Thanks for Staying Up Late
It's an amazing thing to sound this effortless. It's a rare thing to stand in front of a microphone in some dank studio somewhere and toss off these lines like you've known them your whole life, lived them, wore them, were them and make it seem like the first time they've ever left your mouth. We tell ourselves things over and over again in our head and it never sounds right, so I'm definitely jealous of the Muslims for making it sound so cavalier and unrehearsed. When you're driving home at night, tired in every sense of the word, the Muslims will keep you good company. Their songs, short and tight, are the length between stoplights. Four of them equal one short commute.
One of these days, the dead milkmen will get the credit they deserve for keeping this sound alive, back in the late 80s and early 90s. I have no idea if the muslims listen to those old records, but I like to think so. The guitar solo especially would not feel out of place on Eat Your Paisley or Big Lizard in Your Backyard. It moves along, forgoing negative space for something more real, more honest and less contrived. It's just a good old fashioned fuck you to that bitch who wasted your time. He doesn't owe anything to her. And that's that.
So, the Muslims are a couple of kids from San Diego. They are not art punks. They make rock 'n roll music that's not too low-fi and catchy as fuck. It's the first thing I've heard in awhile that I want to listen to over and over and over again. It hasn't left my car and I'm nowhere near sick of it. I think you'll like it too.
You can order their brand fucking new 12" from their label 1928 recordings. It's got 7 songs with a free CD that includes three more (including Extinction and Bright Side, which is a fucking killer). Highly recommended.