April Skies - Flood

Apollo - Good band, not crazy or interesting. A step above Muzak.
Adama - Tom Petty without the whining, Counting Crows without the hippie.
Starbuck - Two steps above Muzak.
Boomer - Fury In The Slaughterhouse with a bit less soul, but the same perfect musicianship.
Boxey - Not going to surprise too often. Good songs, amateur vocals. Earnest rock. (Shallow)

Automatic Duo - Black Is Beautiful

Apollo - Beck...calling Beck... yet still manages to rock, because Beck rocks.
Adama - Like the "Plant Man" song. And "Because I Got High...On Plants" and Robert Plant.
Starbuck - Lo-fi groove rock - think Beck - Tons of musical talent, cool songs. SanApollo and friggin' Son.
Boomer -Simple, rewarding as white wine & an okay joint.
Boxey -Campy, quirky, occasionally interesting, and I tried hard not to think Beck.

The Brimstone - Solar Radiation Band

Apollo - Talented, upbeat, weird overtones (mandolin, congos) 70's recording values- sounds good on 8-track.
Adama - Early 70-s rock re-invented into a more pure and melodic form. Astonishingly beautiful.
Starbuck - Recycled old noises made new and interesting again. Give me Brimstones or give me death!
Boomer - Late psychedelic brilliance from Norway's finest export. Bevis Frond taken to the next sonic level.

Casionauts - Bailamos Morimos Juntos

Apollo - Fun, nerdy. Can't hear the music without horn-rimmed glasses.
Adama - Awesome song titles, songs are not so good.
Starbuck - A step in the evolution of monkeys towards writing Shakespeare. Still fucking far away.
Boomer - Energetic new wave, like The Zom Zoms all pissed off. Or The Briefs. Thrilling, funny, and smart.
Boxey - Uber-clever new-wave indie punk. Great drumming, great cool synthesizer. Fucking Brilliant!

Cats & Jammers - Propose Toast

Apollo - The pop version of your favorite mid-80's punk band.
Adama - Like The Vandals crossed with Unrest, withour the fabulous guitar.
Starbuck - Think of your favorite band to go see live. This is them! Good, solid pop roc.
Boomer - Pop- punk rip-offs on the tip of your tongue.
Boxey - Poser punk remixed. What you've heard before, put in a blender, then cleaned up.

Jonathon Greer - Essex

Apollo - Symphonic spread with electronic manipulations. The movie in my head gets two thumbs way up.
Adama - Score from an unknown film. Very cool layers of sound. Brilliant structure - amazing sound.
Starbuck - The soundtrack which tackles life in a wondrous, totally sexless journey into self-discovery. Sounds like therapy.
Boomer - Must...use...every...synth...I...wasted...money...on. Flute fetishist soundtrack.
Boxey - Not bad for a soundtrack.

Niall James Holohan - A Beautiful Corpse

Apollo - Entrancing & quirky Indie rock - brilliant lyricism, varied musicality. Strong songwriting, but lacks direction.
Adama - Club Med on the Emerald Isle.
Starbuck - Intimate, directionless lite pop with nice dark lyrics.
Boomer -Electronica to Disco to fiifties prom music, spans decades of lousy music. Squeeze Byrds into Crowded House.
Boxey - Just because you call yourself the "Dark Prince Of Pop" does not make it so.

Innaway - Innaway

Apollo - It's Portishead. Culling the heavy-hearted song from the Brit-pop herd.
Adama - Mildly psychedelic, in a slow, dark opiate way. Spaced out, mellow and echoey.
Starbuck - Downbeat psychedelic pop with breathy unsure vocals.
Boomer - Hit & misses. The hits rock, the misses...well, miss.

J. Page - Goodbye Chapel Hill

Apollo -Face To Face with a throatfull of mucus. Decent pop-punk, but needs antibiotics.
Adama - Chunky pseudo-punk rock with Bosstones flavor, minus ska. Best liner notes of the year.
Starbuck - Emo-hardcore as rough, sensitive and general as restroom condoms.
Boomer - Unmighty Bosstones clones too tired to get off the couch.

Kelda - Detour

Apollo - The usual girl-rock. Not ground-breaking, but not painful.
Adama - AAA Lilith Fair stuff Great voice, but lame Carly Simon song-structures.
Starbuck - Brilliant girl pop - sometimes downbeat, sometimes upbeat, but interesting and nicely in-key. Nice.
Boomer - Strong, lilting harmonies, natural delivery, lackluster arrangements.
Boxey - Nice pipes. Needs to fire her producer.

The Midget - The Midget

Apollo - Alt-Indie-Country-Pop genius. Like Looper on lo-fi banjo folk steroids. Very sonically interesting, cool lyrics.
Adama - Lazy. The rock in rocking chair-who let them in Eric's room?
Starbuck - Lo-fi alt-banjo-funk-retro-rock-country with people too short to sing on key. Creative, but doesn't measure up.
Boomer - Hitchiker's Guide theme done indie-pop style. This is the guy the geeks beat up.

The Pindrops - The Pindrops

Apollo - The wacky lo-fi Beatles. Brilliant lyrics imbedded between cool quacking guitars and cooler harmonies.
Adama - Good old, off-beat, talented & folksy rock. What happens when the pedals cost more than the guitar.
Starbuck - The most indie of all great indie bands. Moody dark and quirky, Violent Femmes Style.
Boomer - Your basic rock band. You almost want to sing along. Surprisingly decent too.

Spunhuny - Spunhuny

Apollo - Make your own clothing, drugs and way across the country. Horrible.
Adama - If you're into Deadhead, you'll dig it. But if you're like me, you'll puke.
Starbuck - Mildly Psychedelic jam rock. Musically proficient, but lacking soul and purpose. Mostly tasteful, occasionally ridiculous.
Boxey - I graciously decline to comment.

Syd Matters - Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles

Apollo - Low-beat neo-folk. Somewhere between Czars and Red House Painters. Moody, dark, extremely beautiful. Bela Union.
Adama - Really good mellow indie rock.
Starbuck - Whiskey Town without being so lovesick. Sparklehorse.
Boomer -All but hopeless, depressing folk. Fertile, soothing, nourishing. Cohen with everyman lyrics.

Underdog - 3 Tracks

Apollo - I dig the album cover. It rocks!
Adama - Big meandering sound with little effect.
Starbuck - Good solid British hard rock, chunky guitars, excellent melody. Pristine songwriting, fine production.
Boomer - Often bleak, occasionally ambitious. Joyless, but talented.

Uru - Uru

Apollo - Afro-Euro-ballad-pseudosultry torch singing. Might be intoxicating if she actually stayed on note.
Adama - Mellow Afrobeat blended R&B that would impress your girlfriend and show your sensitive side.
Starbuck - Breathy pop R&B, often off-key. But nice off-kilter arrangements. The soul Jarboe?
Boomer - Slow-down electronic African/Reggae AAA music. Sonically very interesting, but disparate parts distract.
Boxey - Every stripper has a dream, like making her own R&B record.

Zox - The Wait

Apollo - Changeup ska, chameleon band that you can hear almost any other group mixed in.
Adama - Bush unplugged. Then plugged. Then planted. Nice dynamics and builds.
Starbuck - Musically awesom ska-pop rock stuff. Ultra-proficient players on great songs. Unspeakably amazing. Cool violins!
Boomer - Sprinklings of suspenseless ska mingle with overwrought, and occasionally catchy pop.
Boxey - Sounds like a million different bands. I think that is awesome.