Dirt Track Date
Artist: Southern Culture on the Skids

After spending the first half of the 1990s as one of America's hardest-working independent bands, Southern Culture on the Skids took the bait and signed with a major label in 1995, releasing its fifth album, Dirt Track Date, on Geffen/DGC that year. Dirt Track Date proved to be something of a disappointment for the group's hardcore fans; nearly... Read More

Way Beyond Blue
Artist: Catatonia
Community Score: 8.00

Catatonia's major-label debut, Way Beyond Blue, is an infectious set of jangle pop, injected with the punkish attitude of indie rock. The guitars ring as if they were recorded in the late '80s, but it has a muscular backbone, and vocalist Cerys Matthews has a tough edge to her voice, which never makes the music sound weak. And a good majority of... Read More

Move Back Home
Artist: The Queers
Community Score: 6.00

A quick scan of the words ("cretin," "psychopath," "rehab," etc.) in the song titles make it clear that these guys are coming straight out of Ramones-land. And that's just fine, because Move Back Home demonstrates that the Queers are getting better and better at channeling the black leather jacket-clad spirit of their punk forefathers. They, of... Read More

Love is Dead
Artist: Mr. T Experience
Community Score: 8.00

Wearing their Ramones influences even more prominently on their sleeves, MTX "Starship" returned with another knockout album. "Dumb Little Band" is an honest reaction by a dumb little band that was left behind by their punk rock Gilman Street peers who hit the big time. Most of these songs, including "I Just Wanna Do It With You," "Ba Ba Ba Ba... Read More

4AM Friday
Artist: Avail

Opening with the rallying cry of "Simple Song" and winding down with the chugging rocker "Nameless," Avail's third album finds the Richmond, VA, punk band settling into a standard -- but still enjoyable -- formula. Loaded with catchy, singalong numbers, 4AM Friday rarely expands on the group's previous efforts, though an acoustic rendition of... Read More

Fever In Fever Out
Artist: Luscious Jackson
Community Score: 8.00

For all of its sunny eclecticism, Natural Ingredients lacked the darkly funky urban soundscapes that made In Search of Manny so engaging. Fever In Fever Out brings that dark funkiness while keeping the pop hooks that made Natural Ingredients a step forward. Producer Daniel Lanois keeps his ambient tendencies to a minimum, providing just enough... Read More

Hot Saki & Bedtime Stories
Artist: Catherine
Community Score: 8.00

The merry men from Chicago create an even more varied and generally successful package on Saki; the ghost of Corgan crunch yet lurks throughout, while his Pumpkins bandmate D'Arcy contributes vocals for "Four Leaf Clover," but Catherine is now fully its own concern, as the opening cut "Whisper" demonstrates. Sure, there's more than a little... Read More

Regretfully Yours
Artist: Superdrag
Community Score: 7.00

In the glut of grungy power pop bands that flooded the mid-'90s, it was pretty easy to write off Superdrag as "just another rock band." The difference is that Superdrag is essentially a pop band, as Regretfully Yours proves. While the band's sound itself is nothing terribly exciting, most of the songwriting lives up to the promise of the album's... Read More

Gotta Get over Greta
Artist: The Nields

Acoustic folk music meets pop/punk/country in a strong and daring shoot out. Listen to the dominating rhythm section and the fuzzed guitar of the opening cut, "I Need a Doctor," you know you are listening to an acoustic band making a strong, rocking statement. They even have Kevin Moloney (Sinead O'Connor and U2) as producer. However, the... Read More

Growing Up
Artist: Hi-Standard

Just because that Fat Wreck Chords sound of slap happy, galloping pop-punk has been overdone doesn't mean that it gets stale; it all just depends on how a band can make this genre fun again. Take Hi-Standard for example, sure they epitomize on the Fat sterotype-except for the whole being from Japan part- but it's just so hard not to crank... Read More

311
Artist: 311
Community Score: 7.41

It is the seamless way the songs on the eponymously titled 311 combine the band's influences into a potent blend of rap, funk, and rock that renders this album a cut above those of their competitors. These riff-heavy and radio-ready songs are underscored by a tight drum sound (often with a piccolo snare), the scratching of turntables, and the... Read More

Living in Large Rooms and Lounges
Artist: Hunters & Collectors

Despite the fact that Hunters & Collectors had been unable to maintain the sort of record sales toward the end of their career that they had enjoyed in the 1980s, they still remained one of Australia's favorite live rock acts. Living in Large Rooms and Lounges shows why. Recorded on their "Live Demons" tour in early 1995, this collection shows... Read More