Search - Freedom Cruise, Lisa Germano, Noise Addict :: Red Hot + Bothered/Indie Rock Guide To Dating

Little that's come out of the rock underground since the alternative revolution has been of a distinctly sensual nature. Indie rockers dance around romantic entanglement, but seldom cut in. That's the case with this "Red Hot" compilation, which doesn't mean much of it doesn't have it's own pitiable appeal. A case in point is the album's opener, Freedom Cruise's "Sensational Gravity Boy," a characteristically tuneful and verbose Guided by Voices number that finds the new rock darlings working in tandem with the Breeders' Kim and Kelley Deal. Shayne Carter, ex of Straitjacket Fits, teams up with New Zealand countrymen the Verlaines on "Some Fantasy." Lois Maffeo and Rebecca Gates team on "Sotto Voice," one song that is baldly sexual, though no one's going to get it mixed up with "Let's Get it On." Two interesting one-man bands, Stephen Merritt (here billed as Future Bible Heroes) and F.M. Cornog (East River Pipe) come up with album highlights-a catchy updating of techno pop and a understated elegy for Kurt Cobain, respectively. --Steven Stolder