Swearing At Motorists
Number Seven Uptown
Secretly Canadian
Eyesinweasel
Wrinkled Thoughts
Luna
The easy way out of a pile of promotional records is to copy the respective press releases verbatim. That, however, is usually fairly noticeable unless you are translating the press kit into a foreign language. The next easiest way to quickly escape from the guilt of procrastination on the promotion of other people’s dreams is to use comparisons to other similar bands. So, here we go. These two bands share the fact that they both contain alumni from Guided By Voices. Swearing At Motorists, to the casual listener, has brought such exclamations as “By god, this is twee stoner rock!” and “Doesn’t Don Thrasher have the most ridiculous name?”. My experience with SAM is marked by the paradox that I cannot tell you any songs I especially like or remark on any that stand out, but I know each one by heart and sing along effortlessly after only a few listens.
Eyesinweasel should be a Tobin Sprout solo release. Horrible unremovable stickers proclaiming “This is the new project from TOBIN SPROUT” clutter the cover of the album, and his voice and songwriting completely dominate this “band.” Where the departure of Don Thrasher from GbV was only one in a series of many drummers, the resignation of Tobin Sprout changed GbV forever. Maybe Bob Pollard was competing with Sprout to write better songs. Maybe they worked better together than apart. Regardless, I like Eyesinweasel maybe a little more than Do The Collapse. No more “14 Cheerleader Coldfronts” by GbV.
Oh yes, writing one review on two dissimilar records quickens things twofold.
Secretly Canadian, 1703 N. Maple St. Bloomington, IN 47404; Luna Music, 1521 W 86th St. Indianapolis, IN 46260
