The Situation: s/t (Elephant Stone)
release: April 18, 2006
styles: British-inspired Indie Rock
rating: **

This Philadelphia quartet has all the right influences for a great rock band: Stone Roses, the Jam, the Cure, Velvet Underground, Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Verve, et al. Those influences seemed to have pumped so much England into the Situation's veins that the band is now more British than American. Christopher (don't call him Chris!) Tucker's vocals are a desperate combination of Oasis, Embrace and Stone Roses, while the bass player goes by the name of Laz (like Gaz from Supergrass and Bez from Happy Mondays). On the Situation, the band attempts bigness ("Paper and Pen"), quietness ("Latchkey Kids") and raw rock 'n' roll ("Mocking Fate"). They're pretty good at mocking roots (check out the nod to Bob Dylan on "Black Cat Dice") and sometimes they even do it competently. The record, however, goes on for about 20 minutes longer than necessary, reinforcing the Situation's unfulling second-hand Brit rock. -Kenyon

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Run Chico Run: Slow Action (Boompa)
release: March 21, 2006
styles: Frustrating Sorta Experimental Indie Rock
rating: *

Slow Action begins promisingly with a solid track on the fence of indie rock and indie electronic. From there, however, the Canadian duo takes a big nose dive into sleepy, directionless vocals and a combination of instruments and sounds that never gel. This might work here and there on a soundtrack to a film that's copying a film by Jim Jarmusch, but an entire album of this mess is a disaster not unlike the remake of the Poseidon Adventure. -Kenyon