Fresh from its surprise Academy Award for Marcia Gay Harden’s performance as Lee Krassner, Ed Harris’ biopic Pollock faces an even tougher test – a review from our own Carl F. Gauze.

The Cleansing (Metal Blade). Review by Nathan T. Birk.

Rock –N– Roll America (Vagrant). Review by Brian Kruger.

Various Artists (Relapse). Review by Mitchell Foy.

Brown Out (The Schematic Music Company). Review by Matthew Schaefer.

Deconstructing Paradise (Paved Country BMI). Review by Vanessa Bormann.

Perhaps Ziggy could play guitar, but there were many things he could never dream of doing. Like wrestle, for instance. A mostly, really, probably true Bladejob investigation on Akira Hokuto.

Mojave 3 at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, NY on February 17, 2001. Concert review by Joshua Krause.

Girls Can Tell (Merge). Review by Nathan T. Birk.

Hugely popular in their native Australia, Jebediah are starting to make waves as indie darlings herein the States following the release of their second album, Of Someday Shambles. Jason Feifer traverses the International Dateline to catch up with frontman Kevin Mitchell.

Various Artists (SPV). Review by Matthew Moyer.

Compilation Appearances Vol. 1 (Projekt). Review by Dave Aftandilian.

Twisted Thought Generator (Metropolis). Review by Matthew Moyer.

“Play some Skynyrd!,” you yell? OK, we’ll oblige. Hal Horowitz takes a look back at the career of the Southern rock icons through the eyes of the new rarities collection, Lynyrd Skynyrd Collectybles.

Whether it’s for Cheap Thrills or a symptom of the Dionysus Syndrome, The Black Halos know that in the end, it’s only rock & roll – and they like it! Gail Worley risks international phone lines to catch up with frontman (and wild man!) Billy Hopeless.

Girls (Suicide Squeeze). Review by Daniel Gill.

Tiger Pop: Songs by John Brodeur (Mr. Duck). Review by Terry Eagan.

York Blvd. (Vapor). Review by Marcel Feldmar.

Quickies (Self-released). Review by Brian Kruger.

If a band is made up of nothing but girls, a lot of people’s first inclination is to believe that they’re all eye candy with no real musical talent. The last thing a lot of people would believe is that they can actually rock! The ladies of Girlush Figure are out to put the lie to those old stereotypes with their first album, Target You. Phil Bailey introduces you to Pigpen, Squeaky, and Donna.