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More bands, more albums, more opinions. Let's do this
B- Rooney Rooney (Geffen)
Unlike his big brother, Rushmore star/Phantom Planet drummer Jason Schwartzman, Rooney main man Robert Carmine tries to get over on his rock-scholar love of ELO and the Beatles, not his nebbishy charm. At times, it's as if he's looking over Rivers Cuomo's shoulder during a chem exam, but his band is too goody-goody to be wooed into the heavy-metal parking lot.
B NOFX The War on Errorism (Fat Wreck Chords)
Fat Mike and crew's Bush-bashing thrash recycles leftist clichés picked up at Michael Moore's yard sale. But when they write about real people ("The Irrationality of Rationality"), real fears ("Franco Un-American"), and the stoopidness of the punk-rock lifestyle ("Anarchy Camp"), a pure heart shines through.
B+ Molotov Dance and Dense (Surco/Universal Latino)
Three Mexico City rap-rockers and a gringo drummer/MC, Molotov throw 187 different agendas into the mosh pit. Searingly silly politics, absurdly sexist rhymes, and a skull-cracking groove that easily shifts into a wry polka about border-crossing bullshit ("Frijolero"). Like a hilarious Rage Against the Machine, they totally reflect our whacked-out times.
B Sugar Ray In the Pursuit of Leisure (Atlantic)
Mark McGrath might be his generation's Todd Rundgren: too handsome to really sell the unlucky-in-love songs he writes, too popular to get respect for how well he writes them. Here, the self-deprecation still rings hollow (a cover of "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"--please), but the hooks never do.
B- American Analog Set Promise of Love (Tiger Style)
This Texas quartet reinvented Stereolab as an emo sewing circle on 2001's Know by Heart. The drone-pop stitch 'n 'bitch continues on their fifth record, which is a little rockier, a little slower, and a little less transporting. Their hearts are so firmly in the right place that you almost wish they'd shove you around a bit.
B+ David Banner Mississippi: The Album (SRC/Universal)
As a producer, Mississippi-bred Banner (formerly of Crooked Lettaz) is a friggin' genius, punching up soulful beats that hypnotize while sacrificing neither funk nor nastiness and punching in live guitar solos worthy of the Isley Brothers. As a rapper, he's an unhinged pseudo-pimp with a raspy, shake-ya-ass bark.
B- Tomahawk Mit Gas (Ipecac)
Dylan said, "As great as you are, man / You'll never be greater than yourself." Thus always to supergroups. Tomahawk unite Faith No More's singer, the Jesus Lizard's guitarist, Helmet's drummer, and the Cows' bassist, which should equal Olympian noise rock. Instead, it's solid--heavy on nuts and bolts, light on bolts from the blue.
A- Dropkick Murphys Blackout (Hellcat/Epitaph)
On their sixth album, Boston punks Dropkick Murphys set some unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics to rowdy Celtic-flavored rock that'll send Billy Bragg and Wilco running for cover ("Gonna Be a Blackout Tonight"), then stomp through some swaggering anthems and teary Guinness weepers. The Bruins fight song "Time to Go" is a bone-crunching bonus.
B+ The Oranges Band All Around (Lookout!)
Jangly debut album from these Baltimore indie dudes, who are to Midwestern power-poppers the Embarrassment what the Strokes are to Television. They play guitars and sing about growing up--their lousy apartments, busted TVs, the girls in their heads, and the noise in their ears. Always charmingly dour and deathlessly romantic.
B Various Artists Yes New York (Wolfgang Morden)
A pretty accurate representation of the New York rock renaissance, in that the hot stuff (live Strokes, majestically weepy Interpol, slammingly remixed Le Tigre) overwhelms the not-so-hot (Calla, Longwave, the Walkmen). Still, the best song is "Ballad of a Sin Eater" by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists--who were, last time we checked, from Jersey.
B+ The Rogers Sisters Purely Evil (Troubleman Unlimited)
With their guitars and vocals wound tight, the Rogers Sisters sound like early Go-Go's seducing early Devo: poppy and jagged, philosophical and absurd. They dole out their punk agita in brief blasts, too, equally pungent on the tense capitalism critique "Calculator" and the tranced-out "(I'm a) Ballerina."
B+ The High Strung These Are Good Times (Tee Pee)
First full-length from an organ-droning Brooklyn guh-rrrrage crew who "spend a lot of time with the munchies at the zoo" and a whole lot more time confusing the Kinks with Pavement. With one hand "up your sweater" and the other on the remote control, they erect a pillow fort where filthy meets lazy.
B Less Than Jake Anthem (Sire/Warner Bros.)
This Gainesville, Florida, outfit were front-and-center for both the ska revival and the pop-punk boom, but they still wound up back in the indie trenches after 1998's Hello Rockview. Their way tuneful, sorta emo seventh album often lives up to its title, but they ought to find a kind way to break it off with the horn section.
B Dead Meadow Shivering King and Others (Matador)
This Washington, D.C., power trio lurch like Led Zeppelin in lead boots, like Black Sabbath working on the chain gang, like Mountain pushing their tour bus up an actual mountain. But whenever their boggy groove pauses for a heavier-than-heaven guitar solo (see "Good Moanin'"), it's like basking under a giant black light.
