Beck - "Midnite Vultures" (DGC) - written January 2000

At this point another review of Beck's new album is probably redundant. This album has been reviewed not only by the music press but by the mainstream press from Time to Newsweek to Ladies' Home Journal. OK, maybe not Ladies' Home Journal, but everyone else. So there isn't much I can add to the collective body of knowledge about Midnite Vultures. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that on this album Beck has put aside both the acoustic touches of Mutations and (for the most part) the hip-hop pastiche of Odelay in favor of a soul-based album which mixes typically scattershot Beck lyrics with songs influenced by Marvin Gaye, George Clinton, and R. Kelly.

Nonetheless, one clear influence is missed by most reviewers. This is clearly Beck's Prince album. The funk-guitar workouts are totally Prince. The falsetto - yes, Beck sings falsetto - is definitely Prince. The album closer, "Debra," has Beck sounding so much like Prince you'll swear he's channeling more purple than Violet Bouregard eating the Blueberry Pie gum in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. After listening to this album I instantly had to pull out my copy of Prince's greatest hits. Don't let the first single, "Sexx Laws," fool you. It is the most "Beck-like" of the songs on this album, but the rest of the record is much more down and dirty, along the lines of Prince's Dirty Mind or Controversy. Though this album is funky, funny, and, yes, even soulful, it doesn't hit close to home as much as Beck's last two albums. Not to say that Midnite Vultures is not a work of genius -- it is. And not to say that you shouldn't buy Midnite Vultures - you should. Just be aware that after a few plays this album, unlike Odelay or Mutations, will likely only come out for special, extra-funky occasions.

Blinker The Star – “August Everywhere” (Dreamworks) - written January 2000

Prior to 1999, Jordon Zadorozny was best known for a short-lived stint writing tunes for Hole with Courtney Love, only one of which actually appeared on Hole’s album Celebrity Skin.  His band, Blinker the Star, had recorded two albums of mediocre grunge-rock, the last being 1996’s A Bourgeois Kitten.  What a shock, then, to find out that Zadorozny’s goal is not to be the next Kurt Cobain but rather the next Andy Partridge.  On August Everywhere, Zadorozny puts grunge aside to create an album of sweeping, orchestrated power pop. His co-conspirator here is Ken Andrews, formerly of the band Failure, who serves as co-producer.  What results sounds like Failure doing an album of XTC covers, with a bit of Eric Matthews tossed in for good measure.  “Below the Sliding Doors,” for example, starts with an echoing guitar arpeggio and the deliberate drumbeat familiar from many Failure tunes, before sliding into a soaring chorus complete with strings (arranged by David Campbell, a.k.a. Beck’s dad).  You also get plenty of popping drumbeats, Beach Boys harmonies, and guitars which range from jangly to loud and forceful.  The melodies are instantly catchy, the production is regularly interesting, and the lyrics, many of which revolve around the motif of autumn, are always poignant.  One of the most delightfully surprising albums in a long time, this left turn into genius from a previously middling band is truly a must-buy for anyone who loves power-pop. 

More fun here from Sacramento’s greatest country/hip-hop/mariachi band. Cake is in an interesting position with the release of this album, the first without founding guitarist Greg Brown. This is very much lead singer John McCrea’s band, but Cake’s one big hit, "The Distance" (you may remember, it was inescapable in the winter of 1997) was written by Brown. Well, not only has Cake made another great album here, they have produced what is possibly a more catchy hit in McCrea’s "Never There." Brown’s uniquely dry arpeggios are well re-produced by guest guitarists Tyler Pope and Chuck Prophet, and the band has added guitarist Xan McCurty for the accompanying tour. McCrea once again contributes his unique style of spoken-sung quirky lyrics, including songs about supermarket parking lots and what happens to farm animals after death (apparently sheep go to heaven and goats go to hell). You also get the wide range of sounds that you would expect from the only rock band with a full-time trumpet player, including telephone dialing on "Never There" and, on "Cool Blue Reason," probably the only song to ever combine banjo with G-funk synthesizers. The big difference between "Fashion Nugget" and the new album is the lack of covers; while the last disc covered Gloria Gaynor, Willie Nelson, and Doris Day, this one is all McCrea originals. If you know and love Cake, you’ll get more to know and love with "Prolonging the Magic," and if you don’t know and love Cake, for godsakes what’s wrong with you?

For those who have not heard by now, this album represents a significant change in the Cardigans’ sound. Gone is the retro-60’s, Austin Powers flavor of their first two albums. In its place is a new, tougher sound which includes louder guitars and elements of trip-hop including the requisite programmed beats. Now that the album is in stores, the question is: Why? The old Cardigans sounded like no other band around, combining Nina Persson’s baby doll voice with a dollop of Swedish pop smarts and just the right amount of kitsch value. That’s the recipe that kept the whole world humming the ubiquitous "Lovefool" for the entire spring and summer of 1997. The new Cardigans, however, combine harder pop songs that sound like B-Grade Garbage with slower tunes that sound like D-Grade Portishead. Sure, there are some good tunes here; the driving "My Favourite Game" makes a good modern rock radio hit, and another rocker, "Hanging Around," sounded particularly good when the Cardigans played at the Paradise on Halloween. But most of "Gran Turismo" is surprisingly mediocre, and the band simply can not pull off the sultry trip-hop sound on the slower tracks. I understand that the Cardigans felt pigeonholed as "that sixties cocktail band" and longed to branch out; after all, this is a group that covered Black Sabbath on both of their first two albums. But in a musical world full of bands that produce warmed over versions of whatever sound is hot right now, why give up on something catchy and unique to sound everything else on the radio?

Chevelle - "Point #1" (Squint) - written October 1999

Five points about Chevelle's debut album, Point #1:

• Point #5: Chevelle is a trio of brothers from Illinois: Pete Loeffler (Guitar/Vocals), Joe Loeffler (Bass), and Sam Loeffler (Drums).

• Point #4: Point #1 was produced by Steve Albini, and it sounds like it.

• Point #3: Chevelle first came to national attention when their stop-motion animation video for the song "Mia" was featured during MTV's "Indie Weekend" back this summer. 

• Point #2: There really is nothing wrong with a band slavishly emulating their main influence as long as they do it with engaging, well-written songs and impeccable musicianship (see: Gene and The Smiths, Elastica and Wire). 

• Point #1: If you don’t like Tool, you won’t like Chevelle.  If you like Tool, you want to go out and purchase a copy of Point #1 immediately.  And that’s the only point that matters, now, isn’t it?

Once upon a time, before gangstas and Puffy, there lived a man named Humpty Hump. Rap wasn’t about shooting people or how much Cristal you could drink. It was about having fun. You may remember – I’m sure you remember – doing the Humpty Dance at every high school party you ever attended. What you don’t remember are Digital Underground’s other three albums, because with the exception of five guys in Oakland and me, nobody is aware that DU has stayed together all this time. Nobody paid attention to 1993’s "Body-Hat Syndrome," one of the lost classics of hip-hop. Well, hip-hop fans should pay attention now, because "Who Got the Gravy?" is an album that puts the fun back into rap music. Humpty straight out says it in "Wind Me Up" -- "I’m gonna tell y’all what’s been missing from the rap game / This type of shit! / Wind me up!" "Gravy" gives out more funky beats, more Humpty goofiness, and an East Coast-West Coast vibe that features cameos by BDP’s KRS-ONE and Truck Turner along with Big Pun. Someone once wrote that DU was the only rap group that really meant it when they said "let’s get stupid," and this album’s highlight is an old-school battle with Humpty and Biz Markie debating California versus New York on "The Odd Couple." Believe me, this is as silly as it sounds. Humpty definitely gets the party going on "Wind Me Up" and "The Gravy," classic DU tunes to move even the most stagnant butt. "The Mission" is a sexy tale of men on the prowl featuring Big Pun and Shock-G that gives a DU take on the current, more laid-back sounds of hip-hop. And DU, as always, throws in a political number on "Three Blind Mice," which ties social problems to nursery rhymes. ("Pinnochio says ignore my nose, you know you can trust it. / I saw Bill on the back of Capitol Hill with Little Miss Muffet.") The album does begin to sag in the last third, but that doesn’t change the fact that this album brings new hope to hip-hop getting out of its Puffy/gangsta rut. I just hope some hip-hop fans notice it.

The Dismemberment Plan – “Emergency & I” (DeSoto) - written March 2000

Alternative rock is dead.  Anybody who doesn’t think so needs only to listen to “alternative” radio for about thirty minutes to listen to the non-stop parade of metal advertising itself as “alternative” in the year 2000.  So what is a major label to do when a band it signed back when “alternative” rock was big turns in its first album and it’s a complex stew of squealing synthesizers, chugging guitars, nervous rhythms, and the-crazy-geek-is-in-the-lobby-with-a-gun vocals?  Well, of course, the answer is to shunt the album off to an indie so that nobody gets to hear the best album of the year.  That’s right, folks, a few months late Instant presents to you the best record of 1999. Late, perhaps, because it takes so long to digest a record with this much meat, this much intricacy, and these many influences.

People think of Dismemberment Plan as emo since they are on DeSoto, but that completely misses the point.  The Dismemberment Plan are not emo.  The Dismemberment Plan are not new wave, and they are not punk, and they are not pop.  They are all of these things and more.  “You Are Invited,” for example, coasts along on a simple Gary Numan synth line, with detached lyrics about a letter, a party, a neighbor… and then halfway through, it becomes a rock anthem for one chorus… and then settles back into new wave before your brain is done being pumped with endorphins.  “What Do You Want Me to Say?” drives on a melodic bass line and a one-note guitar line only to burst into a driving rock chorus in 14/4 time.  “I Love a Magician” is Shudder to Think on amphetamines; Girl O’Clock is updated White Music-era XTC; “Back and Forth” is Remain in Light-era Talking Heads.  A music theory class could probably devote a semester to the intricately constructed songs on Emergency & I, and yet they ROCK, with four big capital letters in 80-point font, bold.  This is a post-modern stew without irony, an accomplished record which deserves the term “difficult” not because it is avant garde and annoying, but because it is avant garde and mainstream at the same time, and enthralling all the way.  I can’t give higher praise.

This is how it used to work. Pop superstar recorded a few best-selling albums. Then pop superstar released "b-sides and unreleased" collection and perhaps a pointless, self-obsessed side project. Ben Folds just couldn’t wait, however. The b-sides collection, "Naked Baby Photos," came last year. Now, here comes the pointless side project. Fear of Pop is simply fifty minutes of Folds and producer Caleb Southern fucking around in the studio. These aren’t really songs, they are more gags set to sonic collages. If you think "Song for the Dumped" is the best thing Folds has ever written, you may get the joke here. As pointless side projects go, it sure kicks ass over U2’s "Passengers" album. Programmed beats, beeps and whirrs which serve no earthly function, not to mention judicious use of the moog synthesizer and something you are unlikely to hear elsewhere -- Ben Folds playing a guitar. "In Love" features a histrionic spoken monologue from Mr. Histrionic Monologue himself, William Shatner, about being a lifelong member of "The International Brotherhood of Lying, Fickle Males… and I can’t commit!" Another song has Folds repeating over and over "I paid my money, and I’m gonna see all the movie" over a ridiculous funk vamp which probably resembles what the Chili Peppers sounded like after they had done their sixteen daily hits of smack. Other parts are easily discernible Ben Folds – check out the Beach Boys harmonies and augmented jazz chords on "Avery M. Powers Memorial Beltway." I can’t honestly advise anyone to pay twelve bucks for this silliness, but there is a good chance that tons of promotional copies of this record will begin appearing in the bargain bins of local records stores soon. If you can find one for a couple of bucks, it is worth it for Shatner alone.

Foo Fighters – “There is Nothing Left to Lose” (Roswell/RCA) - written October 1999

While there are others who write for this magazine who would disagree with me, its pretty clear that rock music is in a rut right now like no time since the late 80’s.  Tons of bands, sounding the same, acting the same, dressing the same, putting on the same stupid act.  Look, Limp Bizkit is Winger, Korn is Warrant, Godsmack is Slaughter.  It seems so long ago that a band like Nirvana could combine power, emotion, and (god forbid) melody to make transcendent music.  And when Kurt Cobain killed himself, we never would have believed that a few years later it would be the drummer who was fronting his own band and making still-vital rock and roll while Krist Noveselic disappeared.  And yet, the Foo Fighters, now down to a trio, follow two sorely underappreciated albums with another album, sure to be underappreciated in the world of the Family Values Tour.  The Foo Fighters actually write song with melodies, and there is no DJ or rapping to be found.  They are a ROCK band.

And what a rock band they are.  The first song, “Stacked Actors,” is bound to bring back your Nirvana memories with its fierce staccato guitar, screaming choruses, and loud-soft dynamics.  And then, as if to say “OK, now this is what I REALLY do,” Dave Grohl goes into complete 70’s power pop mode, and it is glorious.  See, Kurt Cobain’s voice was always filled with pain.  Dave Grohl, no matter how much he screams about broken relationships, is really having fun being a rock star, and it shows because these songs are melodic, creative, and catchy as all hell.  Dave drags out his best Rick Neilsen-Cheap Trick guitar licks for songs like “Gimme Stiches” and “Generator,” while William Goldsmith always seems to do something different instead of just echoing the guitar with his bass lines, and Taylor Hawkins pounds the drums like, well, like Dave Grohl used to.  The first single, “Learn to Fly,” has been all over the radio, and thank god, because it finally brings a song with interesting chord building and a hummable melody to the narcissistic world of what is now “alternative radio.”  Some reviewers have compared part of this album to the Lemonheads because it has a couple of midtempo tunes like “Ain’t It the Life,” but this is more like what Evan Dando would have sounded like in his later days if he wasn’t such a wuss who forgot where his distortion petal was.  Look, at the MTV Video Awards, Chris Rock pointed out, “every white guy wants to act black.  Where are all the cool white guys at?”  They’re right here, Chris.  They’re the Foo Fighters.

Gas Giants – “From Beyond the Back Burner” (Atomic Pop) - written April 2000

1993 has been a great year for music, and things just get better with this new album from Gas Giants.  If you love the smooth power-pop sounds of the Gin Blossoms, Del Amitri, and Dada, this album will really appeal to you.  Sure, the songs aren’t particularly memorable, and frankly they seem to float past my ears as background music despite the best efforts to rock out with guitar riffage, but this is the kind of earnest, jangly power pop that is all the rage these days.  Gas Giants are clearly a solid band putting out a solid, if not spectacular, record.  Wait a minute, this Robin Wilson guy looks familiar.  I think this is the lead singer of the Gin Blossoms, but they haven’t broke up, have they?  Hey, the date on this record is “2000.”  Wow, apparently this record has been sent back from the future to show us what the music of the next millennium will sound like. Well, I’m sure this record is going to be a big hit in 2000; I mean, surely bands like Gin Blossoms and Del Amitri will be so hugely popular in 2000 that even their mediocre efforts will be big sellers.  I can’t wait for the future.  I just hope people who like harder rock can find something to listen to by then.

Gomez – “Liquid Skin” (Virgin) - written October 1999

Gram Parsons, the father of country-rock, used to refer to his music as “Cosmic American Music.”  Gomez sounds nothing like Gram Parsons, but that phrase comes about as close to describing Gomez’s music as possible.  This is Cosmic American Music, but influenced by Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker as opposed to Buck Owens and Hank Williams.  How strange, then, that the men making this music are not Americans but rather five Brits in their early twenties from the town of Southport outside of Liverpool.  When all the music coming out of England is either Britpop or “Electronica,” Gomez is playing long-drawn out blues jams, mixed with a bit of modern trimmings (a bit of distortion, a taste of sampling).  But don’t confuse Gomez with one of the tons of banal American jam bands littering the local landscape.  While their rootsy sound and tendency to double the lengths of their songs in concert might appeal to the Phisheads of the world, this is a band that that doesn’t have to depend on wankerish noodling or hallucinogens to embellish their strong, cohesive tunes. More than 1997’s fantastic debut album “Bring it On,” “Liquid Skin” features detailed songs with tempo changes and melody mixtures which transform and fluctuate and then come together again.

Gomez features three singer-songwriters: Ian Ball, Tom Gray, and most importantly Ben Ottewell, who may have the most incredible voice in all of rock music today.  The sound of a whisky-soaked sixty-year old Delta Bluesman comes from the body of an MIT Engineering TA.  Ottewell is a remarkable singer, and what’s more remarkable is that rather than depend on his otherworldly, gruff tones to carry all their music, Gomez mix Ottewell with the smoother voices of Ball and Gray.  The three singers harmonize in one song, then trade off verses and choruses in the next.  Meanwhile acoustic guitars mix with snaking electric leads, with such classic rock touches as hand claps (“Las Vegas Dealer”) and Gray singing through a vocoder (“Devil Will Ride”) added as spice. Gomez certainly wouldn’t mind being described as a “classic” rock band; their lyrics quietly slam both modern R&B (“Rhythm and Blues Alibi,” which states “anyone can try anything twice”) and dance music (“Revolutionary Kind”). The only problem for Gomez is that their esoteric radio-unfriendly songs may doom them to permanent cult status in America.  This is surely music that slowly grows on you; give it time, however, and it will burrow its roots deep into the part of your brain where the most profound thoughts reside.

Remember "indiepop" music? It used to be real big -- Small Factory, Tsunami, Unrest – and then sometime around 95 all those bands broke up, and all that music went away. Well, Jumprope sounds like a throwback to the old indiepop days of yore. Well, not that yore, we’re only talking a couple of years here, but there haven’t been a lot of pop albums this good recently. This is an album that definitely could have come out on Simple Machines during the heyday of indiepop. Jumprope combines the bright guitar sound of tweepop (could the treble on these guitars be turned up any higher?) with a definite bossa nova flavor. There are lots of chords here involving 9’s, 11’s, and other numbers that the Ramones have never heard of. You also get three different vocal stylings. Old school Bostonians who remember the band Salem 66 will definitely hear a similar sound in Jumprope’s dueling librarians, the precious soprano of Cindy Goh and the worldly alto of Noelle Boc. Goh is the bossa nova fan, and she provides the album’s highlights on tranquil ballads like "Au Revoir Les Enfants" and "Notes From A Chateau Guest" which truly bring across the emotions of loss and memory. She also gets into the personals on "Man Seeking Woman," a faster pop number sung from the point of view of the man doing the seeking. Noelle Boc brings to songs like "The Reunion" a tone which is more urbane and sultry (a word I never expected to use in reviewing indiepop). The third voice is her brother, lead guitarist Adam Boc, who adds his smooth tenor to a number of the brighter songs as well as male-female harmonies on tracks like "Gingerbread." Like much great indiepop, Jumprope combines their major keys with minor key emotions to form an irresistible package.

Morphine - Bootleg Detroit (Rykodisc) - written October 2000

It might be expected that a band’s postmortem would be a live record from its final tour.  Instead, Morphine’s original label Rykodisc has released Bootleg Detroit, a live recording from March 1994.  That’s important because this was the tour between their second and third records, which puts Bootleg Detroit right at the point when the band had consolidated its slinky, sexy music noir into something strong and unique, and not yet something expected.  Most articles on Morphine concentrate on the band’s use of unique instrumentation and its low-pitched sounds: Mark Sandman’s deep voice, the two-string slide bass, Dana Colley’s bass saxes.  Sandman’s voice is as weathered as ever, aching yet cynical, the voice of both romantic love and romantic solitude.  But the most important aspect of Morphine’s music was minimalism and the use of space.  Sandman used two strings because he felt he didn’t need any more.  There is no guitar because it just adds clutter.  Sandman often sang within gaps of the music in order to emphasize his words by de-emphasizing the background.  The presence of an audience only heightens the impact of these passages because the isolated voices in the crowd cheer as they wait for the triumphant return of the music.  Sandman wrenches every last bit of emotion out of these breaks, and hearing the crowd’s anticipation only heightens your anticipation.  Bootleg Detroit is a full concert, including all of Sandman’s between song commentary (at one point, he lists what songs they are going to play for the rest of the night).  It means you don’t get the crispest sound quality, but if that point is important to you, you probably will miss the point of Sandman’s three in the morning parables anyway.

Heather Nova – "Siren" (Big Cat/Work) - written June 1998 for student.com

Well, "Siren" definitely seems to be what she is going for, given that album cover makes the London-based Nova look like she just got back from the wet T-shirt contest at an Alanis-wannabe convention. You may remember Nova from her 1995 album "Oyster" and its hit single "Walk this World." While nothing here is that catchy, her second album does sound exactly like her first album, especially since with the high level of production on these tracks (strings, reverb, more strings) make them all sound like roughly the same song. However, if you like emotional chick rock not unlike a less-crunchy Sarah McLachlan, you will definitely enjoy Nova’s sound. It is also reminiscent of Tanya Donelly’s more passionate songs with Belly. Nova’s voice sounds like she is on the verge of either ecstasy or insanity, possibly both, and the lyrics enter some serious Sylvia Plath territory. It certainly isn’t a great album , but this record perfectly hits the girl-rock zeitgeist of the late 90’s dead on, and would be perfect background music for an emotional scene at the end of a "very special" episode of "Dawson’s Creek."

Sunny Day Real Estate – “The Rising Tide” (Time Bomb) - written July 2000

I come not to praise Caesar, but to bury him.  After a fawning profile in our last print issue, I now find it my duty to slag the new SDRE record.  OK, not slag, exactly – this is surely not a bad record by any means.  But I listen to it again, and again, and cannot get excited.  A band that was once so vital, the missing cog that was inexplicably ignored despite releasing an amazing album ON SUB POP in the middle of the Seattle heyday, has become rote and unexciting.  While SDRE always wore its prog-rock influences on its sleeve, with The Rising Tide they have torn off the rest of their shirt and left the sleeve only.  Jeremy Enigk’s voice has turned into a semi-operatic parody of itself.  Trying to sound deep, the band has added eastern tinges, from the Indian raga chord changes of “Fool in the Photograph” to the “everything and everyone and in the end we all are one” lyrics of “One” (has Jeremy been studying the gnostic gospels?).  The guitars still rock, but the hooks seem to be missing.  SDRE has come out as a cross between Rush and Jane’s Addiction, which doesn’t sound very indie rock at all, now does it?  I’m sure many of you like Rush and Jane’s Addiction, so by all means consider that a positive review and buy this album.  But if you are looking for emotionally raw, complex rock n’ roll, I’m afraid The Rising Tide falls short.

Tripping Daisy – "Jesus Trips Like An Atom Bomb" (Island) - written June 1998 for student.com

Have you ever noticed how few truly bad record reviews are given out? I think I have seen Rolling Stone give a one-star review maybe once, to Kingdom Come back in 1989. Well, Tripping Daisy’s third album is pretty close to a one-star record. This is grade E alternative rock, what happens when record labels are just signing any band they can get their hands on. There is nothing on this record which is even one-tenth as memorable as their one breakout single, 1995’s "I Got a Girl," and even that tune has probably left most people’s memory by now. What you are left with is an album full of mediocre, warmed-over psychedelia and artsy posturing. You also have to deal with Tim DeLaughter’s voice, surely the most annoying this side of Perry Farrell. The tracks last up to six excruciating minutes long, at which point you are wheezing, crying, or screaming at the CD player to "stop the insanity." Skip this one.

In my former life, as some people may know, I worked for a radio station down in Florida. Back in December 1996 we played a song called "Just Another Day" by a band called Vallejo. They were a group of Mexican brothers that came out of Birmingham, Alabama of all places. The song stuck around about six weeks, then disappeared, never to be heard form again. Well, now Vallejo has a second album, and I cannot overemphasize what a step forward this is. If another blues-rock album this good is released this year, I will be shocked. Vallejo combines sweaty 70’s rock sound with crisp production, a Latin flavor and undeniable hooks. Imagine Lenny Kravitz if he wasn’t so damn pretentious and he had grown up listening to War and Santana instead of Hendrix and Lennon. "If I Was President" is the perfect song for our Monica-obsessed times ("Nothing in the world could change me / Even if the senators were driving me crazy"). The importance of Diego Simmons’ Latin percussion cannot be denied, especially on the opening stomper "Classico" and the head-bopping "2053 (21^st Century)." The last third album adds a laid-back hip-hop tone courtesy of guest producer DJ Hurricane (ex-Beastie Boys). Then they finish it all off with the lazy singalong "Irishman Lost In Spain." A near-perfect rock experience.

Versus – "Two Cents Plus Tax" (Caroline) - written June 1998 for student.com

The problem with the term "indie rock’ is that it seems to emphasize that a band is "too alternative" to make it in today’s market. With Versus, this is definitely not the case. Sure, Versus is a bit unpolished at times, and wraps its songs in slightly dissonant open chords. And singer/guitarist Richard Baluyut will never remind anyone of a serious "alternative" crooner like, say, Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas. But what Versus create with every single album is a set of unforgettable rock songs with great melodies and harmonies plus driving, rocking beats. The tunes will have you singing along almost immediately and the lyrical content is something anyone can relate too: primarily, a mean girlfriend, a cheating girlfriend, and breaking up with a girlfriend (for any song sung by bassist Fontaine Toups, replace "girlfriend" with "boyfriend"). Versus are the masters of the indie rock form: the quiet-than-loud move, the subtle female harmony, the feedback drenched guitar line. The standouts on this album include the adultery story "Dumb Fun," the boy-in-the-big-city rocker "Underground," and the acoustic ballad "Spastic Reaction," where Baluyut and Toups sing opposing melodies both separately and together. Yes, you will probably never hear this record on the radio, but "Two Cents Plus Tax" is a must-buy for anyone who considers themselves a fan of good rock music.

The Wallflowers - "(Breach)" (Interscope) - written December 2000

You aren't supposed to read a review of this record in a magazine like Instant, certainly not a positive review. The Wallflowers, led by heartthrob and rock star scion Jakob Dylan, are a completely mainstream band. You are supposed to expect an album that is boring and derivative. What you don't expect is an album that brings you back again and again.

Wipe the prejudices from your mind and look a little closer at the credits on this album. Look at the number of well-regarded, thinking singer-songwriters who participated in the making of this record. (Breach) was produced by Michael Penn. Mike Campbell from the Heartbreakers and Jon Brion both play on the record. Frank Black, Gary Louris (from the Jayhawks) and Elvis Costello all sing background vocals. Elvis Costello! He's easy to pick out on the up-tempo "Murder 101." Now that you've noticed who's supporting Dylan on this record, check out the songs. Catchy minor key melodies, subtle drum embellishments, and little touches that you pick out anew each time through the record, from the handclaps in "Sleepwalker" to Rami Jaffee's keyboard flourishes on the chorus of "I've Been Delivered"

Yes, it can't be avoided that Dylan wears his influences on his sleeve. When your father is the greatest songwriter in American history, his influence is hard to avoid, and Dylan has definitely been influenced by both his father and by the songwriters his father influenced in turn, such as Bruce Springsteen and particularly Tom Petty. (Breach) definitely tends towards the more melancholy side of these influences, however, and Dylan uses a lot more production atmosphere to give a thicker, hazier sound to the record. Altogether, it is an excellent collection in the best American straight-ahead rock tradition that inspires and rewards repeated listens. And if you absolutely refuse to buy anything commercial, just remember that in a music climate dominated by teen pop and rap-metal, this record stiffed. Now you can feel better about buying it.

Finally, this one.  This is the last review I wrote for student.com.  It is also, in some ways the worst review I've ever written.  Well, it's well written - but totally, completely wrong.  I haven't listened to this album since.  In the Instant Magazine "End of the Decade" issue I named it one of the most disappointing records of the 90's.  I guess at first I was momentarily blinded by M. Doughty's brilliance.  Or I was drunk.

Soul Coughing - "El Oso" (Warner Bros.) - written October 1998 for student.com

In many ways, Soul Coughing is the perfect band to be reviewed by Student.net, because they are the quintessential college band. Well, I guess for many people Phish is the quintessential college band, especially if you go to the University of Vermont. But for the other half of the college population, the half that likes their shirts black instead of tie-dyed and their songs under ten minutes each, Soul Coughing has it all.

Analyze the four elements of the Soul Coughing sound and you’ll understand. Start with the skewed poetry of singer M. Doughty’s lyrics, which reference the farthest reaches of pop culture in seemingly random order. Add Mark De Gli Antoni’s keyboards and sampler, which add some avant-garde sounds ranging from old Andrews Sisters records to somber sounds like melodramatic movie soundtracks.. Then you have Yuval Gabay’s hip-hop drumming, making this music that even physics majors can dance to. And, for a little bit of jazz, Sebastian Steinberg’s stand-up bass. It’s both smart and funky, alternately bright and foreboding; contained anarchy that is always trying to burst out of the box.

El Oso is not the great, timeless album that everyone is waiting for Soul Coughing to make, but it is pretty damn good. It has a darker tone than the first two albums, certainly, although Soul Coughing has always been somewhat dark. The best songs include the midtempo first single "Circles," and the spare "Maybe I’ll Come Down, and the haunting tale of lost love "Houston." What is missing is that one slam dunker of a song, like "Super Bon Bon" from Irresistible Bliss or "Casiotone Nation" from the first album.

There is a difference in sound if not style between El Oso and Soul Coughing’s last album, Irresistible Bliss. Irresistible Bliss was produced by David Kahne, who also produced such radio-friendly acts as Sublime and Sugar Ray. El Oso is produced by Tchad Blake, which means the sound is a bit less mass appeal. The irony to this is that Soul Coughing sounds more like a "real band" with each album. M. Doughty’s vocals are almost all singing now instead of spoken word poetry, and De Gli Antoni has for the most part laid off the obscure samples and replaced them with conventional keyboards, although there is a sound on the rolling, tumbling "$300" that I believe is the voice of comedian Chris Rock twisted into some unworldly form, but I can’t quite be sure.

Soul Coughing also jumps on the drum-and-bass bandwagon with a couple of songs, "Blame" and "I Miss The Girl." This makes sense, I suppose, since Soul Coughing are so much a part of the downtown New York scene. At the same time, it seems like every band in America has jumped on the drum-and-bass bandwagon except maybe Bell Biv Divoe and Lynyrd Skynyrd. It fits with the darker songs on this album, but apparently nobody in the avant garde notices that drum-and-bass is impossible to dance to unless you are on drugs.