Best British Alternative

For one thing, when the project is conceptualized by 4AD Records brain-man Ivo Watts-Russell and includes artists from groundbreaking U.K. bands such as Cocteau Twins , Magazine , and Dead Can Dance , and when a chunk of the material is from musical heavyweights such as Tim Buckley (the haunting "Song to the Siren"), Alex Chilton of Big Star (the devastating "Holocaust" and the heartbreakingly lovely "Kangaroo"), and Colin Newman of Wire (the rockin' "Not Me"), you're bound to come up with something that will be remembered and revered by old-school Goths everywhere.

The first Black Box Recorder album, 1998's England Made Me , was originally conceived by Auteurs and Baader Meinhof frontman Luke Haines as a typically baleful response to the cultural and political hysteria--respectively, Britpop and Tony Blair--then gripping Britain. Where her perfectly English-accented whisper infused England Made Me with the air of a bored aristocrat finding contemptuous amusement in the misery of others, on The Facts of Life she has located an edge of taunting viciousness all the more diabolical for being so understated.

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Disregarding all the wordiness and adjectives that can be heaped like a pile of horse dung at Disneyland upon great, timeless albums, the importance of this record can perhaps be more suitably measured by the number of people who remember the first time they heard it. Furious, intelligent, artful, and entirely musical, it's a baker's dozen of cannon shots to the gut -- not just a batch of emotionally visceral and defiant songs recorded by angry young men, but something greater. And while Fugazi's music has since grown in sophistication, fan favorites such as "Waiting Room" and "Margin Walker" are early indicators that something decent can come out of our nation's capital.

Bringing together mainstays of two of the most influential bands of the last 20 years, Bernard Sumner of New Order and Johnny Marr of the Smiths, the music of Electronic far has eceeded the high expectations that such a creative parntership undoubtedly engenders.

Over the course of his first two solo outings, Roman Candle (Cavity Search) and his self-titled second effort (Kill Rock Stars), his fans are left to wonder if he isn't writing entirely autobiographically. His bleak, Dylanesque lyrics have garnered a large, rabid, though specific audience, an indie-rock fanbase who can see the truth in the visuals Smith conjures. The soundtrack spawned the Academy Award-nominated ''Miss Misery'', which led to an Oscar night performance, wedged between Trisha Yearwood and Celine Dion, of all people. This reluctance to play the game of celebrity is furthered in ''Angeles'', where ''Picking up the ticket / Shows there s money to be made / Go on and lose the gamble / That s the history of the trade''. Erstwhile Heatmiser member and prolific singer/songwriter Elliott Smith has now recorded three solo albums, and the brand-new Either/Or marks something of a thematic transition for him: Where the songs on his eponymous sophomore release were generally stark, guy-with-acoustic-guitar confessionals about drug abuse and darkness, there s brightness and a pop feel to his new Either/Or. Songs like ''Alameda,'' ''Speed Trials,'' ''Ballad of Big Nothing,'' and ''The Morning After'' are heart-breakingly melancholy, yet informed by a feel for classical-tinged pop a la The Beatles and, more recently, Jeremy Enigk. Smith s terrific acoustic arrangements and uncanny ability to wring hooks from sadness make these songs worthy of pop success, but the fact is, they re probably too good to be played on the radio alongside that awful new Offspring single.

Singer Kurt Cobain had the pipes to belt out such power trash as "Mr. Moustache" and the Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz," but considering the sheer volume of frustrated tuneage coming out of Seattle in 1989, it was easy to miss Bleach 's subtler textures.

Over the course of his first two solo outings, Roman Candle (Cavity Search) and his self-titled second effort (Kill Rock Stars), his fans are left to wonder if he isn't writing entirely autobiographically. His bleak, Dylanesque lyrics have garnered a large, rabid, though specific audience, an indie-rock fanbase who can see the truth in the visuals Smith conjures. The soundtrack spawned the Academy Award-nominated ''Miss Misery'', which led to an Oscar night performance, wedged between Trisha Yearwood and Celine Dion, of all people. This reluctance to play the game of celebrity is furthered in ''Angeles'', where ''Picking up the ticket / Shows there s money to be made / Go on and lose the gamble / That s the history of the trade''. Erstwhile Heatmiser member and prolific singer/songwriter Elliott Smith has now recorded three solo albums, and the brand-new Either/Or marks something of a thematic transition for him: Where the songs on his eponymous sophomore release were generally stark, guy-with-acoustic-guitar confessionals about drug abuse and darkness, there s brightness and a pop feel to his new Either/Or. Songs like ''Alameda,'' ''Speed Trials,'' ''Ballad of Big Nothing,'' and ''The Morning After'' are heart-breakingly melancholy, yet informed by a feel for classical-tinged pop a la The Beatles and, more recently, Jeremy Enigk. Smith s terrific acoustic arrangements and uncanny ability to wring hooks from sadness make these songs worthy of pop success, but the fact is, they re probably too good to be played on the radio alongside that awful new Offspring single.

CULT - SONIC TEMPLE (RM) - CD.

Fronted by pianist Thomas Lauderdale, Pink Martini is the real article--a band that approaches the music with unwavering seriousness yet never forgets the fun at the heart of it.

Contrary to most pop experimentalists, NMH songs stretch way past the two-minute mark: "Two Headed Boy" transforms from a Guided by Voices-ish romp into a New Orleans big band funeral march, "The Fool" is as catchy as anything Poi Dog Pondering ever produced, and "Holland" builds up to a crescendo of saw, Uillean pipes, a chorus of voices, and fuzzed-out guitar.

Static Age is an album by the American horror punk band the Misfits.

Over the course of his first two solo outings, Roman Candle (Cavity Search) and his self-titled second effort (Kill Rock Stars), his fans are left to wonder if he isn't writing entirely autobiographically. His bleak, Dylanesque lyrics have garnered a large, rabid, though specific audience, an indie-rock fanbase who can see the truth in the visuals Smith conjures. The soundtrack spawned the Academy Award-nominated ''Miss Misery'', which led to an Oscar night performance, wedged between Trisha Yearwood and Celine Dion, of all people. This reluctance to play the game of celebrity is furthered in ''Angeles'', where ''Picking up the ticket / Shows there s money to be made / Go on and lose the gamble / That s the history of the trade''. Erstwhile Heatmiser member and prolific singer/songwriter Elliott Smith has now recorded three solo albums, and the brand-new Either/Or marks something of a thematic transition for him: Where the songs on his eponymous sophomore release were generally stark, guy-with-acoustic-guitar confessionals about drug abuse and darkness, there s brightness and a pop feel to his new Either/Or. Songs like ''Alameda,'' ''Speed Trials,'' ''Ballad of Big Nothing,'' and ''The Morning After'' are heart-breakingly melancholy, yet informed by a feel for classical-tinged pop a la The Beatles and, more recently, Jeremy Enigk. Smith s terrific acoustic arrangements and uncanny ability to wring hooks from sadness make these songs worthy of pop success, but the fact is, they re probably too good to be played on the radio alongside that awful new Offspring single.