Urban Legend reviewed
Urban Legend
Of Old Lost Days
(Contraphonic)
Seizing upon the recent, albeit minor success of The Thermals, Contraphonic releases some demos to illustrate what could have been for Sub Pop’s resident malcontents.
Nowadays Hutch Harris heads up hyper-polictical spazmoids The Thermals, but back in the late ’90s he was as indie rockin’ as they come. Occasionally backed by future members of Kind Of Like Spitting and himself a contributor to Elephant 6 relatives The Minders, Harris’ collected tapes and EPs have been assembled as Of Old Lost Days in a showcase of sorts for a Guided By Voices-styled hopeful. While he has a way of never really taking hold of the melody that counts, tracks like “Time Alone” could be on par with Destroyer or The New Pornographers given the proper attention — my, what a cover would have done to give this set direction or nuance. Otherwise Urban Legend is solely fodder for completists, and pretty rabid ones at that.
— Steve Forstneger
Click here to download “The World Is Strange.”
