New P-Land Band Sounds Pretty Good

When I was in high school, I lived in the attic. The attic had the dual advantage of sound-dampening insulation and a bathroom. Every day I would wake up before school and put No Code or In Utero or Siamese Dream on full blast so I could hear the rock over the percussive dripping of the showerhead.

Today, when I wake up on the futon, I reach over to my laptop and throw on some PIL or maybe "The Passenger" by Iggy Pop if I'm feeling kinda Detroit. Then it's off to the douche but those thin little speakers aren't projecting the same way my AIWA boombox did it.

But I am now listening to some tunes that might make me reverse my whole laptop-only listening experience. That is, I'm listening to music that is growing on me very quickly, reminds me of a nice-guy Gray Matter or Fugazi or other undergrad type music. I'll try to remember the name of this band by the end of this post and if I do I will link it (form matches content yeah yeah yeah).

The album starts with an organ blast which is subsequently completely abandoned. Picture "Like a Rolling Stone" only once-again listenable because instead of that pseudo-trademark organ-eighth-note-off bullshit there are just speedy distorted guitars and the tagline is "So here's your future."

The band in question (literally in question, still can't remember the name) has a Pavement-style nasal but well-enunciated vocal delivery, poetical in a way, post-Pitchfork rock for people who don't like quiet shit and think The Hold Steady sounds too contrived.

Here we go:

The Thermals.

It's not like Lifter Puller where I'm instantly playing Tracks Two and Nine over and over again, usually putting on Track Two as I'm getting ready to shower, hearing Nine as I'm drying myself off. The Thermals are not a shower-type band, not yet. But it probably took me four or five years to do the AIWA dance with Nirvana, so they shouldn't feel bad. I've always been a bit behind the times. And at least they have the potential. Right now the Thermals are a forties-and-tallboys band, good for the afternoon on a day off, hanging with the guys. I would probably not listen to them much if I were back East, but if life in Tacoma has had any effect, it is that I will give the Therms another shot. Tomorrow. Before the shower.