The Ashtray Hearts call their songs "apartment music," which is an apt description. But it is the music of an old apartment, with dirty wood floors, old iron radiators and large windows. It is cold and windy outside, and the plumbing makes clanking noises.

The band's slow, sad, spare songs are the kind that made Elliott Smith and Damien Jurado famous. But this music is much richer, snare and guitar complimented with organ and a beautiful droning accordian. The production blends these instruments perfectly.

The 7" asks to be played at 33 1/3, of course. "New York" clocks in at a little less than three minutes, a tale of funerals and drunks. "There's nothing in New York City," it goes. "It's hard to get drunk; it's hard to get home."

"Country Bar," the glorious b-side, steals the show, however. After a creeping introduction that could have played over Dustin Hoffman's lonely moving walkway ride, the raspy vocals, an odd mix of David Lowery and, er, Adam Duritz, build to a strong crescendo as the song approaches its sixth minute.

Rating: A

Topics: singles

The Buckets are apparently a one-off project from members of Ed's Redeeming Quality, who are all right, even if they do reek a little bit of would-be-high-brow-novelty-band-status. Sadly this side project serves only to enhance that "this is all really a very droll joke" feel, only this time the joke appears to be that they're a country band. Ha ha.

The A-side ("Cowgirls") is annoying. Does absolutely nothing for me.

The B-side ("Western Star") is almost a good enough song to overcome the annoying lyrics. Nice fiddle, banjo, ukelele arrangement, but not quite enough to shake the stigma of novelty band.

Rating: C+ (Trying to be funny. Failing.)

Topics: singles

This 7" appears to have been "liberated" from WHUL. Maybe WHLL. I think the station got the better part of the deal. They freed up precious library space for, say, that old Anton LaVey 7". I got stuck with yet another piece of vinyl I will feel obliged to haul cross-country next time I move. Bleurgh.

Rating: F

Topics: singles

I get Frankenfinger confused with Electric Frankenstein on a regular basis. One of those garagey Southern bands that has never successfully interested me enough to actually listen to them (despite the fact that I own at least one 7" by each band)

Actually, looking at this stack I've got here, I appear to have at least two Frankenfinger 7"'s. At some point, maybe I'll explain why I have as many singles as I do with no knowledge of what exactly comprises the collection, but today is not the day.

Fortunately, I put the B-Side on first. Hmmmm.... what have we here. This is very strange, and not at all what I was expecting. Very odd story about getting a butterknife and doing nothing with it, though the narrator puts herself in the position to maim her mother, brother, and beloved kitty cat. This is pretty funny! And fun to listen to! Kinda like that "Pocketful of Sugar" song from that Godco album, only with a homicidal instead of lesbian subtext. I like it!

Bah. The A-Side is pretty lame. "Freezerhead" is about exactly what you would expect (as long as you were expecting a song about someone with a freezer for a head). I'm not even going to finish listening to "Zodiac Killer." But "Butterknife" rocks. I'll listen to another one of their singles. Maybe today.

Rating: B+ (The B-Side saves it)

Topics: singles

This appears to be an emo band. I've never heard of them. Maybe they're not emo anymore. I'm having a hard time figuring out what emo is. What I think of as math rock appears to have become emo somehow. I'm confused. Emo also seems to sell a lot of copies of records, which doesn't exactly coincide of my memories of Heroin failing to draw more than about 15 people to come see them. Maybe I'm just out of touch. Wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Anyhow, Niner's doing the slow/quiet thing interspersed with the loud/screamy thing. And they like waltz rhythms. That makes 'em emo in my book. Pretty good. "One Force Down" is fun to rock out to. "Trinity"'s a little boring, but not bad to chill out to. Plus the label was giving them away, which either means it's funded by a trust fund baby or they are really into the whole socialist punk rock thing. Either way is okay with me

Rating: B (I appear to be a sucker for old-school emo)

Topics: singles

Are the Friggs big rock stars now? In my mind, once you have a song of yours appear in a movie, you're well on your way to having your own Behind the Music. Maybe my concept of the whole fame n' fortune thing is a little out of whack. At any rate, they're probably got a few more people who've heard their song than had prior to its inclusion in Jawbreaker. The song of which I speak is, of course, "Bad Word for a Good Thing," which must have come out in '93 or so. Good song. I played it a lot back in the early days of my college DJ career. I think I probably put it on a mix tape or two. And I was just as surprised as the next SFTRI fan when I heard it crop in a crap-fest like Jawbreaker.

So, I figure they're big rock stars now. Of course, I can't think of a lot of releases since that one, other than this 7" I've got here. It's all right. Nothing to distinguish them from the seemingly unending hoardes of people doing the surfy-garage thing. "Shake" consists of a pretty boring surf guitar riff, which periodically stops so they call all yell "Shake." Snore.

"Wild Love" is a non-catchy pop song. What's the point?

See, this is the downside to being big rock stars. You have to deal with vicious snarkiness from indie snobs like me. Ha. Take that, Friggs!

Rating: D+

Topics: singles

Now, take a look at this cover. What do you think this sounds like? Something sauve. Something smooth. Something European.

But no.

It rocks.

This cover should not be on a rockin' single. Look at that logo for the band. Look at the girl with short hair and a fluffy sweater. This is a Swedish-pop wannabe band, not 4/4 indie rock.

But it is. Straight-ahead, crunchy guitar, indie rock. Pretty catchy. Upbeat. All the things I would look for if the cover was a xeroxed picture of, oh I don't know, a rusty Peterbilt logo on a truck.

I know I should look beyond cover art. This is an auditory medium. Cover art means nothing.

Except when you get it wrong

Rating: B- (Once you get past the deception, not bad)

Topics: singles

I cannot express how thrilled I was the day I realized that the large quanity of free, mostly-horrible singles I had acquired contained this 7". I have long-standing love for this single, and, more importantly, for the collected works of The Philistines Jr.

For those who do not know, TPJ (no idea if this is an accepted abbreviation, but my fingers are getting sore) have been churning out great indie pop/rock for somewhere around a decade, releasing the bulk of it on their own Tarquin Records. They apparently have a new album ready to go, but are unable to find funding, which ranks up there with the starvation of children worldwide as far as global travesties go in my (admittedly off-base) view of the world. There have to be enough people out there who would chip in $20 or so to help pay for costs in exchange for a copy of the CD when it finally comes out. Aren't there?

Anyway, this may well be my favorite thing TPJ ever released. The A-Side is a brilliant, if historically wrong, tribute to Christopher Columbus (who sailed out in 1492 with 2 ships, according to one of the vocalist) Brilliant.

But nothing compared to the B-Side.

Two great 80's covers: "Melt with You" and "Kids in America" PLAYED AT THE SAME TIME ON DIFFERENT CHANNELS. Sorry for yelling, but it's so damn brilliant. You use the balance to select which song you want to hear! Fabulous! (Except, of course, on my record player, which is mono, so plays them both at once)

Yes, I know this sounds very close to a novelty single (We all know how I feel about novelty bands) and, truth be told, these guys do routinely lapse into novelty recordings in some of their affiliate projects (most notably The Zambonis) but TPS albums are much closer to concept albums with horribly flawed concepts. Like the rock opera about a sinking of a ship that takes place in reverse chronological order. Not terribly funny, just amusingly misguided.

Misguided... and brilliant, that is.

Rating: A+ (Top of the line)

Topics: singles