Sex & Food: The Best Of The Pursuit Of Happiness
Artist: The Pursuit of Happiness

Sex & Food is a pretty satisfactory greatest hits album -- it features the Pursuit of Happiness' best and most successful tracks, but several submissions mar the album. Songs like "She's So Young," "Two Girls in One," "Hard to Laugh," "Cigarette Dangles," and their signature hit, "I'm an Adult Now," comprise about half of the collection. These... Read More

Christmas
Artist: Low
Community Score: 7.00

In their liner notes, Low hopes that their fans, "...will consider this our gift to you. Best wishes." Those who are already fans should be more than pleased with this little morsel. Throughout Christmas Low's trademark simplicity of instrumentation allows the listener to hear every nuance and crystalline detail. Beginning with "Just Like... Read More

Much Against Everyone's Advice
Artist: Soulwax
Community Score: 8.50

Soulwax's US debut album Much Against Everyone's Advice mixes rock and electronica on songs like "Too Many DJs," "When Logics Die" and "Overweight Karate Kid." The Belgian group's mix of loops, guitars, strings and dance-inspired rhythms is fresh and appealing, and Much Against Everyone's Advice - Soulwax's third album overall - is their finest... Read More

Under the Milky Way: The Best of the Church
Artist: The Church
Community Score: 4.50

Buddha's Under the Milky Way: The Best of the Church is a terrific, comprehensive anthology, tracing their career from their 1981 debut, Of Skin and Heart, to 1994's Sometime Anywhere. Some hardcore fans may notice some personal favorites missing, but all their best-known songs -- "The Unguarded Moment," "Tear It All Away," "Month of Sundays,"... Read More

Veterans of Disorder
Artist: Royal Trux
Community Score: 5.50

With 1998's excellent Accelerator, Royal Trux completed their rock history trilogy and returned to Drag City. On Veterans of Disorder -- the title of which attests to the band's mix of classic rock and noisy experimentation, and to their status as survivors of their own chaotic excesses -- the Trux move forward and look back at the same time.... Read More

What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?
Artist: Echo & the Bunnymen
Community Score: 7.65

Echo & the Bunnymen made a dignified return in 1997 with Evergreen, but that record displayed some hints of rustiness and a desire to stay hip -- two things notably absent from its superb sequel, What Are You Going to Do With Your Life? Trimmed to just the duo of Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant, Echo has succeeded where many of their peers have... Read More

Californication
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Community Score: 8.04

Many figured that the Red Hot Chili Peppers' days as undisputed alternative kings were numbered after their lackluster 1995 release One Hot Minute, but like the great phoenix rising from the ashes, this legendary and influential outfit returned back to greatness with 1999's Californication. An obvious reason for their rebirth is the reappearance... Read More

Look Now Look Again
Artist: Rainer Maria
Community Score: 8.00

Rainer Maria's Look Now Look Again could quite possibly be the last great album from the now tired emo rock scene. Using the loud-soft dynamics of emo and the catchy playfulness of indie pop proves to be a delicious combination, and Rainer Maria pull it off with grace and intelligence. Sometimes sentimental, but never too sappy, Look Now Look... Read More

Angry Years
Artist: The Fleshtones
Presidents of the United States of America - BONUS CD
Artist: Presidents of the United States of America
Superjaded
Artist: Liars Inc.

Superjaded announces the emergence of a band unafraid to illuminate life's emotional struggles through intense, urgent rock orchestrations. The 12 songs on this debut contain a kind of dichotomous pathos, much in the same vein of Manchester, England's The Smiths and, more recently, Seattle's Nirvana. As energetic tunes churn away with catchy and... 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