Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Gothic Rock
Label Number: Night maxi C.D.004
© 1994 Nightbreed Recordings
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
tags: suspiria, tragedy, ep, 1994, flac,
October 24, 2025
Suspiria - The Great & Secret Show (1995)
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Gothic Rock
Label Number: NIGHT CD 007
© 1995 Nightbreed Recordings
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
tags: suspiria, the great and secret show, 1995, flac,
Suspiria - Drama (1997)
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Gothic Rock
Label Number: NIGHT CD 012;AIW 059;CD 36343
© 1997 Nightbreed/Alice In...
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
tags: suspiria, drama, 1997, flac,
Shark Taboo - Black Rock Sands (1989)
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Gothic Rock
Label Number: PLAS CD 021
© 1989 Plastic Head Records Limited
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
tags: shark taboo, black rock sands, 1989, flac,
Downset. - Do We Speak a Dead Language? (1996)
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Rapcore
Label Number: 314 532 416-2
© 1996 Mercury
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
tags: downset, do we speak a dead language, 1996, flac,
Downset. - Check Your People (2000)
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Rapcore
Label Number: 6601-2
© 2000 Epitaph
It's the subtle things that distinguish Downset from its many rap-metal peers: the fact that hardcore punk plays a greater role in the band's music than heavy metal, that the bandmembers are better riff writers and arrangers than some of the genre's more popular groups, or that Rey Oropeza writes ambitious lyrics, which come across like a less dogmatic Rage Against the Machine. The band's third album, Check Your People, isn't much of a departure from its previous work, but the CD continues to showcase all of the above traits, and it maintains a tight musical and lyrical focus throughout. Oropeza makes the personal political and vice versa, delivering powerful statements about social ills with an almost evangelical zeal. To the uninitiated, the music might seem a little predictable after a while (most of the choruses seem to start with a cathartic roar), but it's certainly on the high end of the rap-metal spectrum.
tags: downset, check your people, 2000, flac,
Downset. - Universal (2004)
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Rapcore
Label Number: HAW 10001
© 2004 Hawino Records
When Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys got the rap-metal ball rolling back in 1984 (Run-D.M.C. with "Rock Box," the Beasties with "Rock Hard"), they probably had no idea that rap-metal would still be around 20 years later. They weren't thinking that far ahead; Run-D.M.C. and the Beasties were simply doing something that felt good to them at the time. But rap-metal proved to be impressively durable, and it has since become an extremely crowded field; the late '90s and early 2000s brought listeners a glut of Korn and Limp Bizkit clones, many of them totally forgettable. Nonetheless, the cream still rises to the top in rap-metal -- not always in terms of commercial success, but certainly in terms of creativity -- and on 2004's Universal, Downset continue to offer some of rap-metal's more substantial grooves. Rage Against the Machine is an obvious comparison on this CD; Downset are also a very sociopolitical band. But while Zack de la Rocha and his colleagues are angrily cathartic (even if you find some of their militant politics to be simplistic at times), Downset aren't just angry -- they're also spiritual. If you combine Rage's verbal bombast with a touch of Limp Bizkit's thugishness and a lot of Public Enemy, KRS-One, and Ice-T's spirituality, you get Universal. Calling Downset spiritual isn't saying that the Los Angeles residents are trying to force some religious dogma down listeners' throats; spirituality doesn't have to be about organized religion or sectarianism. Rather, Universal is spiritual in the way that the best PE, KRS, and Ice-T raps were spiritual -- spiritual as in deep-thinking and conscious, spiritual as in seeing how oppressive life in the hood can be and trying to come up with some possible solutions. There is no shortage of mediocrity in rap-metal, but on Universal, Downset avoid the pedestrian and demonstrate that they are still among the more intelligent and creative bands in their field.
tags: downset, universal, 2004, flac,
October 22, 2025
The Trash Can Sinatras - Cake (1990)
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Jangle Pop
Label Number: 828 201-2
© 1990 Go! Discs/London Records
Long before Travis and Coldplay came along, the Trash Can Sinatras enchanted college-aged Anglophiles with their jangly brand of emotive Brit-pop. Seen as musical fluff by fans of early-'90s pre-Nirvana alternative and ignored by fans of mid- to late-'90s post-Nirvana alternative, these five Scottish lads smoothed the edges but sharpened the hooks of a developing genre. The Trash Can Sinatras' 1990 debut, Cake, mixes intricately intertwined guitars, in the spirit of a more charming, less gritty Johnny Marr, with lush strings and sophisticated harmonies. Touchingly clever wordplay ("You came into my life/Like a brick through a window/And I cracked a smile") abounds, as on "The Best Man's Fall." The clean production -- necessary for such elaborate orchestration -- is extremely warm and inviting. Singles like "Obscurity Knocks" and "Only Tongue Will Tell" as well as "Maybe I Should Drive" prove to be the tastiest pieces of pure pop pleasure. But sugar can be bittersweet and laced with longing, as on "Thrupenny Tears" and "You Made Me Feel." Regardless of the relative mood, this debut is noticeably devoid of musical missteps -- quite a feat for a new artist. Easy on the ears and palate, Cake is as filling and digestible an album as one could hope. Subsequent Trash Can Sinatras releases reach for the same greatness but ultimately fall a little short. This precursor to early 21st century Brit-pop darkens the occasional used record store bin. And it tastes almost as fresh as the day it was made.
tags: the trash can sinatras, cake, 1990, flac,
Airiel - The Battle of Sealand (2007)
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Shoegaze
Label Number: HW V-2007
© 2007 Highwheel Records
Chicago quartet Airiel has released a series of EPs, but this is the band's first album, and it is an ambitious one, running over 63 minutes (or over 61, if you subtract the two minutes of silence that separate the end of the final track, "The Big Mash-Up," from an instrumental coda that constitutes a hidden track). It isn't only the length of the CD that's ambitious, it's the music. On each song, Airiel fills the speakers with echoing, shimmering sound, so much so that it is the sheer sound that dominates the experience of listening to the album. The CD booklet contains a lyric sheet detailing the words of group members Jeremy Wrenn and Cory Osborne; without it, the listener wouldn't have a clue what they're singing, since the vocals are buried so far down in the mix that they can barely be perceived and come off as just another sound within the cyclonic musical effects. On their own, they are sometimes despairing, sometimes descriptive, and, in "Stay," romantic to the point of amounting to a marriage proposal. But there's no way to tell that by merely listening to the album. Rather, the musical intention clearly is to create a sense of aural majesty that sometimes devolves down to industrial noise. In such a maelstrom, individual details don't count for much.
tags: airiel, the battle of sealand, 2007, flac,
October 21, 2025
Don Caballero - For Respect (1993)
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Math Rock
Label Number: EFA 04929-2
© 1993 City Slang
Rare is the rock band that can make a strong impression on the listener without the benefit of a vocalist, but Pittsburgh's Don Caballero comes roaring out of the gate on its debut album. The quartet showcases its instrumental wizardry on the opening title cut, a skull-crushing groove monster that finds evocative drummer Damon Che leading the band through a succession of stop-time breaks. The energy builds for the chaotic dissonance of "Chief Sitting Duck," then dissipates on the Slint-like dirge of "New Laws," which shows a subtle mastery of dynamics. Songs like the thundering "Nicked and Liquid," the heavily distorted "Rocco," and the psychotic jamming of "Got a Mile, Got a Mile, Got an Inch" (which reveals the origins of the band's name in an SCTV sketch) reach out and grab you by the cojones, shaking you around like a rag doll without resorting to headbanger clichés. With Midas-touch production from Steve Albini, For Respect is one of the better instrumental rock records of the early '90s.
tags: don caballero, for respect, 1993, flac,
Don Caballero - Don Caballero 2 (1995)
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Math Rock
Label Number: TG143CD
© 1995 Touch & Go
The liner notes speak it plain -- "Don Caballero is rock not jazz, Don Caballero is free from solos." But not from complex, ever evolving compositions that never, ever forget to crank up the amps and riff along. The post-rock canard that the group was labeled with somewhere along the line doesn't really make sense, and the math rock label is even more limiting -- too bloodless. If a comparison had to be made or a link established, try Drive Like Jehu, but without vocals. The Williams/Banfield guitar team knows exactly how to play off each other, trading notes, establishing parallel melodies, and hitting full crunch like an evolving beast. Che, meanwhile, sits behind it all and directs everything with equal power and skill. In mainstream terms, the Smashing Pumpkins' Jimmy Chamberlin got the '90s kudos for being a power rock drummer with the skills and fluidity of jazz, but Che is clearly equally skilled, as this album makes perfectly clear. An eight-track release, it splits evenly between shorter and longer pieces, each with amusing titles that established something of an indie rock cliché for later bands like Billy Mahonie. Thus, "Repeat Defender" and "Dick Suffers Is Furious With You," or the hilariously named concluding rip, "No One Gives a Hoot about FAUX-ASS Nonsense." The longer numbers are arguably the better -- not that the short ones stink, but over more time the group gets to showcase even more chops and abilities, often with thrilling results. When "Please Tokio, Please This Is Tokio" hits the midsection, everyone sounds incredibly on top of their game, slamming into a sheet-metal intense drone with fire. "Repeat Defender," meanwhile, builds into a gripping middle section, ripping at high speed before only slightly downshifting into something totally mosh pit worthy. Music with a brain that rocks, full stop.
tags: don caballero, don caballero 2, 1995, flac,
Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years (2009)
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Neo-Psychedelia
Label Number: RTRADECD546
© 2009 Rough Trade
Longtime Super Furry Animals album artist Pete Fowler collaborated with Keiichi Tanaami, the designer responsible for their 2007 album Hey Venus!, for the cover art for SFA's ninth album, Dark Days/Light Years, and it's a fitting gesture for an album that connects the focused, revitalized band of the late 2000s with the renegades of the late '90s. A cursory listen reveals Dark Days to be considerably wilder than Hey Venus!, whose primary charm was its streamlined efficiency, showcasing the band at its tight, melodic best. Elements of this remain -- it's hard to strip the Day-Glo pop out of SFA, and they do not deny themselves, or us, this candied pleasure -- but the opener, "Crazy Naked Ladies," makes it plain that this is a buoyant, electrified, psychedelic affair, as much about texture as it is about sound. In that sense, it has a kindred spirit in Guerrilla, the third album that found SFA getting elastically electronic instead of precisely pop, but if anything, the group's two sides are integrated seamlessly here with the band shifting gears almost imperceptibly, transitioning smoothly from fuzz-flaked guitars to pulsating electro beats. This liquid ease distinguishes Dark Days/Light Years as latter-day SFA, as does their continued reliance on showcasing each of their main singer/songwriters, giving this a bit of a democratic heft, but SFA avoid any of the respectable middlebrow bloat that taints the worthy Rings Around the World period. Dark Days is vibrant and alive, an ever-flowing, ever-shifting, carousel of sound -- some might miss the emphasis on song, but it's a ride that's hard to resist.
tags: super furry animals, dark days light years, 2009, flac,
October 19, 2025
No Description Given - Game & The Player (1994)
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Hardcore Hip-Hop
Label Number: 40013
© 1994 IEP Record Group
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
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tags: no description, game and the player, 1994, flac,
The Goats - No Goats, No Glory (1994)
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop, Rapcore
Label Number: CK 64193
© 1994 Ruffhouse/Columbia Records
For the follow-up to their promising debut Tricks of the Shade, the Goats decided to toughen up both their image and sound. Musically, the plan worked: the beats on this record easily surpass those on Shade, incorporating metal and funk seamlessly into a hard, funky swagger that rivals any beats in hip-hop. Lyrically, however, the results are disastrous. The album is bloated with some six or seven songs that seem calculated to cash in on the popularity of Dr. Dre's The Chronic (which had been released a year before), complete with rhymes about gunplay, boasts of thuggish behavior, and endless references to smoking pot. The one-dimensional lyrics don't even work as parodies of gangsta rap -- they are simply dull and monotonous. The turnabout is especially unjustified coming from a group that had previously condemned such cheap gimmickry. Their one artistic gamble, "Revolution 94," an eight-minute sound collage á la the Beatles' "Revolution #9," isn't clever -- it's interminable. Only "Rumblefish" and "Times Running Up" retain the smart, quirky attitude of their debut. For a perfect example of the hip-hop slide -- the notion that an artist's sophomore effort is vastly inferior to the debut -- start here.
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tags: the goats, no goats no glory, 1994, flac,
Various Artists - Ali (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2001)
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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop, R&B, Funk, Soul
Label Number: 069493173-2
© 2001 Interscope Records
Michael Mann's film biography Ali had one of the most hyperactive soundtracks in memory. Music underscores nearly every minute of the film, which seems at times to move less from scene to scene than song to song. Ever since Mann's Miami Vice days, his stylistically diverse, richly textured, and often dark musical selections have done as much to set the tone for his projects as the fast-paced editing and invariably "stone-washed" look of the cinematography. Mann and his composers, Pieter Bourke and Lisa Gerrard, masterfully set the emotional tone of each scene without resorting to emotionally manipulative clichès. But the sheer volume of the music in Ali sometimes overwhelms the substance of the story. The ice-cool style and the constant barrage of music keep the audience gliding on the surface without ever truly revealing the emotional core of the film's fascinating subject. And yet, despite all that music, the producers of this soundtrack album (the first of two released by Interscope) somehow felt the need to add songs that were never used in the movie. Unfortunately, they favored a pair of schmaltzy R&B-pop ballads by R. Kelly ("The World's Greatest" and "Hold On") over the fine Bourke/Gerrard score, which is represented here only by the trancey ambient song "See the Sun." But there are several strong tracks here that were used in the film, including Truth Hurts' soulful Motown ballad "For Your Precious Love," Everlast's moody half-rap "'The Greatest," and especially Selif Keita's powerful African anthem "Tomorrow," which was used powerfully in two of the film's more important moments.
tags: various artists, ali, original motion picture soundtrack, ost, 2001, flac,
Various Artists - Beats From The Underground (2000)
*This is a U.K. compilation consisting of
British and North American rap acts.
Contains 15 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: BBEATSCD001
© 2000 Breakin Beats
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
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tags: various artists, beats from the underground, 2000, flac,
Various Artists - Rap-A-Lot's Underground Masters (1992)
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Gangsta Rap
Label Number: P2 57168
© 1992 Rap-A-Lot Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
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tags: various artists, rap a lots underground masters, 1992, flac,
DJ Honda - Ⅳ (2009)
Country: Japan
Language: English
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: DHCY-17
© 2009 DJ Honda Recordings
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
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tags: dj honda, iv, iv album, 2009, flac,
LL Cool J - The DEFinition (2004)
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Pop Rock
Label Number: B0002939-02
© 2004 Def Jam/Rock The Bells
It's great to hear LL Cool J so unrestrained and so inspired on "Hush," one of the fantastic tracks on the more hit than miss The DEFinition. The track segues into the much lesser "I'm gonna do this to you, I'm gonna do that to you" Penthouse letter that's "Every Sip," but there's more here to bounce to than on 2002's mushy 10, and you can thank Timbaland for that. He's in the producer's chair for the banging kickoff single, "Headsprung," where LL meets the South with crunk beats and a slowed-down, syrup-sipper's chorus. He adds that Art of Noise-styled, mystic pan flute synth to "Can't Explain It" and a buzzing-in-your-ear melody to "Feel the Beat." LL responses to all these fresh sounds with vigor, spitting out the rhymes swiftly, and comes up with a couple things that make you go "dang!" without a trip or stumble. As good as Timbaland's beats are, it's 7 Aurelius who steals the show with his work on "Hush." It's more lovers' rap from LL, but Aurelius' beats and tricks should appeal to XY and XX chromosomes equally. Same goes for his team-up with R. Kelly, "I'm About to Get Her," making "Every Sip" the only romantic yawner. LL offers up "you rap for the thugs/I rap for the ladies" on the album, but there's some tough, near-"Mama Said Knock You Out"'s here, and from any hardcore thug's point of view, he's getting better at splitting the difference.
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tags: ll cool j, the definition, 2004, flac,
LL Cool J - Todd Smith (2006)
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Pop Rap
Label Number: B0006158-02
© 2006 Def Jam Records
LL Cool J himself would warn listeners against calling it a comeback, because he's been around since the mid-'80s churning out records the whole time. And while 2006's Todd Smith doesn't pack near the punch of Radio or even '90s material like Mama Said Knock You Out, the album proves that Cool James always has and always will have wit and style to spare.
At this point, LL makes few pretenses to being street, and Todd Smith is straight commercial pop-rap, with production from industry heavyweights Pharrell, Timbaland, and Scott Storch, among others. The rapper also brings on a whole host of guest stars, including Jennifer Lopez (on the album's lead-off single "Control Myself"), Mary J. Blige, Ne-Yo, and Jamie Foxx, among others. The result is solid radio-friendly hip-hop from a veteran of the genre.
At this point, LL makes few pretenses to being street, and Todd Smith is straight commercial pop-rap, with production from industry heavyweights Pharrell, Timbaland, and Scott Storch, among others. The rapper also brings on a whole host of guest stars, including Jennifer Lopez (on the album's lead-off single "Control Myself"), Mary J. Blige, Ne-Yo, and Jamie Foxx, among others. The result is solid radio-friendly hip-hop from a veteran of the genre.
* Due to past abuse, comments for the Hip-Hop section have been disabled.
tags: ll cool j, todd smith, 2006, flac,
October 18, 2025
Various Artists - Dead Man On Campus (Music From The Motion Picture) (1998)
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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Industrial Rock, Alternative Rock, Pop Rock, Post Grunge
Label Number: DRMD-50032
© 1998 DreamWorks Records
Perhaps appropriately for a film produced by MTV Films, Dead Man on Campus sports a self-consciously hip soundtrack, filled with names and sounds that scream 1998. That is both a blessing and a curse. The Dust Brothers were hired as executive producers, but they weren't responsible for the artist selection. In fact, they had their hands in only a handful of songs. If they had produced more songs, perhaps the soundtrack would be a bit more cohesive -- as it stands, it's fitfully entertaining, with only a handful of cuts being of much interest. There's too much cookie-cutter post-grunge rock, for starters, but even promising tracks, such as the Propellerheads' remix of Soul Coughing's "Super Bon Bon," fall a little flat. In particular, Marilyn Manson's Dust-produced cover of David Bowie's "Golden Years" is an embarrassment -- a pretentious, trip-hop flavored recasting of one of the Thin White Duke's finest moments that is all too predictable and only highlights Brian Warner's inability to sing. Blur's "Cowboy Song" is equally ridiculous, but Damon Albarn's contrived melody, which bounces from baritone to falsetto, becomes addictive in its own artifice. Of special interest to Brit-pop watchers, Elastica returns with "Human," their first new song in four years. It starts out rather familiar, borrowing a riff from Wire's "Low Down," but the Donna Matthews-written tune is darker than anything from their debut -- it's also less tuneful and a little directionless, which unfortunately marks "Human" as a disappointment. Supergrass' re-recording of the B-side "We Still Need More (Than Anyone Can Give)," thowever, is a delight -- their irresistible melodic pop-punk benefits from the Dust Brothers' detailed, layered production. A few cuts are also enjoyable -- Jonathan Fire*Eater's "When the Curtain Calls for You" and Audioweb's "Sleeper" stand out from the pack -- but the entire soundtrack doesn't quite follow through on its promise.
tags: various artists, dead man on campus, music from the motion picture, ost, soundtrack, 1998, flac,
Various Artists - Valentine: Music From The Motion Picture (2000)
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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Industrial, House, Nü-Metal, Post Grunge
Label Number: 9 47943-2
© 2000 Warner Bros. Records
Every teen horror movie needs its heavy metal soundtrack album, and Valentine is no exception. The Warner Sunset/Warner Bros. album, drawn from the Warner Bros. motion picture, is basically a sampler of the label's hard rock roster, featuring tracks by the likes of Disturbed, Static-X, Linkin Park, Deftones, Orgy, Filter, Snake River Conspiracy, and, making their debut, Beautiful Creatures. The ringers are Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson, along with Soulfly, whose "Son Song," featuring Sean Lennon, is not actually featured in the film. Fans of the featured artists should note that, while there is nothing previously unreleased here, many tracks are presented in remixes or are otherwise unusual. For example, Disturbed's "God of the Mind" is making its American premiere, having only appeared before as a bonus track on international copies of The Sickness; the version of Filter's "Take a Picture" is the "hybrid mix," which runs eight minutes; and the "Mephisto Odyssey's voodoo mix" of Static-X's "Love Dump" has only turned up before on a 12" single. The overall style is up-tempo, electronica-inflected heavy metal, which, as ever, seems like appropriate music to chop up attractive teenagers to.
tags: various artists, valentine, music from the motion picture, ost, soundtrack, 2000, flac
