The Saints - Out In The Jungle… - 1982

Chris Bailey resurrected the Saints following the departure of co-founder Ed Keupper with the fine 1981 album The Monkey Puzzle, which took the band in a more graceful and pop-oriented direction, and 1982's Out In The Jungle lineup, was a similarly smart, melodic and adventurous set for the Aussie ex-pats. With the departure of guitarist Barrington Francis from the Monkey PuzzleBailey became the Saints' sole guitarist, and given his solid but unspectacular chops on the instrument, it's significant that Bailey filled out the arrangements on Out In The Jungle with horns, strings and keyboards (though former Damned axeman Brian James does contribute potent lead guitar on two cuts, "Beginning Of The Tomato Party" and "Animal"). While the melodic bouyance, the emphasis on acoustic guitar and the (relatively) polished arrangements on these tunes lack the fire of the Saints' best-known work, there's still a wealth of nervy passion in Bailey's vocals, confirming his status as one of rock's most underrated singers, and the lyrics to "Follow The Leader", "Senile Dementia" and "Out Of Sight Out Of Mind" show that despite his musical surroundings Bailey hadn't mellowed a bit. Originally titled Out In The Jungle Where Things Aren't So Pleasant, this album isn't quite as strong as the two which would follow, A Little Madness To Be Free and All Fool's Day, but Bailey's sure grasp of his melodic instincts and his willingness to move on past the Saints' "formula" points to the excellence of those records, and this is an album well worth a listen despite its low profile in their discography. (The album has also been released under the title I Thought I Was In Love But This Ain't Casablanca.) -AMG

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The Cautions - Proceed With... The Cautions - 2005

Boston, MA's the Cautions are a cross between such modern-day punk-pop chart toppers Blink 182 and such old school new wave icons as the Cars. Consisting of members Eric Barao (lead vocals, guitar, synth), Jeff Caglarcan (guitar), Matt Boynton (bass, vocals), and Chris Newbern (drums, vocals), the band began when Barao and Caglarcan met while both were attending Berklee College of Music in 1992. Through numerous lineup changes, the duo hooked up with the other members, and the Cautions were officially formed in February of 2000, making their first live appearance two months later. A year after their formation, the Cautions released their debut self-titled album, leading to accolades from such publications as Boston Soundcheck and Metronome, who both chose the album as one of their top five picks of the month. -AMG

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Pulp - Different Class - 1995

After years of obscurity, Pulp shot to stardom in Britain with 1994's His 'n' Hers. By the time Different Class was released at the end of October 1995, the band, particularly lead singer Jarvis Cocker, were genuine British superstars, with two number two singles and a triumphant last-minute performance at Glastonbury under their belts, as well as one tabloid scandal. On the heels of such excitement, anticipation for Different Class ran high, and not only does it deliver, it blows away all their previous albums, including the fine His 'n' Hers. Pulp don't stray from their signature formula at all -- it's still grandly theatrical, synth-spiked pop with new wave and disco flourishes, but they have mastered it here. Not only are the melodies and hooks significantly catchier and more immediate, the music explores more territory. From the faux-show tune romp of the anthemic opener "Mis-Shapes" and the glitzy, gaudy stomp of "Disco 2000" (complete with a nicked riff from Laura Branigan's "Gloria") to the aching ballad "Underwear" and the startling sexual menace of "I Spy," Pulp construct a diverse, appealing album around the same basic sound. Similarly, Jarvis Cocker's lyrics take two themes, sex and social class, and explore a number of different avenues in bitingly clever ways. As well as perfectly capturing the behavior of his characters, Cocker grasps the nuances of language, creating a dense portrait of suburban and working-class life. All of his sex songs are compassionate, while the subtle satire of "Sorted for E's & Wizz" is affectionate, but the best moment on the album is the hit single "Common People," about a rich girl who gets off by slumming with the lower class. Coming from Cocker, who made secondhand clothes and music glamorous, the song is undeniably affecting and exciting, much like Different Class itself. -AMG

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The Go-Betweens - Oceans Apart - 2005

Though it's been two years since Bright Yellow Bright Orange, Oceans Apart is further proof that the Go-Betweens are still a going concern. It is their third recording since reuniting after a 12-year hiatus. The lineup is the same as the last time out: Songwriters and frontmen Robert Forster and Grant McLennan are joined once more by drummer Glenn Thompson, and bassist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist Adele Pickvance. In addition, there is a small wind and brass section on some tracks, and, for a change, no strings. The band dug into its past for this one, bringing in producer Mark Wallis, who helmed the sessions for the classic 16 Lovers Lane in 1988. Oceans Apart sounds very little like its aforementioned predecessor, but that's hardly a problem. Wallis understands the band's subtleties and the textures they like to evoke better than anyone else they've ever worked with. His production is more assertive, but hardly excessive. In fact, he lends the added dimension (he loves keyboards and electronic percussions) the band's records have lacked since their comeback. The set opens with "Here Comes a City," a literary rocker by Forster. Its shimmering, chunka-chunka riff and Forster's vocals feel like a refined, musical nod to the Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime." It's also paranoid, clamoring for an edge it doesn't quite get to, and careens along to an uncertain yet quite arresting end. Things become a bit more characteristic on McLennan's beautiful "Finding You," with its lilting guitars, spare, clean lines, and poetic, emotional lyrics that can open veins with the fine slash of their honesty. The dreamy, pillowy "No Reason to Cry" is among the more elegant songs McLennan has ever composed. Its soulful vocal, chorus, and the way Wallis layers keyboards, vocals, and Forster's distorted lead lines give the lyrics great weight and depth. It's a truly wonderful pop song. The poetry in "Darlinghurst Nights" is some of Forster's more poignant, moving through reverie, grief, and loss. The weave of acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, drums, and percussion surrounds his voice, pushing it out in front just enough to let his words move toward the listener with enough force to draw her in. In contrast, his "Lavender" touches country music but never goes there. Loops, keyboards, and washes of guitars carry the tune somewhere else as a clarinet wafts in from the margin. Once more, its reverie is in his lyric, with a hint of the previous, as it meets the solitary present, and it's gorgeous. The electronic beats in "The Statue" are a bit jarring until the watery, warm, and luscious keyboards slip underneath subtly, only to be buoyed by a ringing lead-guitar line and McLennan's vocal speaking his desire without flinching. Forster's brief, elegiac "Mountains Near Dellray" closes the set with another sense of place, very different from his opener's. The mood is pastoral as the guitars wind and slip over one another. With its imagination, startling creativity, and sheer pop soul, Oceans Apart is the first great Go-Betweens' record of the 21st century. -AMG

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Sparklejet -This Years Model - 1998

Conceived in 1996 in the sprawling agricultural wasteland called Fresno, SparkleJet’s urgent & drunken hookiness will single-handedly reanimate the rotting corpse of quality rock n’roll. Over the course of three fine albums-1997’s Soap, 1998’s This Years Model, and 2001's Bar Guest, this lovably loose threesome have demonstrated an otherworldly capacity to bounce easily about the rock landscape. From barroom bliss, a la The Replacements circa ‘84, to Kinks-y power stomps, to poetic, Camper Van Beethoven pop, to filthy Exile- epoch Stones and now, a more angular/dissonant direction, SparkleJet delivers the smart and timeless goods you’re probably too much of an art rock snob to admit to your friends you both love and need. Waste no more time worshipping poser idols, accept the gospel of SparkleJet now. -sparklejet.net

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The Cheaters - The Cheaters - 2007

August 2007 The Cheaters released their eagerly anticipated first single. "It’s Alright" is 2:02 minutes of dirty, mean and untamed 60’s punkrock from the Norwegian trio. This fire-breathing rocket takes off from the very first second, never to come down again. Play it dangerously loud, and you will be compelled to go and buy their self-titled Album.Henrik W. Kristiansen (drums) had just one condition the day he and Oyvind Skarsboe (guitar) decided to start a band: under no circumstances should Oyvind be the vocalist — they had known each other since childhood and had done The Animals impressions since they were eleven. Henrik didn’t recall Oyvind being the next Eric Burdon. But when they were about to record their fi rst EP, there was no time to fi nd another songbird. Oyvind had to lay down the vocals and suddenly a kept talent was revealed. He shone like a supernova and The Cheaters had found their vocalist.Everyone attending their early gigs knew that they were witnessing something unique, and that this band was truly destined for bigger things. But it was still a surprise to the boys when they were asked to play at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival in 2006, and then at Asthon Court Festival in the UK, just before Simple Minds, in front of thousands of ecstatic Brits. The trio crowned the 2006 summer with the launch of their EP and a trademark killer of a concert at Oslo’s Oya festival. -thecheaters.no If you like "The Cheaters" get it here!




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The Gun Club - Fire Of Love - 1981

The Gun Club's debut is the watermark for all post-punk roots music. This features the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce's swamped-out brand of roiling rock, swaggerific hell-bound blues, and gothic country. With Pierce's wailing high lonesome slide guitar twinned with Ward Dotson's spine-shaking riffs and the solid yet off-the-rails rhythm section of bassist Rob Ritter and drummer Terry Graham, the Gun Club burst out of L.A. in the early '80s with a bone to pick and a mountain to move -- and they accomplished both on their debut album. With awesome, stripped to the frame production by the Flesh Eaters' Chris D., Fire of Love blew away all expectations -- and with good reason. Nobody has heard music like this before or since. Pierce's songs were rooted in his land of Texas. On "Sex Beat," a razor-sharp country one-two shuffle becomes a howling wind as Pierce's wasted, half-sung half-howled vocals relate a tale of voodoo, sex, dope, and death. The song choogles like a freight train coming undone in a twister. Here Black Flag, the Sex Pistols, Son House, and the coughing, hacking rambling ghost of Hank Williams all converge in a reckless mass of seething energy and nearly evil intent. As if the opener weren't enough of a jolt, the Gun Club follow this with a careening version of House's "Preachin the Blues," full of staccato phrasing and blazing slide. But it isn't until the anthemic, opiate-addled country of "She's Like Heroin to Me" and the truly frightening punk-blues of "Ghost on the Highway" that the listener comes to grip with the awesome terror that is the Gun Club. The songs become rock & roll ciphers, erasing themselves as soon as they speak, heading off into the whirlwind of a storm that is so big, so black, and so awful one cannot meditate on anything but its power. Fire of Love may be just what the doctor ordered, but to cure or kill is anybody's guess. -AMG

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Mondo Topless - Go Fast! - 2002

Don't tell Get Hip Recordings that garage rock is the new 'in' sound, because they've been doing it before MTV even knew what garage rock was (though well after the original 50s and 60s garage rock movement died). With a cast and crew of rock lovers, Get Hip has always been the best source for quality garage rock. And if their latest release, Mondo Topless' Go Fast! doesn't make you want to dance and inspire you to love garage rock again, than nothing will.Go Fast! is as classic as they come - sweat-drenched, fast, and hip shaking good. The organ soaked, fast-paced rhythms, and manic guitars all come crashing together to make an appetizing sound, a fresh, refreshing rock sound that recalls sock hops on speed as much as it does the post-punk movement. Mondo Topless creates sixteen tracks here that will devour you and make you come back for more. It is the sweat taste of rock 'n' roll's sweat, and you just can't get enough. -In Music We Trust If you like "Go Fast" get it here!



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What Is This - What Is This - 1985

What Is This? (known prior to 1980 as Anthym) was a rock band that originated in Fairfax High School in California and would play numerous shows along the coast of California. They were formed before and played around the same time as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers would introduce the band before they went on stage. Original Chili Peppers members Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons left the Chili Peppers not long before their first album to stay in What Is This?. Slovak rejoined the Chili Peppers for their second album and Irons for their third album. The name What Is This? refers to the reaction of people listening to their music. After the joining of Natasha Shneider the band was first renamed "Walk the Moon" and then Eleven. The band, in their early days, are referenced numerous times in Kiedis's autobiography, Scar Tissue.The band released three albums in the early to mid-80s. Their song, "Mind My Have Still I" from their 1984 EP Squeezed, was also featured on the soundtrack to the movie The Wild Life. Their second album which featured a cover of the Spinners hit "I'll Be Around" was produced by Todd Rundgren, who also played Fairlight Synthesizer on the record.-Wikipedia

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The Mood Swings - No Limit - 2007

No Limit is the follow up to the band's Come On Tell Me album. In the year or so since that previous release songwriters Ashley Prenzlow and Sallie Watson have been sharpening their pop knives, crafting the kinds of jagged riffs and persistent, catchy melodies that are unexpected from a relatively new band.The first six tracks show the Mood Swings at their fuzz-pop finest, hummable but hard-hitting. The second half of the record travels back through the looking glass with a series of highly creative (and just plain fun!) remixes by some of the Mood Swings' local electronic pals. -susstonesshop.com

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Built To Spill - Keep It Like A Secret - 1999

Perhaps realizing that their time on a major label was likely limited, Built to Spill made a gutsy choice for Keep It Like a Secret, their second album for Warner Brothers. They embraced the sounds of a big studio and focused their sound without sacrificing their fractured indie rock aesthetic. In a sense, this is Built to Spill's pop album: every song is direct and clean, without the long, cerebral jamming that characterized their earlier albums. That's not to say that the album is compromised -- the songwriting may be streamlined, but Doug Martsch now packs all of his twists, turns, and detours into dense, three-minute blasts. This approach, combined with the shiny sonic textures, makes Keep It Like a Secret the most immediate and, yes, accessible Built to Spill record, but they steadfastly open their music up and breathe the way, say, Pavement did on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain or Brighten the Corners. Built to Spill still demand that listener meet them on their own terms -- these just happen to be the easiest terms to understand in their catalog. -AMG

Mark Bacino - The Million Dollar Milkshake - 2003

The Million Dollar Milkshake is all about sweetness, from the opening intro of "Bubblegum Factory" to lyrics about holding hands and sunny days to chirpy Bacharach-ian horns to Mark Bacino's melt-in-your-mouth vocals. The 12 songs skip by in a cloud of cotton candy, stolen kisses, and ba-ba-bas, leaving no trace but for a smile. Bacino and his band are ace at playing light and sweet, but with a peppy kick. "Downtown Girl" bops along like amped-up Marshall Crenshaw; "Rockin' Mood" lifts the opening from AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" but immediately reverts to traveling the highway to cutie, complete with castanets and dreamy background vocals; "All I Want" takes a detour into a strange world where bubblegum, burlesque, and country & western all meet; "Walking on Air" is a sticky-sweet paean to Bacino's main squeeze. This is an imaginative record that hits almost no wrong notes ("This Little Girl" is a touch generic musically and lyrically trite) and puts Bacino near the head of the modern power pop class. There are only a few power pop revivalists operating today who have the same blend of reverence for the past and energy and verve for today. Bacino walks that fine line like a pro, and The Million Dollar Milkshake will definitely satisfy your craving for sweet, frothy pop. -AMG

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Beulah - Handsome Western States - 1997

Beulah is a Californian band. It's as simple as that. Miles Kurosky writes endearing pop songs that are cynical, bittersweet, or both, and there's nothing surf-rock about it. He and bandmate Bill Swan add a mean brass arrangement to their dual guitar work on their debut album, Handsome Western States. Beulah's crafty indie rock sound isn't as lo-fi as many make it out to be and while Kurosky's a big fan of Pavement, Handsome Western States is filled with a different kind of soul and a great big heart. From the lazy shimmy of "I Love John, She Loves Paul" to the punky good time of "Disco: The Secretaries Blues" and the countrified lament "Queen of the Populists," Handsome Western States is a solid introduction to Beulah's warm pop style. Reflecting upon teenage love is always memorable, and Beulah makes some of the confusion of those days seem OK. Handsome Western States is a sunburst of good music and as songwriters, the members of Beulah are onto something good. As musicians, they're a touch mediocre but that's not necessarily bad, either. They may be beginners in the studio; however, Handsome Western States is a great place to start. -AMG

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