Alright, call me a sucker for this band. Something about strident-yet-catchy, noise-yet-melodic stuff that appeals to me. And sure, that vague Husker Du undercurrent sure doesn't hurt.

While I liked the last album, Xerxes, well enough, it did not bowl me over so much as Pull, Arcwelder's first Touch and Go offering. I thought I might just have been getting used to the sound and didn't have that fresh feeling of infatuation.

Entropy tells me otherwise. This album gives me almost as big a rush as when I first heard the "Raleigh" single three years ago. Yeah, so it's never as good as the first time. Arcwelder has put together another great album.

I think the most appealing side of this disc is that the lyrics are once again personal and brooding. Xerxes more often featured harsh philosophical rhetoric, which I did like. It's just that the way those ideas are couched here and on Pull speaks to me better. And the dissonance is toned down just a fraction, which allows the really cool Arcwelder sound to make its presence known. Little changes, but the result is a superior album. Maybe now folks will flock to the mighty sonic disturbances of Arcwelder.

Having been a fan since what today qualifies as "the old days", I was one who didn't understand the shift from Epitaph to Atlantic . Apparently Bret Gurewitz didn't either, as he left after recording the last album, Stranger than Fiction.

He and singer Greg Graffin (the other main songwriter) have similar songwriting styles, but they often focused on somewhat different lyrical subjects. After more than 15 years of writing angry punk screeds, Graffin seems played out. The songs on this album are alright, but don't have any of the energy of the Bad Religion glory days. Actually, the last consistently good BR album was Against the Grain, which was five years and four albums ago. Generator and Recipe for Hate found the songs slowing up, with more tendencies to the dread anthemitis. I actually thought Stranger than Fiction was a bit better, though that metal guitar sound Andy Wallace introduced really wanked.

Ric Ocasek (yes, the Cars guy) produced this one, reportedly recording the songs in one take. A good idea, and The Gray Race is the freshest sounding BR album in a long time. But that doesn't make up for the relatively dreary songwriting. Yeah, even Gurewitz's songs had lost their bite by Stranger, so you can't pin the band's creative decline solely on Graffin (though he wrote or co-wrote all the songs on this one).

Perfectly acceptable, which is probably why I'm disappointed. I remember a Bad Religion that really said something in its songs. That band hasn't been around for some time. Yeah, the MTV kiddies will eat this up with or without a spoon (while in Key West last week I heard "A Walk" squeezed between Pink Floyd and Primus on the radio), but I'll have to sit on the sidelines and harrumph. And listen to the younger generation of punkers who still have new ideas.

Settling down with Cargo for the second time, Berryhill continues to crank out perceptive folky pop tunes. And she's not about to change for anyone.

So if you don't dig her affected singing style or poetic, yet jarring, writing style, well, then you won't like this album. And you won't like any of her stuff. So leave, then.

Many of these tunes deal directly with the usual high school angst bullshit, which, again, is something I can easily identify with. And perhaps it's that high school theme that led her to cover "Season of the Witch". Not that it's a terrible rendition or anything, but still...

In all, another solid album. Berryhill walks her own quirky path, and she has a good strut. While not winning over any new converts, this album will certainly satisfy all her fans.

Hyper-aggressive heavy pop music straight outta Brooklyn. I remember truly digging the two tracks Ff had on last year's Double Deuce compilation, and this album is no disappointment.

Veering between the balls-out straight ahead style of fluf and the more askance guitar style propogated by Jawbox and many others, Ff crafts its own wonderful niche. Um, give me a second. I've got to bliss out for a moment...

Okay, I can sit down again. But I'll have to take a break and jam "Collide" again in a second. It's the drummer's favorite song, and it's about the best pop tune I've heard this year. Perfectly amazing.

And the rest of the album is almost that good. I figured this would be a good album. But instead, I get one of my favorites of the young season so far. Some folks just have a knack for plying the pop trade with the appropriate amounts of melody and distortion. Ff joins that august group with aplomb. We're #1 certainly gives plenty of reason for the band to claim just that.

One guy who plays all the instruments, but mostly sticks with acoustic guitar and the odd harmonica bit. Kinda like a Canadian Neil Young. Um, wait a minute...

I know, I know, bad joke. And Hayden (Desser, though he goes by just the one name) sounds a lot more like Alice in Chains (the mellow side) than Neil Young any day. In fact, Hayden's songs are merely acoustic (and somewhat more atmospheric) takes on the whole grunge songwriting ideal. Not a terrible idea, reasonably well executed.

And for some reason he's a big rage in Canada (and signed to Geffen for future U.S. releases). The only thing I can think of to explain such a predicament is that he takes after the character in "Airheads" who pronounces himself average enough to write really big hit songs.

I get it, but I just don't think Hayden is all that exceptional. Perhaps that explains the appeal. Some of the songs are quite nice, but many are mostly meandering wails about silly things. Still, I figure tons of people will go apeshit. I mean, most people in the U.S. think Alice in Chains are about as talented as musicians come these days. And Hayden certainly has folks like them beat. Easily.

Three guys from Boston who are obvious fans of NoMeansNo and the Didjits. Wild and wacky punk music, with lots of stuff in the background. Sometimes this works, like on "New Zip Code", which has great riffage and is pretty entertaining to boot.

But more of it is just kinda messy. That's not terrible, and I applaud the guys for trying. Maybe someday they will have the talent to pull off this stunt consistently. Not yet.

I'd be very interested to hear what Jane Noël comes up with next. If the members keep plugging away and crafting their idea further, well, the future is limitless. The creative juices are obviously flowing. The talent needs to catch up.

After reaching a creative high with Earth-Sun-Moon, and a commercial high with the eponymous Love and Rockets, David J and Daniel Ash recorded a few solo records, of which there might be an EP of decent material between them. And then last year's big "comeback" album, which was rightly ignored.

The old Love and Rockets style of album sequencing involved loud, pseudo-psychedelic tracks broken up by truly psychedelic interludes. That old guitar sound makes the odd cameo appearance here, but much like the last album, I still don't understand why David Haskins bothered to rejoin the band (other than the cash incentive), because his talents are barely utilized. If you saw a Love and Rockets show five years ago, it was apparent that Haskins was the one person who embodied the band ideal and held everything together. He was the Rocket.

No rockets on this album. Like the "comeback", this is much more like the solo work David J and Ash put out in the wake of commercial success. And to be honest, neither of them has really any good idea how to write a slow song that sticks together. I mean, this sounds like really bad 70s stuff often enough. Not a good thing.

I kept waiting for a track that would bound the band out of this moronic moroseness, but nothing ever appeared. I can only imagine what the current tour material is. I mean, if they play "Kundalini Express", the crowd is going to wonder why they can't put out anything even resembling that today. Which is something I sure want to know.

The artist's conception of surf-pop. Man or Astro-Man? has been cranking out albums for what seems to be ages. Mostly on very small labels, mostly out of the mass public's view. That part changes with the move to Touch and Go.

I mentioned it when I reviewed the EP, and I'll say it again: There's a big backlash against these folk out there, and I just don't know why. This is fun surf-pop with nice levels of electronic noise and amusing asides tossed in. How anyone could hate this with a passion is beyond me.

The Touch and Go cash has led to moderately better production (consistently good is a better description, I suppose), and the songs roll off the assembly line in perfect marching order. Okay, so the stuff is all out of the same milieu. It doesn't get boring, even over 15 tracks. I think that's the big test.

Plus, it's damned fun. Need any more reasons?

Last time I heard Mold, it was a distortion-laden fuzzy, heavy pop band. A lot of the extras have departed, leaving just the core songs and some squealing guitar. That's not a bad thing with this band.

Fairly simple construction, rather creative lyrical content. Plenty to like, just as before. And many times the stuff is pretty funny, which only adds to the plus side.

What makes Mold such an impressive band is that many folks are out there doing this sort of thing. And for the most part, the stuff is really dull. Mold imbibes its sound with intensity and aggressive instincts. Enough bite for the best of us.

And lastly, the diversity of the song styles is most refreshing. Mold doesn't want to stick to just one sound, but stretches itself. And it works, which is all the more impressive.

Your basic three-piece. The fact that every member of the trio is completely incidental. Quivvver is basic rock and roll.

Unfortunately, that's basic without any distinguishing marks. The up-tempo pieces vaguely resemble late-model Pixies pop, with just a bit of distortion thrown in. The moodier bits are culled from all over the rock stylebook, with a nice bluesy guitar part from time to time.

Perfectly acceptable. And completely unremarkable. I can't find anything here I don't like, but I also don't hear any song that I love. Just stuff that's kind of a blur after a while.

This is the hardest thing to review. I just wish Quivvver was more interesting. The playing is very good and the production sharp, particularly for a self-released disc. Everything is done correctly...

Maybe that's it. Perhaps Quivvver should break a rule now and then. Get really pissed about something. Fuck up a chord, get a little shrill. Get emotional. Whatever. something to break out of this pattern.

Heavily-crafted mood-crashing pop. Not quite so affected as the pop psychedelia movement of a few years back, Sianspheric relies mostly on basic rock instruments (with occasional distortion and noise elements) to create its mellow feel.

The synth sounds a lot like the sort of thing you'd find on an ambient disc, but the music is merely lolligagging about, slowly shifting from cloud to cloud. And not nearly so boring as Codeine and all that, though I'd need some serious crank to get through a live show.

For what the band is obviously trying to do, Sianspheric accomplishes a lot. And compared to, say, the last 10 years of Pink Floyd, well, there is no comparison. Sianspheric isn't trying to be dull and "arty".

Not what I'd have on the stereo as I head down the road, but not bad for an evening of kicking back. Ambient folks looking for a rock equivalent might also be very pleased.

Twisted Helices is Ram Samudrala. I reviewed a five-song demo some time back, and so he sent me this 22-song release.

Four of the songs from the demo appear here in different forms. And the way Samudrala works, there's no way they could sound the same way twice.

One of the reasons I like Twisted Helices a bunch. Samudrala isn't afraid to challenge his listeners. Every bit of vocals and instrumentation is altered, or twisted, into the shape he wants. And with plenty of eastern (particularly Indian) musical influences infused into his unusual concept of electronic pop, it's not like the music started out sounding like your average American stuff.

A definite acquired taste, one that many will not want to venture into, I suppose. Too bad. I can only think of a handful of folk who have such an original vision of music and manage to successfully pull it off. Twisted Helices cranks out not only strange music, but music with a powerful beauty.

Nicely experimental industrial stuff that doesn't mind mixing it up with the heaviest of elements. Plenty of death metal guitars and wild, screeching samples complement your basic electronic ideal.

Folk from Vancouver who obviously dug FLA's Millennium album. And hey, who didn't? Plenty of techno stuff bouncing around as well, and the best parts are when the pot gets thick with all of the pieces swirling around and attacking each other.

Sometimes it seems the band couldn't decide whether to go experimental or dancey in certain spots, and that indecision leaves such areas kinda dull. But most of the disc is nicely focused on whatever the band has deemed the proper direction. And like I said, when it all kicks in...

I've heard this sort of thing before, and Unit:187 does not really distinguish itself from the pack, but this album is nicely executed. The rippers really rip, and the more esoteric bits are quite stunning. I would like to hear a bit more of a definable "sound" from the band, but that's my only serious caveat.

Roadrunner releasing a dance hall collection? I smell cashing in on a (fast fading) fad here...

Shabba Ranks is the main attraction, and his track is surprisingly basic. Kinda jarring if you're expecting what MTV has defined as the current reggae sound. And then the rest of the disc rolls in.

Kinda catch as catch can. Some tracks are real filler, some, like the ones from Cocoa Tea and Terror Fabulous, are pretty good examples of what can be done with the genre.

All in all, this is not the exploitation disc you might expect, particularly considering the cover. The bad songs here are counterbalanced by some real gems, and on the whole the set is a good one.

A collection of three singles and some new material, all put together for the very first time by eMpTy. All tres punk.

The production varies greatly from song to song. One of those singles must have been engineered by a complete incompetent. Oh well. The spirit rides through well enough.

And spirit is the fume material that drives this album. The songs are nicely fast and rough, but nothing terribly new or exciting. Just enough attitude to make me bounce along and put a smile to my face.

As basic as music gets. Which is not the worst thing in the world.