I think Welcome are better than they think they are. Their songs are gracefully hesitant and unassuming, as if each chord is apologizing for the next one. With a humble charm, Welcome put you at ease in the presence of their music. Too humble, sometimes: They stop songs when they should go. A few of the short songs on Sun as Night Light sound unfinished -- as if Welcome thought they were too fragile, and if handled any longer they might break. I want to hear them write the next part. I want to hear what comes next, and more after that. But Welcome are songwriters who answer to themselves first and their audience second.

Sun as Night Light is a record six years in the making (including a breakup and reunion). Its songs are captivating, like the first time you heard Unwound. The music makes you want to move in your seat; it hits that spot in you that triggers all the things that made you love music in the first place. From my standpoint, they are not only better than they think they are, but they also make it seem easier than it really is. ELLIOT RICH

EURO BOYS
Long Day's Flight Till Tomorrow
(Man's Ruin)
****

Sweet organs and sleigh bells, languorous horns and glockenspiel, wandering slide guitar and tubular bells: not the kinds of instruments you'd expect to hear wafting from the speakers when a disc from a band featuring former members of the Mummies and Turbo Negro is in the player. But it is to be believed!

Though it took me a few tracks to realize it, I've had the distinct pleasure of seeing this mostly instrumental Norwegian band live when they played 1997's NxNW in Portland. At the time I had no idea who they were, but by the music festival's end I was certain there had been no better performance than that given by the Euro Boys, with their battalion of keyboards and unapologetically unfashionable approach to late '90s rock. They blended lounge and dance beats with retro organs and '70s prog to the most ecstatic heights of fucking great get-down music -- and blew the jaded hipster audience away with the sheer unconventionality of it all.

And then I forgot all about them.

Thanks to the nearly flawless ears at Man's Ruin Records (we'll forgive them Hai Karate), the Euro Boys' latest is available stateside, and I'm in awe once again of their kick-ass blend of things that just shouldn't sound this good when thrown into the same pot. The tiny, great parts of Jethro Tull, Steely Dan -- and Chicago, for crying out loud -- woven in and out of trip-hoppy ominousness and Spacemen 3 grooves. Think about it -- wouldn't that sound great if it were to be believed? Go ahead. Believe it. KATHLEEN WILSON

BEDHEAD LOVED MACHA
Macha Loved Bedhead
(Jetset)
****

Bedhead's unfortunately limited body of work (they fell prey to day jobs in 1998) was touched by the hand of a higher power -- blessed with reliquary beauty and the devotion of all who heard them. And so it makes almost scriptural sense that they should return from the dead to confer status upon Macha by association. Apparently, Matt and Bubba Kadane of Bedhead and Joshua and Mischo McKay of Macha had always meant to collaborate, and before their untimely demise, the brothers Bedhead sent a tape of song skeletons to the brothers Macha.

Macha finished the songs, and the result approaches divinity. After I heard it the first time, I was so excited it was all I could talk about. I became a missionary for Bedhead Loved Macha, for the whispering in the background on "You and New Plastic," the brilliant orchestration of "Hey Goodbye," the gasping moment of clarity on that track when everything cuts out but the hammer dulcimer for the last few bars. Even their deadpan cover of Cher's "Believe" -- performed on a touch-tone phone -- is pitch perfect, mocking something that deserves the abuse. And this Bedhead/Macha hybrid is preaching the truth. ERIN FRANZMAN

THE FLASHING LIGHTS
Where the Change Is
(Self Released)
***

For 30 seconds, the opening song on this Toronto band's debut is empty, rah-rah rock noise. Then, on a dime, the song turns and becomes something different: not profound, but necessary. This Beatles/Squeeze/Cheap Trick three-bean salad of a band would be just another pop pimple on the face of creation if they weren't so damn GOOD. Of the 13 songs here, the few that don't crackle go by painlessly. What succeeds does so remarkably.

We already have the Posies and the Fastbacks -- why do we need this, and from Canadians? Nevertheless I keep playing it. Songs like "Summertime Climb" and "Highschool" give me just what I wanted and got from FM radio in 1978. On "Elevature," instead of a third chorus, the song screeches to a halt and the band chants in unison, "Flashing lights, flashing lights, flashing lights, flashing lights!!!" I feel stupid for liking this, so don't blame me if you buy it. These guys deserve no more and no less than what they are going to receive: to be huge -- in Canada. GRANT COGSWELL

IN STORES 5/16

Pearl Jam, Binaural (Epic) Scratch.

Britney Spears, Oops!... I Did It Again (Jive) Duh.

Phish, Farmhouse (Elektra/Asylum) Dude!

Sonic Youth, NYC Ghosts & Flowers (Geffen) Ahem.

Veruca Salt, Resolver (Velveteen/Beyond Music) What the?!

Juliana Hatfield, Beautiful Creature (Zoe/Rounder) Oy.

Juliana's Pony, Total System Failure (Zoe/Rounder) Oy again.

Motörhead, We Are Motörhead (CMC Int'l) Wheeze.

Stereolab, The First of the Microbe Hunters (Elektra) Tap, tap, tap.

MxPx, The Everpassing Moment (A&M/ Interscope) Totally.