Points for music.

Dedication:  Lieder of Beethoven, Liszt, Schumann, and Strauss Ben Heppner Points: 7 10/17/00	So for whatever reason, I wanted to get into Lieder.  It's for personal reasons.  No, I'm not turning gay.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  Ben Heppner is a big, fat (plus one point) Canadian (plus one point) operatic tenor.  His album features gauzy, soft-focus black-and-white fat photos of him on both the front and back (plus two points), but it is titled "Dedication," as if it were some fucking rock-and-roll theme record (minus two points).  Classical music records should all have very utilitarian titles like "Ben Heppner sings Lieder of Beethoven, Lizst, Schumann, and Strauss."  He sings pretty good (plus one point) and the Lieder he chose are pretty (plus one point) but it gets a little boring (minus one point).  But at least he's kind of subtle and dramatic and he doesn't get too wanky (plus one point).  Also, on the back of the CD booklet, there is a soft-focus black-and-white photo of just his hat (plus three points). -David Sollors
Happy Already Sportsguitar Points: 6 10/04/00	Sportsguitar are a Swiss band (plus one point) and have the coolest name ever (plus two points). They have, of course, the obvious charm that comes from crazy foreigners singing in English (plus one point). They transcend that, however, capturing the basic human condition in lines like "you wanted me to join you, bring you home and maybe kiss your pussy/I needed first another beer and then one more in another bar" (plus one point). For your average indie-rock band, they have a pretty good variety of songs and interesting arrangements (plus one point). I really like this record. I will probably listen to it an awful lot. -Mark Yokoyama
Ad Astra Per Aspera Bingo Points: 5 10/4/00	This is the second record by Bingo. It starts off with my favorite song of his, "So Moved" (plus one point). It's actually not as good, or not, at least, as much the version that I wanted, so I'll have to minus a half-point. Although he has some musical cliches and such (minus half a point just to get things even), almost all the songs really work (plus one point). In addition, the vocals are clean, present and without too much reverb (plus one point). For clarification, the music is electric and acoustic american music. Some of it could come from a Massachusettes indie-rock basement, some of it could come from an Austin bar, and the record as a whole still works, maybe my personal taste makes it so. I give it a point for making simple things sound good and engaging and a point for sounding real. The awkward moments, which are not too often are vastly preferable to me than the alternatives, to overproduce, or to simplify-out anything that isn't perfect, if that makes sense. And I forgot to give it a point for strong, often lovely, melodies, which I will do now. -Mark Yokoyama