(Shoegaze, Noise Pop) Nate Ruth - Whatever It Meant - 2002, MP3, 256 kbps

"End Up" starts Nate Ruth's solo debut, Whatever It Meant, with buzzing layers of guitars and dream pop vocals over dancing breakbeats -- like Loveless being covered by Radiohead -- and that's only the beginning. By track two, "Keep Me From," listeners will realize that Whatever It Meant paves the way for what Radiohead might sound like if they followed up Kid A and Amnesiac with an equally experimental guitar rock album. This New Jersey artist with a history in noise bands has such a knack for mining feedback for its full rock potential and then filling the center with gooey pop. Nate Ruth knows melody just as well as he knows noise -- listen to the old standard feeling of "Oversimplifying," the Smiths-esque vocals on the fuzzy "To Forget," or the shattered Brian Wilson vibe of the piano ballad "Every Summer." Yes, Nate Ruth is Neu!, My Bloody Valentine, and Spectrum's debut, Soul Kiss (Glide Devine), but he is also Gershwin, the Beach Boys, and Spiritualized. And Whatever It Meant is only Ruth's first solo record -- it's anyone's guess where he can go from here. (c) Allmusic