new introductory bit here.

This is a reviews page based on my own collection, which just keeps growing despite itself. If it isn't listed here, it's because I don't own it yet, or I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Also, bother your local "new rock" radio station and make sure they are playing "new rock" and not "Rock the Casbah," which is not new.

note: entries in red text indicate my pick for the artist's best available album. A gold numeral indicates the POPocalypse winner of the year's best album; second- and third-place winners are in blue. Green lettering indicates an obviously exploitative record company compilation without apparent artist input.

October Project's music, which I am informed was overwhelmingly voted by a British e-mailing list "the best to shag to," is the dense and ethereal construction of its leaders Emil Adler and lyricist Julie Flanders, who composed truly haunting stories of love and agonized emotional need. Fronted by vocalist Mary Fahl, who sounds like she's singing with the voice of God, they spawned several college and alterna-rock radio faves, such as the powerful lament "Return to Me," on their thunderous, utterly beautiful debut album. Two years later, the five-piece recorded their second album over the course of one month in Nashville. It included the heartbreaking "One Dream" and the album (reportedly) charted, but following its release, they were dropped by Sony/Epic and the band splintered. Adler and Flanders later assembled a new band, coined November Project, while Mary Fahl spent a few years doing commercial voiceovers before signing to Managra Music to revive her musical career in 2001.