Luke Haines has relaunched The Autuers after his success with his other bands, Black Box Recorder and Baader Meinhoff. This CD seems to combine all the lessons he's learned in those bands. It is quirky yet hummable, with memorable and offbeat structures aside familiar ones. The darkness and melancoly of his artistic vision only seems creepier in the pop context that The Auteurs dwell within. Gee- those last few sentences sound sterile! The new Auteurs album sounds like "Heaven"-era Psychedelic Furs mixed with Pulp. There. that's better!

Brand new French Eggstone record with 11 songs which appear on the Siesta "Spanish Slalom" disc, but with 8 songs we don't have yet. Eggstone are a band from southern Sweden who were formed in 1986, when Patrik Bartosch, Maurits Carlsson and Per Sunding used the blueprints from bands like The Jam and The Clash, but added a tea-spoon of The Smiths and Prefab Sprout. Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne wrote the liner notes on this rare and wonderful CD. If you've never heard Eggstone I urge you to pick up their CD on Spain's Siesta Records. It is inexpensive and easily available, unlike this disc. It was featured in the February 16 1999 Gull Buy. One of the great songs from Spanish Slalom ("Water") is sung in Swedish on this record as "Mizu".

One of the most popular and best bands from Spain. There is a 'Power, Corruption, and Lies' New Order feel in the first 2 songs with the bass, plus the sophistication and style of Siesta with female vocals sung in Spanish. Very upbeat, with male background vocals providing the "ba ba ba's", and occasional Spanish dialog. The third song has an Orange Juice feel to it. This EP has 4 songs, any of them a joy.

GGGAH are a band from San Diego. There are 5 songs on the A-side, and 2 PIL-like songs on the B-side. Songs 1, 4, & 5 are like a post-punk version of Los Cincos with somewhat distorted vocals, and songs 2 & 3 are instrumentals with a Crispy Ambulance, Factory Records type sound. The last song on side A almost reminds me of Stiff Little Fingers "Johnny Was A Good Man" sung by Arab On Radar.

Followup to their "Hymn For The Alcohol" single. The A-side is on their brand new LP on Too Pure, but the B-side is unique to this 7". With it's repeated refrain of "I love to see the girl smoke in my bed" and the roll call of different brands of cigarettes and what they each remind Darren Hayman of, this song has fun lyrics like "How can she love me if she doesn't even love the cinema that I love", and a very rocking sound.