Obscurity Knocks

Trashcan Sinatras - Welcome Back. Back in the very early 90s I used to listen to a lot of loud music with off-tune singers like the Dead Milkmen and the Violent Femmes. Then someone turned my brother and me on to the Trashcan Sinatras and we were like "Holy shit -- these guys can sing," and it was very appealing for mostly that reason. Plus, their albums were on cassette. Their first album Cake was so full of wonderful puns and British wit, with all this muddy production that just sounded like brit-pop goo coming out of our dashboard speakers.

I thought they'd gone the way of the dodo. Their second album, I've Seen Everything, wasn't as good, and I never bothered to buy their third disk. But here they are, in 2004, ready to drop Weightlifting, which will be out on August 31. SpinART says that it'll be a deluxe version with dvd, bonus disk with Morning Becomes Eclectic sessions, etc. Eventually you'll be able to buy it here. The song here is pretty good. It sounds exactly like an old Trashcan Sinatras track, which is a hard thing to pull off ten years later. The voices are solid, the production less muddy (thank god) and the melody is very pleasant. Personally, I'm glad their back. It means I don't have to rip old tracks from cassette.