March 2007 AstroPOP! is brought to you with music reviews by Erik Gonzalez.

Pisces (February 19 - March 20)
This is your time of the year, Pisces. Your birthday rolls around and you can reflect on everything you've accomplished in your life and trust me, you've accomplished more than you might think. Sometimes this is hard to see from your perspective, but take a moment to step back and try to make a list of everything, I mean everything, you've done since the day you were born. What you might find is something like Squarepusher's Hello Everything, a sort of "greatest hits" compilation of all new songs, if that makes any sense. Squarepusher dabbles in a little bit of every sound he's tried in his vast oeuvre, from acid jazz through to straight drum n' bass. He's even produced one of his most punchy singles ever on "Welcome to Europe" along with the captivating "Planetarium." He even tries some downright straight jazz/funk on "Theme from Sprite" (and you have to be impressed with the fully biodegradable case, right down to the corn starch CD tray). {buy it}

Pisces Spring Training Tip: Keep your eye on the ball to avoid those embarrassing black eyes from getting hit square in the face.

Aries (March 21 - April 19)
Technology abounds in your life and sometimes it feels like its going to subsume you, doesn't it? Well, Aries, maybe you need to take a step back from your Blackberry, your DVD player, your sequencer or what have you. I'm not suggesting going all Unibomber and moving to a cabin in the woods, but making try skipping the instant message and instead write a letter — what I'm saying is try making something real. This is not to say that technology isn't real, but even DJ's need to try something more tactile. Brazilian DJ Amon Tobin has done just that, recording this new album in a Foley Room (you know, where they do all the sound effects for movies) and brought along the Kronos Quartet for good measure. What you get is some of the most sinister and satisfying Tobin since Permutations. Just take a listen to the teaser Bloodstone EP and you'll get songs with a deeply cinematic feel, and we're talking David Lynch cinema here, not Joel Schumacher. {buy it}

Aries Spring Training Tip: A gyroball refers to a spinning gyroscope, not a tasty Greek sandwich.

Taurus (April 20 - May 20)
Something well-over half of American do not have a passport and by proxy, have never left the confines of the United States. This means that a large portion of our country has no idea what the rest of this global community has to offer. Taurus, please, don't be one of those people. Go out and explore the planet. Heck, go out and explore Canada for all I care. Just go out and see what the rest of the world has to offer. For starters, Beirut not only gives you a possible (although not suggested) destination, but combines sounds from all over the world to create their latest EP, Lon Gisland. The full-band version of "Scenic World" from their recent album Gulag Orkestar exists somewhere in between Neutral Milk Hotel and Buena Vista Social Club – that is, if you can imagine such a place exists. Somewhere, David Byrne is crying himself to sleep wishing he recorded songs like Beirut does. {buy it}

Taurus Spring Training Tip: If your baseball career doesn't work, remember, you can always be a nerd and play fantasy sports.

Gemini (May 21 - June 21)
For a lot of the country, spring is just around the corner. However, if you live in many of the northern climes of the nation, you must make it through the "in-like-a-lion, out-like-a-lamb" month of March. Gemini, it might be in your best interests to get the heck out of wherever you are for even just a few days in order to keep your sanity. You need to visit someplace warm and fuzzy, someplace like Into the Blue Again, the new Album Leaf album. Chock full of rich textures, thick beats and drifting melodies, it might just be able to drag you out of your potentially disastrous winter blues, especially ridiculously beautiful numbers like "Red-Eye", "Wherever I Go" and "Always for You". Sometimes, all it takes is a vocal harmony to make you feel like you're in Baja California and it's a heck of a lot cheaper. {buy it}

Gemini's Spring Training Tip: Find out what a fungo bat is, because I sure don't know what it is.

Cancer (June 22 - July 22)
One of the most disconcerting things that can happen to you while sleeping is something called "sleep paralysis." It is believed to be some sort of a waking dream where you're conscious enough to feel awake but can't really control your body or voice, so you feel paralyzed. To make it worse, people tend to report feeling a presence in the room but you can't scream or move to do anything about it. This is not to say, Cancer, you will wake up this way... OK, well, I actually am saying that. That being said, it might be a good idea to not listen to Human Animal, the new Wolf Eyes album, before falling asleep in the near future. They seem to have cornered the market on noise-rock nightmare-scapes filled with electronic noises and inhuman howls, just see "Rusted Mange" or "The Driller". Marilyn Manson looks like Tiny Tim tiptoeing through the tulips compared to the horror of Wolf Eyes. {buy it}

Cancer Spring Training Tip: A coach telling you that you need to be "better with the leather" is not an invitation to an S&M party.

Leo (July 23 - August 22)
My dear Leos, there is an important aspect in life to keep in mind during your career: just because you're not succeeding where you are, doesn't mean you won't succeed everywhere. In other words, maybe a change of venue is what you need to reach your full potential – celebrity is waiting around a far-flung corner for you. Just look at Lyrics Born: he's from California but if the crowd on his new live disc, Overnight Encore: Lyrics Born Live, proves anything, it is that he's huge in Australia. Recorded in Sydney and Melbourne, Lyrics Born has them eating out of his hand while blasting through "Callin' Out" and "I'm Just Raw" and hey, he even through in a few studio tracks including remix of "I'm Just Raw" that got a little help from Del the Funkee Homosapien and your song for the month, "Knock Knock." {buy it}

Leo's Spring Training Hint: Lay off the high fastballs.

Virgo (August 23 - September 22)
I'm not sure how to say this Virgo. Back during the early 1900's, when Typhoid Fever was raging, a New York City cook named Mary Mallon — better known to us as "Typhoid Mary" — was believed to have infected upwards of a hundred people with this deadly disease. Armed with that knowledge Virgo, when was the last time you had a checkup? This is not to say that you're lining up to play such a role in this modern world of ours, but hey, why tempt fate? Then again, Black Fiction make being a plague carrier seem like so much fun on "I Spread the Disease," a Beck-like electro-folk jam that is, well, infectious. This San Francisco band collect all sorts of lo-fi noises and mix them with somewhat bizarre lyrics on the latest, Ghost Ride, an album that comes across like an American version of Badly Drawn Boy's Hour of the Bewilderbeast that met up with Modest Mouse in a back alley, especially on songs like "You Must Not Bury Someone" and "Carry Him Away."

Virgo's Spring Training Hint: Although appreciated, "taking one for the team" does not typically apply to whiskey shots.

Libra (September 23 - October 23)
Libra, I will be straightforward with you: it is time to fall in love. Do it. Now. What? You claim it's hard, it takes luck, timing and other such chance items? Bah! The stars say bah to you. As Daniel Johnston so rightly put it only if you're looking will it find you, that "it" referring to true love. So hop to it! Once you find that love, be sure to be packing the Bon Savants Post-Rock Defends the Nation, because there is no way around mad makeout action once "Between the Moon and the Ocean" starts playing. Picking up where Pulp and the Verve left off, Boston's own Bon Savants weave an album that is full of hooks, unashamedly rock and roll and so well polished you'd never guess it was their debut. Besides the sonic gem of "Between the Moon and the Ocean," feel free to swing your new love in your arms to "This Could Never Work Between Us" (maybe not the best love song, but whatever) and the title track. {buy it}

Libra's Spring Training Hint: Remember, even the best fielder makes an error every once in a while, however, "once in a while" is usually longer than every five minutes.

Scorpio (October 24 - November 21)
You're fiery, Scorpio. You tend to live your life off the cuff and expect that people around you understand this and accept that you will play by your own rules. Everything seems more magnified – every decision, every action, every sentence. The Born Ruffians seem to be the Scorpio of bands, proudly declaring, "This Sentence will Save/Ruin Your Life". They set this brash statement to song that sounds like the Canadian Pixies, flush with rolled guitars, foot stomps, howled vocals and a hook that is built for the cold waters of the Grand Banks. You can't help to be charmed by the anarchistic arrangements and Luke LaLonde's off-the-cuff lyrics like I'll grab a bite of BLT/that's all I want right/with some juice/…no coffee. Heck, these teenagers (yes, young'uns) blast through the self-titled debut EP in less than 17 minutes and in the process channel early Modest Mouse and Violent Femmes. {buy it}

Scorpio's Spring Training Hint: You're never going to make the team if you keep on trying to steal first.

Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21)
Well, Sagittarius, I'm afraid this might not be your best month. Things might be a little confused for you these days, leaving you feeling like life is more bleak than it might actually be. I'd attribute it to the weather — the end of winter can sometimes drag on for what seems like an eternity. If you need some solace during this melancholy time, Now It's Overhead has made sure to record a soundtrack for troubled times. Dark Light Daybreak plays like a hybrid of Bright Eyes and James if you can believe such bands can cross-breed. Andy LeMaster's vocals have an undeniably Tim Booth-like quality over the rich pop melodies that Now It's Overhead constructs, just take a listen to "Let the Sirens Rest". In a more stripped-down mode, the band delivers "Let Up", a song denominated by LeMaster's hypnotizing voice and driving guitars. Dark Light Daybreak won't pick up your mood, but it at least you won't feel alone about it. {buy it}

Sagittarius' Spring Training Hint: In today's game, the spitball is unfortunately illegal, even if you use someone else's spit.

Capricorn (December 22 - January 19)
As a Capricorn, you are more familiar than most with being a beast, you know, with all the half-fish, half-goat action. Maybe you yourself aren't such a chimera, however this dichotomy extends into your psyche, leading to some insights into the difficulties in being a beast in a normal world. You can at least sleep well with the knowledge that B for Brontosaurus knows your plight. Not only do they play tribute to one of the mightiest beasts ever, they even penned a rock anthem in tribute to beasts everywhere. While "Rut!" brings the house down with its howls and grunts, this self-described "musical fun band" can bring said fun on "Who Will Sail My Ship Ashore?" or "Millin Yrs" from their debut A Thousand Times Yes!. Just think of them like the missing link between They Might Be Giants and the Unicorns or the irreverent descendent of Jonathan Richman.

Capricorn's Spring Training Hint: Although it is good to get the coach's attention early on, making a pass at him is probably not the way to do it.

Aquarius (January 20 - February 18)
As Aquarians know, they do not tend to fit in with the rest of the world. Aquarians tend to be misfits, outcasts, eccentrics — they are the square peg in the round hole. Every day, you feel like you don't really fit in the world that surrounds you, like you're from a different age or a different planet. And that, ironically, is your gift Aquarius: to see the world as an outsider. You can see how things should be, rather than how they are. Now, if you're like Boston's Campaign for Real-Time, you can definitely see how things should be, or more correctly, how they should have been. You see, C4RT is from the future and bring their music back to us. If they're really who they say, then Pop Will Eat Itself will be happy to know that they apparently were a bigger influence than you might imagine. Let It Rise is kind of a remix album with some new tracks, but it is worth it just for "D.C. 77" (a remix of "Don Cheadle"), "Rachel Says," and "Song for New Amsterdam". In the future, apparently, indie rock, electronic, and hip-hop all live under one roof, happy as the Bradys.

Aquarius' Spring Training Hint: Scouts are impressed with guys who hit a lot of homers, but less so by guys who eat a lot of hoagies.