Feeling a bit down, a bit depressed, life not shaping up as you had expected? Well, this column is for you. Yes, just when you though you were all alone and no one loved you here are a group of people who know how you feel and make a living out of it. Here are a group of people for who the word 'melancholia' is not just a word but a way of life. It's just some white boy blues or the A to Z of whinging men who should know better, according to Ben.

Right, we'll start with the king of the wry couplet, the alternative Michael Stipe or just that ugly bloke that fronts American Music Club. Yes, it's Mark Eitzel, the self depreceating genius whose pearls of wisdom have been steadfastly ignored by the great majority and who, it is claimed, is the best songwriter in the world. AMC produce albums that fuse subtle melodies and great bolts of noise to back Eitzels brilliant, wry and intriguing lyrics. The jury are still out on the recent 'San Fransisco' but '93's 'Mercury' is absolutely awsome and another recomendation is that their British label 'Virgin' has just dropped them.

Next we have the doyens of west coast misery; the Red House Painters. Emerging from San Fransisco in 1992 with the brilliant 'Down Colorful Hill' they have now released four albums, two self titled and the recent 'Ocean Beach'. Songwriter, Mark Kozelek is often too self indulgent lacking the humour that Eitzel revels in but all of the albums, especially the first and last, have moments of brilliance where Kozelek gets his lyrics just right and the rest of the 'Painters' back him with gentle, understated melodies that makes their albums so cool to listen to.

Moving on to the more country tinged side we get the Palace Brothers whose combination of Will Oldham's suicidal voice and backing that feels like it is about to fall off the edge of the world is almost impossible to listen to and surely wins the most self indulgent misery guts of year award. Okay so he should pull his socks up, stop moping and get a life but if, before he does, he produces some more albums of the brilliance of 'Hope' then that would be nice. Also, best title for an E.p goes to their 'An arrow through the bitch' opus.

Staying with the country side of American melancholy we have Vic Chesnutt. Spotted by Michael Stipe a few years ago Vic has released a number of albums of which 'Is The actor Happy' is the latest. his songs consist of a loose melody strummed roughly on his acoustic guitar with his singing occasionally touching base with the melody and even, once or twice, rhyming. It is a distinct and difficult to appreciate style but his lyrics are always interesting and I think very cool.

On the noisier side we have Sub Pop's Codeine whose stark minimilism and existentialist lyrics provide some of the most scary songs I've heard. Their '92 album 'Barely Real' is a great example as the title track has a ponderous melody and the singer professes to feeling 'barely real'. Last years 'White Birch' is a more fully formed album and is one of the best examples of American melancholy and which was apparently greeted on its arrival at the Sub Pop with the retort,'Well it's no Nevermind.'

And for the most confusing, difficult album of the year award we have Smog with 'Wild Love' whose songs go plink plonk crunch and is both operatic and lo-fi at the same time. Lead Smog chappie is the greatest of depressed Americans whose girlfriends all leave him because he won't hit them. This is a group who aren't afraid to take risks and luckily most of them come off to make an absolutely great album. Oh and it has a song called 'Prince Alone In The Studio' which is the best song about Prince alone in a studio I've ever heard.

These are my favourites, but for more depressed Americans there's the butchered blues of Come and Mule whose recent albums are brilliant. Also, Low have released an incredible album on the brilliantly titled 'Quigly Records' called, appropriately, 'I Could Live in Hope'. In New York there is the 'Seed' label whose Madder Rose have produced two stunning albums and are soon to release a third, and also Fuzzy who sound like Madder Rose and are, therefore, worth a listen or two. Talking of feedback inclined groups the Dinosaur jr'esque Idaho are also worth checking out, especially their latest offering 'This Way Out'.

So after listening to all this you may just decide that they should just sort their lives out and stop wasting C.Ds on their petty problems, but you may just be enchanted by one or two of these groups and their distinctive outlook on life.

Ben.