John Mayer - Continuum

Genre Album Rock/pop Adult Alternative

year: 2006 - review: I preordered this album, received it on Monday, and have been listening to it ever since. As a JM fan from the start, I'm really enjoying where his music is going. He's moving away from the acoustic ballads (although he does include one or two of those) and writing songs that you can tap your feet and bob your head to. People who expect this album to be placed in either the Folk Rock or Blues genre are missing the point: Mayer makes his own music, not the music of Dave or Hendrix or anyone else. He takes, molds, and creates something that is undeniably listenable. Hats off....probably my favorite album for the next few months. download megashares

the Almost - Southern Weather

Genre Post Hardcore/Emo Alternative CCM

year: 2007 review: The Almost's debut full-length, Southern Weather, followed in 2007, and proves that Gillespie must be quite a creative deciding factor in his full-time band, as the material is - for the most part - quite Underoath-esque. There are a few pleasant surprises however, such as a collaboration with Jeremy Enigk of the Fire Theft and Sunny Day Real Estate fame (the latter band is often considered the original emo band - a style that Underoath specializes in), on the country-tinged ballad "Dirty and Left Out." But mostly, it's emo-rock that rules the day, especially such selections as the album-opening "Say This Sooner" and "I Mostly Copy Other People." Underoath fans will surely be proud of Gillespie and his one-man band.

Siouxsie and The Banshees - Tinderbox

Genre Alternative rock Goth rock Indie British Punk

year: 86 - review: Siouxsie and the Banshees is one of the most innovative bands ever, and they are definitely not appreciated enough. Tinderbox is not their best work, but it's much much much much much better than almost everything else that is out there in "popular" music. It's sad that mediocre fluff dominates our culture, while music with true intelligence is submerged. SATB is a band to discover. The Sweetest Chill is the best track, and one of their finest. This Unrest and Land's End are the other top tracks. The only poor-quality track is the "bonus" remix of Cities in Dust. It should have been left off. The mediocre B-side "An execution" doesn't fit well, either. SATB made a few unfortunate production mistakes with Tinderbox. The children's voices in Candyman are awful. The dubbed in man's voice at the beginning of 92 degrees is awful, although the song itself is musically very impressive despite having a rather weak premise. Her vocals are a bit off-key in Party's Fall, and somewhat grating in Cities in Dust.

Van Morrison - This is Van Morrison

Genre folk rock singer songwriter

review: This Pacific High Studios material has been frequently booted. It is reviewed in full in the Discography entry for The Inner Mystic. The material also appears (in whole or in part) on a number of other boots, including Fridays Child, I've Been Working, Into the Mystic, Moonshine Whiskey, Desert Land, Wild Night in California, and the vinyl Van the Man. Check the other Discography entries for additional details on a specific bootleg.

Placebo - Black Market Music

Genre Neo Glam Brit Pop/punk

year: 2000 - review: I love its style - it is darker than the previous two (excellent) records, and Brian, Stef & Steve continue to make fantastic music whilst experimenting and pushing the boundaries. Spite & Malice is a dazzling example of what Nu-Metal ought to have been (yet with a good message), while Commercial For Levi is a twisted little acid lullaby which fully exhibits Molko's highly individual (and pleasant) singing voice and an unusually wiity way with words. Excellent stuff.

Bangles - Different Light

Genre Paisley underground Jungle Pop

year: 86 review: The Bangles' second album went to number one on the strength of the first single, "Manic Monday," written especially for the band by Prince, and its follow-up, "Walk Like an Egyptian," penned by '80s hitmaking giant Liam Sternberg. Though even more polished than the debut, Different Light is a testament to the mid-'80s sound, replete with synthesizers (Mitchell Froom assisted); even on Jules Shear's magnificent "If She Knew What She Wants" and Alex Chilton's standard "September Gurls," the band's vocal strengths shine through the gloss, and their pop sensibilities are not completely lost.

Manic Street Preachers - Forever Delayed

Genre Alternative Pop/Rock Brit Pop

year: 2002 - review: Great songs by manics, Not many bands can open a song with the words Libraries gave us power, tackle working-class identity and still place the song near the top of the charts, as Manic Street Preachers did in 1996 with the Celtic roar of “A Design for Life.” Four years after they began, the Welsh band was starting over as a trio after depressive guitarist Richey Edwards vanished. (He’s presumed dead; his body has never been found.) The Manics’ rousing songs are as ferocious and political as Public Enemy’s in their pomp, though the enthusiasm for weighty issues sinks some of their best tunes. “Culture sucks down words” is the less-than-snappy line that opens the aching “Motorcycle Emptiness,” which is about existential despair. (Other fave topics: bulimia, suicide, Sylvia Plath, class warfare.) In recent years these Clash-obsessed firebrands have mellowed — recent tracks describe the sound of a dark, truculent, thoughtful band settling into domesticity.

They Might Be Giants - Factory Showroom

Genre Pop Underground College Rock/indie

review: Factory Showroom, They Might Be Giants' second effort with a full band, is a stronger album than its predecessor, John Henry, boasting a more natural sound and a more diverse selection of material. However, John Flansburgh and John Linnell are still suffering from a slight creative block -- they even recycle an old B-side, "James K. Polk" -- as evidenced by the lack of memorable hooks and forced jokes.

Cranberries - Beneath The Skin

Genre Alternative pop/rock

bio: Combining the melodic jangle of post-Smiths indie-guitar pop with the lilting, trance-inducing sonic textures of late-'80s dream pop and adding a slight Celtic tint, the Cranberries became one of the more successful groups to emerge from the pre-Brit-pop U.K. indie scene of the early '90s. Led by vocalist Dolores O'Riordan, whose keening, powerful voice is the most distinctive element of the group's sound, the group initially made little impact in the United Kingdom. It wasn't until the lush ballad "Linger" became an American hit in 1993 that the band also achieved mass success in the U.K. Following the success of "Linger," the Cranberries quickly became ..

Chris Garneau - Music For Tourists

Genre * Sadcore * Alternative Singer/ Songwriter * Indie Pop

year: 2007 - review: Produced by none other than Duncan Sheik, Garneau's debut, Music for Tourists, is composed of slow piano-and-string indie ballads that, though they occasionally threaten to turn into something powerful, more often stay with the same barely breathing, minor-keyed, quarter-noted chord progressions that stick and falter in their own reflection like dull scissors cutting through contact paper. Garneau does periodically employ a kind of super-syncopated and super-enunciated twee phrasing, like in "Castle Time," when he sings, "My teacher died/Even the frying pan cried," that distinguishes him and his über-preciousness and gives him some individual character, but this is more bothersome and affected than endearing. The few moments where passion overtakes him and his voice drops and fills out, like in "Sad News" or "Relief," are more honest and bare than anytime Garneau sings sorrowfully "I'm sorry he brought us there/Me, crying in my underwear," and give a welcome glimpse of the person behind the sometimes-corny, sometimes-insightful lyrics (the rather inane "I love the way you dance.../Don't you miss your chance" coupled with the brilliant "I didn't go to see the city/I went to see it around you" in "Relief"). But too much of the album gets caught in the shallow grave of introspection, struggling half-heartedly to pull itself out, already resigned to unremarkable misery, just like everyone else. Perhaps the most telling moment of this in on the bonus track, a cover of Elliott Smith's "Behind the Bars." Where Smith was able to convey very real-sounding and often subtle layers of despair in his voice, Garneau just seems like he's trying to be fragile, barely reaching the high notes and affecting an almost-Irish accent on some of the vowels, simply because that's what he thinks he's supposed to do. He's suffering from a lack of presence, if anything, which makes Music for Tourists, with all its bright spots, a cumbersome affair.

Ben Folds - Live 2004

Genre Alternative adult/pop Underground

bio: Singer/pianist Ben Folds (born September 12, 1966, in Winston-Salem, NC) is best known as the leader of the power pop trio Ben Folds Five, but has also struck out on his own as a solo artist. Despite playing in bands in high school, his musical career didn't really get off the ground until the late '80s, as a bassist for Majosha (the outfit issued such obscure releases as Party Night: Five Songs About Jesus and Shut Up and Listen to Majosha). Proving his multi-instrumental talents, Folds also played drums as a session musician in Nashville. After relocating to New York, Folds started acting again (he'd done some theater ...

Blur - Leisure

Genre Britpop Indie Pop / Rock

year 91 - review: Blur is loosely lumped in with Britain's Manchester Sound; a kind of '60s-psychedelia-meets-dance-music scene. Unlike others in the genre, however, Blur parks most of the disco influences at the door in favor of hard-edged pop. Leisure's most accessible moments, like the singles "She's So High" and "There's No Other Way," blend captivating, fluid melodies with hypnotic, psyched-up instrumentation. More experimental moments like "Repetition" and "Bad Day" are reminiscent of early, Syd Barrett-led Pink Floyd; the dreamy atmospheres firmly anchored by sparse, chunky guitar riffs.

Flaming Lips - Zaireeka

Genre * Neo-Psychedelia * Experimental Rock * Noise Pop

year: 97 - review: This project explores the infinite possibilities of the listeners' experience. Four at a time or each one singularly this is the really definitive masterpiece by the Flaming Lips.

Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary

year : 94 Genre * Alternative Pop/ Rock * Emo * Indie Rock

review: For all intents and purposes, Diary was the album that made emo accessible, fusing its gnarled guitars and nakedly emotional vocals with more than a hint of melodic Seattle grunge. SDRE's song structures are far more oblique than, for example, the similarly anthemic Pearl Jam, but it's still easy to miss the group's main inspirations if you're not looking for them. Perhaps that's because, at bottom, SDRE don't sound much like their emo predecessors. For one, there are plenty of quiet, arpeggiated passages and contrasting dynamics; for another, vocalist Jeremy Enigk is more of a crooner than a screamer at heart, and the underlying tenderness in his voice breathes majesty into the group's slow, languid melodies. Yet, while Diary's true heart lies in its soaring, introspective anthems (like the band's signature song, "In Circles"), the more tortured, visceral moments balance things out, preventing the album from wallowing in melodramatic self-obsession. In retrospect, Diary doesn't quite fulfill all of its ambitions -- there are a few underfocused moments that don't achieve the epic sweep of the album's best compositions. That occasional inconsistency makes it feel somewhat less realized than their proggier post-reunion work, especially since Enigk would develop into a far more distinctive vocalist. But even if it isn't quite the top-to-bottom masterpiece its legions of imitators suggest, Diary still ranks as arguably the definitive '90s emo album, and an indispensable introduction to the genre.

Weezer - Maladroit

year: 2002 Genre Emo / rock Alternative Pop

review: Maladroit combines the creative edginess of Pinkerton, with the heavy guitar riffs of the green album to make a truly enjoyable sound. Hard to compare to the blue album, but it certainly ranks as classic Weezer.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Live Seeds

Genre Alternative Rock/pop

year:93 - review: Recorded at various spots on the Henry's Dream tour and originally sold with a small picture book documenting said tour, Live features the same sextet that performed on Dream bringing the noise with commanding authority. Cave himself is unsurprisingly in excelsis, his declamatory and quieter sides both showcased with skill. Mick Harvey and Blixa Bargeld's guitar exploits, sometimes snarling with fire and other times strumming with deceptive calm, lead the charge from the rest, with the Thomas Wydler and Martyn P. Casey rhythm section ratcheting up the intensity, and Conway Savage's piano and organ work shading everything out. Three of the thirteen songs are from Dream, with the rest drawn from throughout Cave's solo career, including a dramatic version of "From Her to Eternity" that takes the 1987 re-recording as its start and gets an even more punishing makeover. Few cuts differ drastically from the more familiar album versions, but generally everything is crisper, at times much more brusque, perhaps exchanging texture for force. The opening performance of "The Mercy Seat" doesn't achieve the melodramatic power of the Tender Prey performance, but still makes for a fiery start, Cave's lyric of dues-paying via death delivered with the appropriate power. The Dream cuts arguably are the most different from their studio takes, given a more punchy approach all around, especially on "Brother, My Cup Is Empty." Other highlights include the beautiful passion of "The Ship Song," its tearjerking appeal fully intact, and the doom-laden "The Weeping Song," Bargeld and Cave's duet once again a striking fusion of voices. An end-of-the-night singalong take on "New Morning" concludes this striking record, definitely one of Cave's best.

Jefferson Airplane - Bless Its Pointed Little Head

Year: 1969 Genre # Psychedelic # Folk-Rock # Pop/Rock

review: Jefferson Airplane's first live album demonstrated the group's development as concert performers, taking a number of songs that had been performed in concise, pop-oriented versions on their early albums -- "3/5's of a Mile in 10 Seconds," "Somebody to Love," "It's No Secret," "Plastic Fantastic Lover" -- and rendering them in arrangements that were longer, harder rocking, and more densely textured, especially in terms of the guitar and basslines constructed by Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady. The group's three-part vocal harmonizing and dueling was on display during such songs as a nearly seven-minute version of Fred Neil's folk-blues standard "The Other Side of This Life," here transformed into a swirling rocker. The album emphasized the talents of Kaukonen and singer Marty Balin over the team of Paul Kantner and Grace Slick, who had tended to dominate recent records: the blues song "Rock Me Baby" was a dry run for Hot Tuna, the band Kaukonen and Casady would form in two years, and Balin turned in powerful vocal performances on several of his own compositions, notably "It's No Secret." Jefferson Airplane was still at its best in concise, driving numbers, rather than in the jams on Donovan's "Fat Angel" (running 7:35) or the group improv "Bear Melt" (11:21); they were just too intense to stretch out comfortably. But Bless Its Pointed Little Head served an important function in the group's discography, demonstrating that their live work had a distinctly different focus and flavor from their studio recordings.

Garbage - Bleed like me

year: 2005 Genre Alternative Rock

review: Garbage deserve credit for one thing in particular; remaining true to their roots. However, that may also make it the primary weakness of this record as well. Shirley Manson and Co. have always ventured into the metaphoric dirt under their fingernails and incorporating these themes of heartbreak, betrayal and coping into the songwriting, with the meaty hooks. "Bleed Like Me" continues to walk upon that familiar territory, though the production is more polished than ever before. However, many of the songs alone, despite some effort, end up sounding cliched or formulaic, adjectives Garbage have never really been equated with. Garbage remain one of the better Alternative artists out there, but this is their weakest of their four releases to date and if they want to maintain that early integrity from here on, perhaps the advice to them would be to not just dig under the fingernails and write of the dirt, but mature on and write of the learning experience from it.

Stone temple pilots - no. 4

year: 99 Grunge/hard Rock

review: That's for the best, since it's their hardest effort since their debut, Core. "Down" and "Heaven & Hot Rods" provide a powerful, brutal opening for No. 4 -- it's as if STP decided to compete directly with the new generation of alt-metal bands who prize aggression over hooks or riffs. With these two songs, the band's attack is as vicious as that of the new generation, but they retain their gift for gargantuan hooks. Much of the album hits pretty hard -- most explicitly on "No Way Out," "Sex & Violence," and "MC5," -- and even the ballads and neo-psychedelic pop have none of the swirling production that distinguished Tiny Music. That sense of adventure is missed, because even if the album finds STP returning to the muscular hard rock that made them, they always sounded better when they concentrated on melodicism. No. 4's most effective moments have a variety of sonic textures and color -- "Pruno" tempers its giant riffs with spacy verses; "Church on Tuesday" is a great pop tune, as are the trippy "Sour Girl" and "I Got You"; and the psychedelic "Glide" and closing ballad, "Atlanta," have a sense of majesty. These songs anchor the heavier moments, instead of the other way around, and it all plays well together. As a matter of fact, No. 4 is as tight as Tiny Music. Even if it isn't as grandiose or sonically compelling as that effort, it's a record that consolidates all their strengths.

3 Doors down - Away From The Sun

year 2002 Genre Southern Rock grunge

review: Well, what can I say. Away From the Sun doesn't have that hard & cocky attitude we loved so much after hearing Smack, So I Need You, By My Side, and it doesn't have that anger-filled & sad side we know from Loser & Duck and Run. Does this mean AFTS is a bad cd? Far from it. The instant classics will definitely be "Away from the Sun", "Here WIthout You", "Changes" and the hidden track - "This Time". I'm not really disappointed by the album, but I expected something with the same force that put "The Better Life" on the cd-shelf of every kid in the neighborhood.. Still, if you liked the original album.

Fastball - All The Pain Money Can Buy

year: 98 American Tred Rock Pop Underground

review: When compared to their previous album (the 1996 debut Make Your Mama Proud), Fastball's All the Pain Money Can Buy shows that the group was steadily improving and honing its AAA/roots rock sound. The biggest difference between All the Pain Money Can Buy and their debut is that by spicing up their songs with horns and classic synthesizer sounds, Fastball created an album with greater musical variety. Produced by Julian Raymond and the band, the disc recalls the sound and approach of classic '70s rock, with the group stressing feel over precision. That doesn't stop the band from updating its vintage rock with '90s technology and sounds, however, as proven by the presence of a beatbox in the album's opener, "The Way." One of the best tracks, the laid-back and groovy "Which Way to the Top?," is a duet between Fastball's Miles Zuniga and female solo artist Poe. The horn section featured on the upbeat "G.O.D. (Good Old Days)" recalls early-period Chicago, while the band tackles the singer/songwriter genre of days past on "Out of My Head" with a mellow organ sound and introspective lyrics. If you like your classic rock with a little more grit and experimentation, Fastball are wholeheartedly recommended.download megashares

Creed - Greatest Hits

year 2004 Hard Rock

review: Good anthology of a band that was only around for a short time. My problem is with "What's This Life For?" It's cut and edited. Yet on the original album it is full. Why would they do that? But other than that, I really like this Greatest Hits.

Santana - Best Instrumentals

Latin Rock

review: Compilation featuring 15 of the guitar legend's absolute finest instrumental works, including 'Samba Pa Ti','Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)', 'I Love You Much Too Much', 'Life Is A Lady/ Holiday', 'Blues For Salvador' & 'Soul Sacrifice'. 1997 Sony release.

Massive Attack - Mezzanine

Alternative Dance/pop/rock

review: Increasingly ignored amidst the exploding trip-hop scene, Massive Attack finally returned in 1998 with Mezzanine, a record immediately announcing not only that the group was back, but that they'd recorded a set of songs just as singular and revelatory as on their debut, almost a decade back. It all begins with a stunning one-two-three-four punch: "Angel," "Risingson," "Teardrop," and "Inertia Creeps." Augmenting their samples and keyboards with a studio band, Massive Attack open with "Angel," a stark production featuring pointed beats and a distorted bassline that frames the vocal (by group regular Horace Andy) and a two-minute flame-out with raging guitars. "Risingson" is a dense, dark feature for Massive Attack themselves (on production as well as vocals), with a kitchen sink's worth of dubby effects and reverb. "Teardrop" introduces another genius collaboration -- with Elizabeth Fraser from Cocteau Twins -- from a production unit with a knack for recruiting gifted performers. The blend of earthy with ethereal shouldn't work at all, but Massive Attack pull it off in fine fashion. "Inertia Creeps" could well be the highlight, another feature for just the core threesome. With eerie atmospherics, fuzz-tone guitars, and a wealth of effects, the song could well be the best production from the best team of producers the electronic world had ever seen.

Morrissey - You are the Quarry

year 2004 * Rock/pop Alternative * Adult

review: Yay, young Steven's back! Now, for clarification's sake, this is the guy who likes Southpaw Grammar (goddammit he's trying to get at something, I swear on the Bible), but this leaves everything but Vauxhall and I in the dust. Yes, even Your Arsenal. Not a weak track, to my mind, in the bunch - the closest being the deliberate I'm Not Sorry. Favourite tracks? Come Back To Camden, All The Lazy Dykes (I'm a sucker for Steven's story-songs), First Of The Gang To Die, You Know I Couldn't Last...in fact, the longer I type this list, the more it occurs to me that I could just type out a complete tracklisting and be done with it. Its only failing, if indeed it is a failing, is that it won't win new fans - it's Morrissey in excelsis: if you don't like Morrissey, you simply won't like this. Word has it that the next album, Ringleader of the Tormentors, will be denser, more experimental, more fanbase-dividing. Which is of course typical Steven. (Not that it's Scott Walker's Tilt or anything, just that it's a bit on the different side - kind of like Southpaw Grammar). Essential for anyone with a quiff.

Skunk Anansie - Stoosh

year 96 * Rock alternative rock

review: The second offering from aggro-political rockers Skunk Anansie finds producer Garth Richardson (L7, Rage Against the Machine) at the helm. Frontwoman Skin's vocals grab the listener by the scruff of the neck and demand attention. The rest of the band backs her with a frenzied, yet focused, sonic attack, giving serious punch to tracks like the breakneck "Twisted (Everyday Hurts)" and the lumbering, scathing "We Love Your Apathy." Stoosh finds Skunk Anansie still raging for political activism (albeit sometimes through muddy lyrics), and the band makes no bones about that fact (addressed succinctly on  Skin proves herself capable of more personal issues as well on the subtle, moody "Infidelity (Only You)" and the lighter (musically) pop/rocker "Glorious Pop Song." Skunk Anansie's full-frontal charge can be wearing at times, but for a good dose of aggressive, hard rock with better-than-average lyrics, Stoosh succeeds more than it fails.

Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped

year 2006 * Alternative/Rock

review: This album is brilliant! I'd compare my introduction to Sonic Youth to what I wanted my introduction to Radiohead to be like. I started with Radiohead when I was 9 and it wasn't ever exciting like it should have been. Oh, to be virgin to Radiohead again! But with Sonic Youth, I've only barely listened to Sonic Nurse and Daydream Nation, so listening to Rather Ripped has been the best thing of the year for me. It kills Destroyer, Islands, anything else that came out and I doubt that anything will be able to top it. For a first timer, this album is amazing, so to knock it for not matching their previous super trio is ridiculous.

the Byrds - the Byrds

year 73 * Country Rock * Folk Rock

review: In 1972, Roger McGuinn's final version of the Byrds unceremoniously broke up, but the following year the group briefly reunited -- surprisingly enough, with the classic original lineup of McGuinn, Gene Clark, Michael Clarke, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman. However, if most of the participants meant for this to be anything more than a one-shot get-together, you couldn't tell from listening to the resulting album; Byrds never sounds much like a Byrds album, with McGuinn's chiming 12-string guitar and the group's striking harmonies (The Byrds' twin aural calling cards) largely absent, and much of the original material (especially David Crosby's) sounding like cast-offs from their other projects. And what sort of a Byrds album features two Neil Young covers and not a single Bob Dylan tune? In all fairness, Byrds has its moments: Gene Clark's "Full Circle" and "Changing Heart" are great songs from the group's least-appreciated member, and McGuinn's "Born to Rock 'n' Roll" is a top-notch rock anthem. But for the most part, Byrds sounds like a competent but unexciting country-rock band going through their paces, rather than the work of one of the best and most innovative American bands of the 1960s.

Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out

year 2000 *Alternative pop * Noise pop/indie rock

review: After years as one of indie rock's standard-bearing groups, Yo La Tengo surpasses itself with And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out. A culturally literate, emotionally rich album, on songs like "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House," "The Crying of Lot G," and "The Last Days of Disco," it alludes to The Simpsons, enigmatic author Thomas Pynchon and independent films while exploring the comforting, confining, complex aspects of relationships. "Our Way to Fall" sets Ira Kaplan's recollection of falling in love to a dreamy, down-to-earth backdrop of gently brushed drums, luminous organs and vibes; "The Crying of Lot G" transforms the syrupy sweetness of '50s ballads into a monologue about a relationship's shortcomings. "Madeline"'s shimmery indie bossa-nova and the countrified ballad "Tears Are in Your Eyes" showcase Georgia Hubley's buttery, empathetic voice; her singing makes these vignettes universal as well as personal. Like mature indie rock records such as Pavement's Terror Twilight and Jim O'Rourke's Eureka, And Then Nothing... favors mellow songwriting, detailed arrangements, and eclectic influences, such as the Silver Apples-like drum machines and doo wop backing vocals that adorn many of the songs. The wintry, implosive "Everyday" uses both of these elements, along with a plaintive guitar and hushed, hypnotic vocals, to begin the album on a surprisingly somber note. Similarly, the off-kilter beats, odd piano bursts, and harmonies on "Saturday" add to the song's awkward, uneasy beauty. Finally, nine songs into the album, Yo La Tengo breaks out the whammy and feedback action on "Cherry Chapstick," their most incandescent song since "Sugarcube." Easily one of 2000's most accomplished albums, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out isn't as immediate as some of the group's earlier work, but it's just as enduring, proving that Yo La Tengo is the perfect band to grow old with.

PJ Harvey - Rid Of Me

year 93 * alternative pop * indie rock

review: Dry was shockingly frank in its subject and sound, as PJ Harvey delivered post-feminist manifestos with a punkish force. PJ Harvey's second album, Rid of Me, finds the trio, and Harvey in particular, pushing themselves to extremes. This is partially due to producer Steve Albini, who gives the album a bloodless, abrasive edge with his exacting production; each dynamic is pushed to the limit, leaving absolutely no subtleties in the music. Harvey's songs, in decided contrast to Albini's approach, are filled with gray areas and uncertainties, and are considerably more personal than those on Dry. Furthermore, they are lyrically and melodically superior to the songs on the debut, but their merits are obscured by Albini's black-and-white production, which is polarizing. It may be the aural embodiment of the tortured lyrics, and therefore a supremely effective piece of performance art, but it also makes Rid of Me a difficult record to meet halfway. But anyone willing to accept its sonic extremities will find Rid of Me to be a record of unusual power and purpose, one with few peers in its unsettling emotional honesty.