Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Fever To Tell

  You know what these guys are cute and everything.  I almost like their music ... they definitely have some killer moments, but I can't help but think that they are just pretentious, juvenile art school drop outs who have a lot to learn!

The Mothers Of Invention -- Cruising With Ruben and The Jets

  Totally bizarre Doo Wop concept album by Frank Zappa and his troop of Mothers.  Word is they did this album half as a joke and half exploring their love for Doo Wop music.  Story goes that the first press of the record didn't even credit The Mothers Of Invention, it was meant to look like a long lost Doo Wop album by a group called Ruben And The Jets.  Their theory was to release it under the Ruben guise to get some AM radio play, which the group would have never gotten with their reputation as The Mothers Of Invention, point is it worked, they got the radio play until rumor came out that it was a total hoax/ prank.  Musically it is almost believable Doo Wop, maybe a little off kilter, but those groups did exist, due to shotty recording techniques and just plain old bad equipment.  Personally I love this record, I am such a huge Doo Wop fan that I found it fun that someone out there wanted to recreate a style that was so creative and lost!  Oh and what's with the phallic anthropomorphs on the cover???

Soundgarden -- Badmotorfinger

  F*ck I hate Soundgarden!  It's just bad Sludgy Heavy Metal jock rock, they should have called themselves sh*tgarden ... or maybe suckgarden!  It's up to you!??

Jale -- Dreamcake

  Halifax contemporaries of Sloan, Eric's Trip, Super Friendz ... etc.  In theory I should have liked this album, but in reality I didn't!  It was too much of a stereotypical version of Grunge and 90's Britpop.  Not that it was all that bad, just was mediocre.

Radiohead -- Kid A & Amnesiac

  Just to be clear I am a little iffy about Radiohead, they're kinda hit or miss for me, but these two albums marked the plateau of their career.  I decided to do them simultaneously because they are one and the same, as well as they were intended to be counterparts.  Kid A is a future-scaped Kraut drenched masterpiece.  While Amnesiac stays to form, but has more of a minimalist guitar driven sound.  I remember when Kid A first hit the streets, the music sounded like it had popped outta the future, but my 2012 listen kinda made it sound dated, not in a bad way, just had an early 2000 quality to it.  While Amnesiac had more of a long lasting scope, it felt atmospheric, with the exception of the tracks I plainly had to skip, you could put it out today and no one would bat an eyelash.  With that being said in the end Kid A is still the superior release, but Amnesiac has some of my favorite Radiohead songs of all-time.  Let`s call it a tie ...

Sigur Ros -- Takk ...

  All I could think the whole duration of this album is, one, what the hell are they saying and two, it sounds like Dream Pop mixed with Shoegaze, in the best possible way!

Love And Rockets -- Earth, Sun, Moon

   This is a damn fine record, a healthy mix of Psychedelic Folk Shoegaze with some 50's kitch!  You can definitely hear where alternative music got some ideas, primarily Jane's Addiction ... point is, this is their best album and was a total surprise!  My only real complaint was that I found the lyrics a little juvenile, but who cares, I never remember the words anyway!