Goldfly
Artist: Guster
Community Score: 7.00

Bursting on to the sonic scene with the driving "Great Escape," Guster's major-label debut quickly mellows into the insightfully deceptive "Demon" and the island chock of "Perfect" before revving back up to the strikingly produced "Airport Song." Though the album has many high points, this first single is the highest. Drifting in like a distant... Read More

Blender
Artist: Murmurs
Community Score: 9.33

Blender is an appropriate title for this CD, because it contains a blend of new material and songs that had already been heard on the Murmurs' 1997 release Pristine Smut. The alternative pop-rock duo probably would have been better off recording nothing but new material, but for those who discovered the Murmurs with Blender, it was quite an... Read More

The Best of the Lemonheads: The Atlantic Years
Artist: The Lemonheads

Evan Dando -- for all intents and purposes, he is the Lemonheads -- is a sporadically brilliant songwriter. Every one of his albums contains as many flops as masterpieces, sometimes more. Hardcore fans have learned to live with this and even cherish his dopey detours, but there are many others who would prefer to have all the best bits on... Read More

Overcome by Happiness
Artist: The Pernice Brothers

Listeners expecting a continuation of the Scud Mountain Boys' slow, grim alt-country sound will be surprised by the wholesale changes wrought on Overcome by Happiness -- Joe Pernice has gone pop, and the results are quite promising. Recorded in part with a ten-piece orchestra, the record is closer to chamber pop than roots rock, with the bright,... Read More

Heaven
Artist: Jai
Community Score: 10.00

Jai's debut album, Heaven, is a stylish amalgam of jazzy sophisti-pop, Motown, swinging '60s rock, trip-hop and contemporary soul. While the songwriting in Heaven is uneven, Jai's voice is consistently thrilling, soaring to new soulful heights. That voice -- along with songs that show how powerful his updated blue-eyed soul can be, like "I... Read More

Redlight
Artist: The Slackers
Community Score: 8.33
Seen a Ghost
Artist: Honeydogs

Like their pair of indie records, the Honeydogs' major-label debut, Seen a Ghost, is a charming collection of Beatlesque pop, demonstrating the group's knack for bright, catchy melodies and ringing guitars. Seen a Ghost is a solid, craftsmanlike collection of pop that doesn't offer any new thrills, but there are nevertheless thrills in the hooks... Read More

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

Against the Stars
Artist: Dambuilders

Against the Stars is third major label album from the Dambuilders. Against the Stars diverges from the simple production of previous releases, favoring a more dense, complicated sound. Gone is the indie rock guitar-based approach, resulting in a heavily produced set of 13 songs. Imagine a poppy prog rock record and you have Against the Stars.... Read More

Fly Stereophonic
Artist: Lida Husik

Lida Husik sounds like the hippest bird of the aloof literate set, a sunglassed beatnik chick, one part dark and mysterious cafe habitue and one part swirling go-go girl, which makes Fly Stereophonic whimsically effervescent music that taps all the coolest touchstones of the au courant crowd. And for that reason alone, the album would be worth... Read More

Pristine Smut
Artist: Murmurs
Community Score: 10.00

For their second album, the Murmurs decided to electrify their collegiate folk-pop and add a full rhythm section. Such an approach could have led to a standard-issue post-grunge affair, where the sound is grungy but glossy and the lyrics are too angst-ridden, but under the watchful eyes of producers k.d. lang and Larry Klein, the duo is steered... Read More

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

Third Eye Blind
Artist: Third Eye Blind
Community Score: 8.35

Third Eye Blind's eponymous debut is catchier than the average post-grunge album, and that fact alone reveals a lot about the band. Instead of relying on standard, plodding grunge influences, Third Eye Blind draw heavily from the simple hook-laden traditions of classic arena rock, which makes the album more immediate. Unfortunately, this also... 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