ALTROK Ordinals 4

Matt Keating - Tilt-A-Whirl
Jeff says: After a number of albums on Alias Records Matt has just self-released a new album. For the rest of the world it's on Poptones, the new label started by former Creation Records honch Alan McGee...the guy who found Oasis. Beautiful acoustic-based songs...half are pretty much solo and the rest are with a full band that take him down a very Americana path.

LLoyd Cole & The Negatives - "Impossible Girl"
Rich says: It'll remind you why you listened to 'HTG back in the day. It'll also show you that incredible songwriting can grow and mature, even after you're convinced that the artist has expelled every demon/angel from his/her psyche.
Mike says: Lloyd Cole is cool enough, but Jill Sobule as a guitarist in the band, too? And tipping the scales with some excellent songs, like this one.

Shades Apart - Beat By Beat
Mike says: Jersey rock the way it oughta be--with a punk-influenced edge.

Prayer Boat - Polichinelle
Jeff says: Irish band that I know nothing about. Other than they've made an absolutely GORGEOUS album in a Blue Nile-kinda-way.

Ministry - What About Us
Sean says: Stanley Kubrick found Ministry "amusing", and so they appear in the last movie he ever worked on, "A.I.", waxing poetic about man's waning place in an increasingly mechanized world and gluing the needles into the red while doing it. The video is directed by Steven Spielberg, meaning that of the seven signs of the apocalypse, this is number three hundred and fifteen.

Eileen Rose - Shine Like It Does
Jeff says: Boston ex-patriate that has lived the last decade in England. This is her debut and it's kinda bluesey-folky-rocking. Wonderful stuff. And she's absolutely adorabe to boot...

Fenix TX - Threesome
Mike says: They may be Blink 182 proteges of sorts, but they're sounding MUCH better than where Blink is these days.

Bunt - The Pigeon Club
Jeff says: Yeah, New Brunswick legends Bunt finally return withh a new album. Rocks yer ass...but not in a Papa Roach way.

Midge Ure - Move Me
Rich says: Sometimes too over the top, sometimes it'll send chills down your spine. Reap The Wild Wind meets Turn to Grey, with some extra hipness thrown in at no additional charge.

Venus In Furs - Rebel 17 EP
Jeff says: You can get this free (from their England home) just by asking at their website. 3 tunes of fantastic Brit-girl pop-punk.

Continental Drifters - Better Day
Rich steals Jeff's thunder: Db's, Bangles and Cowsills, oh my. Country-pop-twangy indie rock with more hooks than a bait shop; more fun than a barrel of corporate consultants with a check from the indie.

Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
Sean says: Gorillaz are the Archies, except for Don Kirshner. They're a cartoon band, voiced by Damon Albarn from Blur and drawn by Jamie Hewlett of Tank Girl fame. The record's weird, and fun, and their website links to the Powerpuff Girls.

Radiohead - Knives Out
Mike says: After I first heard this song via Napster last summer, I was shocked when the band didn't include it on the "Kid A" CD. Now that it's on "Amnesiac," I'm still totally into it.

Rich leaves us with this thought: So for now, never mind the man behind the curtain. He's with the Milennium Group, and he's just buying a few radio stations.

(This week's Ordinals courtesy Rich Robinson, Jeff Raspe, Mike Sauter and Sean Carolan.)