---

This is where I gush about a bunch of bands I'm really into. I like noisy, heavy rock stuff with a poppy edge to it. Noise pop? I don't know what you call it, but I like these. This isn't all of them, obviously, just my favorites.

I'll also upload all the lyrics to their stuff, since some of them are pretty hard to find.

Failure

Failure were a three-piece out of Los Angeles that formed early this decade. They have a really dissonant, atmospheric sound with lots of really heavy bass and great drumming, but these guys can write a really great tune too. They also do all their own production, which is crazy. I've heard people compare them to Nirvana, but that's pretty unfair to Failure. It sucks they broke up last year. Favorite band ever.

Albums:

• Pre-Comfort singles (1992)
• Comfort (1992)
• Magnified (1994)
• Fantastic Planet (1996)

Starflyer 59

Starflyer 59 are another favorite band of mine. They're a really heavy guitar band with a lot of whispered vocals and some lounge and surf influences mixed in there. I heard someone on alt.music.alternative call it "shoegazing" the one time, but I think that sounds dumb. Gold got me through sophomore year, and their new one, The Fashion Focus, sounds totally different from the rest, so at least they're not doing the same thing over and over.

Albums:

• Silver (1994)
• She's the Queen EP (1994)
• Gold (1995)
• Le Vainqueur (1995)
• Americana (1997)
• The Fashion Focus (1998)

I don't have a copy of Americana, so I can't transcribe the lyrics from it. Sorry.

Garbage

Garbage is so weird and different from anything else out there. They do all these different genres and cut them up and play with them, like rock and electronic and trip-hop and noisy weirdness, but it's all got this sultry tone to it thanks to Shirley Manson's voice. Their new album is way different from the first one, very synthetic sounding, but it's still pretty good. I'm glad people are catching onto them.

Albums:

• Garbage (1995)
• Version 2.0 (1998)

The Dandy Warhols

This is one of my favorite new groups to pop up in the last few years. The Dandys play druggy, vaguely glammy self-aware psych pop with lots of layers. I think you know where they're coming from when they write songs called "Ride", "Cool as Kim Deal", or "Lou Weed", but luckily, that's where I'm coming from too.

Albums:

• Dandy's Rule OK (1995)
• ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down (1997)