Album Reviews

ANNIHILATOR
All For You
(AFM/The End)
Boston's Annihilator is a long-running metal outfit that doesn't fit comfortably into any category (I hear bits of everything from death metal to progressive rock to Metallica) but has a thriving underground career anyway. All For You appears to be a concept album—something about an insane asylum that makes Arkham look like a country club—but who cares? It's leader Jeff Waters' well-developed melodies and nimble guitar and bass riffs and singer Dave Padden's versatile pipes that really sell this. The twisted sense of humor displayed on "Demon Dance" helps as well. The ballads are pretty drippy, though. Michael Toland [buy it]

THE AUTUMNS
The Autumns
(Pseudopod)
Considering this album's epic dynamics, reverbed-all-to-shit guitars, arrangements that range from lush to discordant, dramatic songs and Matthew Kelly's swaying swoon of a voice, I'm guessing that the Autumns are big Jeff Buckley fans. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that—the late Buckley won't be making any new music anytime soon, and the Autumns do the Buckley waltz extremely well. Besides, the group sprinkles enough dream-pop and indie rock ideas to keep from being a complete Buckley clone. Comes mighty close, mind you… Michael Toland [buy it]

BANG SUGAR BANG
Thwak Thwak Go Crazy!!
(War Room)
No, this isn't a Japanese rock & roll band (though I bet one takes the album title as a band name eventually) but a Los Angeles trio that gets power pop in its punk rock when it's not getting punk in its power pop. Like all the best bands of this ilk, BANG sugar BANG is all about hooks and energy, and when both converge just right in songs like "Major Label Interest," "One For the Road" and "Where's the Fun in That?" BsB can't be beat. Plus any combo that covers the Gun Club is more than alright with me. Michael Toland [buy it]

BANYAN
Live at Perkins' Place
(Sanctuary)
Live at Perkins' Place, the latest album from this part-time instrumental group led by Jane's Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins and über-bassist Mike Watt, is essentially a tribute to the electric Miles Davis, circa 1972. Perkins and Watt boil up a range of rhythms, from straight 4/4 funk to African and Latin grooves to probing free jazz, while guitarist Nels Cline and trumpeter Willie Waldman riff away over the top. Cline is particularly impressive, covering what would have been spacy keyboard washes and squealing sax 30 years ago, as well as his own Sonny Sharrock-like squalls. Even the Stooges' "Fun House" is given the business. The whole shebang evokes the spirit of Miles' groundbreaking On the Corner better than any so-called jazz musicians. Wow. Michael Toland [buy it]

BROTHER JT
Off Blue
(Birdman)
John Terlesky, AKA Brother JT, is known for flying the banner for frenzied psychedelic garage rock with the Original Sins and Vibrolux, but he has his quiet side as well. Off Blue is a collection of solo tracks cut in the songwriter's living room with a low-key vibe that emphasizes the simple melodies and reserved vocals of tunes like "Easier to Smile" and "Father's Eyes." It would be easy to compare this to Syd Barrett or Skip Spence, but Terlesky has all his marbles, not to mention a stronger sense of structure. Off Blue does have the same intimate vibe of peeking into someone's thought processes, if those synapse sprouts were melded with acid folk. Subdued, melodic and often quite beautiful. Michael Toland [buy it]

CHARANGA CAKEWALK
Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge
(Triloka/Artemis)
Charanga Cakewalk is the project of keyboardist Michael Ramos, who's tickled the plastics for the BoDeans, Joe Ely, Patty Griffin and tons more. As might be divined from the title, Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge draws heavily from Ramos' Latin heritage. The Austin-based Ramos and a few friends take cumbia melodies and arrange them for acoustic and electronic keyboards and percussion, with a few horn and stringed-instrument accents. It sounds like a recipe for world fusion hell, but Ramos' tasteful playing and excellent tunes make Loteria as irresistible as any traditional cumbia. Michael Toland [buy it]

DARKER MY LOVE
N*
(Tarantulas)
A slightly psychedelic guitar pop combo, Darker My Love obviously loves its Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen and Wire records. That said, the quartet absorbs the lessons taught by those notables without merely regurgitating them word-for-word on this EP with an unpronounceable title. It's atmospheric while still retaining a backbone, and melodic without bludgeoning you with obvious hooks. DML doesn't yet have the killer song that will take it over the top, but it'll get there sooner rather later. Michael Toland

THE DEEP EYNDE
Shadowland
(Disaster)
The Deep Eynde truck in a combination of Gothic and punkabilly imagery (just check out the centerfold of lead singer Fate Fatal), but there's more to the Hollywood quartet than visual flair. Though given to fits of AFI and Misfits worship, the Eynde's chassis of bad attitude, cheap horror, melodic hooks and manic punk energy owes more to the hit-and-run standards set by the Ramones. The band takes its job seriously, and does its business with minimum fuss and maximum finesse. Kudos especially to the ridiculously-named Fatal; his understated vocals keep potentially silly songs like "Devilchild" and "Suicide Drive" grounded. Michael Toland [buy it]

THE DIVINE BROWN
The Dirty Gospel According to…
(Wrecked 'em)
The rock & roll renaissance continues with the Divine Brown. "I Got the Fire," the band declares in its first song, just in case you weren't sure if said flame had migrated from the U.S. and Scandinavia to the U.K. (God knows I wasn't sure.) The quartet lays out its purpose pretty clearly in songs like "Fistfull 'o' Fuzz," "Living For the Show" and "Kranked Up Really High," though it's the more general rabble-rousers like "Fake Some Action," "Hanging Around" and the anthem-in-waiting "King of Shit City" that hit the hardest. And let's not forget the unapologetic "Hell Yeah! I'm Damned." Call the Divine Brown garage rock if you want, or punk, or whatever term makes you feel good about a band that just rocks the fuck out—just call 'em. Michael Toland [buy it]

THE FALL-OUTS
Summertime
(Estrus)
Ten years after its previous album Sleep, Seattle's favorite garage pop troop the Fall-Outs returns with Summertime. With a decade to get older and wiser, guitarist Dave Holmes and his trio don't have the same caffeinated energy level as before, but that's OK. Not every cut needs to sound like Holmes' head might pop up and go flying into space. That's not to say the band is lacking in force in the slightest, mind you, just that tunes like "So Good," "That Feeling" and "A Cloudy Day" are powered more by emotional urgency than youthful vim and vigor. As well, the trio is much more confident on slower songs like "Shortcut" and "What Does That Make You." It's good to have the Fall-Outs back. Michael Toland [buy it]

GREYSCALE
Cruel Machine
(Camera Obscura)
From Melbourne with acid. Greyscale's shimmering waves of electric sound put it firmly in the psychedelic camp, as the Australian trio trips out happily on its tab of guitars, rhythms, samples and drones. Yeah, it's trippy and spacy and it meanders and undulates and generally waves its arm in the air like a dosed octopus. But the musicians' enthusiasm and innate grasp of melody and dynamics keep the songs as focused as they need to be, and the music moves from interesting to compelling to beautiful and back again, without ever drifting off into the ether. Cruel Machine is just too gorgeous to resist. Michael Toland [buy it]

JARVIS HUMBY
Assume the Position It's…Jarvis Humby
(Acid Jazz/Hard Soul)
The young men in this British quartet must have had hip parents, because they take the listener on a tour of various 60s garage rock styles that were old when these blokes were born. The group serves up dirty white boy R&B ("Black Cat," "Oh Baby [I Believe I'm Losing You]"), melodic folk rock ("These Eyes," not the Guess Who song), psychedelic pop ("99 Steps to the Sun," "Let Me Take You There"), groovy instrumentals ("The 4th Man," "Badger") and, of course, no-frills rock & roll ("Formaldehyde," "Ain't No Friend of Mine," "We Say Yeah!"). Sure, this has been done before by a gazillion different bands, but Jarvis Humby stands out by virtue of its solid-to-great songs and the obvious glee it takes in performing them. Michael Toland [buy it]

THE LUCKY PUNCH
Kick Up a Hullabaloo
(Dead Beat)
Munich's Lucky Punch proves that Scandinavia doesn't have a monopoly on nuevo retro guitar rock. Though the Hellacopters seem to be the guiding light to which the band prays, Kick Up a Hullabaloo gets past the clone tag by boasting sturdy songwriting and a wild-eyed enthusiasm that puts more adrenalin in the tunes than the Hulk has in his bloodstream. Tunes like the perfectly apt opener "A Hell of a Ride," "So What You Gonna Do About It?" and "Wake Up Girl (You're Just Being Used)" rock like muthas, waving their riffs and attitude in your face with zero shame. The Lucky Punch won't get many points for originality, but with rock & roll this fine, who the hell cares? Michael Toland

MAGNUS
Sleepwalker
(Nefarious)
Chicago quintet Magnus embodies everything good about indie rock on Sleepwalker. It's melodic, but not an obvious, pandering way. At the same time, while it's challenging in spots, it doesn't deliberately confound potential listeners with self-absorbed coolness either. Magnus' tunes include familiar bits nicked from various underground rock icons, but excellent cuts like "Broken," "Transmitting" and "Awake" smartly revolve around the melodies, not the arrangements. The psychedelic rock grandeur of "Sun Burning Satellites" (isn't that a band name just waiting to be scooped up?) splits the difference nicely. Michael Toland [buy it]

MIDNIGHT MOVIES
Midnight Movies
(Leftwing/Emperor Norton/Rykodisc)
Think of the old, black-and-white films that used to come on without fanfare after midnight on the UHF channels, just filling up airtime. Now turn down the volume and let this L.A. trio provide the soundtrack. "Persimmon Tree" and "Strange Design" quietly layer psychedelic textures over gently mysterious melodies, letting the mind conjure as much music as the instruments. Drummer Gena Olivier's detached crooning ironically gives the tunes emotional weight, as if she's trying to keep her dignity and sanity intact. Driving numbers like "Time and Space" and lovely haikus like "Words For a Love Song" don't always let her, however. Midnight Movies is a graceful balancing act between pretty and foreboding. Michael Toland [buy it]