last week's reviews today

the earlies - These Were the Earlies: Couldn't quite put my finger on who they sound like until it hit me over breakfast this morning - some of the lyrical intonations remind me of later day mercury rev set to sparse yet mildy epic soundscapes. This is a pretty cool disc.

depeche mode - Playing the Angel: Give me the last album by the Faint instead, please.

craig wedren - Lapland: A lot has changed since craig's former band, Shudder to Think, were opening for Fugazi, so much in fact that this is hardly recognizable as having spawned from that band at all. From what I understand this was a bunch of work that was meant for soundtracks that never made the cut. Ouch, kind of like 'bam thwok' - never should have seen the light of day.

the light footwork - One State, Two States: Boyfriend/girlfriend twee pop, which has it's moments if you're in that kind of mood.

dirty three - Cinder: Ever since the Tortoise show, I've been all gaga again for live instrumental music. So in between exhausting my tortoise & mogwai collections, I have stumbled upon theses guys after hearing the track 'doris'. My only previous experience with them was from the In The Fishtank series they paired up with Low on, which was kind of boring. An australian band fronted by a classically trained violinist who also plays with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, with some guest vox by chan marshall. It turns out that 'doris' is the highlight and it winds up solidly rooted in *fishtank*doldrums.

-I heard you say-