Satanic Surfers 666 Motor Inn (Burning Heart/Cargo)

Sweden's Satanic Surfers take their cues from the mid-'80s hyper-hardcore of straight-edge acts like Uniform Choice and the Gorilla Biscuits. Their fast-paced ferocity is matched with equally positive lyrics and though the bio insists (five times) on a '90s version of the Hard Ons, something just short of The Stupids may be more accurate. With an affable injection of spirit, 666 Motor Inn rises above the clones. 8/10 (John Turner)

King Cobb Steelie Junior Relaxer (EMI)

Steelie vocalist Kevan Byrne lets the music do the talking after 1994's Project Twinkle, leaving more instrumental roominess. Junior Relaxer discards all musical maps in favour of a "swimming-through-black-vaseline" dub sound. In deftly exploring the rebounding art of groove, King Cobb Steelie may prove to be one of Canada's most important bands. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Howie Beck Pop And Crash (13 Clouds)

A bad case of mono laid up T.O. drummer Howie Beck (ex-Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Twilight Rituals) for a year, so he turned to the guitar and turned his bedroom into 4 Walls Studio. More folks should be this "ill"; his solo debut reveals him to be a classic pop-rock singer-songwriter, a little more ramshackle than Matthew Sweet and a lot less cynical than Freedy Johnston. A personal Crash that gives the public some perfect Pop. 9/10 (Chris Yurkiw)

Oliver Schroer and the Stewed Tomatoes (Big Dog Music)

The lad's publicity material refers to him as "the Frank Zappa of the fiddle." Hyperbole, sure, but Schroer does seem to be on to something. Schizoid genre-jumping, from Celtic to Cajun to Balkan to lord knows what, is the Toronto musician's stock in trade. Due in part to Schroer's silly, down-to-earth humour, this disc doesn't sacrifice accessibility in the name of exploration. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) more discs...