Ultra Milkmaids, "disco 2k_ep" ( Ant-Zen). Minimal as always, the Ultra Milkmaids' latest release on Ant-Zen, "disco 2k_ep," begins so much like a stuttering, skipping record that you check to make sure that isn't actually the case. As the first track ("disco 2k") winds its way through your system, you wonder if the stuttering is going to stop, and when "rrr d" slips in with a sustained high frequency tone, you wonder if this is all you're going to get. The record perks up a bit with "um_bb," a collaboration with Blue Baboon (yeah, your guess is as good as mine, welcome to the land of spooky, unknown collaborators) and finishes out Side A with the wandering drip of errant water pipes that have been left unclosed throughout the winter. Side B starts off a little better with "aka," a fragmented track that sounds like someone is simultaneously tuning the radio and a guitar and not finding a satisfactory signal/sound with either. The track is restful in its ambience for all of about three minutes and, just as you're starting to get antsy about a lack of rhythm, "mer 1" slides in and, well, you drift into a different space. By the time Scanner's remix of "elizablank" rolls around, I'm ready for some old-style beat ambience and Mr. Rimbaud definitely delivers. Great packaging (the 10" is slipped into the back of a Stefan Alt designed calendar) goes a long way too, but this one's for purists and completists.  -Mark Teppo.

Fontanelle, "F" (EP) (Kranky). Taken from the same sessions which provided us with their debut album of last year, "F" finds core members Rex Ritter and Andy Brown storming up a series of session work that harkens back to Miles Davis around the turn of the '70s, replete with drones and collages and improvisational passages that talk of both the past and the present. I did the list of influences last time and won't go into all that again here because it really begins to detract after a while from the simple fact that neither Rex nor Andy nor any of the other four members probably gave much thought to what they were going to call it. Pigeon-holing means that you've found a way to neatly shelve it and I say, "Why?" Why not leave it in the player and hit "play" again? That's what I'm about to do.  -Mark Teppo.

The Trifid Project, The Trifid Project (Vacuum). A short collaboration between James Plotkin and Matthieu Maire (of French experimental project Celluoïd Mata) for the young Vacuum label, The Trifid Project is an EP haunted by spectral voices, the industrialized sounds of nature (you know, water and crickets and cows standing beside the Autobahn), sparks of static, and squiggly, burbling beats. With assistance from Sheila Mata and Yves and Marie Daubert, these six tracks veer from strict ambient excursions to rock song structures to beat loops to endlessly echoing rhythmic patterns. Beginning with the manic beats and whispered alphabet voice of "Rubber Check" to the draining Ultra Milkmaids-like ambience of "Nebula," The Trifid Proejct is an unique effort that amalgamates a number of styles into an entirely new state. It's not something you hear everyday (and if it is, I want to know what your radio dial is tuned to), but definitely a disc that continues to surprise the listener every time it finds its way into your CD player.  -Mark Teppo.

Fireball Ministry, FMEP (Small Stone Records). Subtitled "The First Church of Rock 'n' Roll," maybe they are just looking for the tax exemption to pay for beer money. This ain't religious, they just wanna rock and beat up someone. The vocalist, Reverend Jim (James A. Rota, II), has a voice born to rock, but I don't think he's really a reverend. Janis Tanaka, bassist for the band, will be familiar to the Seattle readers as being from L7. Emily Burton will be the female guitar hero for the next generation if she keeps rocking this hard. The songs of Fireball Ministry are born in the depths of doom but come crawling back up from the abyss ready for some serious trouble and a beer. These songs are loaded with hooks and plain old rock and roll sensibility. Just to make it more palatable, Fireball Ministry adds a wallop of irreverence and a big heaping dosage of ripened-green, pop-crystallized stoner rock. You might want to think of them as a really stoned Monster Magnet fronted by Jerry Lee Lewis on a mean hard-booze kick. Truly, this is stoner doom that rocks as it rolls. Tunes like "King," Choker," "Muscle of Love" and "Cough/Cool" will make them into potential underground superstars. This is too raunchy and mean for the above-grounders, isn't it? Not so fast, according to the press release the readers of LA Weekly voted them Best Hard Rock/Metal Band over such contenders as Marilyn Manson, Fear Factory, Tool and Nebula. Maybe the people of LA know something.  -Sabrina Haines.

This is not just another bedroom project. The songs are immaculately crafted and produced. Incorporating guitar, piano, dialog samples and long intro builds, Railgun seem on a mission. Their specialty seems to be creating intricate, Zen-like loops that play just long enough to put you into a trance only to furiously zig-zag into chaotic and jagged textures that leave you needing air.

There is no excess baggage here. Railgun's dark nature keep them well away from being pigeonholed into the more mundane level of dance music they can no doubt be associated with. This is fun stuff that is definitely worth seeking out.  -Jeff Ashley.

Built to Spill, Sabonis. This is a radio-only promo EP, so the closet most of us will come to this little gem (including myself) is with our ear wedged against the radio, or in front of our computer wishing for fatter bandwidth as we try to stream the songs off of the band's website. Comprised of two songs--"Strange" and "The Weather"--off the upcoming July 10 release Ancient Melodies of the Future, and two rare live cuts--the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On" and "Linus and Lucy," otherwise known as the theme from Peanuts--this EP, titled after Portland Trailblazers' Arvydas Sabonis, was rumored for some time to be the title of the band's new album, but works equally as well as the title for these batch of songs, especially given its play on words.

So how are the tracks? While it's nice having the two bonus live tracks (which will not appear on the album), the sound quality of each is sorely lacking, and further adds to the frustration when you figure that you can't even buy this release to properly be annoyed with the quality (or lack thereof).

However, the two new studio cuts shimmer with that special Built to Spill glow (you know what I'm talking about). Sounding a little dirtier and looser than the tracks off of Keep It Like a Secret, Built to Spill's previous release, "Strange" opens up with a rolling organ, Doug Martsch's voice at a mid-tempo stride. But it's in the song's production where it steps away from the BTS mold. Layered throughout are sly little guitar loops that add to the mix by taking your attention slightly astray from the main course of distorted guitar. "The Weather" starts off with the strum of a acoustic guitar set against the whisper of Martsch's voice. Drums and guitar creep inside the lines and things begin to pick up with the hum of a stray organ playing single notes. "You wanted to be outside in the sunshine where the song keeps itself inside you." With its musical sigh and shy smile, it's perfect Built to Spill, and if it's indicative of the rest of Ancient Melodies of the Future, we all have something to look forward to come July.  -Craig Young.

Greatest American Hero, Breathe. Okay, raise your hand if you remember the early '80s show Greatest American Hero? I do, and man did it bite. A high school teacher gets handed a superhero suit by aliens with which to save the world and then loses the instruction manual. Seems like the aliens would have an extra copy stashed somewhere, or you would think that high school teacher Ralph Hinkley would eventually figure out how to fly. I've caught better air and flown higher on a skateboard. But nope... So for the next three television seasons Hinkley and an FBI agent (played by Robert Culp) bumble from one misadventure to another. And then there was the theme song by Mike "Sugar-Coated for Easy Consumption" Post. "Believe it or not I'm walking on air / I never thought I could feel so free / Flying away on a wing and a prayer / Who could it be? / Believe it or not it's just me." Ouch, that hurts.

So what does Greatest American Hero share with Seattle band Greatest American Hero? Thankfully, just the name (although I'm hopin' some day they kick out a death metal version of the show's theme song). GAH sound reminiscent of Seattle circa '95. Not too heavy to be grunge, not too pop to be...pop, this guitar, bass and drum trio serve up garage-inflected rock with smart, melodic sensibility. Breathe is a three-song demo that smartly showcases what this band is capable of, and as of this writing the band are currently working on a debut album which, unlike the former television show, should be something to look forward to.  -Craig Young.

Scenic, Spheres EP (Independent Project Records). Scenic's Incident at Cima is certainly one of the landmark ambient spaghetti western soundtrack albums and, while the follow-up Acquatica didn't completely capture the breath-taking landscape of their first release, it demonstrated that there was still some space in the open vistas of the genre that can be explored. After five years, Scenic returns with "Spheres," a short three-song EP that continues the tradition. Over a rollicking rhythm track, "The Spheres" rolls into town with a plaintive slide guitar melody in tow while "Lunar Afternoon" takes you out amid the scrub brush and serenades the full moon as it rises over the distant mountains. "Riding the Arctic Express" rounds out the journey as the hot sun sets and gives way to music that can be heard whispering faintly on the crisp, high desert night air. "Spheres" is a great EP that reminds me why Scenic's work never fails to grab my attention.  -Mark Teppo.

Earthbound Smoke Ghost, Karma's Grave. Earthbound Smoke Ghost certainly fills your ears with a heavy load of doomy metal that is determined to split the earth beneath you and trap you forever in it's earthy grasp--or at least that's how you feel when Karma's Grave starts. "Asphalt Green" and "Buried" are the bass-blowers supreme with riveting riffs (Marcos Orellana) and gargantuan drums (Dalton). The lines from Jeff Scott's bass will rumble you right out of your seat on those two songs. "Outer-Self" had better oust itself or portions thereof before the band has to pay money to Money--I'll bet you two tickets to paradise that you'll figure this sentence out mid-way through the song. "Until" and "Black Saturn" are solid, interesting songs, but really only the first two songs ignited my soul. Although after repeated listenings, "Black Saturn" is weaseling it's way into my subconscious. Karma's Grave is a thoroughly engaging release that will leave you panting like Pavlov's dog at the drive-thru for a second dose. The more I play it, the more I enjoy Karma's Grave, especially "Asphalt Green." I await with baited breath the next puff of power from the mighty Earthbound Smoke Ghost. If you like powerful, doom-ridden stoner, pack this in your player and let your lungs hold it tight. Ignition.  -Sabrina Haines.

Eraldo Bernocchi, "Re-Charged #2" 12-inch (R & S). The remixes from his Charged release (a brilliant collaboration with Bill Laswell and Toshiniro Kondo that has, sadly, become somewhat hard to find) are seeing release on the R & S label as a series of 12-inch releases. I just picked up the second one ("Re-Charged #2") with Peter Brotzmann doing the A-side and Mick Harris doing the B. It's hard to say who threatens to melt your system more; and while Harris certainly lays down a wicked groove that is certainly inspired by the previous work that he has done under his Quoit moniker, I think it is Brotzmann's track that ultimately wins. After a long, ambient-flavored intro, the jack-hammered assault kicks in. Worth tracking down for that change-over alone.  -Mark Teppo.