Ok, no long rambling posts today. No picking fights over Pitchfork or Built to Spill. Just a small opportunity to tell you about the new record from Austin-based TRGAW pals Pompeii (their site seems to be down, weird...), whose debut album, Assembly, is out on Eyeball Records October 10. Apparently, they're using something I wrote on depravedfangirls.org in the press quotes, so, er, maybe we should finish moving the site and stuff. *ahem*

Watch, I will engage in self-plagarism -- er, quote myself, I mean (seeing as I've done it before and all...):

As I watched Pompeii, I realized that for the first time, I was seeing a band who was using that ubiquitous (and utterly tiresome, usually) Radiohead influence in the right way -- chiming, lovely guitars and sweet, sad boy vocals and modestly epic and darkly uplifiting lyrics, over the driving clatter of emo drums and Peter Hook-ish melodic bass lines -- all hoisted up by the deep, raspy scraping of Caitlin's cello. I'm hesitant to know what to call Pompeii's music -- because it's not indie pop, or indie rock, or straight up goth or emo. It's all these things, and in the end, I think that's why Pompeii's music is so affecting.

Well, you get the idea -- even if that is apparently the worst thing I've ever written. Speaking more compactly, in possibly useful comparison-speak, I'd place Pompeii squarely between the chilly, sad detachment of The Like and the hyper-emotive, ornate pop of The Format. Dean's got the kind of open, bright voice that every 16 year old girl in the universe will sigh over; the instrumentation and lyrics reveal the band's melancholy core. I will confess, I regularly get a little teary-eyed at their live shows -- which are just incredible, btw.

Assembly doesn't really have a dud moment (yes, I have totally listened to it like three times today already...), which is pretty impressive -- then again, I wouldn't expect anything less from these guys -- they never cease to impress me. (And isn't that record cover the loveliest thing ever? Seriously.)


Pompeii -- Catalog (via Eyeball Records)
Pompeii -- Assembly
Pompeii -- Numbers


...And a gentle reminder: we'll be at the Chain Drive dj'ing tonight. On the bill: Summer Wardrobe, Vacation Gold, and The Midgetmen -- and, as always, there's no cover! Hope to see you there!