We Versus the Shark

I crave music, I’m almost always listening to something, and am regularly hunting for new stuff as well. Between our home stereo to my car cd player to my iPod; I have plenty of outlets to plug into. For all the things I dig, the old DIY ethic holds a precious place in my heart. Sure, even though I’m open to hip-hop, americana, jazz, or whatever tag you need to put on things, there’s something about the raw energy (think the Stooges “Raw Power” or the Velvets “Loaded”) that can only be transmitted before a band gets too big and get’s a big name producer to commercialize their message (yeah Guided by Voices, I’m looking at you during the “Do the Collapse” era). So anyway, a band I stumbled across a few weeks back, the Athens, GA band, We Versus the Shark, provide a fantastic example of the DIY feel I love. Their 2004 debut full length release Ruin Everything! is a very good and steady listen. Anyone who knows me knows I love abrupt rhythm changes in my music, something about running full speed to drop back to a trot or crawl, and then to run again just makes it happen. WVTS plays this to a T, with songs that start slow migrating in to true, riff-heavy, rockers. Their sharp, angular rhythms have been compared to other favorite bands of mine from yore like Shellac and aMinurature by my wife, and I hear plenty of Babe The Blue Ox in there, although without the sweetness (which I prefer) along with the unpredictiblity of Brainiac. I can’t think of another band, other than Indiana’s late Pencil, that the ‘math rock‘ label could be applied to so smoothly, so you should really check them out. Oh, and you know how most albums start off strong, and then settle down during the last 2/3s? Not WVTS, the second to last song No Flint No Spark is perhaps the most heavy track on there, such a nice surprise…when do you ever fwd to a ‘later’ track when you wanna rock out? I’m all about sharing links to free downloads, so now is the time to sample This Graceless Planet and I Am Destined for Greatness. If your local cd store doesn’t carry the cd, order it for a mere 10$ from Hello Sir Records. Also, while on the music tip, I’ll take this opportunity to link to the ‘Beta’ (named in honor of Google putting out everything as a Beta) page that I’m creating, Now Hear This which I want to create in order to share free, legal mp3, ogg, flac, shn or whatever audio recordings that are available for download out on that world wide thingy.