I’ve done it, I’ve done it! Guess what I’ve done! I’ve invented a blog post that’s a good read and fun!*

I downloaded The Spectacular Fantastic’s free EP ‘I Love You’ after learning of it by way of some blog I totally forgot the name of about three months ago. This is how I preview new music. Like wine, I buy a bottle in advance, let it age a moderate amount, sample it lightly, sample it heavily, then pass it on to a friend if I enjoy it. Luckily, this mp3 set is free and legal. A beautiful thing, really. You can best download it track by track here. (I suggest getting the final track first, as you most likely know the tune already).

What follows is my thoughts Stream-of-Consciousness Style as I listened to the EP.

Okay definately sounds like the end track to PUSA’s II. Here are lyrics. Kinda shout-sung but not annoyingly. Drum sounds like classic break down with an extra flourish tacked on. Very compentent. Noisy fuzz guitar, but not obnoxious, sounds very competent and adds to the song fairly well. Simple solo, not bad.Standard bass line to compliment the rest of the arrangement. Sounds like a 50s-60’s mentality band playing today’s instruments. Track 2, okay definitely a case of arrested musical developement, but not annoyingly so. It is like the band practiced in the sunshine of 50s-60s California and recorded in 2001 California (Between rolling black outs). Very nice guitar work in the breakdown. Okay, two of them. Very adequate acoustic guitar. Track 3 Country mixed with 1980s synth instinct (”Yeah put it in there it’ll sound nice, hang on I’ve got a call on my briefcase phone”). If you slowed down this track, added a female answer vocal track, and slide guitar, you’ve got new-new country. The breakdown made me seriously flash back to hearing the Flaming Lips the first time. The lyrics are simple enough. I actually dig hearing “I don’t know why…” repeated. I hate that the fade outs are a little abrupt sometimes. Track 4 Late 90s “I would walk 500 miles” vibe. I can totally imagine the lead singer with a wiry blonde hair and those glasses singing with his twin over his shoulder in front of a blue screen. I feel kinda gypped because the drums are recorded the same way for all these songs so far. At least, they sound it, using the same setup. It’s not hard to fiddle with the knobs on the snare, I’ve done it to get a more distinct sound. The guitar solos sound like the guitarist studied Eric Clapton and George Harrison a lot. Aw gyp, they could have gone somewhere else instead of ending there! Track 5. Okay, what was that group that did the “500 Miles” song? I wanna say The Pretenders, but that’s so so wrong.(Update: !) This is like where Garage Rock is at today on the coast. The better, studying-Paul-studying-Buddy sound, not the screaming-I’m-so-alone-fuck-authority shit. Ah this ended nicely. Track 6 Oh shit, Del Shannon ! It sounds like the garage band jamming one encore before going to blow all the gig money on beer and TJ Tacos. You can buy a lot of TJ Tacos with $20 after beer.

Overall I would definitely recommend downloading this album. It’s free and legal so there’s really no reason not to. You dial-uppers (Do they still exist?) can click it to download, do whatever you are going to do online, and sign off when it’s done. Why not, eh? It’s good stuff to drive to, especially the closing cover.

The only thing I want from this Free EP is a proper cover and perhaps a note from the band, but hey, they record in a garage so it’s cool. I’ll mail ‘em a CD with GIMP on it. (U: ! !)

An homage* to the late, great Shel Silverstein.

**Does anyone else always try to spell homage as “omage?”