James Iha

Although he borrows heavily from Neal Halstead and Mojave 3, listening to the wispy inflections of Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha is much easier on the ears than Billy Corgan's festering, hairless vocal whine. Iha's solo material reveals a soft-spoken, whisper-sung man who digs the simple things in life -- lens-flared early-evening sunshine, acoustic guitar couch jams, and the shy girl next door. Iha's songs are rooted in the same kind of lovelorn folk musings that made Nick Drake tick, though his lyrical content is certainly not as heavy as that of the late, great Drake. Iha's soft and watery reflections, reminiscent of a 1970s lazy-day sunshine love film, are much more smile-inducing and daydreamy than yesterday's doom-and-gloom lyrics about somebody's rage reducing them to rat-in-a-cage situations.