Look what Jeffrey Morgan's Media Blackout #196 dragged in!

Poison — Seven Days Live (Armoury) :: What can you say about an album that actually dares to list one of its eleven songs as: "Drum Solo"? You said it.

Walls of Jericho — Redemption (Trustkill) :: Five femme-fueled power ponderances asking that musical question: Is Candace Kucsulain the new Nico?

Fear Nuttin Band — Yardcore (Bodog) :: Jahve nuttin d'feah bwah dis Korny wrekord widjil leeve fuh evva indie infuhmmy, mon.

3 Doors Down — 3 Doors Down (Universal Republic) :: There's a lot of potential here for the kinda classic riff-laden crunge rock that Columbia and Warner Bros. used to regularly release during the mid-'70s — but only if they ditch all the barf-bag ballads first.

And the Moneynotes — New Cornucopia! (Prairie Queen) :: Imagine a kooky, countrified, vaudevillian cross between wittily written Sparks and musically playful Boiled in Lead with an all too brief added dash of Lennonesque guitar.

Less Than Jake — Gnv Fla (Sleep It Off) :: Soulful speed-freakin' ska widda bouncy English Beat!

The Fashion — The Fashion (Red Ink) :: Now why do I get the feeling that these cool cats would've fit in perfectly on Bowie's "1984 Show"?

Walter Meego — Voyager (Red Ink) :: Seriously soaked in synths, this is the best Eurotrash electropop since the end of the '80s.

The Green Hour Band — The Green Hour Band (Kingdom) :: And this is the greatest garagedelic rock album I've heard all week. These poor little Greenies have hallucinated an LP that sounds like Their Satanic Majesties Request as recorded by the Beatles and released on ESP Disc. It's far-out, man.

SIZZLING PLATTER OF THE WEEK: Priya Thomas — Priya Thomas Is Blood Heron (Boiling Pt) :: Poetess Priya is Canada's answer to Patti Smith, only she's a much better singer, a much better writer and a whole lot smarter. Plus, she lives up to the song title "Your Guitar, My Undoing" by unleashing a blistering solo the likes of which hasn't been heard since Fripp lost a grip on Here Come the Warm Jets.

Be seeing you!