Calexico - Aerocalexico

Calexico is an indie rock band known for playing an eclectic variety of music. Its two main members are Joey Burns and John Convertino, who first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums on Quarterstick Records, while their 2005 album In the Reins recorded with Iron & Wine has reached the Billboard 200 album charts. Their musical style is highly influenced by traditional sounds of the Southwestern United States and of Mexico and they also have been described as alternative country. Calexico is named after the border city in Southern California, even though they're based in Tucson, Arizona.
Members:

The current members of Calexico as of October 2005 are:

• Joey Burns (guitar and vocals);
• John Convertino (drums and percussion);
• Paul Niehaus (steel guitar);
• Jacob Valenzuela (keyboards, trumpet and vibes)
• Martin Wenk (accordion, guitar, synthesizers, trumpet, vibes); and
• Volker Zander (standup bass).

Other Albums:
calexico - feast of wire
calexico - even my sure things fall
calexico - alone again
calexico - hot rail
calexico - convict pool
calexico - iron and wine in reigns
calexico - spoke

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense

While there's no debating the importance of Jonathan Demme's classic film record of Talking Heads' 1983 tour, the soundtrack released in support of it is a thornier matter. Since its release,Stop Making Sense slickly mixed and, worse yet, incomprehensive. The nine tracks included jumble and truncate the natural progression of frontman David Byrne's meticulously arranged stage show. Cries for a double-album treatment -- à la 1982's live opus The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads -- were sounded almost immediately; more enterprising fans merely dubbed the VHS release of the film onto cassette tape. So, until a 1999 "special edition" cured the 1984 release's ills, fans had to make do with the Stop Making SenseByrne is in fine voice here: Never before had he sounded warmer or more approachable, as evidenced by his soaring rendition of "Once in a Lifetime." Though almost half the album focuses on Speaking in TonguesByrne's Catherine Wheel tunes (the hard-driving, elliptical "What a Day That Was") as well as up-tempo versions of "Pyscho Killer" and "Take Me to the River." If anything, Stop Making Sense's emphasis on keyboards and rhythm is its greatest asset as well as its biggest failing: Knob-tweakers Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison play up their parts at the expense of the treblier aspects of the performance, and fans would have to wait almost 15 years for reparations. Still, for a generation that may have missed the band's seminal '70s work, Stop Making Sense proves to be an excellent primer. purists have found they were given -- which is, by any account, an exemplary snapshot of a band at the height of its powers. Even with some of his more memorable tics edited out, material, the band makes room for one of

Jimi Hendrix - Band Of Gypsys

It was almost symbolic that Band of Gypsys was recorded on New Years Eve 1969/70. Jimi Hendrix had recently discarded his power trio, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and formed the Band of Gypsys with bass-player, Billy Cox and drummer, Buddy Miles. Whereas the Experience exemplified the grinding, baroque, psychedelic rock that largely defined the sixties, the Band of Gypsys exemplified the melodic, groove-heavy, socially and spiritually conscious funk that would largely define the seventies. This live album was the first Hendrix fans heard of the guitarist's new project. Most would not be disappointed. Hendrix's new style nicely sustains the absolutely wicked, inventive guitar-playing from which his reputation was born. His fluid, wavy, hypnotizing jamming scampers through the six tracks, becoming slightly overdone on the nine-minute "Who Knows" and the thirteen-minute "Machine Gun." Still, small sections of unstructured noodling can not stop "Who Knows" from excellently setting the album's funky tone or "Machine Gun" from being one of the most intense, dramatic and stunning songs inspired by Vietnam (Only Hendrix had the ingenuity and skill to make his instrument screech like a battlefield). The two other Hendrix-penned tracks, the groove-rocker, "Power to Love" and the fervent "Message to Love" are two of his most spirit-inspiring works and nicely showcase the Gyspsys' rapid-fire arrangements. Buddy Miles does more than keep the band steady with his fast-paced trouncing, he also contributes two excellent foot-stompers, "Changes" and "We Gotta Live Together." Miles himself would go on to become a star of the upcoming funk/soul movement.

Hendrix, tragically, would not live to see it. The artist would die of asphyxiation shortly after Band of Gypsys was released. Sadly, for Hendrix, this funkrock showstopper was not a sign of things to come, but a passing of the torch.

Portishead - Dummy

Dummy, released in 1994, was the debut album of the Bristol-based group Portishead. Building on the promise of their earlier EP, "Numb", it helped to cement the reputation of Bristol as the capital of "trip hop", a nascent genre which was then often referred to simply as "the Bristol sound". Fellow travellers along this experimental path included Massive Attack, Tricky and the record label, A Cup of Tea, who were exploring the margins of hip-hop, soundtracks and jazz just as their fellow Bristolians Smith and Mighty, Rip, Rig and Panic (featuring Neneh Cherry) and The Pop Group had pushed the boundaries of dub, funk and punk before them.

Now considered to be something of a classic, and regarded by many critics as one of the most influential albums of the 1990s, Dummy is arguably darker in tone than much of the music it later inspired.

In addition to the already released "Numb", the album spawned two further singles: "Sour Times" and "Glory Box".

It won the 1995 Mercury Music Prize, beating stiff competition which included PJ Harvey's To Bring You My Love, Oasis' Definitely Maybe, and Tricky's Maxinquaye.

In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Dummy the 16th greatest album of all time.

In February 2006, an online group of underground producers released "Dumb", a remix album based upon Portishead's Dummy.

The Doors - In Concert (Live)

From the first track you know you are in for a treat. An unruly and uncooperative crowd has surged into the aisles and front rows in "House Announcer" in anticipation of the band, and it's exactly the tone and mood that will take you through an incredible and exotic journey of 31 tracks of rock & roll, cabaret, performance art, and poetry readings.

The Celebration of the Lizard (King), tracks 13 through 19, are perhaps the highlight of this album. Morrison's poetry rings true to the feeling of the uncertainty of the era, shamanism, Greek tragedy, and mysticsm reminiscent of Omar Khayyam, all backed by a hard rock band that had few peers equal to the drums of Densmore, the classically trained guitar style of Krieger, and magician-like hands of Manzarek playing a bass line on one keyboard and simultaneous rythm/lead on another.

Other highlights for In Concert include an extended version of "The End" that supercedes the studio version in its soul and ambience. Also, the Doors lighten up the dark mood set by their more epic pieces, excellent unto themselves ("When The Music's Over", "Light My Fire" w/ an excellent inclusion of the brooding and picteresque "The Graveyard Poem"), with fun versions of "Dead Cats"/"Break On Through" and "You Make Me Real".

The list goes on and on, song after song of a band that was moving forward in its abilities and destined for something even greater and more unique, halted by the death of their charismatic and insufferable lead singer Jim Morrison. Note the comparisons of this album to other live albums, and you will see "In Concert" is a little bit of everything, a comprehensive collection of the "better" live recordings available commercially.

At the time this album was issued, my initial reaction to some of the song selections was of slight dissapointment. Yet many bootlegs and live Doors albums later, "In Concert" now reigns supreme and is a trusted old friend.

The Smiths - Meat Is Murder

About The album
Meat Is Murder is the most eclectic Smiths album, featuring such divergent styles as funk, rockabilly, ballad, and dance, along with the Smiths' signature indie rock. As such, it contains some of the most unique and lauded songs of the Smiths catalogue. However, because of the album's extreme diversity and lack of coherence, some fans believe it is the least listenable work from their catalogue. Considered a 'grower' rather than an instant favorite, the album is often overlooked in favour of more accessible work.

After the relative disappointment over the production of the band's debut album, singerMorrissey and guitarist Marr decided to produce the album themselves, only aided by engineer Stephen Street. Production was officially credited to The Smiths as a whole with Rourke and Joyce being allowed input on the sound level of their instruments in the mix, but the major productional decisions and arrangements were done by Morrissey and Marr.

Possibly detracting from the album's appeal is the fact that no popular single came from it. The only single taken from Meat Is Murder was "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore," which stalled at No. 49. A beautiful ballad and the centrepiece of the album, its selection as a single was perhaps not that fortunate

The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs

Rating:9/10
A compilation of singles, B-sides, album tracks, and BBC sessions assembled for the American market, Louder Than Bombs is an overlong and unfocused collection that nevertheless boasts a wealth of brilliant material. Since Hatful of Hollow was unavailable in the U.S. at the time of the release of Louder Than Bombs, this compilation contains large chunks of that album, as well as several cuts from The Smiths, which makes the record a little redundant for most Smiths fans. Also, Louder Than Bombs contains some of the worst material the group ever recorded, including the bland instrumental "Oscillate Wildly" and a cover of Twinkle's "Golden Light." Excluding all of this material, the remainder of the record is brilliant. The singles "Shakespeare's Sister," "Panic," "Ask," "Shoplifters of the World Unite," and "Sheila Take a Bow" are all definitive, as are the elegiac "Unloveable," "Asleep," "Stretch Out and Wait," and "Half a Person," which are all unavailable anywhere else (excluding the British counterpart to Louder Than Bombs, The World Won't Listen). Furthermore, the sneering, bouncing pop of "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" and the bizarre travelogue of "Is It Really So Strange?" are two other essential songs not available anywhere else. Though The World Won't Listen is a more concise collection, Louder Than Bombs is a necessary purchase for any Smiths fan.

The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come

Rating:8/10
Recorded as the relationship between Morrissey and Johnny Marr was beginning to splinter, Strangeways, Here We Come is the most carefully considered and elaborately produced album in the group's catalog. Though it aspires greatly to better The Queen Is Dead, it falls just short of its goals. With producer Stephen Street, the Smiths created a subtly shaded and skilled album, one boasting a fuller production than before. Morrissey and Marr also labored hard over the songs, working to expand the Smiths' sound within their very real boundaries. For the most part, they succeed. "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish," "Girlfriend in a Coma," "Stop Me if You Think You've Heard This One Before," and "I Won't Share You" are classics, while "A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours," "Death of a Disco Dancer," and "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" aren't far behind. However, the songs also have a tendency to be glib and forced, particularly on "Unhappy Birthday" and the anti-record company "Paint a Vulgar Picture," which has grown increasingly ironic in the wake of the Smiths' and Morrissey's love of repackaging the same material in new compilations. Still, Strangeways is a graceful way to bow out. While it doesn't match The Queen Is Dead or The Smiths, it is far from embarrassing and offers a summation of the group's considerable strengths.

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

Rating:10/10
Meat Is Murder may have been a holding pattern, but The Queen Is Dead is the Smiths' great leap forward, taking the band to new musical and lyrical heights. Opening with the storming title track, The Queen Is Dead is a harder-rocking record than anything the Smiths had attempted before, but that's only on a relative scale -- although the backbeat is more pronounced, the group certainly doesn't rock in a conventional sense. Instead, Johnny Marr has created a dense web of guitars, alternating from the minor-key rush of "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and the faux rockabilly of "Vicar in a Tutu" to the bouncy acoustic pop of "Cemetry Gates" and "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side," as well as the lovely melancholy of "I Know It's Over" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out." And the rich musical bed provides Morrissey with the support for his finest set of lyrics. Shattering the myth that he is a self-pitying sap, Morrissey delivers a devastating set of clever, witty satires of British social mores, intellectualism, class, and even himself. He also crafts some of his finest, most affecting songs, particularly in the wistful "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side" and the epic "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," two masterpieces that provide the foundation for a remarkable album.

Audioslave - Live In Cuba

Audioslave is an alternative rock supergroup consisting of Chris Cornell (formerly of Soundgarden) and the instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine. Tom Morello plays guitar,Tim Commerford plays bass, and Brad Wilk plays the drums. The music is fueled by Cornell's powerful voice and Tom Morello's unique and unconventional style of guitar playing, with heavy hip-hop style solos, scratches down his guitar's neck, synthesizer-like sound effects, and an extensive use of pedals and devices to change the guitar's sound. As with Rage Against the Machine, the band prides itself on the fact that all sounds are produced by vocals, guitar, bass guitar, or drums only.

1. Set It Off
2. Your Time Has Come
3. Like A Stone
4. Spoonman
5. The Worm
6. Gasoline
7. Heaven's Dead
8. Doesn't Remind Me
9. Be Yourself
10. Bulls On Parade/Sleep Now In The Fire
11. Out Of Exile
12. Outshined
13. Shadow On The Sun
14. Black Hole Sun
15. I Am The Highway
16. Show Me How To Live
17. Cochise

Pulp - Different Class (1995)

[Modern music recommended]
It became increasingly apparent during 1995 that the answer to the question "Blur or Oasis?" was, in fact, "Pulp". Different Class was the sound of a band so on "it" that they defined "it". Thirty years of fury, frustration, sexual longing, class angst and observations about girls' skirts was rammed into the grand Brechtian/Brel-like drama of "Live Bed Show", "I Spy" and, of course, "Common People"; and sure enough it has the impact of crashing head-on into someone's entire sordid, suppressed secret life. When Jarvis hisses "I can't help it / I was dragged up / Grass is something you smoke/ Birds are something you shag / Take your 'Year In Provence' and shove it up your ass," it sounds like mustard gas escaping over the trenches in the class war. And he wins. If music had a class system, this would be our ruler.

Frank Zappa - Discography

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, guitarist, singer and satirist. In his 33-year musical career, Zappa proved to be one of the most prolific musician-composers of his era, releasing over 60 albums during his lifetime, almost all of which consisted of original compositions. He was also a renowned electric guitarist and a gifted producer-engineer who self-produced almost every recording he made after his 1966 debut.

Albums:
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention - Freak Out
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention - Absolutely Free
Frank Zappa - Lumpy Gravy
Frank Zappa and the Mothers - We're Only In It For The Money
Frank Zappa and the Mothers - Uncle Meat
Frank Zappa - Remington Electric Razor
Frank Zappa - Imaginary Diseases
Frank Zappa - Joe's XMASage

Velvet Revolver - Contraband (2004)

Velvet Revolver is a rock supergroup with three former members of Guns N' Roses--Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum--with Scott Weiland, the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots, and Dave Kushner of the 80s hardcore punk band Wasted Youth.
Contraband is an album by Velvet Revolver, which was released on June 8, 2004 through RCA Records. It debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Charts.
Singles

• "Slither", released in May 2004
• "Fall to Pieces", released in August 2004
• "Dirty Little Thing", released in November 2005

Sister Of Mercy - Floodland

[Modern Music Recommended]

Floodland is the second album by The Sisters of Mercy, released in 1987. Composed and produced by Andrew Eldritch, it marked a change of direction from guitar-oriented indie rocksynthesizer-based productions. towards

It includes, among other things, choral singing, typically bombastic Jim Steinman productions (on "Dominion/Mother Russia" and "This Corrosion") and the first and last piano-and-vocals-only Sisters song ("1959", the piano programmed on synthesizer). While far from a concept album, Floodland still has many recurring themes and images. The most obvious one is the flood itself, an erotic, post-apocalyptic reference to tidal floods after nuclear war.

1. Dominion/Mother Russia (7:01)
2. Flood I (6:22)
3. Lucretia My Reflection (4:57)
4. 1959 (4:09)
5. This Corrosion (10:55)
6. Flood II (6:47)
7. Driven Like The Snow (6:27)
8. Never Land (a fragment) (2:46)

Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright has a flawless résumé: The son of singer/songwriters Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, he was playing piano by age six and touring at thirteen, and he has enough pull to get people like virtuoso arranger Van Dyke Parks to help him with his debut album. Lucky bastard that he is, Wainwright has the talent to match his good fortune. On Rufus Wainwright, his incandescent pop songwriting, pianobased melodies and cool, brooding tenor combine on compositions that range from droll lounge ballads (the exquisitely pining "April Fools") to orchestral noir (the lurid carny stylings of "Matinee Idol"). Backed by drummer Jim Keltner, keyboardist Benmont Tench and a sexy string section, Wainwright distills his passion into whimsical visions of "bulls charging stoplights" and lovers "as helpless as the Elephant Man." If the songs on Rufus Wainwright remind you of old pop standards, it's because they're so damn classy.

Black Sabbath - Discography

Black Sabbath (sometimes called Sabbath by fans) is a British heavy metal band, originally comprised of Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer (Terrance) Butler (bass), and Bill Ward (drums). They are cited by many as the very first true heavy metal band.

Black Sabbath formed in Birmingham, England in 1969 under the name Polka Tulk Blues Band (soon shortened to "Polka Tulk"), and later Earth. Initially a blues-rock band, Earth moved in a darker direction when their bassist, Geezer Butler, a fan of the black magic novels of Dennis Wheatley, wrote an occult-themed song titled "Black Sabbath" (the song name was apparently inspired by a 1963 Mario Bava film). (In their reunion concert film, the band stated that the song is based on an experience Geezer had one night when he saw a black object at the end of his bed and noticed the next day that an occult book Ozzy had given him was missing). When the band found themselves being confused with another local band called Earth, they adopted the song title as their new name.

The band originated as a blues-influenced hard rock group, but as they progressed they added more European folk elements and gothic flourishes to their sound, a sound that was not like any other group during their time. Their lyrics dealt with darker issues than most conventional rock as well. During a time, the late 60s, when other bands were into the peace movement and the hippie culture, Sabbath chose to distinguish themselves by dealing with heavier issues. In their music, they also conveyed a sense of anger and anti-establishment, the likes of which had never been heard before. The band also dealt with issues such as drugs (to which they were developing a growing dependence).

Albums:
Black Sabbath (1970)
Paranoid (1970)
Master Of Reality (1971)
Volume 4 (1972)
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
Sabotage (1975)
Technical Ecstasy (1976)
Never Say Die! (1978)
Live At Last (Live, 1980)
Heaven And Hell (1980)
Mob Rules (1981)
Born Again (1983)
Seventh Star featuring Tony Iommi (1986)
The Eternal Idol (1987)
Headless Cross (1989)
Tyr (1990)
Dehumanizer (1992)
Cross Purposes (1994)
Forbidden (1995)
Reunion (Live, 1998)

Jimi Hendrix "Stages '67 - '70" Box Set

Family Origins

Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix in Seattle, Washington, the son of Al Hendrix and Lucille Jeter Hendrix. His father, after returning from military service in World War II, legally renamed him James Marshall Hendrix. His mother was an alcoholic and died of cirrhosis when Jimi was 15, providing Hendrix with a musical muse which he would later express in his songs, for example, "Little Wing".

Both of Jimi's paternal grandparents were vaudeville performers who settled in Vancouver, British Columbia, where his father, Al Hendrix, was born. Al relocated to Seattle, where he met and married Lucille Jeter. Jimi was close to his paternal grandmother Nora Rose Moore, the daughter of a Cherokee father and a mulatto mother, who instilled in him a strong sense of pride about his Native American ancestry.

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Gary Numan (Tubeway Army)-The Plan 1999

Tubeway Army is the debut album by Gary Numan and his band Tubeway Army, released in 1978. Its initial limited-edition run of 5000 (known unofficially as the Blue Album due to its coloured vinyl and cover) sold out but did not chart. When reissued in mid-1979, following the success of the follow-up Replicas, the more commonly-known cover art featuring a stylised portrait of Numan was introduced. This release made number 14 in the UK album charts.

Although only the band's debut, Tubeway Army has been seen as a transitional record, linking the punk flavour of early singles "That’s Too Bad" and "Bombers" with the electronic music and science fiction imagery of Replicas. The lead-in track, “Listen to the Sirens”, borrows its opening line from the Philip K. Dick novel Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, whilst "Steel and You" contains references to androids ("Just my steel friend and me / I stand brave by his side"). These and a number of other tracks feature primitive synthesizer effects, the legacy of Numan chancing upon a Minimoog in the recording studio one day.

Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind

Time Out of Mind is Bob Dylan's critically-acclaimed comeback album, released in 1997. It was his first studio album of original songs since 1990's Under the Red Sky and saw him reunite with producer Daniel Lanois who was behind the dials for the also-praised Oh Mercy in 1989. Dylan's profile also benefitted from the mid-90's success of The Wallflowers, led by youngest son Jakob Dylan. As a result, Time Out of Mind surprisingly entered the US charts at #10 - his first US Top 10 album since 1979's Slow Train Coming - as well as the UK, and stunned reviewers and fans with its depth, complexity and quality. Although it features an older, more weathered-sounding vocal style, it was lauded as Bob Dylan's best album since Blood on the Tracks in 1975.

Shortly after completing the album, Dylan became seriously ill with near-fatal pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac around the heart. His forthcoming tour was cancelled, and Dylan spent most of June 1997 in excruciating pain.

Time Out of Mind's startling revitalization of Dylan's career extended all the way to the Grammys where it won multiple awards, including "Album of the Year" in early 1998. It was also voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll. With all the media attention and praise, US sales soon passed platinum, a feat a Bob Dylan album had not reached in nearly two decades.

Spacemen 3 - perfect prescription

Spacemen 3 were an English space rock band of the 1980s whose career spanned from the post-punk era to Acid House. Jason Pierce and Peter Kember (Pierce sometimes credited as J. Spaceman and Kember usually known as Sonic Boom) formed the group in Rugby, Warwickshire in the early part of the decade and began touring, finally recording in 1986 on Glass Records. Sound Of Confusion was not successful commercially but it attracted a loyal fanbase; its follow-up, The Perfect Prescription, expanded the group's core of fans.

1. "Take Me to the Other Side" (4:40)
2. "Walking With Jesus" (5:03)
3. "Ode to Street Hassle" (3:54)
4. "Ecstasy Symphony/Transparent Radiation (Flashback)" (9:42)
5. "Feel So Good" (5:24)
6. "Things'll Never Be the Same" (5:58)
7. "Come Down Easy" (6:42)
8. "Call the Doctor" (3:45)
9. "Roller Coaster" (17:00)
10. "Starship" (5:00)

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Hawkwind - 1994 The Business Trip (Live)

01 - Altair
02 - Quark Strangeness And Charm
03 - Lsd
04 - The Camera That Could Lie
05 - Green Finned Demon
06 - Do That
07 - The Day A Wall Came Down
08 - Berlin Axis
09 - Void Of Golden Light
10 - Right Stuff
11 - Wastelands
12 - The Dream Goes On
13 - Right To Decide
14 - The Dream Has Ended
15 - This Futur

Hawkwind is a British rock music group.

Formed in the summer of 1969 as Hawkwind Zoo, they were offered a record deal by Liberty Records in November of that year and immediately shortened the band name to Hawkwind. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Dave Brock has been the only consistent band member though multiple personnel changes. Their music began as hard-driving blues rock, but quickly added doses of psychedelic music, with prominent use of special effects and synthesizers. Their music usually deals with urban and science fiction themes (writer Michael Moorcock was a collaborator), and Hawkwind are widely seen as one of the earliest space rock groups.

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Space Rock

The term space rock was originally coined back in the '70s to describe the cosmic flights of bands like Pink Floyd and Hawkwind. Today, however, space rock refers to a new generation of alternative/indie bands that draw from psychedelic rock, ambient music, and -- more often than not -- experimental and avant-garde influences. Space rock is nearly always slow, hypnotic, and otherworldly; it typically favors lengthy, mind-bending sonic explorations over conventional song structures, and vocals sometimes play second fiddle to the shimmering instrumental textures. Some space rock groups are explicitly drug-inspired, which makes sense given the typically narcotic effect of the style's foundation: washes of heavily reverbed guitar, minimal drumming, and gentle, languid vocals. Space rock's most obvious antecedent was, of course, prog-rock, but in its latter-day incarnation, it was also inspired by Krautrock, classical minimalism, and the noise-pop of the Jesus & Mary Chain. The first of the new space rock bands was Britain's drone-heavy, ultra-minimalist Spacemen 3, whose notorious "taking drugs to make music to take drugs to" credo subsequently influenced most of the like-minded bands in their wake. A few of the bands involved in Britain's shoegazer movement had ties to space rock, particularly the early work of the Verve, and the most experimental bands -- like My Bloody Valentine -- went on to influence the space rock revival. In 1991, Spacemen 3 split into two groups, Spectrum and Spiritualized; the latter took the opposite musical approach from its parent group, fleshing out the space rock sound into lush, caressing, orchestrated epics that made them arguably the style's most popular band. Most subsequent space rockers took either the minimalist or maximalist approach, occasionally mixing in elements of post-rock (Flying Saucer Attack, Godspeed You Black Emperor!) or indie pop (Quickspace).

R.E.M. - Reckoning

Reckoning is the second album by the band R.E.M. It was released in 1984 by independent label I.R.S. Records to critical acclaim and stronger record sales than their debut.

Reckoning features some of R.E.M.'s more popular early songs, including "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" and "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville." Avoiding romantic themes once again, lyricist Michael Stipe instead ruminates on cold weather, a fairy tale in which a child drowns, a flood, superficiality, and separation. The upbeat tone of the music contrast with the dark lyrics. The final song, "Little America", is written about rural America, and predates the Southern themes on the following album, Fables of the Reconstruction (1985).

'On the surface, Reckoning may not be as distinctive as Murmur, but the record's influence on underground American rock in the '80s was just as strong.'Amg

Mansun - Attack Of The Grey Lantern

This album is one of those efforts that just creep up on you the more you listen to it. It took me about five times of listening to even start liking it for real and from then it just grew and grew. Mansun are part of that huge wave of young British bands with a sound that's more or less similar. Still, Mansun are special in the way they mix rock, pop and dance (and sometimes in the same song!). Personal favourites here are "Wide Open Space", "Stripper Vicar" (listen to the chorus and die), and the pretty great bonus track. But, the album is filled with great tunes and really should not be fragmented in this way. Listen to it, give it lots of time and watch as you start singing along and your feet start bouncing away. And that's all I have to say about that...

The Clash - Full Discography

The Clash was one of the most successful British punk rock groups that existed from 1976 to 1986. They incorporated punk, reggae, rockabilly, and eventually many other music styles into their repertoire, and displayed a political and lyrical sophistication that distinguished them from most of their colleagues in the punk genre. They were also legendary for uncommonly intense stage performances.

From their earliest days as a band, The Clash stood apart from their peers with their musicianship, as well as their lyrics; the passionate, righteous political idealism in the lyrics by frontmen Joe Strummer and Mick Jones was a definite contrast to the nihilism of the Sex PistolsThe Ramones. and the simplicity of

The Clash has influenced pop punk, alternative rock and Britpop bands, through both their musical style and their lyrical content. Their incorporation of many musical styles has also led them to influence reggae, ska, hip hop and electronic artists.

The Clash - 1977
Give em Enough Rope - 1978
London Calling - 1979
Sandinista - 1980
The Singles - 1991

Combat Rock - 1982
Cut The Crap - 1985
From Here To Eternity Live - 1999
2004 - London Calling (25th Anniversary Edition)
Super Black Market Clash (1994)
The Essential Clash (2003)
The Story of the Clash - Volume 1 (1988)
Black Market Clash (1980)
Clash on Broadway (1979)

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The Postal Service - Give Up

1. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
2. Such Great Heights
3. Sleeping In
4. Nothing Better
5. Recycled Air
6. Clark Gable
7. We Will Become Silhouettes
8. This Place Is a Prison
9. Brand New Colony
10. Natural Anthem

The Postal Service is an indietronic band featuring singer Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for CutieJimmy Tamborello of Dntel, Headset and Figurine. Several songs on their first LP, Give Up, feature guest vocals from Jenny Lewis, the lead singer of Rilo Kiley, a band which was once on the same label as Death Cab (Barsuk Records) and vocals from Jen Wood, an indie rock solo artist. Chris Walla recorded some of the songs and played the piano on "Nothing Better." and producer.

http://home.fuse.net/johneubank01/Music/The%20Postal%20Service/Give%20Up/

Sleater-Kinney - One Beat (2002)

Having consolidated their strengths with All Hands on the Bad One, Sleater-Kinney revived the ambition of The Hot Rock on their sixth album, One Beat. John Goodmanson gives the group its cleanest-sounding production to date, which brings out all the new trappings in the ever more sophisticated arrangements. "Step Aside" boasts trumpet and sax, "The Remainder" a string section, several tracks are colored with delightfully weird vintage synths (the sort favored by Brian Eno or Pere Ubu), and there's even a theremin on "Funeral Song." (Trivia: The playful "Prisstina" also features the first male vocals ever on a Sleater-Kinney album, courtesy of Hedwig & the Angry Inch mastermind Stephen Trask.) Lyrically, One Beat is haunted by September 11; "Faraway" and the cry of dissent "Combat Rock" are some of the strongest statements on the tragedy any artist has yet released, and the backdrop lends a new urgency to Corin Tucker's pleas for a better world for her new son, not to mention the personal catharsis of "O2." All of this makes One Beat a much more effective stab at maturity than the often-difficult The Hot Rock. True, the group does occasionally fall into the angularity that made The Hot Rock its least immediate effort, but One Beat offers more rewards upon repeated plays -- the more challenging tracks eventually do sink in. The album does have its minor drawbacks -- Carrie Brownstein's vocals can be a bit precious at times, and the pointed 9/11 observations make the occasional feminist sloganeering sound like nothing the group hasn't done better elsewhere. All of which is to say that if you've never understood the cultish adoration surrounding Sleater-Kinney, One Beat isn't likely to change your mind. But if you're already on board with their idiosyncrasies, One Beat is another triumph from a band that seems to produce them with startling regularity. [One Beat was initially released with a limited-edition bonus CD featuring two songs unavailable elsewhere.]

Hole - Celebrity Skin (1998)

1. Celebrity Skin
2. Awful
3. Hit So Hard
4. Malibu
5. Reasons To Be Beautiful
6. Dying
7. Use Once And Destroy
8. Northern Star
9. Boys On The Radio
10. Heaven Tonight
11. Playing Your Song
12. Petals

Hole and co-founded by was an indie rock band formed in 1989 and (officially) disbanded in 2002, fronted by Courtney LoveEric Erlandson, and featuring Patty Schemel on drums and Melissa Auf der Maur on bass from 1995 until the band's disbandment in 2002; previous bassist Kristen Pfaff died of an apparent drug overdose in 1994. Also occasionally involved with Hole's songwriting and recording were Kurt Cobain (on Live Through This) and former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan (on Celebrity Skin).

pass=wholovesska
http://rapidshare.de/files/12835432/awefull.rar

http://rapidshare.de/files/12837255/usehole.rar

PJ Harvey - BBC Radio One Studios (2000)

1. Intro [2:08]
2. This Is Love [4:11]
3. Good Fortune [3:29]
4. Interview [3:24]
5. Outro [0:46

The daughter of a stonemason and a sculptress, Harvey grew up on a small sheep farm in Dorset. At an early age her parents introduced her to the blues, jazz and art-rock music which would later influence her the most strongly: “I was brought up listening to John Lee Hooker, to Howlin' Wolf, to Robert Johnson, and a lot of Jimi Hendrix and Captain Beefheart. So I was exposed to all these very compassionate musicians at a very young age, and that's always remained in me and seems to surface more as I get older. I think the way we are as we get older is a result of what we knew when we were children,” she told Rolling Stone in 1995. She also went through a brief adolescent rebellion where she listened to poppier fare like U2, The Police, Soft Cell, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet, and later in her teens she became a huge fan of the seminal US indie guitar bands Pixies, Television and Slint, though not, as many critics have suspected, Patti Smith (a frequent comparison that Harvey dismisses as “lazy journalism”). (More recently she has claimed inspiration from Russian folk music, Italian soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone and classical composers like Arvo Pärt, Samuel Barber and Henryk Górecki.)

She studied saxophone for about eight years, and contributed sax, guitar and backing vocals to her earliest Somerset bands Bologna, the Polekats, the Stoned Weaklings and Automatic Dlamini. At the age of 18 she began writing her own songs and in January 1991 she formed the original PJ Harvey three-piece band (herself on vocals and guitars, ex-Automatic Dlamini bandmate Rob Ellis on drums and Ian Olliver on bass, though Olliver was swiftly replaced by Steve Vaughan). The trio's debut gig – at a skittle alley in Sherborne's Antelope Hotel – was so disastrous that the proprietor begged the band to stop playing as nearly all his customers had fled the venue. By this stage Harvey had also completed a foundation art course at Yeovil Art College and was now studying sculpture at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London, still undecided as to her future career.

Rar pass = mickel

http://rapidshare.de/files/10739250/harvbbc.rar

PJ Harvey - 4 Track Demos

Polly Jean Harvey, born October 9, 1969 in Yeovil and raised in nearby Corscombe (Dorset), is a British singer and songwriter. She has recorded as a solo artist under the name PJ Harvey, but she began her career as part of a trio (with drummer Rob Ellis and bassist Steve Vaughan) also named PJ Harvey. She has cultivated a reputation for eccentricity to match her music (for example, when making the album 'Rid Of Me', the producer, Steve Albini, claimed she ate nothing but potatoes.)

01- Rid Of Me
02- Legs
03- Reeling
04- Snake
05- Hook
06- Fifty Foot Queenie
07- Driving
08- Ecstasy
09- Hardly Wait
10- Rub 'til It Bleeds
11- Easy
12- M Bike
13- Yuri G
14- Goodnight

http://rapidshare.de/files/9245298/PJ_Harvey_-_4_Track_Demos.rar.h tml

Mick HARVEY - Intoxicated Man (1995)

Intoxicated Man is the first of Mick Harvey's tributes to French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Released at a time when the icon was largely unknown outside his home country, the album offers 16 English translations. Years spent in a supporting role with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds taught Harvey the importance of yielding to the song. Whether preserving the original material or crafting intricate new settings of his own, the focus always remains on Gainsbourg, a man alternately lovelorn, satirical, and erotic.
Rollicking guitars and a rolling rhythm kick up dust on "Harley Davidson"; "I think less well of life than of my motor bike," snarls guest vocalist Anita Lane. Mock lounge jazz suits the title track's story of descent into drink. Persistent organs give much of the material a similar feel. Elsewhere, elegant string arrangements (courtesy of Bertrand Burgalat) sweep through the songs, vaguely dating them in a past era. Like Gainsbourg's originals, however, Harvey's versions have substance beyond mere kitsch value.
Gainsbourg seems to have had an obsession with American popular culture ("New York U.S.A.," "Harley Davidson," "Ford Mustang," "Bonnie and Clyde") and on Intoxicated Man, it's the fast living of guns, cars, and alcohol that lure him. His direct, dry humor and taste for satire are also evident throughout. "Chatterton" is all punchline, with Harvey reading off a list of suicide casualties � "How 'bout me?" he asks, "Lately I don't feel good inside." "New York U.S.A." is an ode to the city that gets Gainsbourg "high, oh so high." Harvey tours the Big Apple with his female backup singers in tow, getting his fix from Rockefeller Center and the Pan American Building. Also included are examples of Gainsbourg's dark, erotic leanings on "Sex Shop" and the controversial "Lemon Incest."
Intoxicated Man serves both as a point of entry into the music-making of Mick Harvey and an accessible, highly enjoyable introduction to the universe of Serge Gainsbourg.

pw : perfect

http://rapidshare.de/files/11112246/MH_IM192.rar.html

dEUS - My Sister = My Clock ep

This ep has been released after Worst Case Scenario and before In a Bar, Under the Sea.
dEUS is an indie rock band based in Antwerp, Belgium, consisting of Tom Barman (vocals and guitar), Klaas Janzoons (keyboards and violin), and Stephane Misseghers (drums), Alan Gevaert (bass) and Mauro Pawlowski (guitar).

http://rapidshare.de/files/13213131/dEUS.rar.html

Riot Grrrl

Riot grrrl is a raw, incendiary brand of feminist punk that emerged from the early-'90s indie-rock scene and sparked a subculture that lasted well after the initial movement began to fade. Riot grrrl was a blend of personal catharsis and political activism, though most of the attention it drew was due to the latter. Many (but not all) riot grrrl lyrics addressed gender-related issues -- rape, domestic abuse, sexuality (including lesbianism), male dominance of the social hierarchy, female empowerment -- from a radical, militant point of view. The similarly confrontational music favored raging, willfully amateurish blasts of noise, with only a rudimentary sense of melody or instrumental technique. Riot grrrl's abrasiveness served several purposes: it ensured that the anti-corporate music would never achieve alternative rock's crossover success (the label that released the highest percentage of riot grrrl records was called Kill Rock Stars); it defied stereotypes of women (and female musicians) as meek, overly sensitive, and lovelorn; and it found a powerful expressive tool in noise. To most riot grrrl bands, the simple act of picking up a guitar and bashing out a screeching racket was not only fun, but an act of liberation. To outsiders, the musical merits of riot grrrl could be highly variable, but to fans, what the movement represented was arguably even more important than the music. The riot grrrl movement was mostly centered in the Seattle/Olympia, Washington area; several exceptions included England's Huggy Bear, as well as several grungier groups like Babes in Toyland and L7, who fit the spirit of the style but were more tangentially related to its ideology. It was mostly rooted in punk's DIY ethos and tradition of protest, but in terms of direct inspirations, Joan Jett was lionized in many quarters of the movement for her simple, punky hard rock, confident sexuality, and independent business sense. Riot grrrl's emergence coincided with an explosion of female talent in other wings of alternative rock, and the term was frequently misapplied in media accounts of the phenomenon, which incorrectly labeled more accessible alt-rockers like Hole and PJ Harvey as riot grrrls. True riot grrrl bands -- Bratmobile, 7 Year Bitch, the queercore outfit Team Dresch, and the center of the riot grrrl universe, Kathleen Hanna's Bikini Kill -- never even approached popular acceptance. Since most bands weren't very prolific, the movement's initial flash of enthusiasm faded after a few years, but it continued to enjoy a lasting impact in indie culture, where the original bands helped inspire countless feminist zines and were still looked up to as icons and role models. Kathleen Hanna continued to record with several different projects, and scene veterans Sleater-Kinney became critically revered indie stars several years later, thanks to their ability to blend riot grrrl's passion and ideals with hookier songs and intricate instrumental technique.

John Frusciante - Shadows Collide With People

The fourth solo outing from Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist John Frusciante -- OK, fifth for those counting his free 21-track downloadable-only From the Sounds Inside released in 2001 -- is his most accessible effort to date in terms of mainstream appeal. It is likewise worth mentioning that he has made available demos of a majority of these sides on his website for a limited time. Frusciante also maintains intermittent contact with the avant-garde forces that drove the Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt coupling in 1995. Admittedly, enthusiasts of his edgier lo-fi recordings may find 2004's Shadows Collide With People too polished and produced. However, the sonic spit-shine rarely detracts from the very palpable emotive presence within each of the selections. Although Frusciante and Josh Klinghoffer (guitar/vocals/bass/keyboards/percussion) divvy up the lion's share of the instrumentation, the two are joined by fellow Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and bassist Flea -- the latter contributing an upright bassline to "The Slaughter" -- as well as Omar Rodriguez on slide guitar and Charlie Clouser's orchestral programming. While "Omission" is signified by Klinghoffer's co-lead vocal, at the center remains Frusciante's probing melodic sense. He vacillates between the power-chord rockers "Carvel," "Second Walk," and "This Song" and the haunting beauty of "Regret," which is set against the decidedly more experimental and bold "-00Ghost27," "23 Go In to End," and "Failure33 Object." These wordless excursions lacerate a discernible swath across Frusciante's otherwise introspective songwriting. Examples include the introduction to "In Relief," "Water," and the Byrds-ish feel incorporated into "Cut-Out." Even though it might not be the artist's intended goal, with such strong -- if not arguably disparate -- material exemplifying the best of what Frusciante has to offer, Shadows Collide With People has something for his listeners past, present, and future.

Tracklist in comment

the password is: pmack

http://rapidshare.de/files/13255973/colliding_shadows_and_people.rar.html

The Verve Pipe - Villains

Villains, the third studio album and first major label release by The Verve Pipe, was released in March of 1996. The band received its first hit in Photograph, which peaked in the top 10 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks. A year after the release of the album, a reformatted version of The Freshmen was released and topped the mainstream rock charts. It peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, the group's only song to chart on the Hot 100. The success of the song helped this album go platinum. This is The Verve Pipe's greatest-selling album to date.

Johnny Cash - Personal File

This 2CD set of 49 previously unreleased and privately recorded tracks is a unique and intimate portrait of 'The Last Greatest American' by Johnny Cash himself. Following his death in 2004, the legendary House Of Cash began to give up it's musical treasures, but no one could have anticipated the wealth of material humbly stored behind the main studio, in boxes marked 'Personal File'.

Within these boxes were scores of intimate solo performances by Johnny Cash – Tin Pan Alley hits, traditional folk music and gospel tunes, new originals and favourite covers by, amongst others, the Louvin Brothers, Rodney Crowell and Johnny Horton.

Compiled by Cash expert Gregg Gellar (who compiled the peerless 'Legend' boxset) and with liner notes by Greil Marcus, these personal files strike at the heart of what made Cash a legend. Cash speaks to the listener directly, recounting his memories over a simple guitar backing – standouts amongst this classic collection include the Carlene Carter Cash 'It Takes One To Know Me' and the spine tingling rendition of 'The Cremation of Sam McGee'.

24 of the tracks (all of disc 1 and five tracks of disc 2) date from a 5 day session in July 1973, when it appears Cash sat down to record a 'concept album'. The remaining tracks are from sessions in 1974, 1979, 1980 and 1982. The 2CD release is sequenced thematically, rather than chronologically, charting a revealing course into Cash's musical favourites.

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy

Vitalogy is the third major release and a loose concept album by the band Pearl Jam, released on December 6, 1994 (see 1994 in music). Varied and idiosyncratic, the album was another big hit for Pearl Jam. Sparse productions and often bizarre lyrics (such as on "Bugs") made the album inaccessible without repeated listens. Eddie Vedder's hooks are a primary draw, built around furious guitar riffs and arrhythmic drum beats.

The album is packaged in a booklet which features clearly dated discussions of health and well-being, based on an early 20th Century book of the same name that Vedder found at a garage sale. The lyrics to "Whipping" are written on a copy of a petition to Bill Clinton against Pro-Life killings of abortionists, and many think that the lyrics of "Immortality" describe the scene of Kurt Cobain's suicide: "Scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor" (although Vedder himself has vehemently denied this, and many of the lyrics appeared in live versions of the song before Cobain's suicide). Many of the other songs on the album seem to be based on the pressures of fame and dealing with the resulting loss of privacy.

"Better Man" is a song from Vedder's previous band, Bad Radio. It was never released as a single, but became one of the band's biggest hits, peaking at #13 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart. Along with "Corduroy," it has become a live staple, and continues to be played at almost every show. "Tremor Christ," the B-Side of the single "Spin the Black Circle," also managed to reach #18 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it has since largely disappeared from the band's set lists and rock radio.

Vitalogy was a #1 hit on Billboard's Top 200 album chart, selling over 850,000 copies in its first week of release on CD. The album was first released on vinyl on November 22, 1994, and debuted at number 55 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. It was the first vinyl album to be listed on this chart since the introduction of compact discs.

Drums on "Satan's Bed" were performed by Abbruzzese's drum tech Jimmy Shoaf. On the day it was recorded, Abbruzzese was in the hospital having his tonsils removed. Vedder and Gossard were working on the song, and asked for Shoaf's help to get a drum machine working. After setting up the drum machine, the pair asked Shoaf to perform the same beat on the drums. Shoaf noted later that he didn't expect his performance to actually make the record. He is credited on the lyric sheet as the drummer, but it was several years before the public found out who "Jimmy" was.

Jack Irons plays drums on "Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me". The song was a late addition to the album, recorded after Abbruzzese was fired from the band.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 492 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The Clash - Combat Rock

Combat Rock is a 1982 album released by The Clash. It was the last album to contain the "original" line-up before Mick Jones left, and Topper Headon was kicked out for drug-related reasons.

The album includes what is possibly their most famous song, "Rock The Casbah", and includes many different styles of music, following up the trend from their previous album "Sandinista!".

Combat Rock was originally planned as a double album with the working title Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg, the idea was scrapped after internal wrangling within the group. Mick Jones had produced the first cut, but the other members were dissatisfied and producing duties were handed to Glyn Jones, at which point the album became a single LP. The original cut has since been obtained and subsequently bootlegged.

In January, 2000 this album along with the rest of the Clash's catalog was remastered and re-released.

Bob dylan - Love And Theft

"Love and Theft" is an album by Bob Dylan, released in 2001. Coming four years after the much applauded Time Out of Mind, "Love and Theft" was even better received by delighted critics and fans and is widely considered his best album since 1975's Blood On The Tracks. It gave Dylan his best trans-Atlantic chart showings in over two decades. Going gold in the US, "Love and Theft" hit #5, and it reached as high as #3 in the UK. As of June 2006, the album has sold 757,000 units in the U.S.

Produced by Dylan himself (under his pseudonym of "Jack Frost"), the album is loose, carefree, touching, and even humourous at times. It won the 2002 Grammy award for "Best Traditional Folk Album" and was nominated for "Album of the Year". Before that, it topped the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 2001. In 2003, the album was ranked number 467 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

"Love and Theft" - which was released the same day as the September 11, 2001 attacks - remains Bob Dylan's latest studio album.

The quotation marks in the album title are apparently deliberate, as witnessed by Dylan's official website and by the text on the album's cover.

Pearl Jam – Vs

Vs. is Pearl Jam's second album, released on October 19, 1993 through Epic Records. Several tracks from Vs. are still played on popular rock radio, a tribute to the record's significance in solidifying the band's artistic and commercial success.

The title is a nod to Mission of Burma, whose 1983 LP Vs. was greatly admired by Vedder. Originally, the album was titled Five Against One, but was later changed at the last minute, first as a self-titled album and later as 'Vs.', a nod to the album's general theme of conflict present in most of the songs.

Maritime - We, The Vehicles (2006)

01. Calm
02. Tearning Up The Oxygen
03. People,The Vehicles
04. Parade Of Punk Rock T-Shirts
05. We Don't Think We Know
06. No One Will Remember You Tonight
07. Young Almuni
08. Don't Say You Don't
09. German Engineering
10. Twins
11. Protein And Poison
12. Before You Were Born
13. Call Me Home

We, The Vehicles, the second album from the collective of Davey von Bohlen, Dan Didier [both formerly of The Promise Ring] and Eric Axelson [formerly of Dismemberment Plan], is a triumphant realization of Maritime's unlabored goal and an occasional turn toward the darker, denser corners of years past. That's right: We, The Vehicles isn't all sunshine and bubbles. Maritime remains solidly tethered to pop perfection, but has taken space to let that pop cycle through all its permutations. Maritime may have a collective history to both cling to and run from, but with We, The Vehicles, the band steps forcefully into its own. More than a side project or an "ex-members of," it proves beyond a doubt that this is something viable and vital on its own.

http://rapidshare.de/files/13226630/Mariticles.rar

The High Violets - To Where You Are (2006)

01. Sun Baby
02. Love Is Blinding
03. Chinese Letter
04. Invitation
05. Nocturnal
06. Cool Green
07. Want You
08. X-tasy
09. To Where You Are

Biography:
Taking note from the likes of Ride, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, and the Jesus Mary Chain, the High Violets define their own swirling dream pop. Clint Sargent (vocals/guitar), Kaitlyn Ni Donovan (guitar/vocals), Allen Davis (bass), and Luke Strahota (drums) formed in the hip pockets of Portland, OR, in the late '90s, emerging from the ashes of the Bella Low and Echoplex. By the new millennium, the group was recording for the Irish label Reverb Records. They contributed their song "Fa" to the import collection 2002 Digital Belfast. the High Violets also inked a deal with the Reverb for their debut album, 44 Down, which was issued worldwide in spring 2002.

http://rapidshare.de/files/13227650/higviolets.zip

Hot Hot Heat - Make Up The Breakdown (2002)

1. Naked in the City Again
2. No, Not Now
3. Get in or Get Out
4. Bandages
5. Oh, Godamnit
6. Aveda
7. This Town
8. Talk to Me, Dance With Me
9. Save Us S.O.S.
10. In Cairo

Riding the wave of retropunk with their debut Make Up The Breakdown, Vancouver natives Hot Hot Heat look set to sweep away Canada's reputation for bland beigepop in a flash flood of jagged riffs, ska-flavoured skips and post-mod(ern) hits.
Despite their spiky and spangly leather-coated exterior, Hot Hot Heat are far more concerned with fun than fashion: frontman Steve Bays' hyperactive shrieks on "Oh Goddamnit" bring to mind a young Elvis Costello with a better sense of humour, while "Aveda" brings together the best (non fist-shaking) bits of the Clash and early XTC. "Bandages" is destined to occupy indie disco playlists and ring throughout halls of residence for the foreseeable future.
For Hot Hot Heat, the beat is king, and Make Up The Break

pass=wholovesska
http://rapidshare.de/files/13234817/HHHeat.rar

Neo-Psychedelia

Neo-psychedelia covers a diverse array of artists from the end of the punk era to the present day, all of whom drew from the equally diverse original sounds of '60s psychedelia. Whether they played trippy psychedelic pop (à la the Beatles, early Pink Floyd, and countless others), jangly Byrds-influenced guitar rock, distortion-drenched free-form jams, or mind-bending sonic experiments, these groups looked to psychedelia as a wellspring of evocative, unusual sounds, and either updated or unabashedly copied the original artists' approaches. Some neo-psychedelia was explicitly druggy, while for others it was simply a logical complement to their bizarre lyrics or left-of-center outlooks. Neo-psychedelia has occasionally hit the pop mainstream -- Prince's mid-'80s work, for example, and some of Lenny Kravitz's retro-worshipping output in the '90s. But for the most part, it has been chiefly the domain of alternative and indie-rock bands. Neo-psychedelia first appeared on the British post-punk scene at the end of the '70s, with major figures including the Teardrop Explodes, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Soft Boys. Aside from the early-'80s Paisley Underground movement and the Elephant 6 collective of the late '90s, most subsequent neo-psychedelia came from isolated eccentrics and revivalists, not cohesive scenes. Some of the biggest included the jangly, dreamy Australian band the Church; Nick Saloman's Bevis Frond, which mixed melodic songcraft with loud power-trio jamming; the droning, druggy haze of Spacemen 3; the quirky college rock of ex-Soft Boy Robyn Hitchcock; the utter weirdness of Mercury Rev and the Flaming Lips; and the eclectic Britpop of Wales' Super Furry Animals.

king crimson - red

Red is an album by the band King Crimson, released in 1974. Musically the album is a neat bookend to most of the musical styles of King Crimson up to this point, in the sense that it combines the heavy metal sound from the previous two albums, whilst blending the Jazz-Rock moods of Lizard, and including the Mellotron that dominates the early Crimson sound.

• Every track on Red is a studio recording, with the exception of "Providence", which is a live recording
• "Red" was composed by Robert Fripp alongside a contrasting piece, "Blue", which has never been recorded.
• A part of "Red" was excised before the track was recorded. This part was later incorporated into the King Crimson track "VROOOM VROOOM", on the album THRAK.

Tom Waits Dime Store Novels, vol. 1

Tom Waits Dime Store Novels, vol. 1 (Live from Ebbets Field 1974)
High quality VBR mp3 format | 78,6 Mb

Track listing:
I hope that I don't fall in love with you
San Diego serenade
Good night loving trail
Diamonds on my windshield
Ice cream man
Please call me baby
Better off without a wife
The ghost of saturday night
Big Joe and Phantom 309
Semi suite
Ol' 55
On a foggy night
Martha

Password: waits

http://rapidshare.de/files/13152197/TW_DSN1.rar.html

The Dead 60s - Dead 60s

The Dead 60s are a rock band from Liverpool, England in the United Kingdom, and were previously known as Pinhole until they changed their name in 2003.

Their sound is an eclectic mixture of punk rock, ska and reggae. They've been compared with The Clash and The Specials, with influences also including King Tubby.

They undertook several successful tours of the USA in 2005 and opened "The Other Stage" at the Glastonbury Festival on 24 June 2005. Unfortunately, before their set was even to start the stage was hit by lightning and could not go ahead. Their debut album was released in the US in May, Japan in June, and the UK in September 2005.

1. "Riot Radio" - 2:23
2. "A Different Ace" - 1:33
3. "Nowhere" - 3:12
4. "Red Light" - 3:08
5. "Just Another Love Song" - 3:10
6. "Control This" - 2:39
7. "Loaded Gun" - 2:47
8. "Nationwide" - 2:21
9. "We Get Low" - 3:42
10. "Horizontal" - 1:55
11. "New Town Disaster" - 3:09
12. "The Last Resort" - 2:55
13. "You're Not the Law" - 5:25

http://rapidshare.de/files/9705058/The_Dead_60s.rar.html

Wire - Pink Flag

Perhaps the most original debut album to come out of the first wave of British punk, Wire's Pink Flag plays like The Ramones Go to Art School -- song after song careens past in a glorious, stripped-down rush. However, unlike the Ramones, Wire ultimately made their mark through unpredictability. Very few of the songs followed traditional verse/chorus structures -- if one or two riffs sufficed, no more were added; if a musical hook or lyric didn't need to be repeated, Wire immediately stopped playing, accounting for the album's brevity (21 songs in under 36 minutes on the original version). The sometimes dissonant, minimalist arrangements allow for space and interplay between the instruments; Colin Newman isn't always the most comprehensible singer, but he displays an acerbic wit and balances the occasional lyrical abstraction with plenty of bile in his delivery. Many punk bands aimed to strip rock & roll of its excess, but Wire took the concept a step further, cutting punk itself down to its essence and achieving an even more concentrated impact. Some of the tracks may seem at first like underdeveloped sketches or fragments, but further listening demonstrates that in most cases, the music is memorable even without the repetition and structure most ears have come to expect -- it simply requires a bit more concentration. And Wire are full of ideas; for such a fiercely minimalist band, they display quite a musical range, spanning slow, haunting texture exercises, warped power pop, punk anthems, and proto-hardcore rants -- it's recognizable, yet simultaneously quite unlike anything that preceded it. Pink Flag's enduring influence pops up in hardcore, post-punk, alternative rock, and even Britpop, and it still remains a fresh, invigorating listen today: a fascinating, highly inventive rethinking of punk rock and its freedom to make up your own rules. [The original 1989 CD issue by Restless Retro features a bonus track, "Options R."]



http://rapidshare.de/files/13054330/Pink_Wire.rar.html

Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong (2001)

1. National Anthem
2. I Might Be Wrong
3. Morning Bell
4. Like Spinning Plates
5. Idioteque
6. Everything in its Right Place
7. Dollars and Cents
8. True Love Waits

Given that Radiohead are one of the most zealously bootlegged bands in the world--nearly every public utterance is out there somewhere--the emergence of I Might Be Wrong, the band's first ever official live album, would seem a tardy and superfluous gesture. Conversely, Radiohead have never gone out of their way to actively discourage the black market trading of their live wares. Which makes you wonder just what is the intention of this live album? Could it be for hardcore fans who wish to remain on the right side of the law? Or could it be symbolic; the drawing of a double-ledger line under the sporadically interesting but frustratingly contrary anti-guitar rock intransigence of the Kid A/Amnesiac era and the opening-up of whole new chapter? Or perhaps it's because they just wanted to put out a live album? We must wait and see. And so, in all probability, must they. Nevertheless, I Might Be Wrong--featuring eight songs culled from live shows in Berlin, Oslo, the Roman amphitheatre at Vaison le Romaine (how very Pink Floyd of them) and their triumphant homecoming gig at Oxford's South Park--is pretty much beyond reproach, even if the renditions here--"National Anthem" (Charlie Mingus inspired with a raspy Motorhead bass line) "I Might Be Wrong" (Led Zeppelin meets Blondie's "Rapture") deviate little from the script of the original studio versions. The notable exception is an enchanting recital of "Like Spinning Plates", wherein the backwards electronica of the Amnesiac original is superseded by a romantic, ornate piano accompaniment for a classic Radiohead moment. Long-term devotees will also notice the first ever appearance on record of "True Love Waits" (Yorke with solo acoustic guitar), a song which Radiohead have grappled with for years and which finally finds a handle--and a home--right here. --Kevin Maidment

Third Wave Ska Revival

Third Wave Ska Revival
The Third Wave of Ska Revival emerged in the late '80s, when certain members of the American punk underground began returning to the sounds of British ska revival and infusing it with a hardcore punk attack. During the early '80s, this third wave continued to grow -- more bands continued to pop up across the country, but many of the most popular were based in California. As time wore on, the hardcore influences eventually mutated into heavy metal, much like hardcore punk itself. Eventually, the third wave of ska revivalists broke into the American mainstream, thanks to the success of fellow Californian punk revivalists Green Day and the Offspring. The first third wave band to break big was Rancid, but they were quickly followed by groups like No Doubt, Goldfinger, Sublime, and Dancehall Crashers; the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, who were one of the leading figures of the scene in the early '90s, just missed the commercial bandwagon. Most of the bands that followed Rancid into the charts emphasized metal over ska, but some -- like No Doubt -- drew from new wave pop roots as well, while Rancid themselves managed to stay true to both ska revival and punk. During 1996, the third wave of ska revival became one of the most popular forms of alternative music in the United States.

The Sisters Of Mercy - 2005.08.06 - Tilburg, Holland

THE SISTERS OF MERCY
013, Tilburg, Holland
Aug. 06, 2005

Source: Sharp MD-MT88 w/ Coresound Cardioid mics.
Lineage: Sony MDS-JE770 -> Dig. Out -> Soundblaster Live -> Soundforge 7.0 -> Wave -> Flac Frontend

Disc 1:
1. Crash and Burn
2. Ribbons
3. Come Together
4. Doctor Jeep/Detonation Boulevard
5. Alice
6. Flood I
7. Giving Ground
8. Dominion/Mother Russia
9. Summer
10. First and Last and Always
11. Will I Dream?
12. Anaconda
13. Temple of Love
14. On the Wire/Teachers/On the Wire

Disc 2:
1. we are the same, Suzanne
2. Romeo Down
3. Flood II
4. I Was Wrong
5. Never Land
6. Lucretia
7. Top Night Out
8. Vision Thing

The Sisters of Mercy are a band that emerged of the British post punk scene in 1980-1981. After achieving early underground fame in UK in early 1980s, the band goth their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until early 1990s, when it stopped releasing new recorded output as a strike against their record company. Currently the band is kept alive as a touring outfit only.

http://rapidshare.de/files/13109984/som-_tilburg.rar

The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow

Chutes Too Narrow is a 2003 album by indie rock group the Shins. The album title comes from a lyric in the song "Young Pilgrims." The album was generally well received by critics, garnering an overall score of 88/100 on Metacritic. It has sold about 300,000 copies so far. The album has a much cleaner sound than the Shins' 2001 debut, Oh, Inverted World, largely due to the album's being mixed by producer Phil Ek, who also worked with Built to Spill and Modest Mouse. The album also included violin parts on "Saint Simon," played by Annemarie Ruljancich. Chutes Too Narrow was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.

Rammstein - Rosenrot (2005)

1. "Benzin" (Petrol or Gasoline) 3:46
2. "Mann gegen Mann" (Man against Man) 3:51
3. "Rosenrot" (Rose-red) 3:55
4. "Spring" (Jump) 5:25
5. "Wo bist du?" (Where are you?) 3:56
6. "Stirb nicht vor mir//Don't die before I do" (feat. Sharleen Spiteri) 4:06
7. "Zerstören" (Destroy) 5:29
8. "Hilf mir" (Help me) 4:44
9. "Te quiero puta!" (Spanish for I want you whore) 3:56
10. "Feuer & Wasser" (Fire and Water) 5:13
11. "Ein Lied" (A Song) 3:44

The "Rosenrot" (Rose-red) track was highly anticipated by fans of Rammstein, as it was first slated in February 2004 to be the first single from the band's fourth studio album, "Reise, Reise" (the song "Mein Teil" took that honour instead). In the end, "Rosenrot" didn't even make the tracklist of "Reise, Reise", a move that the band's management claimed "left them speechless."

The lyrics are an amalgam adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's (whose poem "Erlkönig" similarly inspired the "Reise, Reise" track, "Dalai Lama") poem "Heidenröslein", and a story from the Brothers Grimm.

The story depicted in the Rosenrot video closely follows the song's lyrics. The band, dressed as clergy members, arrives at a Romanian village in the Carpathian Mountains. Till Lindemann's character becomes romantically involved with a younger girl there, and eventually murders her parents at her request. She then betrays him and the villagers burn him at the stake.

Tindersticks - Curtains [1997]

[Modern Music Recommended]
1. Another Night In
2. Rented Rooms
3. Don't Look Down
4. Dicks Slow Song
5. Fast One
6. Ballad Of The Tindersticks
7. Dancing
8. Let's Pretend
9. Desperate Man
10. Buried Bones
11. Bearsuit
12. Are You Trying to Fall In Love Again (Tonight)
13. I Was Your Man
14. Bathtime
15. Walking
16. A Marriage Made In Heaven

Curtains finds Tindersticks exploring the same dark, string-drenched territory as their first two albums, and while it shares a surface similarity with its predecessors, there are subtle differences that make it a rewarding listen. The tone of Curtains is slightly brighter than that of the second album, with the songs unfolding into lush, affecting laments that recall Scott WalkerCurtains is the songwriting. The Tindersticks have become more assured writers, letting the songs gradually develop into intimate epics. Stuart Staples' lyrics are similarly textured and subtle, with alternating layers of pathos and humor. Curtains, in many ways, functions as the culmination of what the Tindersticks set out to accomplish with their first two albums, and the results are appropriately stunning at his finest. Though the sound is seductive, what is most impressive about

http://rapidshare.de/files/10799199/Tindersticks_Curtains.zip.html

The Strokes - First Impressions of The Earth (2006)

1. "You Only Live Once" - 3:09
2. "Juicebox" - 3:17
3. "Heart in a Cage" - 3:27
4. "Razorblade" - 3:29
5. "On the Other Side" - 4:38
6. "Vision of Division" - 4:20
7. "Ask Me Anything" (Julian Casablancas/Nick Valensi) - 3:12
8. "Electricityscape" - 3:33
9. "Killing Lies" (Julian Casablancas/Nikolai Fraiture) - 3:50
10. "Fear of Sleep" - 4:00
11. "15 Minutes" - 4:34
12. "Ize of the World" - 4:29
13. "Evening Sun" (Julian Casablancas/Fabrizio Moretti) - 3:06
14. "Red Light" - 3:11

First Impressions of Earth is the third album by the American indie rock band The Strokes. It was released in January 2006 (see 2006 in music), having been preceeded by lead hit single "Juicebox" some weeks earlier. It is also the first album by The Strokes to have a Parental Advisory Label.

With most of the album recorded with David Kahne, with minor input from their first producer Gordon Raphael, First Impressions of Earth is widely seen as an expansion beyond The Strokes' first two albums, Is This It and Room on Fire. However, the album so far has received mixed to warm reviews from critics, unlike their previous material which was generally acclaimed.

"Heart In A Cage" is slated as the album's second single.

First Impressions of Earth entered the UK album chart at #1, The Strokes' first one there, while it reached #4 in the US, with an entry sales week of 88,000 units, somewhat below expectations.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JCR56JA8

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm No

Track List:
1. View From The Afternoon, The
2. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
3. Fake Tales Of San Francisco
4. Dancing Shoes
5. You Probably Couldn't See The Lights But You Were Looking Straight At Me
6. Still Take You Home
7. Riot Van
8. Red Light Indicates The Doors Are Secure
9. Mardy Bum
10. Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But...
11. When The Sun Goes Down
12. From The Ritz To The Rubble
13. Certain Romance, A

"I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" was the first single released by Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys after being signed on Domino Records.

Released on 17 October 2005, it rode the wave of popularity on which the band were riding after sellout gigs at venues such as the London Astoria. It debuted at Number One on the UK Singles Chart on 23 October.

The title track also features on the band's debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, which was released on 23 January 2006 - one week after their second single - "When The Sun Goes Down".

Van morrison - What's Wrong With This Picture?

While 2002's Down the Road was the best Van Morrison release in ages -- with its autobiographical allusions, cultural critiques, and new band -- it could not have prepared listeners for the jolt of this, his Blue Note Records debut What's Wrong With This Picture? While the album is hardly a straight jazz record, it does take the territory he explored on Down the Road another step further into the classic pop music of the 20th century filtered through his own Celtic swing, R&B, vocal jazz, and blue-eyed soul. The title track that opens the album is as close to an anthem as Morrison's ever written; he states with an easy, swinging, jazzy soul groove that he is not the same person he once was and wonders why that was so difficult for others to accept. There is no bitterness or bite in his assertions. If anything, the question is asked with warm humor and amusement as if it is indeed the listener's hangup if he/she can't accept Morrison "living in the present time." He asks, "Why don't we take it down and forget about it/'Cause that ain't me at all," as the song whispers to a close. Morrison's employment of a large horn section -- actually a pair of them as the disc was recorded in different sessions -- is full of teeth and big, bad soul. "Whinin Boy Moan" is a direct cue from Mose Allison as read by Big Joe Turner. Hard-swinging R&B horn lines (including his own alto saxophone) combine with killer solos by tenorman Martin Winning and trumpet boss Matt Holland as Morrison does his most inspired blues shouting since Wavelength. Celtic soul is never far behind, either, as it displays itself on the stunningly beautiful "Evening in June." The way Morrison employs brass, woodwind, and reed textures is unique for him as clarinets, alto and bass, flügelhorns, and loads of saxophones gradually build as the emotion in a tune imparts itself. Acker Bilk makes a return appearance here co-writing and performing on the elegant, bluesy swing of "Somerset." Other than this collaboration and stellar covers of "St James Infirmary" and Lightnin' Hopkins' "Stop Drinking" -- the most unique and timely interpretation of the nugget since Louis Armstrong's, and it contains the greatest horn solo interplay on any Morrison record ever -- Morrison's songwriting is more expansive, more intricate, and more luxuriant in its use of grooves, vamps, and riffs as they intertwine with beautiful horn charts, sophisticated melodies ,and the always-present blues feel. There are 13 tracks here, and virtually all of them would be standouts on any of his other records. But the aforementioned tracks, along with "Meaning of Loneliness" and "Once in a Blue Moon," are among the finest tunes he's ever written, let alone recorded. This is the sound of an artist who is comfortable making a break with his past because it is not a break; he understands it as the next part of a continuum that goes deeper and wider than anyone else ever expected. This is the sound of self-assurance as it articulates itself with grace and aplomb.

Pink Floyd - The division Bell

The Division Bell is the most recent studio album released by Pink Floyd in 1994 (March 30 in the United Kingdom, April 5 in the United States). The album was recorded at a number of studios, including guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour's houseboat studio called The Astoria. It debuted at #1 on The Billboard 200 album charts in April of 1994. The album was certified Gold, Platinum and Double Platinum in the US in June of 1994 and Triple Platinum in January of 1999 in the US. The album was named by Douglas Adams, taken from a line of the final track, "High Hopes". Its release was accompanied by a successful tour documented in the P*U*L*S*E album released the following year.

Before the Roger Waters-led period, David Gilmour stated that the music and lyrics were in balance, and the importance of the music was understood.The album's atmosphere is certainly spacier, sounding more like Meddle or Obscured by Clouds than the grittier and harsher tones of Animals or The Wall. David Gilmour and Rick Wright stated on In the Studio with Redbeard which spotlighted The Division Bell (the episode had interviews which were recorded for the album's premiere) that The Division Bell was the band's best album since their 1975 release Wish You Were Here.

Depeche Mode - Violator

Violator is Depeche Mode's seventh full-length album. It was released by Mute Records on March 19, 1990. The album is notable for propelling the band into stardom with the hits "Personal Jesus", which was actually released six months before Violator, and "Enjoy the Silence". This album is seen by many fans as the third in the band's triptych of top albums. In 2003, the album was ranked number 342 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It is also seen as a watershed album in terms of both production and song quality by fans, critics and the band itself.

Silverchair - Frogstomp

1 Israel's Son (5:18]
2 Tomorrow (4:26)
3 Faultline (4:19)
4 Pure Massacre (4:58]
5 Shade (4:01)
6 Leave Me Out (3:03)
7 Suicidal Dream (3:12)
8 Madman (2:43)
9 Undecided (4:36)
10 Cicada (5:10)
11 Findaway (2:56)

Silverchair's debut album, Frogstomp, faithfully follows the alternative rock tradition of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, which means that the group of Australian teenagers winds up sounding not like their idols, but like Stone Temple Pilots and Bush. For their age, their instrumental capabilities are quite impressive, as the guitars and vocals growl with the force of rockers in their early 20s. At the same time, their songwriting abilities aren't as strong, and they are never able to break away from the standard grunge formula. Nevertheless, the record does deliver a collection of songs replicating the thunder of "Tomorrow." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Van Morrison - Back On Top

The great Irish rocker offers ten new songs here. "When the Leaves Come Falling Down" is a masterpiece, a memory of weather and Paris wherein Morrison's voice lightly colors a melody as his band conjures a background of symphonic impressionism. The other songs, rendered in lively arrangements, are various blues, uptempo tunes and ballads reminiscent of Morrison's most classically minded past work; engagingly sung, they are not pale imitations, but they don't venture anywhere surprising, either. On "Philosophers Stone," Morrison complains that even his best friends don't understand his strivings; in "New Biography," he reminds us that celebrity culture hasn't yet won him over. Back on Top is solid, brilliant, silly in sad ways. But it's still one Monet and nine Norman Rockwells.

Creed - Discography

Creed - Human Clay

1. Are You Ready?
2. What If
3. Beautiful
4. Say I
5. Wrong Way
6. Faceless Man
7. Never Die
8. With Arms Wide Open
9. Higher
10. Wash Away Those Years
11. Inside Us All
---------------------------------------------------
CREED - WEATHERED

Tracks:

01 - Bullets
02 - Freedom Fighter
03 - Who's got my back
04 - Signs
05 - One Last Breath
06 - My Sacrifice
07 - Stand Here Whith Me
08 - Weathered
09 - Hide
10 - Don't Stop Dancing
11 - Lullaby
-------------------------------------------------------
Creed - My Own Prison

Tracks:

1. Torn
2. Ode
3. My Own Prison
4. Pity For A Dime
5. In America
6. Illusion
7. Unforgiven
8. Sister
9. What's This Life For
10. One
11. Bound & Tied
----------------------------------------------------------

Creed was a post-grunge group, that became one of the biggest selling rock bands when they appeared in the the late '90s. While real grunge groups were experimenting with new sounds, Creed adapted grunge into a commercial style, and went with it selling millions of albums. This success didn't gain them any critical acclaim however; Creed were slammed for their formulaic sound, and dogged with accusations by critics of being derivative of famed Seattle grunge band Pearl Jam, as some believe Creed lead singer Scott Stapp's vocals sound virtually identical to Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. Notably they inspired a slew of copycats like Puddle of Mudd that embraced the commercial grunge sound.

Post-Grunge

Post-Grunge
Post-Grunge refers to the wave of bands who appeared shortly after Seattle grunge hit the mainstream. The major difference is that while the Seattle bands were firmly rooted in underground alternative rock of the '80s, post-grunge was influenced by what grunge became -- a wildly popular form of inward-looking, serious-minded hard rock. That meant many post-grunge groups imitated the sound and style of grunge, but not necessarily the individual idiosyncracies of its original artists. The angst-ridden, sober introspection typically associated with grunge became virtual requirements in the hands of post-grunge, which tended to view it as a path to artistic legitimacy. In its worst excesses, post-grunge took itself extremely seriously, and was highly self-conscious about its own significance; as a result, grunge's most personal aspects essentially became components of a formula for making grand musical statements. That wasn't universally true, of course, but post-grunge did help codify what was expected of mature, mainstream hard rockers for the rest of the '90s. And despite its alternative roots, post-grunge was definitely a mainstream, commercial style -- it was released on major labels, and its thick, distorted grunge guitars were given a polished, radio-ready production. Yet while much post-grunge is similar, it isn't identical; in addition to grunge, post-grunge bands might draw from early-'80s jangle pop, punk-pop, ska revival, alternative metal, or classic album rock. Plus, a few quirky post-grunge outfits succeeded because of their wiseass senses of humor, rather than the style's typically dour melancholy. After grunge's breakthrough, it didn't take long for post-grunge to appear; bands like Bush and Candlebox became huge successes just a couple years after Nirvana topped the charts at the beginning of 1992. After grunge's initial heyday had passed, post-grunge kept going strong, with a new wave of bands appearing in the mid- to late '90s; some were able to maintain their popularity from one album to the next, while others wound up as one-hit wonders. At the turn of the millennium, post-grunge was still a popular style, and Creed and Matchbox 20 were two of the biggest-selling rock bands in the U.S.