Reviewed by Tony Cummings

California's MATW are a fascinating bunch. Not only have they survived as a recording unit for more than a decade (which in the transilatery trendiness of the Christian underground is a millennium) they've gone through the most monumental stylistic changes. For they started off doing techno rock (all drum machines and effected Englishness), transformed into a heavy rock-come-grunge team and have today emerged as purveyors of...wait for it...Brit pop. Well, The Dreamland Cafe' is not quite Oasis/Blur but is guitar-driven rock with retro, Beatlesque overtones. And very nice it is too. Leader Roger Rose writes and sings a set of tuneful often bitter-sweet numbers dealing with topics like pointlessness ("Another One Is Fooled Again"), getting God to hold a marriage together ("Still A Way To Heal") and life on the road ("On The Stage"). Nothing really groundbreaking but one must applaud the quartet's ability to re-invent themselves.

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