These are the guys you see getting drunk on Saturday night and up in the front pews on Sunday morning. In their own words this is "old-time hellfire music." Concerned equally with the pleasures of sin and the importance of redemption, this duo makes the best country music out there.

The word rebel is, unfortunately, used far too lightly these days, but these guys are truly rebels. They play a style of music that hasn't had mainstream popularity since the fifties and do it in a way that shows that, while they do take the music seriously, they sure as heck don't take themselves seriously. Check them out at tremorsrockabilly.com, you will not regret it.

These guys are still fairly new, and their first album is pretty much impossible to find here in the States, but their second is available as an import from Amazon. If you are a fan of The Birthday Party, then this is the perfect new band for you. They have angular guitars, fast songs, violent lyrics. There is just something about Australia that produces this kind of music, and I'd love to know what that is.

This album could probably best be compared to the first time that Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was performed. In fact, their concerts would occassionally cause the same reaction as the Parisians had to Stravinsky's work, riots. If you have a chance to get this CD, and I highly reccomend it, pick up the reissue on Mute. It contains the infamous show in Brussels where Suicide opened for Elvis Costello and basically incited a riot. The audience reaction on the set says everything. Think Dylan's infamous Judas incident, only with less applause. I picked timeless, because this album certainly does stand the test of time. Like all of the best music, it will be ahead of its time thirty years from now. Of course parent repellant would also have been an appropriate description. Everything you have ever heard about Frankie Teardrop is true. The only thing that could possibly prepare you for this album is if you are familiar with The Velvet Underground's first two albums. Unless you are at a point where you can listen to Herion, European Son or The Gift for fun, you will not be able to handle this album.

Chicago are the greatest band to come out of the Midwest. They are also the most underappreciated and most talented band in recent history. Their original guitarist, Terry Kath, amazed even Jimi Hendrix, who they opened for early in their career, prompting him to say to their woodwind player, Walt Parazaider, "I'm good, but this cat is great." Praise like that is what Chicago should have received from the critics, but their unwillingness to make "pop" records threw off many critics and brought scorn from others. Even so, the people saw the band for what they were, for the most part, making Chicago the second most popular American band in history, behind the Beach Boys. I call Chicago underappreciated because, besides being so popular, the public never really knew who the band was, partially because of the diversity of the band's repertoire, and also because of their lack of interest in fame.