new tunes

dinosaur jr. - Beyond: The first dinosaur jr. album since 1997 ( more importantly, the first with the original line-up of J, Lou, and Murph since 1988). It's a pretty standard issue kick ass dino jr record - nine songs sung by J, and two by Lou. If you've been following J's post-Lou work through the 90's and his two solo discs, this is not much of a departure except for the songs have more punch and tend to meander a bit less. And Lou's 2 contributions don't sound like shit because they weren't made on a 4-track outside near trafiic, which kind of puts me in the mood for a new seBADoh album as well.

gus gus - Forever: I've accumulated a few gus gus singles and remixes through the years, and never really thought they were an 'album' band. Forever offers up a female vox heavy and house-y-ish sound which makes me more interesetd in hearing the ensuing remixes.

david vandervelde - The Moonstation House Band: What could have been easily have failed as straight forward indie rock gets a 70's style boost from various studio sonics that make this one worth checking out.

the rakes - Ten New Messages: The next Arctic Monkeys, in so much as they are yet another in a long line of over-rated and over-hyped british bands du jour that you would be better off completely ignoring.