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More bands, more albums, more opinions. Let's do this
B+ Wakefield American Made (Arista)
American Pie 3 soundtrack candidates kick off their debut album yelling "Sold out!" and proceed to gleefully rock you with all the sludgy, head-rush huzzah of a million-gallon Slurpee. They're American Made, yo!
A- The Faint Danse Macabre Remixes (Saddle Creek/Astralwerks)
Techno remixers (from retro prankster Jacques Lu Cont to jet-set wanker Paul Oakenfold) have their way with tracks from the Nebraska quintet's third album, foregrounding grooves that the original versions only implied. Perfect for dancing under a black light until there's blood on your fishnets.
B+ Reggie and the Full Effect Under the Tray... (Vagrant)
Ostensibly No. 2 in a series of "lost" records by Reggie (actually Get Up Kids' keyboardist James DeWees), Under the Tray plays genre dodgeball with everything from Euro-disco to dundering metal. But between the yuks, DeWees conjures some sincerely anthemic power-pop ennui. For every "LOL" here, there is a ": (".
A Aphrohead Thee Underground Made Me Do It (Clashbackk)
Aphrohead is Chicago DJ Felix Da Housecat, who pretended to be famous on last year's great Kittenz and Thee Glitz and pretends to be anonymous here, foregoing '80s kitsch for scalp-singeing house beats. Even in minimalist mode, though, Felix is a generous weirdo; every song oozes sticky, loopy funk.
A- Serart Serart (Serjical Strike/Columbia)
With System of a Down, Serj Tankian plays activist pogo metal; on this collaboration with Armenian multi-instrumentalist Arto Tuncboyaciyan, he's an upstanding citizen of the world, wailing in tongues over beats without borders. It's a proudly xenophilic soundtrack for a world that gets smaller by the day.
B+ Sahara Hotnights C'mon Let's Pretend (Jetset)
Debut album from Robertfors, Sweden's finest punk export, recorded in 1999, before the quartet had their act together. Varied and vulnerable, it features acoustic guitars and an awesome weeper ("Wake Up"); on the balls-out "Impressed by Me," you can hear singer Maria Andersson finding her sneer.
D Powerman 5000 Transform (DreamWorks)
As sci-fi metalheads, they were entertainingly dumb, a White Zombie for kids who subscribe to Starlog, not Fangoria. But from the moment frontman Spider One bellows, "I'm not a spaceman," you know trouble--in the form of a "mature" album by guys whose immaturity was their biggest selling point--is a-brewin'.
B+ Various artists Shout!: The Revolution Rave-Up Alive 1997-2003 (Kemado)
A loose, raucous, triumphant compilation inspired by an equally raucous garage-rock party convened weekly at Manhattan's Bar 13. It lags a little in the middle, but the highlights are proof that New York City hipsters occasionally get it (exhilaratingly) right.
A Starlight Mints Built on Squares (PIASAmerica)
Throw a rock in any college town and you'll hit an indie band that digs both Pavement and Burt Bacharach. But Norman, Oklahoma's Starlight Mints hear new potential in these well-thumbed sources, mixing xylophones, spaghetti-Western trumpets, and quirky trick guitars to sweeping effect.
B+ ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead The Secret of Elena's Tomb (Interscope)
On this taut, five-song EP, Texas stage wreckers Trail of Dead temper their thrash with welcome doses of art rock. "Mach Schau" is thunderous and snotty, but "Intelligence" is a sassy new-wave experiment, and "Counting Off the Days" exposes the band's fragile emo core.
A Angela Johnson They Don't Know (Purpose)
An R&B unknown who writes, produces, and sings with such a deeply rhythmic, commanding, blush-inducing, romantic power and wisdom that you practically start laughing out loud. Ashanti? Monica? Toni Braxton? Artists? Give it up! Johnson deserves the title and a much bigger audience.
C- Fingertight In the Name of Progress (Columbia)
"It's like we're at war," these California grunge punks observe, trying to keep it vague in case their release date gets pushed. As vaguely heavy/ angry as it is vaguely political, their major-label debut yokes parent-hating bipolarity to bland gut-check metal that'll make you nostalgic for Staind.
C Jack Johnson On and On (Moonshine Conspiracy)
Mellow worldview, tropical ZIP code, flirts with reggae, dorky yet charming--yup, surfer/ songwriter Jack Johnson is the Jimmy Buffett of Generation Y. And someday, he'll write his "Margaritaville." Until then, he's got many peaceful, breezy songs about peaceful, easy feelings but lacks the hooks to hang 'em on.
B Supernatural The Lost Freestyle Files (Babygrande)
Perhaps the greatest freestyle rapper ever (sorry, Rabbit), Supernat was known for his gruff boom-shot voice, an ability to rhyme any word the audience threw at him, and an inability to release a proper album. This isn't it--more an odds'n'sods mix. But there's genius in there somewhere.
