The year in music

Looking back at the year in local music, contributing writer Tom Laskin notes that "pint-size punkers Old Skull" are now touring Japan, where their debut LP, Get Outta School, is a hit. "Meanwhile, the nation's college charts have been invaded by Cattle Prod, Killdozer, the Tar Babies and Poop Shovel. Fire Town, the city's only major-label pop act, made Billboard's alternative radio chart with their album The Good Life, and Free Hot Lunch!'s self-titled CD was well received by Italian national radio." And the Pro Arte Quartet produced what one expert called "the most distinguished recording to date" of Ernest Bloch's String Quartet Nos. 3 & 4. Also of note: LPs by Jan Wheaton (Small World) and Cris Plata (Spreading the Rumor), and cassettes by Joan Wildman Trio (Under the Silver Globe), Marques Bovre & the Evil Twins (Don't Be Afraid) and the Gomers (Comin' Atcha!).