A west-coast version of Superchunk, with alternately heavier and peppier takes on the Chapel Hill juggernaut. I know, Superchunk didn't originate these riffs, either, but that's my most recent reference. And, Jesus, this sounds a lot like them folk.

Now, to complete that comparison, ¡Carlos! also has a nose for awesome gritty pop anthems. Okay, so the sound has most certainly been appropriated (hell, you can hear the Pixies in here, too), I've gotta admit, ¡Carlos! does the job well. And whenever you hear a young band cranking out stuff like this, you have to be impressed.

A little more experimentation and progression should move the band out of this "sounds like" phase and into it own realm. When that happens, ¡Carlos! has the talent to go anywhere and do whatever it wants. And I'll be right there, cheering my ass off.

At first, it sounds like minimalist pop, the kind that them kids who just about orgasm when a stranger drops a small piece of paper in their mouth really dig.

Good tripping music, in other words (this explanation provided because some nice folks may not get that oblique reference). Songs that take a long time to get somewhere, and occasionally they don't even get that far. I have a very low tolerance for this sort of thing, because I am really a plot-driven kinda guy.

Luckily, Chune shrugs off this minimalist cloak after the intro to each song. Yeah, the tunes are long, but the overall sound is much closer to (slow) modern punk pop. Distortion, jangly riffs and walls of noise. Not to overdo the Superchunk thing, but a lot of this reminds me of Foolish or either of the Portastatic albums. Shit that I love.

I have no idea why the songs are so damned long. I could edit the things into a more coherent form. But that's why I'm not an artist: I'd fuck up the good stuff. I have to admit I enjoyed the ride here. And it's not bad tripping music.

Greg Ginn on guitar and bass, regular cohort Andy Batwinas covering the drum machines and Richard Ray providing the vocal support.

Sounds like Was Not Was, with better guitar playing. Not the cheesy WNW stuff, but the cool songs like "Hey Dad, I'm in Jail" (remember that one?). Very artificial, very catchy. The backing music sounds like Gone on happy pills; Ray has a rich, smooth and slightly whiny voice that seems to fit the project perfectly.

After a few tracks, it does get a bit monotonous. There is an assembly line feel to a few of the songs. Ginn has been doing so much in the past couple of years, I think that would be hard to avoid. But as a nice piece of fluff, Confront James does the trick admirably. Get this on at the clubs, and I'll buy you a beer.

Vicious hardcore that takes no prisoners. At times, Deadguy rivals the best in the business. And then they do silly things like fuck with the tempo and the groove, switching gears. Aaaaaaaaaaa!

And that's when I want to shoot them. Hardcore and death metal bands (I know the difference) seems to have this problem most often. You get a minute and a half of a cool song down, and you get stuck. So instead of repeating the cool part and getting a great three-minute piece, the band cranks another couple minutes of something else into the song, totally destroying it.

Deadguy can play fast, slow and in-between very well. And on many of the songs here, one coherent thought permeates throughout and the result is great. But then comes the odd stumble, and I get bummed. Deadguy is just a small step from moving up with the Victory big boys like Earth Crisis and Snapcase. A little more work on the songwriting should do the trick.

No, ATP doesn't have anything to do with Boris Becker. Geez...

Stuff from Seattle that is addressed to the "metal reviewer". If this sounds like Soundgarden or Alice in Chains I'm gonna puke!

But no. The guitar does have that grungy distortion, and the vocals do evoke a shadow of Chris Cornell, but the cool, sterile sound of the bass and drums keep this from being insipid.

Now, FA-Q has a long ways to go to escape the Northwest ghetto. The lyrics are pretty damned silly (which never stopped anyone before) and the music does get kinda repetitive after a few songs. And as the album progresses, FA-Q regresses more and more into a Seattle poser mode. Bummer.

I can hear some elements of potential, but FA-Q has to get out of town and find its own sound. There are only so many bands like Candlebox that make it big by playing trends. And where will that band be tomorrow? FA-Q should try the originality route.

Sample-driven stripped-down industrial dance mayhem from the heart of Ohio. I loved the first CD I got from these folk, and the diversity on this one keeps me pleased as ever.

Much like the most recent 16 Volt album (and the last IRB one, too), Indian Rope Burn refuses to stick to any one sound. Yeah, the drum machines and keyboards keep this in the industrial universe, but like Die Warzau, you never know what is coming next. Sounds like a set of truly creative people.

Absolutely. Nine tracks here, and none of them really resemble any of the others. All are great; you could play the disc straight through in a club and the folks would probably think you were mixing bands as usual. And the folks would stick to the floor.

This is the best industrial dance album I've heard in a long time, probably since the Die Warzau last spring. A real step forward for Indian Rope Burn from Sex Party, which was a pretty damned decent recording. Inspiring stuff, indeed.

Side one featured cheesy drum machine backing glam-guitar stylings. And Mr. Lee singing, which isn't too bad when he sticks to his range. But when he heads into the upper reaches... look out below!

At times this is positively amusing; "Barbasol" is one of the funnier tunes I've heard in some time. And Lee presents it as a joke, getting credit for a decent sense of humor. But he needs to get a sense of what he can and cannot do. He's not a great singer, and the songs would sound a lot better if backed by a band of people, not a band of overdubs.

Side two is what the press terms "experimental". Poorly recorded samples, tapes run backwards, chaotic guitar noise, etc. I like this a lot better, though Lee is not a great producer or mixer, and that really shows. Still he gets some points for trying to do something different.

One of the all-time "Love 'em or hate 'em" bands. I don't know anyone who sits on the fence with Man or Astroman?. And I'll be honest, I like the way these guys rip through the surf concept and tear out a new beach ball.

Six tunes, not quite ten minutes. Sounds like the boys are up to their usual tricks. A couple covers (I can identify neither of the original artists confidently) and four original tracks, including one from the upcoming album. All joyous bliss, as far as I am concerned.

I've never understood why some people bash Man or Astroman? so. Maybe you can tell me. This is better produced (Touch and Go will spend a little more than the other labels MOA has recorded for) than previous efforts, and the wall-of-sound is simply stunning.

Lots of fun. There's not much left to say. You get it or you don't. If you don't know, then give it a shot.

Mekons has always been the sort of band to do whatever the fuck it wanted to do at the time. This has led to the invariably diverse albums and a truly confused public. And, of course, a small band of fiercely devoted fans.

The same sort of folks who try and transcribe all of Mark E. Smith's lyrics from Fall albums. And Mekons tear through the concept of pop music like a knife through butter. This albums finds the folk writing songs to accompany (and enlarge) the novel of the same name by Kathy Acker (you might even find it in a bookstore).

Acker's spoken word excerpts bridge the gaps between Mekons songs. And while I haven't read the book, from the bits on the disc I think the songs really help paint a more complete picture of the novel (which would be a good reason for the project). Mekons provide songs that sound like they are based on sea shanties, and the performance is as eclectic and stunning as ever.

Even without the accompanying narration, the nine Mekons tunes are welcome additions to the canon. And, if you take the disc as a whole, Pussy, King of the Pirates is one of the band's better efforts. It truly sings.

At least a year behind the trend, Merauder cranks out solid, if rather uninspired New York metalcore tunes. Biohazard and countless others have done this before; some better, some worse.

To round out the fad chasing, Merauder cranks in a grungy guitar sound at times, and fluid euro-style lead work at others. The second isn't a real trend and I like it. And on songs like the title track, there is a real European feel (at least during the verse). But that doesn't happen much. Most of this is pretty generic.

This bums me a bit, because there are parts that I really like. But the frustrations is that most of Master Killer sounds like it came out of a "hot metal today!" factory. Bleah.

Darlings of the Berkeley scene (and the band has had that disctinction since about the first thing it put out) that has managed to avoid doing something silly like signing to a major label and making a lot of money.

And what does this "committment to the scene" mean? Well, for starters, it helps albums like this sound human and real. The production is slightly dirty, and the bass is cranked way too high (but not quite Vancouver-style). And if anything was changed, it wouldn't be so cool.

Sixteen awesome pop-punk tunes. Plenty of attitude and silly love songs, with the panache to pull that sort of dichotomy off. The Mr. T Experience makes punk music the way most other bands wish they could. Fast, furious and most of all: fun. Love Is Dead on the stereo will enhance the enjoyment of whatever you're doing by a factor of 10. I just can't say enough.

More Ginn-age, with Gone cohort Steve Sharp on bass, regular bud Andy Batwinas covering the drum machines, etc., and Tony Atherton of Bazooka wailing away on saxophone.

Not enough Atherton, and too much of the generic Ginn "onward to the apocalypse" sound. This is not the project for a drum machine that never wavers, never misses a beat. I think Mojack could have really used the human timekeeper element, to give this a warmer feeling.

But that's not what happened, and the result is just another Ginn solo disc with the occasional sax. This isn't so much bad as repetitive and dull. I think perhaps Ginn needs to take another break from recording and redefine what he wants to do. His latest releases have been spotty at best, and none of them have a fresh sound. Ginn is better than what he's been putting out. I'd like to see him prove that statement.

Like most straightedge bands, One Life Crew knows exactly what it wants to say, and the lyrics are as clear as can be. And while I don't agree with all the sentiments here ("illegal immigrants get out", in particular), the band makes strong cases for its beliefs.

That's the good side of straightedge: Intelligently presented ideas. The down side is a general lack of attention to musical creativity. Much like most Christian death metal bands, the message comes first, and the music is just something to play in the background. I wish more attention had been paid to that side of things.

The performances are adequate, and the production is quite sharp. And at times the music really does kick. If the band were to focus on the musical side a little more next time, then the album could be really great.

Combining traditional Irish and British Isles music with traditional prog rock concepts, Tempest tries hard to create a technologically advanced folk music.

The easiest point of reference is "Bogey's Bonnie Belle", a live version of which appeared on Richard Thompson's boxed set a few years back. Thompson's version was more faithful (and his playing was much more impassioned). Tempest's rendition is much more upbeat, and the band throws in an English dance and a couple Irish reels to boot.

The notes on each song (as to origins, and exactly what pieces are thrown into the mix) are wonderful and should help anyone who is interested in getting closer to the more traditional forms of the original material.

I think the prog-rock production is a bit heavy, but Tempest makes up for that with spirited playing. This gives some of the songs, despite the excessive keyboards and such, an almost live feel. And a most successful hybrid album.

Six wall-of-noise midtempo hardcore anthems. The vocal presentation at times is so incoherent it resembes a grind sound. And this is certainly heavy enough (with enough such leanings) to be considered on the fringes of grindcore, though the guitar work is much more of a death metal style.

Wonderful drumming saves this disc from wallowing in silliness. The acute percussive attack keeps things moving reasonably well, even if the tempo is slower than I would like. The production is not overly bombastic and features each of the band members quite well. A very clean job.

Sure, there are moments of incoherence and some riff shifts that are positively grating. But 25 Ta Life has created a competent, if not outstanding album. A little more diversity in the sound, and I would be very impressed.