Two great songs, each capturing the diverse playing skills of Modest Mouse. "A Life of Artic Sounds" is upbeat, fast, and features Issac Brock's screaming/singing vocals. Very catchy. The b-side, "Medication," is a much slower, hushed lament about differing aspects of Issac's personality -- which is interesting considering the striking diference between these two tracks, perhaps they were chosen to share this 7" for that specific reason. Pressed on white vinyl. These songs also appeared on the compilation, "Building Nothing Out of Something."

This 7" is pretty good, the music is all there but it suffers from poor recording quality. Also, the singer's voice is distorted in a way that just makes this record somewhat irritating to listen to, something like rapidly scratching your needle across the record.

It's not like Melt Banana, Charles Bronson, Converge, Locust-style screaming. I think the issue is the recording quality of this album. I'll listen to it from time to time, but it's not especially good. More of an interesting 7" to see what Mark did after Charles Bronson, and Social Coma had a female singer, which is always a good change in the male-dominated hardcore/power-violence genre. But the recording just makes this hard to enjoy.

This is a fantastic CD, it was absolutely perfect for this summer. The musical arrangements are great with upwards of a dozen people performing on a song. This CD has something of a "Beat Happening" approach to lyrics, where the band looks back at life as young adults from an older point-of-view. They make this album more timely by adding in the increasing impersonalization of our society due to gentrification and industrial expansion. But the songs are still great indie songs with lots of pop hooks. The songs have a lot of energy to them, and this CD captures the band's enthusiasm perfectly.

Look for their upcoming album "Every Night" this Fall.

Compared to the 7", this LP/CD is a lot more punk sounding, while the 7" has a much stronger hardcore approach. Still a good LP, fast and catchy songs with a strong political mindset. The lyrics are well thought out, which impresses me, as it seems like some punk bands try to use the fast speed and short song duration as an excuse to write bare-bone arguments in songs. The Crass cover on this album is amazing, too. It made me go back to my Crass CD for a refresher.

Looking forward to the band's upcoming full-lenght album.

This is early sounding-Locust, when they had the death-metal singer. It sounds comparable to the songs on the Locust/Jenny Piccolo split. The songs are pretty good, although I prefer their later work on GSL and beyond. Pretty brutal stuff.

The Man is the Bastard songs sound like Man is the Bastard blurring with their later form of Bastard Noise. The songs are about half power violence like other Man is the Bastard releases, but there's a lot of fiery feedback, static and straight-up noise. If you like Bastard Noise, or John Weise's later work in Sissy Spacek or just as John Weise, this should be right up your alley.

A good split overall. I enjoy the music, but I think I get the most entertainment from this split by seeing how much the Locust has evolved and grown since then.

Eric Paul, aka "Mr. Pottymouth," of Arab on Radar, puts his obscenity into print in this short book. The first third of the book is made up of diary-like entries about Eric's childhood where he talks about sexual experiences, molestation, and work. It's interesting to wonder where the real life experiences blurs with the fictional, although some parts are really over the top.

The next third of the book are Arab On Radar lyrics. Nice, but if you have the albums, this is a little redundant.

The last third of the book are fake "letters" written to Mr. Pottymouth, which are similar to the diary sections, but just more bizarre and obscene stories in a letter format.

I enjoyed this book and it's cool to let friends borrow, especially those unfamiliar with Arab on Radar. It's a little pricy at $12, although in the independent publishing world, I suppose you have to expect that, as they don't have the sales big publishing corporations work with. But still, a fun read. Freak out your roommate and leave it on the bedstand or on top of the toilet.

I bought this for my brother as a Christmas present, as he liked what Xiu Xiu he had heard and wanted to know which album was "the best." I saw Xiu Xiu on tour shortly after this came out and they blew me away with their intensity. While the new album, "Fabulous Muscle" has been called the most accessable Xiu Xiu album, I still prefer this one, as much as I love Fab Musc. This is just a beautiful and brutal album. With clashing chimes, downtempo guitars, wispered vocals, and harsh shrieks, Xiu Xiu can take you from the sweet sadness of "Tonight and Today" with it's hushed vocals and light piano playing, to the sheer hell of "Hives Hives,"a song about finding out you are HIV positive. "Hives Hives" actually features the drummer from Deerhoof, and he just makes the song (as well as the album) that more amazing. Phenomenal.

Xiu Xiu 4 Life.

The first record from Philadelphia's dance/noise punk group, An Albatross, really sheds some light on the band for those who are only familiar with the band's more recent CDep, "We Are The Lazer Viking." Where WATLV maintained a very consistent sound throughout, "Eat Lighting, Shit Thunder" shows the band at a stage where they were still trying to find their focus. This LP goes from the very dancy sound that is similar to WATLV, but it also has some much darker, faster songs that are almost black-metalish.

Looking at the lyric sheet, one sees that these songs are of a much more personal nature, and on the insert sheet the lead singer, Edward Gieda, remarks that, "This record is personally symbolic to me for overcoming the loss of friends, the degradation of sexual and emotional abuse, the dehumanizing aspects of globalization, and our country's predisposition for excessive materialism."

This sheds a great deal of light on their latest album, WATLV, and explains it's reoccuing theme of celebrating and embracing the sweet interludes of life. This is an excellent album that shows some of the hardships that helped to form An Albatross into the wonderful and awe-inspiring groupt that they are today.

On a technical side, the LP is on red vinyl, and both sides have the same tracks. About ten minutes long, on one side.

I got this CD a while ago and just recently found that Pitchfork Media had given it a terrible review on their website. I think the problem was that the Pitchfork reviewer wasn't a fan of this genre of music to begin with, so they probably wouldn't enjoy the unique sound of XBXRX. First off, I really enjoy this album, for it's fast pace, fun sceeching lyrics, and pummuling sound. Imagine if your standard hardcore band got really happy and said, "Hey, let's just dance!" Bizarre sounding? It is. But it's an intense and furious sound, something akin to An Albatross. My one complaint is that this album is a little short (nine minutes)...although the CD itself was created by Erika (Who also pressed the Locust's puzzle-shaped version of "Flight of the Wounded Locust") so if you like the hardcore noise/dance punk sound and don't mind paying a bit more for a CD that's very aesthetically pleasing, check this out.