October 2006 AstroPOP! is brought to you with musical reviews by Chris Estey.

Libra (September 23 - October 23)
Libra is a tumescent teacher, especially those gleaming before the bonfire of cultural revolution, like Libran Lenny Bruce, whose honesty and lack of guile burned up the ruling wooden hearts of his era. This purity of spirit and search for real meaning can be heard in the new post-blues of band Heartless Bastards. They return rock and roll to the organic expression of a pretty but shy girl in the corner of a garage, wailing from her tattered, whiskey-splashed notebook of thoughts, as her band hits big chords and lays down chunky grooves. Erika Wennerstrom sings and strums and bangs on the 88s; the rhythm section is Mike Lamping and Kevin Vaughn, and delectable viola and violin is contributed by Rebe, Amy, and Suzanna. All This Time is a barefoot walk through sharp, moist cedar chips, and the first few songs are as refreshing and prickly as anything else you'll hear all year, starting with the shimmering "Into The Open," but especially on the sweetly melancholic "Searching For The Ghost." This is an emotional hurricane across a vanishing country, and one of the best records of the season. {listen to "Searching For The Ghost"}

Libra Halloween Costume: A butterfly halfway out of a cocoon.

Scorpio (October 24 - November 21)
The Scorpio Dostoyevsky once wrote about "a sick man, a mean man" living underground, and we all know he was writing about himself. Scorpio projects arrogant charm, but as the quivering music of Lambchop shows, fear grips everyone's mind, no matter how elegant the presentation. Damaged is early Sunday morning porch music for atheists, as the "Paperback Bible" sits beneath a stack of dog-eared mystery novels and chapbooks by farmer-poets. Writer-vocalist Kurt Wagner is Lambchop's signifier, flanked by a thousand musicians, and he is possibly one of the most tender-cum-cranky crooners ever. Damaged follows several classic independent rock albums with a quieter, rustic feel, more akin to his own beloved Jim Nabors, and not much like anything on Pitchfork, as he himself admits in its startling epilogue, the crackling final rant on the album, "The Decline And Fall Of Country And Western Civilization." Otherwise, things might seem a little too placid for those not listening closely enough beforehand. {listen to "Crackers"}

Scorpio Halloween Costume: The dude from Texas Chainsaw Massacre as a DMV desk clerk.

Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21)
Sagittarius craves deliberate activity, and thus might work as hard at a secondary job as she does at her first. Some humanitarian charity work might be more useful as her primary source of income increases, as what she may be doing is fighting loneliness and alienation in the first place. That existential ache can be felt throughout the startling debut album from El Perro Del Mar, as well as an aching, wavering beauty deep within. Sarah from Sweden has been sculpting these perfect little miniatures for a few years, and overseas her label mates have included such sparkling luminaries as Calexico and Jose Gonzalez. Now Seattle label The Control Group brings her icy sugarcane ear treats to the states, and as delicious as this Leslie Gore-by-way-of-stripped-down-Cardigans is, her dark centers can be just as bitter as the mothers of her form. These songs never stop working for you, her voice never stops working on you. Mistreatment and loneliness glooms within a pristine but nearly sinister sounding glass urn in the non-verbally Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of "I Can Really Talk About It" and the acoustically infectious joy-kill "Party." Susan's voice is nearly operatic, as in the opening of "Coming Down The Hill," and speaking of hills, one can hear the makings of a musician as important as Kate Bushes reflected in this cracked pool of loveliness. A fetching yet freezing debut. {listen to "Party"}

Sagittarius Halloween Costume: A walking, weeping snow angel. in.

Capricorn (December 22 - January 19)
Capricorn is dynamic in most things, and if there's one album in a Capricorn musician, it will be the recorded statement of their life. So this month Capricorn should draw from all elements of their life, both social and intimate, political and private. The music for this kind of passion is represented by the incendiary dub-soul of Noel Ellis, an expatriated artist from the Caribbean who, when transplanted in Canada, produced music of his lifetime on anthems both universal and personal. "Rocking Universally" has the same root source as The Clash's "Armagedion Time," and burbles and grooves as Ellis cries for liberation for the children, as "Memories" chillingly pines for his days back in Jamaica. Jackie Mittoo (the songwriter Lily Allen bases her current smash "Smile" on) helps throughout this six track long player, originally recorded in 1979, and not released till 1983, having been a pricey collector's fetish until its current reissue by Seattle's Light In The Attic Records. {listen to "Rocking Universally"}

Capricorn Halloween Costume: The goat-wearing shaman master of skins.

Aquarius (January 20 - February 18)
Aquarius is the "love-child," perhaps the most loveable of all signs in the Horoscope. Her intuition is keen, her feelings tender. But inside every Aquarius there is its own opposite, which can twist into world at the center of the story. Halfway through the self-titled first album by London-based Scanners, the mesmerizing "Evil Twin" shows the mad, misty gypsy heart of these usually stark urban rockers, who have opened for The Wedding Present and Juliette & The Licks. As dark and straightforward as these songs are, they're full of a warm empathy lost on most robot rock bands currently cranking it up at dance clubs. There's a dense neo-psychedelic feel in songs like "Lowlife" that engages well with Sarah Daly's anxious but ingratiating vocals. Catchy stuff, but not for a shiny dance floor -- but instead a cracked leather seat in a booth at your favorite pub, where the bitter gather for bitters, but plenty of shoulders to cry on can be found too. {listen to "Evil Twin"}

Aquarius Halloween Costume: A Guinness-flooded druid with a torch.

Pisces (February 19 - March 20)
Pisces has a hard time with money because they're too generous, and their ambitions can make them invest in projects a bit too far from their financial grasp. The Wedding Present exemplify this generosity of spirit perfectly on their double disc collection of singles, b-sides and videos entitled Search For Paradise. All of the material was originally released between 2004-2005 during the reign of their Take Fountain album. Over the course of this compilation, David Gedge and Simon Cleave create gloom-and-glisten guitar-driven Brit-rock that's externally imposed, benevolent but phantasmic, with a traumatic underpinning to every tension-fraught kiss and seduction ("I shaved my legs just for this"). This is extremely well-crafted hypnotic rock, and every song has a few wonderful self-pitying lines to keep it from taking itself too seriously ("I'm From Further North Than You"). Of special note is the rippling, rousing "Ringway to SeaTac," a nervous complaint about contentious travel ("Watching you walk back to your car was the lowest point of my life so far"). {listen to "Ringway to SeaTac"}

Pisces Halloween Costume: Bridesmaid drag; or, conversely, a she-groom.

Aries (March 21 - April 19)
Aries has a disposition that makes him unsuited to a business partnership, so striking out on his own is probably the best tack for an Aries businessman to take. Like Arian Robert Frost, one must learn the road less traveled and just take it, no matter the uncertainty. Just like the journey of a few boys and their synthesizers, for example, in the sparkling techno-pop of Pleasurecraft on This Is A Blackout, which reflects a lot of time spent diligently alone, constructing dazzling dance tracks and listening to stacks of melodic electronic from the 80s. Perfect for nights spent drinking cheap spiced wine and making out behind art studios during Art Walk. "Misbehavior" and "Stockholm Syndrome" is as plush a come-on as Future Bible Heroes at their best. {listen to "Misbehavior"}

Aries Halloween Costume: Martin Gore leather mini-skirts for everyone!

Taurus (April 20 - May 20)
You're a maverick, Taurus, and not many people can hold you down. You're not meant for a small town, or a stifling relationship either as we head into those winter months when it's easy to settle for a warm body nearby. Instead, hit the road in that rusted beater of yours, crack open a bottle of something reality-shifting, and crank up the homemade transistor twang of Geoff Reacher, whose album Avec Reacher C'est Plus Sur reflects both his life lighting out from a Texas berg, to the rent control and roach trap claustrophobic troubadour battles he faces in NYC (where he was musically mentored by Dave Van Ronk, skronk-blues genius of the Greenwich Village milieu). Reacher has opened for both Jim White and Elf Power and that makes perfect sense on debris-strewn highway ballads as "Look Me In the Eye." {listen to "Look Me In The Eye"}

Taurus Halloween Costume: Midnight Cowboy, fringe jacket and boom box on shoulder.

Gemini (May 21 - June 21)
Gemini is the sign of a heretic, naysayer, or simple stubborn individualist. This doesn't mean a Gemini cannot be attractive in a social setting, as their psychic powers can be alluring in the autonomy of their identity. Denmark's Bettie Serveert has a new album called Bare Stripped Naked and its vocalist and guitarist Carol van Dyk and Peter Visse create mind-films about dragging Saturday afternoons filled with lust and longing and lassitude. Although born from the era of grunge and alternative rock, the time has never been better for this very melodic but subversively disturbing band to find their work embraced by haunted codeine-hangover pop fans such as those of the Shins. To celebrate their 15th year of existence they will be touring the States through the fall, and that will be a good night to sip some Maker's Mark and ruminate in the realms of such perfect chamber songs as "Love & Learn." {listen to "Love & Learn "}

Gemini Halloween Costume: A certain famous Dutch tennis player from the early 60s this band is named after.

Cancer (June 22 - July 22)
Cancer often looks for new means of employment as the seasons change from summer to fall, especially young Cancers who can bore easily. Be aware of this habit and don't forget what you might lose in this transaction. On their new album Impeccable Blahs Say Hi To Your Mom know how to keep themselves interested as they play fragile techno-rock that could get stale quick without such endearingly odd statements as "Not As Goth As They Say We Are," "She Just Happens to Date The Prince Of Darkness," and the least rocking yet utterly hypnotic centerpiece to the album "Blah Blah Blah," an almost suicide-level seemingly-effortless pop song that swims around the chorus, "And I am going to drink your blood." There's a just-scrubbed and showered spark to this keyboard-driven indie pop that reminds one of bands in the late 90s who couldn't help but inspire a following. {listen to "Blah Blah Blah"}

Cancer Halloween Costume: Satan, in sparkles and shoes with curly toes.

Leo (July 23 - August 22)
Leos are able to speak their minds not only with clarity but nuance, and this is a great asset, as shadow becomes substance. Thus, music that is not only attractive but gives one something to think about is perfect for Leos, as Page France shows on their new album, Hello, Dear Wind. Filled with delightful entanglements of nature, spirit, change, and timeless feelings, Michael Nau's optimistic sing-a-longs let the music do most of the talking, though his own voice is just as strong and fragile as the crisp acoustic guitar and the restrained keyboards. Like playing hide-and-seek with childhood friends near an abandoned barn on a lost Wednesday afternoon, you have the feeling something important is going on, but it has nothing to do with striving or accomplishment. "Jesus" shows a historical character collecting dirt in his dreads as he rises from the dead a happy ghost, showing this realm as mystical and whimsical, licking the dew of sprites without shaking the listener down to the spine as she's swept along. {listen to "Bush"}

Leo Halloween Costume: Some huggable beasty.

Virgo (August 23 - September 22)
You are anxious to get to the top of your game, Virgo, so you tend to fret about income and intake. The important point is doing what you love. That's hard to remember, but the fall is a time to draw close to what you adore, just as the band Dyrdin does within the realms of their appetites. Springing out from collaboration Rekjavik in the mid-90s, Einar and Maggi were mentored by Porvaldur to prepare hearty and sizzling power pop goods with a scrumptious glaze. Like deep fried sushi, the songs on their self-titled new album go down the gullet with no sense of trespass, especially on meaty quicksilver confections like "Bubble Girl" and the bass-plunging science fiction love song "Mr. Spock." Mod and quick-witted like Virgo Claudette Colbert, this band is a milkshake of the Maybellines with bubble tea karaoke tapioca balls at the bottom! Talk about a rocket in your pocket! This band is set for take off, or at least to be feasted on as the perfect take-out. {listen to "Mr. Spock"}

Virgo Halloween Costume: A candy-coated tribble.