March 17, 2024

The Bad Seed - For The Kids: Single (Reissue) (1999)

*This is a digital store download purchased from Bandcamp
The files have been tagged and sorted for convenience.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: None

© 1999 Deep Concepts Media
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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tags: the bad seed, for the kids, 1999, flac,

Ivy - Realistic (1995)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Indie Pop
Label Number: 14253-2

© 1995 Seed Records
Realistic isn't a great album on its own, but it hints strongly at Ivy's potential. A good deal of the songwriting comes from Academy Award-nominated Adam Schlesinger (also of Fountains of Wayne), who has an incredible ability to crank out pop songs -- the writing on Realistic is occasionally marvelous, but bland. Overly slick production and a few lackadaisical songs keep the album from becoming very memorable. While French singer Dominique Durand's wispy, enchanting voice and several great pop songs ("Everyday," "Dying Star") make Realistic worthwhile, the band's later releases bring more life to Ivy's smooth and gentle style of pop.

 tags: ivy, realistic, 1995, flac,

March 16, 2024

Black Spooks - The Black Spooks (1996) ☠

*This is a digital download purchased from Bandcamp
Originally recorded and slated for a 1996 release but was shelved. 
This album was officially released on CD, LP and as a digital store download 
for the first time in 2024 by 90's Tapes
Contains 18 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: None
☠: Selected by Sentinel
© 1996-2024 90's Tapes
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tags: black spooks, the black spooks, 1996, 2024, flac,

J.U.I.C.E. - The Man (1998)

*This is a digital store downloaded purchased on Bandcamp. 
Originally releases as an EP in 1998 on cassette tape only. 
It was officially released on CD, LP and digital download in 2023 
by 90's Tapes with additional bonus tracks. 
This pressing contains 16 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: None

© 1998-2023 90's Tapes
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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tags: juice, the man, 1998, 2023, flac,

March 15, 2024

Various Artists - Psycho - Music From & Inspired By The Motion Picture (1998)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Film Score, Industrial Metal, Trip-Hop, House
Label Number: GEFD-25313

© 1998 Geffen Records
For his disastrous shot-for-shot 1998 remake of Alfred Hitchcock's landmark thriller Psycho, filmmaker Gus Van Sant enlisted Danny Elfman to tweak Bernard Herrmann's seminal original score, arguably the most innovative and influential Hollywood music of the postwar era. Recorded with antique microphones to lend the endeavor some semblance of authenticity, Elfman's fidelity to Herrmann's work nevertheless extends only so far -- this new Psycho is faster, louder, and more feral than the original, yet the music's familiarity effectively dulls its impact. With Herrmann's original score still readily available, one questions precisely what purpose Elfman's update serves -- and why such a daring, unique composer would agree to step into such impossibly large shoes in the first place.

tags: various artists, psycho, music from and inspired by the motion picture, soundtrack, ost, 1998, flac,

Various Artists - 10 Things I Hate About You: Music From The Motion Picture (1999)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Alternative Rock, Pop Rock, Indie Rock
Label Number: HR-62216-2

© 1999 Hollywood Records
One of the best modern rock soundtracks of the spring 1999 season is filled with great tracks by hip new artists, and some unexpected covers. The story of two sisters trying to get a date for the high school prom, 10 Things I Hate About You is an updated version of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. The sisters' father is way too overprotective and won't let the younger sibling date unless the eldest gets a date first. Featuring teen stars such as Larisa Oleynik, Julia Stiles, Andrew Keegan, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the movie was pretty good and was considered a box office success. Letters to Cleo is featured in the movie and on this soundtrack collection as one of the character's favorite bands. They do a great job covering Cheap Trick's 1979 hit "I Want You to Want Me" and Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind," keying off of the original artist's style and throwing in a little bit of their own. Other tracks featured in the film include Semisonic's "FNT," Save Ferris' "I Know," Sister Hazel's "Your Winter," Jessica Riddle's "Even Angels Fall," Leroy's "New World," Ta-Gana's "Saturday Night," Brick's "Dazz," Joan Armatrading's "The Weakness in Me," the Cardigans' "War," and Madness' "Wings of a Dove." As good as they are, the best track is George Clinton's immortal "Atomic Dog," heard during one of the film's funniest scenes. A '70s funk-lovin' lead character, stopped at a red light, wins a car-stereo volume duel with a carload of '90s Valley girls blasting Barenaked Ladies' "One Week" in the next lane. The album closes with the instrumental theme "One More Thing," composed by Richard Gibbs in a pop-classical style; it does a nice job working the same groove as the rest of the soundtrack.

tags: various artists, 10 things I hate about you, music from the motion picture, soundtrack, ost, 1999, flac,

Archetype - Bleed For Them (2005)

*First pressing. 
Contains 15 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: None

© 2005 Datura Records & Mixtape Meditation
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

* Due to past abuse, comments for the Hip-Hop section have been disabled.


 tags: archetype, bleed for them, 2005, flac,

March 12, 2024

Jazzie Redd - The Colors of Jazz: E.P. (1991)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: ECDS-15182-2

© 1991 Pump Records
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tags: jazzie redd, the colors of jazz ep, 1991, flac,

Wendy James - Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears (1993)

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Pop Rock
Label Number: DGCD-24507

© 1993 DGC
Wendy James is a rocker who doesn't deserve the type of obscurity she has known. In the late 1980s and early '90s, she served as lead singer for Transvision Vamp, an excellent new wave-ish band along the lines of the Divinyls and Siousxie & the Banshees. Unfortunately, Vamp never broke through commercially in the U.S., and James didn't become any better known when she pursued a solo career with Now Ain't the Time for Your Tears, composed in its entirety by Elvis Costello. Quirky power-pop numbers like "Fill In The Blanks," "London's Brilliant" and "Puppet Girl" fall short of the excellence of her work with Vamp, but they're fun, clever and appropriate for her colorful personality. For those who have never experienced either Vamp or James, Vamp's MCA release of 1991 Little Magnets Vs. the Bubble of Babble would be a better starting point. But this neglected CD isn't a bad listen at all.

 tags: wendy james, now aint the time for tears, 1993, flac,

Bethzaida - LXXVIII (1998)

Country: Norway
Language: English
Genre: Black Metal
Label Number: SOM 013

© 1998 Season of Mist
*No professional reviews are available for this release. 

 tags: bethzaida, lxxviii, 1998, flac,

Supafriendz - The 804 Compilation (2000)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Gangsta Rap, Pop Rap
Label Number: FTE 71500-2

© 2000 804 Flava
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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 tags: supafriendz, the 804 compilation, 2000, flac,

March 09, 2024

Leak Bros. - Waterworld (2004)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: ECLP 1006

© 2004 Eastern Conference
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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 tags: leak bros, waterworld, 2004, flac,

Tame One & Parallel Thought - Da Ol' Jersey Bastard (2008)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: ADIG08004-CD

© 2008 Amalgam Digital
The odd thing about Da Ol' Jersey Bastard is that it was, in fact, Tame One's 2006 cult classic Spazzmatic -- not this one -- that sounded most like an Ol' Dirty Bastard tribute album, with Tame in a drugged-out manic haze delivering lyrically dexterous "'new-millennium new-millennium' Dirty" gem after gem. Perhaps the more keen take on this recording is that it isn't necessarily the album Ol' Dirty would make, but the album he would have in the heaviest of rotations. Xing N Fox provide a slate of expertly crafted, soul-laced beats loaded with groove, which Tame inhabits with his patented stream-of-consciousness, raw comic lyrics that few fellow MCs can compete with. The marriage produces some of the best hip-hop songs of the year, like "Action Word" and "Haha Da Rah Rah," where Tame teams with Sean Price to annihilate the mike. And, alas, Tame bookends the album with grainy audio from Ol' Dirty, spilling his typically zany, drunken maxims -- the stuff his legend was made of, the stuff that made him the worthy recipient of as many tributes as his peers and admirers see fit to make.

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tags: tame one and parallel thought, da ol jersey bastard, 2008, flac,

March 07, 2024

Warrior Soul - Chill Pill (1993)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hard Rock
Label Number: DGCD-24608

© 1993 DGC
Never one to mince words, Warrior Soul frontman Kory Clarke made no bones about the fact that the band's fourth album Chill Pill was an intentionally lackluster album, put together for the sole purpose of terminating their relationship with the DGC label. You can't argue with honesty and truth to word, Clarke's songwriting barely registers a pulse throughout the album. Its entire first half (kicked off in typical Warrior Soul fashion by an angry psycho-babble rant set to music entitled "Mars") rolls by without a single memorable moment. And despite containing a few flashes of inspiration towards the end ("Concrete Frontier," "&Soft"), a cameo appearance by ex-Hanoi Rocks singer Michael Monroe on saxophone and harmonica ("Ha Ha Ha" and "High Road," respectively) remains the album's most interesting feature. Definitely one to avoid.

 tags: warrior soul, chill pill, 1993, flac,

Anata Vs. Bethzaida - War, Volume II (1999)

Country: Norway/Sweden
Language: English
Genre: Black Metal
Label Number: SOM 022

© 1999 Season of Mist
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

tags: anata vs bethzaida, war volume 2, vol, 1999, flac,

Warrior Soul - Last Decade Dead Century (1990)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hard Rock
Label Number: 9 24285-2

© 1990 DGC
In retrospect, one has to wonder whether Warrior Soul missed the bull's-eye of rock immortality by a hair. Listening to their impressive 1990 debut, Last Decade Dead Century, one can't help but notice some striking parallels between its anti-establishment message and the one championed by Nirvana's Nevermind the very next year. Rebellious tracks such as "I See the Ruins," "We Cry Out," "Downtown," and "Superpower Dreamland" deliver powerful, angst-ridden messages that are quite similar to those on Nevermind. But while the gripping "The Losers" manages to mirror "Smells Like Teen Spirit"'s desperate cry for help, it lacks that anthem's simultaneous middle finger to the status quo. Perhaps that is the key missing ingredient that made it impossible for Warrior Soul to connect with Generation X in the same way as Nirvana. Or was their failure rooted in the demand for action, rather than encouraging nihilistic escapism like Nevermind? The less intriguing, but more realistic explanation, however, is that Kory Clarke's hypnotic metal riffs and political rants were simply no match for Kurt Cobain's inimitable pop instincts and pure punk rage; hence, the former's descent into obscurity and the latter's ascent into saintly martyrdom -- though at what price?

 tags: warrior soul, last decade dead century, 1990, flac,

Warrior Soul - Drugs, God & The New Republic (1991)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hard Rock
Label Number: DGCD 24389

© 1991 DGC
Despite a promising start with the inflammatory mantra of "Intro" and an eyebrow-raising cover of Joy Division's "Interzone," Warrior Soul's second album, Drugs, God and the New Republic, quickly slides into mediocrity. Unfocused and obviously rushed, the record proved that without the musical muscle to back them up, Kory Clarke's angst-ridden sociopolitical anthems offered little more than pretentious posturing. The disappointments range from the repetitive boredom of the title track to the bad metal of "Jump for Joy" to the palpably forced punk rock façade of "Real Thing" and "Man Must Live as One." Only the manic "Rocket 88," the desperately heartfelt "Hero," and the vibrant chorus of "The Wasteland" offer rare glimpses of genuine emotion, and ultimately, this album proved a holding pattern that failed to capitalize on Warrior Soul's initial potential.

 tags: warrior soul, drugs god and the new republic, 1991, flac,

Warrior Soul - Salutations From The Ghetto Nation (1992)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hard Rock
Label Number: DGCD-24488

© 1992 DGC
Warrior Soul wasted no time getting down to business on their third album, Salutations From the Ghetto Nation; they make up for their distractedly unfocused sophomore effort by exploding into life with the powerful, circular riff of opener "Love Destruction," arguably the best single of the group's career. In what amounts to a near-perfect first half, the pulsating power chords of "Blown" and "Shine Like It" revisit the relentless intensity of the band's impressive debut before giving way to the amazingly direct and message-free punk rock energy of "Punk and Belligerent" and "Ass Kickin'." Sadly, some of the most refreshingly unique moments of the band's career are pretty much spoiled by the lackluster string of songs that follow, sinking the remainder of the album in lumbering, uninspired epics topped with Clarke's political whining. A tale of two halves, Salutations would continue Warrior Soul's career slide and set the stage for their creative low-point with 1993's Chill Pill.

 tags: warrior soul, salutations from the ghetto nation, 1992, flac,

Maria McKee - You Gotta Sin To Get Saved (1993)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Alternative Country
Label Number: GEFD 24508

© 1993 Geffen Records
A few years after an underappreciated solo album, former Lone Justice leader Maria McKee returns with You Gotta Sin to Get Saved, her best album yet. With Black Crowes and Jayhawks producer George Drakoulias at the helm, You Gotta Sin to Get Saved evokes the country-rock vibe of the early '70s (much like the aforementioned groups) without sounding like a studied replica. McKee sings a dynamic mix of originals and covers with genuine conviction, making You Gotta Sin to Get Saved an album that demands repeated plays.

 tags: maria mckee, you gotta sin to get saved, 1993, flac,

Bethzaida - Nine Worlds (1996)

*First pressing. 
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: Norway
Language: English
Genre: Black Metal
Label Number: SOM 002

© 1996 Season of Mist
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

tags: bethzaida, nine worlds, 1996, flac,

March 03, 2024

Nikki - Nikki (1989)

*A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: Japan
Language: English
Genre: Pop, Pop Rock
Label Number: 9 24223-2

© 1989 Geffen Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release

 tags: nikki, nikki album, 1989, flac,

Trifixion - The First & The Last Commandment (1995)

*First pressing. 
Contains 8 tracks total.
Country: Austria
Language: English
Genre: Black Metal
Label Number: LRC 20

© 1995 Lethal Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

 tags: trifixion, the first and the last commandment, 1995, flac,