The drummer on this is now with Pinback, which seems appropriate. If you like Pinback, or Trail Of Dead..., give this a listen. Very cool stuff. Total rock action.

Seriously, if there's one record on this list you all should check out, it's this one.

And if you don't believe me, believe the good and honorable, TBogg, who turned me onto them (they being both from San Diego).

This is a newcomer to the list.

Matt Pond writes excellent songs: ridiculously catchy songs, with beautiful melodies and smart lyrics. And they're delivered so effortlessly (and he turns out so many of them!) as to make anyone who has ever tried writing a song shake an envious fist in his direction. And sometimes they even rock a bit. "Sunshine", in particular, is just so fucking good I can't believe it. Gah.

Great album. Another good one to cook to.

Sometimes it sounds like there's barely enough room between Marah and late-era Replacements (or solo Westerberg) for you to swing a beer bottle. It's that same smirking swagger, hearts-on-their-sleeves, non-nonsense, melodic rock & roll that Big Star started and then Westerberg reworked once the Replacements started running out of angst. Marah puts a little more grime and soul into it than the Replacements did, getting a little Faces action in there. And they turn up the blue-collar earnestness in the words, which gets into more of a Springsteen feel. So, if you know those bands, Marah's sound probably won't startle you. Which isn't to say they're ripping anyone off, just that, you know: it's a style. And anyway, influences aside, Marah is very good at what they do. This record is full of songs that sound like they came from some awesome but overlooked garage band from a couple decades back. And they did - except it's only 7 years old. And the band is still out there. And they put on a great live show.

So, after a few years of putting out sub-par records, diggin on heroin, losing Mick Taylor, and eventually gaining Ron Wood, they got their shit together (thanks to the influences of punk and disco and NYC in general) and put out this scrapper. Just the sound of thing is a million times better than Black And Blue or It's Only Rock And Roll. It's all sharp and punchy and in your face. There's plenty of slop and little misses, but that just adds to the impression that this is a band that's getting its rock on. I like it. I don't skip anything, on this one.