The Spinning Room
By Rob Browning


Tift Merritt
Bramble Rose
Lost Highway Records
Every once in a while, you come upon a record that grabs you from the first listen and makes you play it over and over again. Bramble Rose is one of those records. Tift Merritt is from the Raleigh, North Carolina area and used to play with a band called the Carbines, who she may have dropped in her signing to Lost Highway. If she has shed them in a way more drastic than name, it's a shame, as being able to play them night after night must be a hell of a great time. Tift has an Emmy Lou Harris/Dolly Parton meets Lucinda Williams vibe that's really hard to beat. Smouldering downtempo songs like Trouble Over Me and Sunday break up the raucous Stones-y swagger of songs like I Know Him Too like Coke smooths out Jack Daniels. You'll want a double of this. Maybe now we can stop hearing about Ryan Adams.

Bottle Rockets
Songs Of Sahm
Bloodshot Records
The Bottle Rockets are a great live band whose last record Brand New Year wasn't all that great. Brian and the boys have really stepped up to the plate on this one. Now, while it's true that you really can't go wrong with a whole record of Doug Sahm covers, remember how many bad covers of She's About A Mover you've heard. I know I've suffered through a ton. Brian Henneman sings and plays great on this, but the real diamond in the rough is bassist Robert Kearns, whose lead vocals on two tracks really steal the show. With the departure of longtime rhythm guitarist Tom Parr, it'll be interesting to hear the Bottle Rockets as a power trio, but for the meantime the Songs Of Sahm will do just fine.

Centro-Matic
Distance and Clime
Idol Records
Dallas band Centro-Matic have been getting a pretty big buzz recently after their tours with Slobberbone and backing up Anders Parker. I missed them on both tours, but was kind of taken aback when I heard them, as they are much more in the Pavement/Flaming Lips school of things. Well, Oklahoma's not all that far from Texas, and they remind me a lot of fellow Texans Comet, so I can see the cross-pollination. Locale aside, this is a good record if your into the aforementioned bands and like the lo-fi indie rock vibe. Bet they're pretty good live.

Strung Out
An American Paradox
Fat Wreck Chords
Strung Out have been around a long damn time, and are definitely elder statesman of the Fat Wreck roster. They've got the west coast pop punk sound that Fat Wreck was founded on, with obvious debts to No Use For A Name and Samiam, just faster. One wonders how they can play so fast with the amount of weed they smoke. Regardless, An American Paradox has a bunch of typical Strung Out songs with a couple forays into the harder breakdown oriented stuff that the kids today like. It comes off as really genuine and forward looking rather than genre jocking, a testament to their experience in the game. Well worth picking up.

The Mendoza Line
Lost In Revelry
Misra Records
There couldn't be a better title for a Mendoza Line record than Lost In Revelry. I've seen them two or three times and while they obviously had good songs, they were so fucking drunk that they couldn't pull them off, with more drunken trainwrecks than American Music Club. While they are always compared with AMC and are pretty talented, they are no AMC. The Line are part of the drunk and melancholic literati, but more in the Neil Young/Bob Dylan end of things. Someone in the band also listened to a lot of The Church. Influences are definitely worn on sleeves on Lost In Revelry, and there are a lot of sleeves being proffered, with at least three singers and songwriters in the mix. It gives the record a disjointed vibe, but not unpleasantly so. They are a member of the Athens/Brooklyn axis, so you've probably heard them. Pick up this record for the next time you stay in by yourself drinking.

Steve Earle
Sidetracks
E-Squared/Artemis Records
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Steve Earle is our generation's Johnny Cash. His misspent youth is rapidly being overshadowed by his voluminous body of great songs and his dedication to seemingly every good cause on Earth. Now he's even writing books. Some one needs to try a decaffeinated coffee. Sidetracks is a collection of unreleased, soundtrack and single cuts that is better than some of his official records. The dancehall version of Johnny Too Bad with the V-Roys pops up, as does his cover of the Supersuckers barnstormer Creepy Jackalope Eye. There are also two instrumental tracks from the Transcendental Blues sessions that ought to appeal to all you people who just went out and sold back the Buena Vista Social Club record to buy the Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack. Regardless of the era of Earle-dom you are a fan of, Sidetracks is a must have.

Superchunk
the clambakes series
Vol. 1: acoustic in-stores east & west
Merge Records
The mighty Chunk did four acoustic shows in one day around North Carolina's Triangle area to promote the new Here's To Shutting Up record. They taped them all, combined it with a couple more acoustic in-stores they did in Texas and Seattle, and you can buy it off them via the internet. Pretty good. They play most of Shutting Up, as well as slowed down versions of Throwing Things and Detroit Has A Skyline. I've never been the biggest fan of the slowed down version of Detroit, but this one almost won me over. I definitely would have like to have heard Home At Dawn, but this is a solid release for the obsessive Chunk fan and it's better than anything else you bought this month, so hop on the Net and get one soon, as there's only 1500 to be had.