ALTROK Ordinals 13

Chocolate Genius - godmusic (V2)
Jeff says: Chocolate Genius is essentially Marc Anthony Thompson of New York City. A couple of years ago he released an album called "Black Music" that was, without a doubt, one of the finest records ever released...that no one heard. "Godmusic" is part 2 of a planned trilogy from Thompson and it picks up where the last left off. 13 tracks of extremely personal words with a frighteningly intense performance to back them up.

Butterfly Jones - Napalm Springs (Vanguard Records)
Perry says: OK, the name makes them sound like a boy band but it's actually the work of Dada band members Michael Gurley and Phil Leavitt. They take off exactly where their 1998 MCA selftitled release did. Add in more brit-rock biorhythms and psychedelic inflections and you have Dada 3 years later. Produced by Scott Gordon and with an appearance by Soul Coughing's Mark Antoni, this is a marvelous collection of rock tunes that will probably go unheard (like all of the great Dada records.)

Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most (Vagrant)
Jeff says: Dashboard Confessional is another band moniker for what is basically a one man show. His name is Christopher Carrabba. The latest trend in "emo-core" music is to strip away the volume that's always been there in favor of a mostly acoustic approach. What this does is force the vocals to actually be sung instead of screamed and you can finally hear just how heartbreaking the words are. All of the vitriol is still there, it's just now you can hear it. If I could write a song, this is probably what I would come up with...

(This week's Ordinals courtesy the ever-more-influential Jeff Raspe, and ever-more-alert ALTROK reader Perry Lin.)