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Eight Arms to Hold You  >>

There's more of producer Bob Rock (AC/DC) here than the feisty band that recorded Seether two years previously. That's a good thing on the single "Volcano Girls," complete with its squealing guitars and "I Am the Walrus" nod. Titles like "With David Bowie" and "Venus Man Trap" are the best thing about the rest of a rather one-dimensional package. --Jeff Bateman

American Thighs  >>

Tank Girl: Original Soundtrack from the United Artists Film  >>

A dreadful "Let's Do It" by Joan Jett and Paul Westerberg is the only lame moment on the soundtrack of a flick that's destined to become the Rocky Horror of the '90s. The contemporary A list--Björk, Portishead, Belly, Veruca Salt, Hole and L7--all weigh in with new tracks; Björk's "Army of Me" and Portishead's "Roads" are standouts. "Season with Mockingbird Girl" by a Stone Temples Pilots spinoff called The Mad Bastards adds to the film's considerable hip quotient. --Jeff Bateman

Resolver (Parental Advisory)  >>

Veruca Salt circulated through the late-'90s barrage of one-hit alt-rock bands with the single "Seether," and the number of critics placing bets in favor of the band's longevity was miniscule. But upon the departure of member Nina Gordon, lead singer Louise Post revamped the group, and Resolver beat the odds. The album follows the lead of fellow Chicagoans the Smashing Pumpkins with its monstrous guitars squalling against an explosive rhythm section. This tsunami of sound finds a strange bedfellow with Post's vocals. Immediately she seems a sweet, fuzzy urchin, but her abrasive, sexually charged lyrics and grunge-suited scream reveal a wildly rabid kitten with piercing claws and enormous teeth. Resolver's combination of eerie Pixies-influenced aggression ("Used to Know Her") and Billy Corgan bombast ("Born Entertainer") makes for a supremely satisfying head bang. Best of all, the new and resoundingly improved Veruca Salt have developed a penchant for slightly quieter songs like "Disconnected," where Post's utterly unseething, almost exhausted voice carves a wide space between unproduced drums and orchestral instrumentation, resulting in a moment of fierce beauty. --Beth Massa

IV  >>

Veruca Salt skyrocketed to fame in 1994 with the alternative radio mega-hit "Seether" off their Minty Fresh debut album "American Thighs," and followed with an equally successful sophomore effort, 1997's "8 Arms to Hold You." After co-founder Nina Gordon left to pursue a solo career, lead singer/guitarist Louise Post reformed the band with guitarist Stephen Fitzpatrick and drummer Kellii Scott, to produce 2000's critically acclaimed "Resolver," described by Chicago Sun Times' Jim DeRogatis as "the best album to be released under the band's Willy Wonka-inspired moniker, as well as one of the strongest albums of the year ... a galvanizing rock 'n' roll statement in a pop-dominated time." The success of Veruca Salt's 2005 EP "Lords of Sounds and Lesser Things" and its accompanying US tour secured the band a record deal with indie label powerhouse, Sympathy for the Record Industry. Now six years after Resolver, Post and Fitzpatrick have been joined by bassist Nicole! Fiorentino (Radio Vago), and rejoined by drummer Kellii Scott (Failure, Blinker the Star, Enemy), to create the fourth and latest full length Veruca Salt album, "IV," which is slated for release in September 2006. Produced by Rae DiLeo (Filter, Army of Anyone), "IV" features the classic heavy guitar thunder, pop sensibility, and soul-wrenching lyrics of previous Veruca Salt efforts, coupled with the stirring musical maturation of Louise Post and Co. Songs written and performed live to worldwide acclaim over the past six years (such as "Blissful Queen," "Save You," and "The Sun") have been combined with powerful new material, and the resulting effort promises to be the greatest Veruca Salt album to date. TRACKS: So Weird Centipede Closer The Sun Perfect Love Blissful Queen Wake Up Dead Save You Circular Trend Sick as Your Secrets Comes and Goes Damage Done Salt Flat Epic

Blow It out Your Ass It's Veruca Salt  >>

American Thighs  >>

Officially Dead  >>

Aussie exclusive EP for the revamped, revitalized, & rocking indie act. The title track, taken from the 2000 album 'Resolver', is backed with four exclusive, previously unreleased tracks, 'Straight Jacket' (Demo), 'Smoke & Mirrors' (Demo), 'The Light Behind Your Eyes', & 'The Same Person' (Remix). Digipak. Embryo. 2003.

Born Entertainer  >>

Includes two bonus tracks and the enhanced video for "Born Entertainer".

Resolver  >>

Veruca Salt was one of the greatest rock soap operas since Fleetwood Mack or Husker Du, as longtime friends Louise Post and Nina Gordon had a bitter falling out over stolen boyfriends, stabbed backs, and general unpleasantness. Gordon set out on a solo career, while Post dug in her heels, retained the Veruca Salt name, assembled a new band, and recorded the third Veruca album, 2000's Resolver. The friendship with Gordon wasn't the only severed relationship Post endured between 1997's Eight Arms to Hold You and Resolver -- She also broke up with Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl. Now, the title of the record may suggest that she's trying to resolve her feelings toward these breakups, but the album plays as relentless, unmitigated stream of bile. Never once does Post let up her attack on Gordon and Grohl, except for when it loses a little focus and becomes a vicious attack on the world in general. All of this is set to music that's halfway between American Thighs and Blow it Out Your Ass and completely dated in 2000. By any conventional yardstick, this does not result in a good album, but it surely is a fascinating listen. There's something unintentionally strange and perverse about the record, like being assaulted by a half-forgotten, half-drunken acquaintance, intent of filling you in on every single excruciating detail of their miserable life -- at top volume, no less.