new CDs

[rone]

Pearl Jam - Lost Dogs Look, this is really good. There isn't a bad track on this double CD of outtakes, compilation tracks, and rarities. It even has a fair amount of stuff from the Ten era, for those of you weenies who whine because Pearl Jam hasn't put out another Ten. Now that Pearl Jam has finished its contract with Epic, i am definitely looking forward to what they're going to do.

Burden Brothers - Buried In Your Black Heart This is a fine, fine recording. Good, fast rock with just a touch of country twang in places, it features some tracks from their previous EPs but also a fair amount of new stuff. You'll likely find this full-length album for an EP price; you won't be disappointed. If you haven't been reading my blatherings for long, i'll just mention again that this Todd Vaden Lewis's post-Toadies band, plus Taz Bentley, the drummer from The Reverend Horton Heat. And they have, not one, but two Web sites.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless It sounds so goddamned familiar... it's like they're an influence to a significant chunk of my music collection. Catherine Wheel comes to mind. Maybe Peach. Nothing particularly memorable... but moody and enjoyable. I think the mix squelches the vocals too much.

Trey Gunn - Untune The Sky A 'best of' collection; it features a couple of alternate mixes and an unreleased track, as well as a track off the Rieflin/Fripp/Gunn album, The Repercussion of Angelic Behavior. It also includes a DVD with seven performances, four video montages, and various behind-the-scenes features. One of them uses "Untune The Sky" as its score. Not bad, but i wouldn't recommend this to non-Gunn fans -- they should start with The Joy of Molybdenum.

(on loan) VitcheV - Lost In A Fairy Tale Hristo Vitchev, one of the guys in the jazz guitar trio that played at my party, and his brother, Vladimir, put together this record. It's well done, the guitar work is very good, but there's a slight `80s feel to it imparted by the speed-lick leads and the synthesizers. Luckily, it's slight enough that it doesn't drag the music down. Warning: their Web site is Java-riffic.