The main problem with the new Breeders record is that it's more junk than pop. In the past, Kim Deal's absolutely brilliant concoctions of drugged-out dementia and the biggest, catchiest hooks were what made her the most talented rock queen ever. Joints like "Safari," "Divine Hammer," and the entirety of the Pod album were golden sweet grit, and even much of the later Amps material buzzed with a spastic, punched-up fuzz that only Ms. Deal could make. And now, while Title TK SOUNDS amazing (thanks to my new boyfriend, Steve Albini... hi, Steve!), there's something missing. I want to say it's Tanya Donnelly, but no, that's not exactly right. What's missing is ambition. Even though Title TK is a trillion times better than the majority of pop albums shat out by mainstream and indie musicians today, with the exception of a couple tracks, it sounds like a lot of half-assed "Drivin' on 9"s--lethargic, sad, self-absorbed, and drug-addled--neither a new sound, nor as good as it could be. JS

GOLD CHAINS
Straight from Your Radio
(Tigerbeat6)
****

To attempt to put the Gold Chains phenomenon into mere words is to belittle its absurdity. Gold Chains is one dude from SF, Topher Lafata, who is obsessed with dropping a bomb of naked, jiggling bass upon a hot, futuristic digital city, all the while rapping utter mind-blowers like, "Come on, LET'S MAKE IT," or "I got mountains of coke up in the V.I.P."

Example: the chorus of track two:

"Get that cootchie over here, I want to fuck it, aw yeah. Get that cootchie lookin' tight, I want to lick it all night."

It's MIAMI BOOTY BASS, but self-aware; the chorus of digitally altered voices that rap these lines sound like they've been altered to protect the innocent, like on America's Most Wanted, or said through an R2D2 mask. It is OUT OF FUCKING HAND. GO BUY THIS RIGHT NOW, or the ghosts of every pencil-moustached cholo you made out with in junior high are going to haunt your ass. JULIANNE SHEPHERD

MORCHEEBA
Charango
(Maverick)
**

Okay, I'll admit it. I've listened to Morcheeba once or twice. Well... maybe a few more times. Okay, goddamnit. Will you get off my back? I fucking used to worship Morcheeba. Please tell me where the big freaking crime is in that?! So maybe I used to be a little more tortured. Are you telling me you never got stoned and laid on your bed listening to The Cure, thinking indulgent thoughts about your sad life? That's what I thought. So I have to say that Morcheeba has not updated from the albums they had about a million years ago, and since triphop was born, flourished, and then died like a vulture starving to death in the hot sands of the Sahara, Morcheeba's new stuff if pretty boring. But it sure takes me back. KATIA DUNN