.desotorecords.com
POB 60932, WDC 20039
DP start the CD and continue with their quirky, schizophrenic style that plays off great vocal lines, the meshing of electronica, and generally keeping the audience on their toes. The hecticness first song reminds me a bit of the Rah Bras. DPs next song is a home recorded guitar and vocals track. Good melody and very well executed. I wish I could understand the lyrics to this one, seems like they’re really good. Juno hits us with two more strong tracks of their specialty. The more I listen to this band, the more I like them. Check out their full length review for more info.
Design 1star
simple drawings of fruit. you can tell this was a split and that neither band cared too much about what it looked like. not too memorable, just functional. (DL)

Various Artists “Turbo’s Tunes” 5stars
Kill Rock Stars
This is a retrospective sampler of stuff the Kill Rock Stars label has put out over the last decade, and it is a testament to the strength and diversity of the label. Especially good to hear is the number of women’s voices, and generally the number of women playing in these bands (actually, I think that there is a woman in every band except for the three male solo artists included here). The bigger names (Sleater Kinney, Unwound) are there, but the lesser known bands and artists put in solid tracks as well. I suppose culling 19 good songs from the KRS catalog is not exactly a Herculean task; still, it’s great to hear this.
design
i imagine that, unlike the promo copy, the actual item does not come in a badly-xeroxed neon-orange sleeve. if it does, i give this thing five stars. (AB)