1. QUASI "It's Hard to Turn Me On" (from the Up CD Featuring "Birds") Forget Elliott for a moment. Sam Coombes is yr man for melancholic, sun-drenched harmonies and torched love songs.

2. BUILT TO SPILL "You Were Right" (from the Warner Bros. CD Keep It Like A Secret) I try my hardest to hate them--for their beards alone--and then they produce something as elegiac as this. Bastards.

3. THE CRABS "Bricks of Gold" (from the K CD Sand and Sea) THE most poignant breakup song of 1998--no question.

4. CADALLACA "You're My Only One" (from the K CD Introducing Cadallaca) The spirit of the late '60s gospel screamers diverted through three Northwest girls with a great pop sense. Sweet!

5. RUSTY WILLOUGHBY "Call a Doctor" (CD demo) Somebody release this fucking CD now! And quit going on about Elliott already! Surely Rusty is Seattle's most prodigious talent.

6. PETE KREBS "Pacific Standard Time" (from the Cavity Search CD Sweet Ona Rosie) Home is just another city you pass in the night--right? The loneliness and comfort of the open road wrapped up in one evocative, gravel-throated voice.

7. THE GROCERIES "Get out of Town" (from the Rosasharn CD The Groceries/Daily Values) So fragile, so delicate, so easily hurt. Like Throwing Muses, if they'd been less manic.

8. SLEATER-KINNEY "Banned from the End of the World" (from the Kill Rock Stars CD The Hot Rock) The spirit of Olympia lives on.