Music
Artist: 311
Community Score: 7.95

311's debut album, Music, is an infectious mix of funk metal and hip-hop. While the band fails to come up with a consistently solid batch of songs, their raw energy makes up for the lack of strong songwriting. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Read More

Encendedor
Artist: Dambuilders

Boston's Dambuilders thankfully didn't conform themselves for the sake of their major label debut. If anything, the opening moments of the grating "Copsucker" showed that they were ready to scream louder and rawer than they had in the past. The only noticeable change -- and a refreshing one at that -- is that the slightly polished production... Read More

Tough Guy Problem
Artist: Dambuilders

This rocket of an EP served as a proper introduction to the energy Joan Wasser and her violin were capable of giving to the Boston indie band. The five songs here show the wealth of moods the band was capable of, from erratic mind games ("Dose") to romantic, tumbleweed swayers ("Idaho,") to all-out pogo rock ("Heather"). Most impressible is the... Read More

File Under: Easy Listening
Artist: Sugar
Community Score: 3.50

Given Bob Mould's reputation for searing electric rock & roll, it may be easy to think that the title of File Under: Easy Listening is ironic, and it is to a certain extent. But beneath the loud guitars lie the friendliest, most relaxed pop songs Mould had ever written. "Your Favorite Thing" and "Can't Help You Anymore" are two of Mould's most... Read More

Too High to Die
Artist: Meat Puppets
Community Score: 7.23

Although the Meat Puppets' previous album, 1991's Forbidden Places, was one of the Arizona trio's finest, the band wasn't completely happy with the album's sound, courtesy of longtime Dwight Yoakam producer Pete Anderson. So on their second album for London Records, 1994's Too High To Die, the trio hooked up with Butthole Surfer Paul Leary to... Read More

Come on Feel the Lemonheads
Artist: The Lemonheads
Community Score: 8.00

Come On Feel the Lemonheads should have been the album that propelled the trio and Evan Dando to stardom, but instead of delivering a concise pop record in the vein of It's a Shame About Ray, they made a messy album that never quite found its focus. That's not to say that Come On Feel is without merit, because that's hardly the case. In many... Read More

Picture of Health
Artist: The Headstones

Hungry, aggressive, humorous, and sometimes disturbing rock delivered with fierce defiance and tenacious riffing. ~ Roch Parisien, All Music Guide Read More

14 Songs
Artist: Paul Westerberg
Community Score: 9.00

Paul Westerberg's second solo LP (we all know the Replacements' final All Shook Down was really not a band LP) is a damn sight better than his first, with a batch of really nice tunes and some renewed enthusiasm (it's not as much of a downer); still, it's hard to resist the belief that he's capable of more than this. The fault is two-fold: One,... Read More

Saturation
Artist: Urge Overkill
Community Score: 5.17

When they hit the major labels, Urge Overkill followed through on their promise with the blistering Saturation. It's stadium rock by clever post-punkers who are smart enough to not let their carefully crafted image interfere with the music. Every one of the 12 songs is a killer, from the outlandish menace of "Stalker" to the moving ballad "Back... Read More

Staying Loose (A Compilation)
Artist: H.P. Zinker

Vienna songwriter, guitarist, and singer Hans Platzgumer fronted the H.P. Zinker outfit for several years, establishing a connection with several key American artists and actually creating something of a following for himself in the process. This is more than one can say for quite a few other European rock artists, especially ones from Vienna. A... Read More