Home Grown
Kings Of Pop
Drive Thru Records
It shouldn’t be news to anyone that Drive Thru is a cesspool of crappy cookie cutter pop-punk bands. Home Grown are from Long Island, and they appear to be Drive Thru’s draft pick for "hip band from the newly trendy Long Island scene". There are a couple good songs here, notably My Time Alone, but the rest of it gets bogged down in the Warped Tour/Blink 182 wackiness that gluts punk rock today. They are hardly Kings Of Pop, but they are a lot better than a lot of the rest of the crap on that MCA farm team.

Lucero
Tennessee
I saw Lucero a couple of months ago and thought they were ok, but I fell for the record hook, line and sinker. Tennessee is the record that has ruled by stereo the last couple of months. Lucero are from Tennessee, as you might surmise, but they ain’t Nash Vegas by a long shot. Cody Dickinson (North Mississippi All-Stars) gives Tennessee a rough-hewn polish that spits in the glossy face of Nashville convention. They’ve still got a way to go before they hit the big time, but the songs get better with every album and they touring relentlessly, so check them out when they come through town next. Part V-Roys, part Drive By Truckers, Lucero stand to be the next band your friends will be talking about..

Slobberbone
Slippage
New West Records
Well, it’s album number four for the boys from Dallas and there’s no real signs of Slobberbone slowing down. Slippage has a couple songs that show a move in the direction of Soul Asylum. While they are decent songs, it’s songs like Butchers that are Slobberbone’s bread and butter. Best captures moments in everyday life like few can.

Two Dollar Pistols
You Ruined Everything
Yep Roc Recordings
There must be something in the water in North Carolina. Drive By Trucker Patterson Hood has said that Two Dollar Pistol frontman John Howie has a million dollar voice and he’s not all that far off the mark. It hasn’t been the greatest year for Howie, but heartbreak has never been a bad thing when it comes to country albums. You Ruined Everything is a great honky-tonk record, equal parts Owens/Rich twang and George Jones tear in your beer heartbreak songs. She may have ruined everything, but she gave the Two Dollar Pistols a hell of a great record.

Venusian Skyline
Twilight Songs
Undecided Records
Bands should really read their press releases out before they attach them to their cds. FloridaÕs Venusian Skyline are of a mind that they, and I quote: "provide an opus of enduring music wrapped in a curtain of epic qualities that can only be described as a lasting audio landscape of monumental proportions". Well, if you say so. From where IÕm sitting, this is insipid NY/SFcoffeehouse rock at itÕs most Vero Beach. If you remember the Gathering Field, this is a third rate version of that guilty pleasure with bonus music school keyboards. They would argue Pink Floyd and the Doors. Their funeral. The SkylineÕs smartest move by far was drafting J. Robbins in to produce, as Twilight Sings is well recorded, but at the end of the day, if you throw shellac on a turd, itÕs still shit, just prettier.

Onalaska
To Sing For Nights
Dim Mak RecordsOnalaska is comprised of a gaggle of Seattle scenesters from Kill Sadie, Minus The Bear and Botch. While all those bands are pretty respectable, I guarantee that if you read Onalaska’s promo sheet and its comparisons to Kenny Rogers and Will Oldham, you’d never listen to this record in a million years. Blessedly, To Sing For Nights sounds nothing like Mssrs. Rogers or Oldham and everything like Lifestyle-era Silkworm. Fine by me. Lyrically smart and cheerfully shambolic, To Sing For Nights is the perfect soundtrack for that last whiskey at home before bed.

Filmmaker
An Invitation To An Accident
Farway Record
Filmmaker hail from north of the border, up Saskatchewan way. They must long for California sun, as An Invitation To An Accident sounds a lot like our No Knife and Pollen. The guitar players know how to play together, the singer sings without resorting to trendy Tourettes outbursts, and you can hear the bass. Not too shabby. Other than a couple wincing moments in the lyric department, this is a pretty solid debut. Filmmaker aren’t the Weakerthans, but they go a long way towards atoning for Sum 41.

Dualesc
through the floods, not with them
Rise Records
For better or for worse, Richard Patrick of Filter has championed dualesc, allegedly flying them in from their native Portland to Chicago and recording their demo for free. Demo in this case seems to stand for demographic targeting. Picture Matt Pryor from the Get Up Kids fronting a Deftones cover band and you’re pretty much there. Yawn. I’ve heard a lot of things about Mr. Patrick, and very few of them revolve around his boundless generosity, so I’m pretty sure that we’ve got ourselves a faux indie band here, perhaps even on a faux indie label. How quaint. Taking that into account, self-aggrandizing album titles might not be the best way to go, as dualesc are most assuredly going with the flow and not fighting the current in any way.