Featured Album Hot Snakes: Automatic Midnight Having a brother who's into good music is a blessing: occasionally he'll just throw a CD my way, saying "Listen to this — you might like it." Such is what happened with Hot Snakes. Since, for whatever reason(s), I'm not a Drive Like Jehu or Rocket from the Crypt listener, you won't be reading any comparisons in this review. (Two-thirds of Hot Snakes come from those bands.) But Automatic Midnight is just such rad, loud music: fast and powerful punk (and a hint of distorted surf occasionally popping its head up) with relentless guitars and pounding drums. You can't help but want to play it as loud as you can and scream along (even if you can't really understand the lyrics). Automatic Midnight is over before you know it, though: eleven songs in about half an hour (not counting the hidden track), but it's better to leave you wanting more rather than unnecessarily drag things on. Sympathy for the Record Industry/Swami @ Amazon.com

The Impossibles: Return

I did a little research on the web to get some info on The Impossibles as I listened to the CD. Apparently, they were a punk-ska band, broke up, and now have reformed and released Return. If I didn't read it, I wouldn't have thought these guys have ever played (or even listened to) ska. Return leans more toward the world of poppy emo-core (if there is such a world): heavy guitar mid-tempo songs with vocals ranging from soft singing to screaming. If I had to make a comparison, The Impossibles remind me of Weezer in a lot of ways. The music is pretty solid throughout the CD, and the songs are pretty poppy and catchy. There are a few weak points on the album, notably the slow "Intermission" halfway through the album, and some of the vocals don't sound quite right (like the high notes on "Connecticut"). But overall I liked this album: "Enter/Return", Fugazi-sounding "Stand Up > Fall Down > Get Crushed", and "Oh, Angelina" are some of the better cuts off Return.

Fueled By Ramen
@ Amazon.com

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Jets to Brazil: Four Cornered Night

I recently saw Jets to Brazil play just before their latest album, Four Cornered Night, came out. I was surprised at how mellow the show was — there was Blake sitting down at the keyboard like Randy Newman singing slow songs. I was expecting them to rock it Orange Rhyming Dictionary-style, and was a little disappointed that they didn't. What I'm getting at here is to tell you not to expect a continuation of their first album. In fact, if you consider that Blake wrote most (all?) of the songs on Orange Rhyming Dictionary post-Jawbreaker/pre-JTB, you can almost say that this album is the real first JTB album. Four Cornered Night is a lot mellower than you'd expect, but it's still a good album, though I'll admit that I prefer Orange Rhyming Dictionary. It does have it's rocking tracks, too, such as the opening song, "You're Having the Time of My Life". Though Four Cornered Night may disappoint some longtime Blake fans, I think it'll find a lot of new (and probably older) fans as well.

Jade Tree
@ Amazon.com

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Jersey: The Battle's Just Begun

I'll make this review quick; I don't really have to say much about it, really. Punk rock that sounds like Rancid (but with snottier vocals) with a hint of Fifteen and some GB hardcore thrown in for good measure. For the most part the songs are fast, occasionally slowing down to catch a groove; a couple songs ("1959", "Poison Ivy") toss in a little Clash-style ska as well. The title track has female lead vocals (who also does backup on a couple other songs), which is pretty good — nice way to vary the album, and I don't hear enough good women in punk. I would've like to hear her take lead on another song or two, but overall The Battle's Just Begun is a good punk CD.

Fueled By Ramen
@ Amazon.com

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Proxima: Music for Pleasure

Normally I don't like to print bad reviews. People spend a lot of time creating their music, so who am I to talk shit about it just because I don't like it. It's just bad karma. But I also feel bad if I don't say anything about this CD, since the guy sent it (not cheaply, I'm sure) from France. But I'm sorry, this is terrible. It's just rock & roll — some kinda hard-rock style (but the guitars sound extra distorted, more due to bad production or miking rather than on purpose), and some acoustic/piano stuff. And weird keyboard effects thrown in here and there. I had a real hard time getting through this CD; I needed some aspirin after hearing it. Music for Pleasure's title is quite ironic.

Alcatraz Productions

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Samiam: Astray

Label-hopper Samiam is back with another solid album, Astray. You could say that it's more of the same, but a lot of other bands would be lucky if their "more of the same" sounded this good. The music is heavy and emotional, with Samiam's full rock-punk guitar that sounds great played loudly. "Sunshine", "Wisconsin", "Dull", "Super Brava" and "Bird Bath" — some of my personal favorites — are what you expect from a Samiam song: fast, catchy, and rockin'. The slower cuts, "Mud Hill", "Curbside" and "How Long", break up the album nicely, giving you a chance to catch your breath, before really slowing things down at the end of the album with the mellow and melancholy "Why Do We".

Hopeless Records
@ Amazon.com