Wacko Magneto
Artist: Ednaswap

Had things worked out differently, Wacko Magneto might have been Ednaswap's commercial breakthrough; hard-edged and tough-minded, its smart combination of metal textures, punk intensity, and alt-rock melodicism seemed an ideal fit for modern rock radio circa 1997. Instead, the record went nowhere, becoming something of a curiosity only when... Read More

How Does Your Garden Grow?
Artist: Better Than Ezra
Community Score: 8.75

Rightly suspecting that the days of grunge and alt-rock were finished in the late '90s, Better Than Ezra wisely decided to revamp their trademark post-grunge sound for their third album, How Does Your Garden Grow? That they chose to revamp in the most predictable way -- mainly electronica and trip-hop, but with a touch of space rock and Brit-pop... Read More

Search for Reason
Artist: Kilgore
Community Score: 10.00

Kilgore's second album Search for Reason -- the first, Blue Collar Solitude, was released under the name Kilgore Smudge -- is an impressive step forward for the alt-metal quartet. They have the desire to blend styles, drawing from hardcore punk, metal and post-alternative industrial and grunge. Unfortunately, producer Ed Stasium gives the band a... Read More

Master of Styles
Artist: The Urge
Community Score: 6.75

With their second major-label album, Master of Styles, the thrash-funk-metal band the Urge have created their most accomplished and effective album to date. Not only is the Urge's ambitious material their finest to date, but they have accurately captured their pile-driving, overwhelming live sound, resulting in a visceral, exciting listen unlike... Read More

Fantastic Pirate Satellite
Artist: Liquid Gang
Retrospective
Artist: Pin Group

Siltbreeze's Retrospective is a re-issued collection of recordings by New Zealand's seminal Pin Group (fronted by Roy Montgomery) -- the disc includes the "Ambivalence"/"Columbia" 7" (actually the first single issued on the Flying Nun label), the "Coat"/"Jim" 7", the Pin Group Goes to Town EP, a live cover of War's "Low Rider" and two low-fi... Read More

Egomania (Love Songs)
Artist: Cobra Verde

Atmospheric, earthy sounds are what Cobra Verde specialize in, and they deliver the goods yet again on Egomania (Love Songs). It's a compilation of new songs, unreleased material, and tracks that have been previously unavailable on CD (from 45s released on the Sub Pop, Scat, Wabana, and Get Hip labels from 1995-96). The band shows off its many... Read More

Fush Yu Mang
Artist: Smash Mouth
Community Score: 6.06

The groovy, '60s soul-funk of "Walking on the Sun" disguises the fact that Smash Mouth is a ska-punk band. With its organ riff and breezy melody, "Walking on the Sun" is a great one-shot single, yet Smash Mouth never come close to replicating its easy charm anywhere on Fush Yu Mang. Regardless, there are some moments that'll satisfy third-wave... Read More

Pushing the Salmanilla Envelope
Artist: Jimmie's Chicken Shack
Community Score: 7.95

Jimmie's Chicken Shack is the type of name one would expect from either a country act or Southern-fried country-rockers, but Pushing the Salmanilla Envelope hardly falls into either of those categories. Rather, this promising debut album showed Chicken Shack to be hard-driving alternative rockers whose music is as intense as it is melodic. As... Read More

Restraining Bolt
Artist: Radish
Community Score: 9.67
A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular
Artist: Hooverphonic
Community Score: 7.91

The Belgian trio Hooverphonic haphazardly tinkers around with ambient pop on its debut album, A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular. Overall, it's a decent derivation of post-grunge and a healthy sampling of rising trip-hop and ambient electronica during the mid-'90s, so perhaps it's all right for the album itself to experience floppy production.... Read More

In a Doghouse
Artist: Throwing Muses
Community Score: 7.00

Throwing Muses' classic first album was never released in the U.S., nor was their follow-up EP, Chains Changed. For well over a decade, the two records were only available as imports through 4AD, which meant that Throwing Muses, one of the most influential and individual albums of late-'80s alternative rock, was very hard for anyone outside of... Read More