Today Is The Day - Today Is The Day (1996)

Having subtracted bass from Today Is the Day and added keyboards, noise rock auteur Steve Austin thereby altered his outfit stylistically, moving from the warmth and emotional appeal of Willpower to an icily digital landscape of painful, high-frequency tones, screeched vocals, and even more painful guitar. Today Is the Day is a brutal record, owing a bit of its industrial nature to acts like Skinny Puppy and Merzbow. However, this is hardly textbook industrial music. Still utilizing guitar and organic drums, Today Is the Day is not driven by the keyboards so much as augmented sonically by them. The keys produce more of an atmospheric than a melodic effect, thereby leaving the essential constitution of Today Is the Day intact and guitar-driven. Source: [AMG]

Today Is The Day - Marked


Track Listing
1. Kai Piranha
2. Marked
3. Bugs Death March
4. A Man of Science
5. Realization
6. Black Iron Prison
7. Mountain People
8. Ripped Off
9. The Tragedy
10. She Is in Fear of Death
11. I Love My Woman
12. Dot Matrix

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Big Star - Third / Sister Lovers (1992)

A shambling wreck of an album, Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers ranks among the most harrowing experiences in pop music; impassioned, erratic, and stark, it's the slow, sinking sound of a band falling apart. Recorded with their label, Stax, poised on the verge of bankruptcy, the album finds Alex Chilton at the end of his rope, sabotaging his own music long before it can ever reach the wrecking crew of poor distribution, indifferent marketing, and disinterested pop radio; his songs are haphazardly brilliant, a head-on collision between inspiration and frustration. The album is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, each song smacking of utter defeat and desperation; the result is either one of the most vividly emotional experiences in pop music or a completely wasted opportunity, and while the truth probably lies somewhere in between, there's no denying Third's magnetic pull -- it's like an undertow. Although previously issued on a variety of different labels, Rykodisc's 1992 release is the initially definitive edition of this unfinished masterpiece, its 19 tracks most closely approximating the original planned running order while restoring the music's intended impact; in addition to unearthing a blistering cover of the Kinks' "At the End of the Day" and a haunting rendition of Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy," it also appends the disturbing "Dream Lover," which distills the album's messiest themes into less than four minutes of psychic torment. Source: [AMG]

Big Star - Thank You Friends



Track Listing
1. Kizza Me
2. Thank You Friends
3. Big Black Car
4. Jesus Christ
5. Femme Fatale
6. O, Dana
7. Holocaust
8. Kangaroo
9. Stroke It Noel
10. For You
11. You Can't Have Me
12. Nightime
13. Blue Moon
14. Take Care
15. Nature Boy
16. Till the End of the Day
17. Dream Lover
18. Downs
19. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

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The Makers - Howl (1994)

Garage punk outfit the Makers formed in Spokane, WA, in 1991, originally assembling frontman Mike Maker, his bassist brother Don Maker, guitarists Tim Maker and John Maker, and drummer Jay Maker. Famed for their anarchic live dates and for traveling from show to show in a 1965 Pontiac hearse, the group signed to Sympathy for the Record Industry to issue their debut 10" Hip-Notic; the exit of John Maker coincided with a move to the Estrus label for the full-length follow-up, 1993's Howl! The Makers' debut is full of the pounding, garage punk madness that built the Spokane band a small but devoted following. Unfortunately, that following was built largely on live antics and didn't translate terribly well to record. Blunt production, indecipherable lyrics, and too-tense rhythms keep the listener firmly at arm's length, while the band charges full throttle through song after song, oblivious to everything around them. A good record for people who like to zone out, jump around, and throw glasses, but the Makers' later albums offer much more rewarding and enjoyable music. Source: [AMG]

The Makers - Matter of Degrees

The Makers |MTV Music

Track Listing
1. I Just Might Crack
2. Think About Your Man
3. I'm Hurt
4. Like a Diamond Ring
5. Allright, Allnight, Allright
6. Memphis Chillun
7. Don't Cross Your Man
8. Explosion
9. Ricky Ticky Tock
10. Try to Cry
11. Your Daddy Drives a Big Car
12. Let Him Try
13. Death of Mr. Monster
14. Sometimes, Sometimes
15. Cool, Clear and Sheen
16. Howl

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DM3 - Road To Rome (1996)

Power pop fans have occasionally pointed to this, Australian outfit DM3's sophomore release, as one of the best pop albums to come out of the mid-'90s and one of the cornerstone albums of the '90s Australian pop movement. Both may be true to varying degrees: Road to Rome is possibly the "classic" disc in the late-'90s Australian power pop scene, which included similarly talented bands like Ice Cream Hands, Even, Challenger 7, and Michael Carpenter. While the debit of Australian power pop is that it often favors slavish imitation over solid songwriting, Dom Mariani's ear for a hook is what makes Road to Rome stand out. Well, that and Mitch Easter's arena-ready production. Sounding like the Plimsouls playing with Badfinger and the Who, Mariani cranks it to ten more than a few times here. It lends songs like the excellent "Please Don't Lie" or the riff-heavy "Soultop" a glossy, almost '80s stadium rock vibe -- in a good way. Sure, sometimes DM3 can get a little derivative and rest on their skinny tie-shaped laurels, but for the most part the chunky riffage and Easter's boomy production will be more than enough to please anyone who is motivated enough to seek this album out in the first place. Source: [AMG]

Dom Mariani & Rippled Souls - Foolish

Track Listing
1. Can't Get What You Want
2. Please Don't Lie
3. Speed Freak
4. Second Floor
5. Pleaze You
6. I Thought That You Were Foolin'
7. Show You
8. Dead Stars
9. Something Heavy
10. Soultop
11. Fairweather Friend
12. T.V. Sound

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