50,000 B.C.
Artist: Shudder to Think

Pony Express Record might have been Shudder To Think's self-consciously difficult art-punk album, but 50,000 B.C. is their move toward big-rock. Sporting a slick, polished guitar sound and anthemic harmonies, 50,000 B.C. is more accessible than the rest of the group's catalog, at least on the surface. However, Craig Wedren's songs remain... Read More

Insider
Artist: Ten Foot Pole
Community Score: 8.00

Punk purists will deny it with every ounce of strength in their scrawny bodies, but the simple fact is that punk rock has benefited greatly from being co-opted by the pop mainstream. Or maybe it's the other way around. Whatever. In any case, there's really no denying that much of the best punk rock is deeply informed by pop songcraft -- grumble... Read More

Box of Bongwater
Artist: Bongwater

This aptly titled Box of Bongwater consists of four CDs aimed at gathering a majority of the duo's recordings -- many of which had been out of print or at the very least difficult to find for several years. Included in this package are the contents of the Breaking No New Ground EP; the albums Double Bummer, Too Much Sleep, The Power of Pussy,... Read More

When the Red King Comes
Artist: Elf Power

As the Elephant 6 catalog continues to expand, it becomes increasingly obvious that many of the label's bands are concerned not merely with creating fresh and exciting music but rather entire mythologies, crafting obscure concept records exploring the intricacies of strange pocket universes. Existing in the musical gray area between Olivia... Read More

Singles, Live, Unreleased
Artist: Royal Trux

Royal Trux celebrated their freedom from Virgin and return to Drag City by releasing Singles, Live, Unreleased, a sprawling 32-song set filled with rarities and obscurities. Sure, it seems like this falls into the "fans-only" category, but this mess has a certain charm. Also, in its own way, it captures what Royal Trux is all about, containing... Read More

The Action Is Go
Artist: Fu Manchu
Community Score: 10.00

Not that it's unique, yet even with half the band changed from the last time around, the twin-riff action that kicks off "Evil Eye," and The Action Is Go! as a whole, sounds like nobody else but Fu Manchu, somehow. Punk energy, classic rock drive, psychedelic crunch, and heavy-ass grind all at once -- really, is anything more needed? From there... Read More

When I Was Born for the 7th Time
Artist: Cornershop
Community Score: 5.67

When I Was Born for the 7th Time is a remarkable leap forward for Cornershop, the place where the group blends all of their diverse influences into a seamless whole. Cornershop uses Indian music as a foundation, finding its droning repetition similar to the trancier elements of electronica, the cut-and-paste collages of hip-hop, and the skeletal... 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

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

1212
Artist: Barbara Manning

For all of her past recorded output, Barbara Manning has never been the most prolific of composers, her many albums relying instead on her gifts as an interpreter of other writers' songs; the achievement of 1212 isn't simply that it's made up largely of Manning originals, but that chief among them is her most ambitious creation to date, a... Read More

Dare to Be Surprised
Artist: Folk Implosion

The surprise success of "Natural One" affected the Folk Implosion in a surprising way. Instead of running from success and shunning melody, Lou Barlow and John Davis decided to embrace pop on their own terms. That means the Folk Implosion remains an indie rock band, recording on cheap equipment, and layering brittle guitars for the basic tracks,... 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

Mutations - AUSTRALIA BONUS CD
Artist: Beck

According to party line, Beck never intended Mutations to be considered as the official followup to Odelay, his Grammy-winning breakthrough. It was more like One Foot in the Grave, designed to be an off-kilter, subdued collection of acoustic-based songs pitched halfway between psychedelic country blues and lo-fi folk. Once Beck became an... Read More