The Better Automatic (Resin)

Out of the three main blogs here (for LPs, CDs and 7"s), I think this 7" one is probably the most fun. The LPs and CDs I keep pretty 'clean', as I freak out pretty much annually and sell/toss things. But 7"s get away with murder - I don't notice what I have, often forgetting about them entirely -- and thus you get weird records like this, which I have carted around with me for 10+ years now. The Better Automatic are a now-forgotten band from Washington, DC who I think I set up a show for in 1998. When they came through they were a fun, lively mod-pop band (or at least that's how I remember them). This 7"s downplays melodic hooks in favor of punchy, more shouty vocals and anthemic guitar pricks. It's almost impossible for me to listen to this without thinking of Fugazi, but not because of the DC connection - because the vocalist sounds exactly like Guy Piccioto and the songwriting resembles 'Margin Walker' more than a little. That's not to say that these songs about Buckmister Fuller and sock monkeys are without their charm - and I can see the 17-year-old me getting really excited about this - but listening now, it's just begging to be forgotten. I don't know why they reminded me of the Jam live - maybe they changed sounds after this 7" came out, or maybe my memory is just extremely faulty. I also realise that this is the type of record I should be digitising and uploading MP3s of.... this project decided not to do that, because otherwise I'd end up digitising my entire record collection and that's way more labour than I'm willing to commit to. But what's the point of reading my poorly-written 3 sentence review of this band if you can't hear it yourself? I highly doubt anyone else out there is gonna be ripping this. So, if you really want to hear The Better Automatic, comment here and maybe in the new year I'll get to it. (oh, how promising!)