University
Artist: Throwing Muses
Community Score: 6.80

Possibly their finest album, Throwing Muses' fifth album, University, blends the rock power of Red Heaven, their first effort as a trio, with the shiny, surreal pop of The Real Ramona. The result is a collection of songs, like the album opener, "Bright Yellow Gun," that are as ferociously kinetic as they are insinuatingly melodic. At first,... Read More

Sacrificial Cake
Artist: Jarboe

Reunited with multi-instrumentalist Lary Seven, her collaborator on the Beautiful People project, Jarboe on her second solo album again clearly demonstrates her musical abilities as being no less adept than those of her Swans bandmate/partner Gira (whose own solo debut album, Drainland, was released in concert along with Sacrificial Cake). All... Read More

Appetite for Adrenochrome
Artist: The Groovie Ghoulies
Community Score: 6.00
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

American Standard
Artist: Seven Mary Three
Community Score: 7.50

Seven Mary Three isn't much more than a standard bar band, but the group tears through American Standard with enough energy to convince listeners it's something more. Beneath that energy and their crushing, grungy riffs, the bandmembers display some promising songwriting skills, highlighted by the single "Cumbersome." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine,... Read More

NOLA
Artist: Down
Community Score: 7.72

The combination of Phil Anselmo and Pepper Keenan should be enough to cause heavy metal fans to drool, but with a full cast made up of members of Pantera, Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, and Eyehategod, Down is truly a supergroup, and performs as such. Make no mistake, though, the music inevitably comes back to Anselmo and Keenan. NOLA (an... Read More

Cascade
Artist: Peter Murphy
Community Score: 8.00

Following the Holy Smoke tour, the Hundred Men disbanded, with only Statham remaining as Murphy's main songwriting partner. Along with the help of producer Pascal Gabriel and some good session players, including extra "infinite guitar" from cult musician Michael Brook, Murphy created the marvelous Cascade. Another step further up in Murphy's... 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