Every Move A Picture
Heart=Weapon
V2
Rating: 1111
There've been a lot of bands lately that have spent a considerable amount of energy on getting the '80s sound just right: moody synths, danceable beats, angular guitars. This has resulted in a string of one-hit wonders (hello, Lovemakers and She Wants Revenge). But while the others were busy posing, San Francisco's Every Move A Picture were obviously getting down to work. Heart=Weapon, the band's debut, is possessed of a vitality largely absent today, a vitality that immediately grabs you and demands you pay attention. "Chemical Burns" recalls Elvis Costello at his most immediate, and the closer, "St. John's Night," is as epic as anything U2 ever did, with the added stadium-anthem bonus of Simple Minds-style synths. And yet with all these influences flying fast and free, Every Move A Picture is still very much its own band. -Douglas Adams
The Flaming Lips
At War with the Mystics
Warner Bros.
Rating: 1111r
It's sort of poetic justice that a band as daring as The Flaming Lips, after over 20 years of making music, are at the height of their commercial success, as well as at their artistic peak. It's not that the Lips are doing anything radically different from when they first started out-they are still a band of merry musical pranksters who are willing to experiment and don't take themselves too seriously-but their music has progressed light years beyond their alternative roots. (Remember "She Don't Use Jelly"?) Following up their breakthrough release, 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, was a major task, but Mystics builds on Yoshimi's adventurous soundscapes while taking a more mature approach to songcraft. Well, as mature as can be expected from a band that titles a song "The Wizard Turns On ... The Giant Silver Flashlight and Puts on His Werewolf Moccasins."-Doug Newcomb
John Digweed
Transitions
Thrive Records
Rating: 111r
John Digweed has been setting dancefloors alight longer than some readers of this magazine have been alive, and, through his decade's worth of mix albums, he's arguably also influenced millions. As goes Digweed's taste, so goes the rest of the industry. It's nice then to hear Digweed getting back into the trippy music, having left the now stale "progressive" sound behind for a more tech-house-based direction. Trans- itions is loaded with more weird noises than an episode of Star Trek, but it's tempered with delightful, '80s-influenced melodies. Even the bass lines, so long locked into one-note loops, now bounce around like ping-pong balls on keyboard keys. More mellow than peak time, but with enough variation to warrant repeated listenings, Transtitions makes for nice cruising music. -Douglas Adams
Comadre
Burn Your Bones
Bloodtown Records
Rating: 1111
The fact that the Bay Area has a thriving hardcore punk scene, and has had for years, is pretty much a surprise to anyone not currently involved in the scene. Which is a shame, because there are lots of great bands pushing the hardcore envelope into new and interesting territories, like Comadre. This prolific five-piece-guitarist Jack has his own working studio, which helps explains both the staggering output and willingness to experiment-combines traditional hardcore elements such as three-chord aggression and singalong gang vocals with more angular song structures. I won't call it art punk because they don't seem to be taking themselves that seriously. In fact, what's so appealing about Comadre's sound is how much fun it sounds like they're having. Catch them now before they become bigger than Green Day. -Douglas Adams
The Voodoo Jets
Supersonic
3NUTZANDBOLTS Music
Rating 1111
Think of The Voodoo Jet's (and 12-volt industry veteran) Micah Sheveloff as the Eddie Van Halen of keyboards. Not only because he coaxes sounds out of his instrument that no one else can, but at times on his band's tight debut Supersonic, Sheveloff's riffing is reminiscent of fast Eddie's often overlooked rhythm-guitar style, which changed the sound of heavy metal forever. But The Voodoo Jet's forte isn't metal but power pop-with the emphasis on power-right down to the fact that it's a classic power trio comprised of Sheveloff on keys, John Fowler on drums and Francesco Perrouna on bass and lead vocals. That's right-no rhythm or lead guitar in the lineup. Try this: Play a track like the amped-up opener "Radio" for some head-bangin' friends and then inform them that there's not a single electric guitar in the mix. And watch their jaws drop.-Doug Newcomb
The New Cars
It's Alive
Eleven Seven Music
Rating: 11
What happened to Todd Rundgren? Has his career fallen so far that the best gig the former-super producer can get is fronting a Cars revival band? Apparently, judging by The New Cars' It's Alive, an album of mainly live versions of Cars songs largely played and sung by people not in the original band. Some versions are more successful than others. "You Might Think" is a passable rendition, while "Candy-O," with its metal-esque guitars and Rundgren histrionics, is downright appalling. Of the three new songs, "Not Tonight" sounds the most Cars-like, but with so many good new bands resurrecting that sound, and doing it much better than the New Cars, you have to wonder what the point is. -Douglas Adams