The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin (Warner)
Scared of Chaka Tired of You (Sub City)
Various Where Is My Mind? A Tribute to the Pixies (Glue Factory) Back in '89 I said that the Pixies would define radio rock in the '90s. To an extent I was right, as exemplified by the likes of Weezer, who not suprisingly drop a track on this tribute ("Velouria"). Most of the bands here are on the pop-punk/alt.rock axis, presenting very faithful (read: forgettable) covers, though I must say, the Get-up Kids' "Alec Eiffel" and Samiam's "Here Comes Your Man" actually manage to beat Black Francis and co. at their own game. Oddly enough, the best track is care of Cali ska-core fools Reel Big Fish. No ah-cha-ah-cha business, though; their "Gigantic" is a crazed '80s club-droid groove with wall o' raunch guitars, sirens and stuff. That one's fun! 6.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication (Warner)
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Even the acid-warped, movie-poster cover and the word "soft" in the title announce this umpteenth album by psychedelic Okies the Flaming Lips as an epic (you know, "soft" anything sounds good: Soft Machine, the Soft Boys, even The Soft Parade). And once you get to the innards you find that, indeed, Wayne Coyne and co. have gone all mushy and produced a classic: mushy in the same gorgeous, orch-pop way that soulmates Mercury Rev went with last year's Deserter's Songs (Rev's Dave Fridmann produces, by the way) and classic in the sense that every song is a slayer, whether it's evoking the ghost of Brian Wilson past, the Spiritualized of the present, or the phantom future of rock. 9/10 (Chris Yurkiw)
Straight outta Albuquerque, Scared of Chaka set out to revolutionize the primping and posing that is overtaking rock 'n' roll at the moment, and also prove to steer clear of cookie-cutter new school punk. Taking some nods from fellow New Mexicans the Drags, they really raunch it up on "Tired of You Sick of Me." They even manage to breathe new life into the tired genre of pop-punk by pulling off a Generation X sound hopped up on 7-11 coffee. The MC5 cover, "Teenage Lust," seems to be an obvious choice and gets a snotty make over as singer Cisco Baretta takes it to the next level. Buy this now! 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
"I don't believe it's bad," sings Anthony Kiedis on "Otherside," and I almost agree. Yet the RHCPs' newest effort also makes me wonder whether endurance and soaring success inevitably lead to mediocrity. While Flea still has the hop and the bite, while Kiedis' voice still hypnotizes, while tracks like "I Like Dirt," "Porcelain" and "Road Trippin'" bring fleeting pleasure, one gets the impression that the RHCPs are getting old. This disc will be on the radio it was made for. And if you leave it there, that's all right, you won't be missing much. 6.5/10 (Sarah Groff-Palermo)