I was listening to Woxy Vintage internet radio when I heard Magnapop's "Open The Door" and decided it was time to do a review of their last cd Mouthfeel. Magnapop had the attention of the college music scene back in the early 90s. Discovered by Michael Stipe and who's debut cd was produced by Bob Mould, you can't get a better start than that. Although Mouthfeel came out the beginning of last year, it was an 8 year hiatus between albums for them so my review is not too late.

Mouthfeel starts off with "We're Faded" and with lyrics "we're faded, but not out of sight" you know you are in for a treat. Magnapop captured the perfect balance between male/female bands. Their music has punk and pop elements, topped off with duo female vocals. Track 3 "Pretend I'm There" sounds like a b-side to their last record, a bit of the lighter side but not over produced. They keep the punkpop feel going with "Satellite" one of the best songs on the record. "California" reminds me a lot of the theme song for the OC which really gets on my nerves and sticks in my head so I tend to skip this one.

Listening to Magnapop takes you back to an era where there was no Nu Metal, Rap Metal, wanna be Emo and crappy post punk. The early 90's had some great stuff but once '96 hit things went downhill. Magnapop put out their last recording and Radiohead surfaced a year later with their art rock "Kid A" which pretty much sucked. '96 was the transitional year between what was good and what was over the horizon. Radio became dominated by Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, Sugar Ray, Collective Soul, Semisonic and Tonic. That was painful but nothing prepared us for the crap that would soon follow. By the late 90s Kid Rock broke out and you had Limp Bizkit, Korn, Deftones and Staind to name a few. Music had hit the wall and I was afraid there was no recovering. Luckily a little Detroit band named The White Stripes swooped in and saved the day. They ushered in the era of garage rock and the indie rock crossover to the masses.

Sorry for the tangent but my point to all of this is, from the late 90s until a few years ago, there was not a lot of good music out there. The Brit Rock music scene had their staples Oasis, Supergrass, Pulp, Blur but the new stuff coming out was not that good. The US music scene was dominated by crap and the only stuff making a difference was the Indie Rock scene. Being a college DJ from '95-'98 was my only saving grace since I was able to play good music on the airwaves for everyone to listen to. Ok, maybe the 10 people who tuned in, but it was a start. The Indie Rock scene has since gone thru a transformation from pretentious to one level below mainstream. This is why the little kids these days are all into Emo. Music tends to cycle every 10 years so I have a feeling we might be in for another downturn starting next year. Lets hope not but with the invention of the iPod, we can weather the storm with all our favorites at our fingertips......