Unlike Pull, where I had the tunes memorized after five spins or so, this one took a little more effort. Thankfully I have a daily commute of 45 minutes each way, so plenty of time.

I got these ones after about 20 trips through the advance, and I have to say they pack much more than Pull.

It's not that Xerxes is dull or difficult or anything. This is the same band, just a little more mature and focused on their sound. And it's a pretty good sound, full of distortion, unusual chords and a rather strange sense of melody.

No excuse this time, folks. I have had Pull among the fifteen or so tapes in my car for over a year. Arcwelder deserves massive attention and airplay. They aren't your traditional metal band, but they certainly are loud and aggressive enough to be played alongside such things. THIS IS A MANDATORY PLAY.

Thanks for hearing me out.

Sounding like a scratchy 78 from the forties or fifties, Bad Livers not only go straight to the source of country music (rural blues, bluegrass and folk for starters), but they present it as well as I've heard.

The three guys recorded this thing in a shed. And the low-tech production absolutely sparkles with life. It also could be the rather entertaining songs, which sound wonderful in this setting.

I've always preferred this sort of music for driving or drinking (though not at the same time). You can pretend you're wandering down the now-mythical Route 66 listening to a clear channel station from Nashville all the way to Albuquerque. A hoot and a holler now and again will help get you in the mood. Or you can simply pop a beer, kick back and prosper.

Unlike almost every other Trance band, these folk do not hoot, holler, scream and scratch their way into your brain.

No, what we have here is a cool sampling of atmospheric pop music that, while addictive, is not mind-debilitating. In fact, expanding the palate to include such sweets is a very good thing for the musical appetite.

There are a lot of British bands who try to do this sort of thing, and those fuckers drive me absolutely nuts. Bedhead, while topically similar to bands like Blur and Ride, are so far superior I don't think even a doctored photo putting the Clovis (N.M.) Hotel up against the Empire State Building would be enough to illustrate the difference.

When the Superchunk album comes out in a couple of weeks, jam it with this disc. Everything will begin to make sense.

Perhaps the one band that Steve Albini can produce perfectly. The minimalist approach Albini takes to everything but guitars captures the pure sonic intensity of a Dazzling Killmen show.

And if you have been privileged enough to catch one, you know how manic they can be. Leave you in a cold sweat. I first saw them open for Poster Children, and the Poster Kids were rather impressed as well.

Yeah, some say grindcore is the most extreme form of music around. But Dazzling Killmen matches up very well against such sonic disrupters as Zeni Geva, and if you think that because you can hear space between the instruments this is weak, don't be silly.

They will never be mainstream, but Dazzling Killmen is destined to be legendary.

Pile-driving semi-industrial musings that are truly inspiring.

DP combines a real drummer (or two) and a drum machine as well as I've heard before. The most amazing percussive effects I've heard in a long time, to be honest. And to find that, you have to pry away this overall layer of driving guitar and pounding bass that move in the most addictive ways.

This is the sort of music that scares people. Deadly serious and deadly cool. DP has the most ferocious sound I've heard in quite a while. Damn, this rocks. I just can't say enough.

Just in case you're damned tired of all those slick industrial outfits who get nominated for metal Grammies, here's Flour.

For the uninitiated, Flour (aka Peter Conway) has a track record of three blistering albums (the last one three years ago) and has toured as a band containing a lot of folk from the Touch and Go (and elsewhere) music community. Senor Flour has toured with Pigface as resident bassist and was the bassist for a few other bands, too.

This is the end of Flour (by that name, anyway). We hardly knew ye (or ye was hardly known, more correctly). Don't make the mistake of letting this puppy get lost. This much pent up aggression is just what America needs to hear.

The name is a tip-off: weird shit ahead. And so it is.

Pleasantly self-absorbed guitar licks (reminding me a bit of Marc Ribot) along with some odd snippets of lyrics. This is not the sort of think you'll be hearing Casey count down next week.

But does it work? Most people won't get it. I sure don't. But I have this nasty problem of liking very strange music people doing things that no one else will (or wants to). And this does qualify there.

What can I say? I love it.

More of a natural live sound than most death metal bands go for, particularly on a fist album. This has the sound of a Pungent Stench disc.

Perhaps the music doesn't quite match up, but it is actually pretty close. Gutted mixes tempos well and does an overall good job of finding a groove and keeping it.

Chock full of goodies, this one is. Sure, you start to get that head bobbing action going, and fairly quickly your hand goes to that familiar Spider-Man symbol, thrusting forward. It's kinda involuntary at this point, especially when the music is this persuasive. Killer jams.

The usual rule is scan the lyric sheet for good jokes, hope the music is passable and head out to the next Gwar show in a raincoat.

The music has been getting better over the years (sometimes it even deviates from the formulaic). This album seems a little more punk oriented than previous efforts, and the emphasis on tighter riffs sounds a lot better and less moronic.

Well, then the vocals kick in and you end up laughing in spite of yourself. Most of this stuff is F.C.C.-flammable, but fuck anyone if they can't take a joke.

The show is still the thing, but there are good tunes here. Wade in until hip-deep, and then dive straight to the bottom.

These guys have a great guitar sound. And they seem to know it and spend far too much time convincing us that their guitarists can play well.

As Eurometal stuff goes, this is alright, if a little too stiff and convoluted. When Andre Vuurboom finally gets to sing, things start to get a little more interesting, but most of the time is taken up with filler guitar parts.

All of the things people don't like about bands like Helloween and Iron Maiden are exhibited here. There is some of the good as well, but the whole seems to be balanced a little the other way.

One of those San Diego bands signed basically on the basis of geography, I think, Inch crank out a brand of grunge-lite that manages to sound different than the other three hundred such bands out there.

Like other such SD bands, Inch incorporate a traditional pop song structure instead of the overwrought anthemic shit a few Seattle types have propagated. So you can sing along without straining your voice or credibility.

Not brilliant, but certainly a good young band. With a little work, they could be great.

Well-produced, decent riffage and a currently hip vocal style. Ace playing, too. But I can also name every influence at every break (the list begins with Metallica and Anthrax and goes on and...)

Young bands often make the mistake of playing like their heroes, not being inspired by them. I liked their first demo, but they haven't moved on. Time to find your own sound, folks.

Another gem from the heartland. Mercy Rule is a great post-punk outfit from Lincoln. Their disc on Caulfield records last year was rather nice, and they have recently been inked to Relativity.

Mercy Rule has a rather formidable live reputation in the Midwest, and I have yet to hear that translate exactly to record. No different here; I think a little of the energy that comes across onstage got lost in the mix of "Bye Bye". The flip, "Royal", is almost perfect, though. I think I'll be listening to that for some time. Smiles.

This album was recorded in an hour and 45 minutes last fall. Must be a tight live band, hunh?

From the sounds of this. Mount Shasta takes a post-punk position similar to Alice Donut, with lots of distortion and sometimes faded vocals. And unlike the other Skin Graft release, this one plays up the comic book connection to the hilt.

Just a real load of fun. Music to brighten anyone's evening and give things that "just shit upon" feel. Tasty doesn't begin to describe what transpires.

Some of that old-style metal going down. I liked it then, I like it now, but like the other demo reviewed here, this is not original.

Again, great playing, great production, great singing and good songs. But I get the feeling I've heard it somewhere before. I still like Open Mind quite a bit. They just need to grow a little bit.

Odd production that keeps everything muted. Not muffled, because it's all so clear. Just, well, making this a sort of elevator music production-style death metal album.

I know that sounds harsh, but I also like it. These guys can play, but they don't beat you over the head. And when you really crank the stereo, you start to appreciate the clean production. It sounds absolutely great!

The music is more old school, but combined with the new sound it takes a new life. The songs don't repeat themselves (a far too common trap). I found myself wanting to hear what the next song would do. Excellent.

Feeding a Velvet Underground jones with just a few too many hits from the espresso machine, Rodan manage to combine beautiful melodies with mangling cacophonies.

In other words, five of the six songs clock in at over six minutes (one's almost twelve), and you're sure to be blasted out of a dreamy reverie by mostly incoherent hollering and playing.

Funny thing is, it isn't sloppy. Well, not much, anyway. Folks will make the obvious Pavement connection, but these folks are much more into uppers than the typical VU freaks. And their songs are just too damned long and disjointed.

No, Rodan is a Louisville band that harkens back to the almighty Slint, perhaps the best two-album band of the eighties (really). And if you're familiar with that outfit, you know how impossible imitation would be.

To repeat my comment on the advance, Eeeyow!

There was a time I though Sarkoma was the only great band with Red Light. Now they have some company, but this keeps up the tradition of their EP of two years ago.

A little slicker production here, but the musical creativity still abounds. Sarkoma still manage to take stale metal conventions and twist them into a great sound.

Waiting impatiently for the full disc.

I know, six months late. But I do review everything I get, so I'll check in with my thoughts.

When a band (or artist) has a breakthrough album, like Arise was, there are three options. First is to continue doing exactly what you have been doing, and falling away from the mainstream. One of my favorite bands, the Rainmakers, is a good example. The first album got a ton of attention and decent sales, but they were dropped after three albums.

The second thing is to totally sell out and completely ignore your musical roots. Refer to the last Soul Asylum or Metallica albums.

Sepultura did the third, which is to keep on with the basics of what you're doing, and maybe tone things down just a touch. R.E.M. has been doing this virtually since murmur.

Does it suck? Of course not. This is a brilliant album if you compare it to the shit wandering out from arena-rock bands these days. But it doesn't compare nearly as favorably to, say, Beneath the Remains.

The price of popularity, I'm afraid. At least they go down fighting.

Slickly produced hard-core death, lying somewhere between Paradise Lost, the last Ministry and Motley Crue.

There's an awful lot of attitude for something that's almost more catchy than heavy. The pre-song samples don't really help things much, but I have to admit I was almost humming along, especially when they broke into a crunchy ska-core tune (complete with simulated horns) at the end.

This sounds like a compilation of two or three bands, not a four-tune disc by one band. The one uniting factor if that this shit sticks in your head. A very weird disc, but in the end I have to say I really dug it.

Returning to a Chicago home, Skatenigs come out a little more like a glossy Black Sabbath. Same crunchy guitar sound and fun lyrics.

I personally think these folk are highly addictive. If the new album sounds anything like this, then I'll jack in for another long fix.

First it snowed. Then it hailed. Then the package with the new Superchunk disc arrived. Then it snowed some more. Then I played the disc real loud. Then it rained. Then I went to work.

I've been playing the advance most days since I got it, and I think I`m beginning to really burrow into the grooves. This is not a platter of straightforward post-punk raves, nor is it a morose collection of depressing (and dumb) moans.

It is overall more introspective than previous Superchunk albums, but you can still hear echoes of the glorious past amongst the greater attention paid to songwriting and construction.

I'm not the first to say the decision to release on Merge makes good sense. But that is secondary to the music, which just might leave you lost in a reverie.

I hear a revitalized band here. Not that they slipped that much, but what was beginning to become banal is now vibrant. Superchunk proves it is a band for everyone, the mainstream and the underground alike, to watch.

Polvo
Celebrate the New Dark Age advance cassette
(Merge)

I understand they were the show at CMJ (I missed due to serious illness). Loopy pop from North Carolina (sound familiar?). Polvo has never recorded a bad record. It isn't starting here.

Renowned for their live shows, SCOTS also puts together some of the loosest albums around. Great "skuntry" (term first used by Enormous Richard). Yowza.

The unusual: a Merge band that really kicks out the jams. Sounds like a young Superchunk with a little more sixties pop attitude

Great country pop. A little boom-chicka-boom, a little boom-boom-chick-boom. Very nice.