Cut City

Cut City - Pulse/Impulse

There's a 4-song EP out on GSL records (2005) that has some solid material, but if you dig a little deeper to their pre-GSL days de facto official website, you'll find 3 free tracks from the gothenburg, sweden trio that feature some super disco drum beats and popping bass lines.

Pulse/Impulse is from the bands Enfant Perdu 7 inch. If you only listen to the GSL EP, you'd get the idea the bad was coattailing on the commercial success of She Wants Revenge (whom i despise for more than just their simple-minded narcissistic lyrical content). checking out the older material shows the band to have more of a Moving Units disco punk foundation - which still comes through, albeit a bit tempered, on the GSL release. i have to admit, i was close to pigeon-holing this band for their thematic proximity to the aforementioned band, but the drums got me. This Exile Reads Me and is why i bothered to dig deeper in the first place.

Centro-Matic

Centro-Matic - Triggers And Trash Heaps
Centro-Matic - To Unleashes The Horses Now

out of Denton, TX, Centro-Matic has been delivering straight ahead, thoughtful, indiefied alt-country rock for 10 years now. the recently released Triggers And Trash Heaps single (from the brand new Fort Recovery LP) on Misra records sounds like it's got some weight to it. haven't had much time to really digest the lyrical content, but you can tell straight away that these songs are strong enough to warrant a listen.

To Unleash The Horses is off 2002's Distance And Clime (Idol Records) and can be found along with several other downloadable tracks at the bands purevolume.com page.

It's Not Too Late...

Anna Oxygen - R.R.N.
Anna Oxygen - The Spectacle

Two Completely Unrelated Bonus Tracks:
The (International) Noise Conspiracy - Only Lovers Left Alive
Archers Of Loaf - Greatest Of All Time

I was home sick all day, but it's still not too late to hit my deadline on the birthday parade - today's post is in no small way dedicated to the captain of the ship.

Anna Oxygen is ... i want to say from the bay area(?). but as her site reports:

I am now in Los Angeles. The here and now here I am here. Moving away from the mythologies of moist mythological spirit girls into a shooting neon dolphin gritty ocean diorama. dio = through and rama from the greek horma which is "sight."
(I just looked that up) I will attempt to go "through" the sights of corners and heatwaves. I will navigate through corridors of fake-isms. It should be a wonderful journey. My full length record comes out on February 21st. Expect an interactive cd release party TBA.

Ms. Oxygen's full length, as far as i'm concerned, lacks the tangible charm of Welcome To The Spectacle from All Your Faded Things posted ages and ages ago on her once defunk and since revived website. my initial reaction to the new material (This Is An Exercise - Feb 21, 2006) is that, while more precise and diverse, it doesn't have that same immediate catch. however ... it's growing on me with each listen. i think it's the vocal delivery - the early track has a self confident directness that isn't as clear on the new material. the album seems a little incomplete to me, but there's a few tracks worth having on it.

As far as INC goes - those sweedes just really know how to disect a genera and recreate it to perfection. its like a nation of really good musicians who love nothing more than than themes with costumes. Archers Of Loaf seems like the closest my music library comes to an indie rock Raymond Carver. so there you go! happy birthday.

"The Blood War Is On"

Drive Lilke Jehu - Atom Jack
Peaches - The Inch

i slogged through monday more or less out of it, so it's important today that i start looking ahead to the next float in the birthday parade that is March. this friday we'll reach for it one more time and see what we can pull out of our hats. i've learned that the key to having something there when you reach for it is modest preparation. simple planning. a few well timed moves that properly set the tone. to sum up: there ain't no pocus without the hocus. (if you're sitting there making a "that's what she said" joke right now, that's really, really sad and should go ... back to joke school and ... learn. some new jokes. yeah. )

Jehu is Jehu (atom jack from 91's eponymous LP) and Peaches Fatherfucker was so catchy and pointless that pitchfork flew up it's own asshole (as pitchfork just loves to do) and gave it a 3.5... when you score that low on pitchfork it usually means you've done something special. 9/10 typically means they're expecting sex from you, anything in that 3 and under crowd is a special place probably resulting from them not getting sex from you. that's borderline vendetta territory.

oh, and one more thing - today's title... if you're curious, look here