Holy crap, this is a lot of material from a band that I’ve only just
heard about in the past year. You can’t fault me for that – I don’t go looking
for many jangle pop/indie rock tapes, but now that Fall Break Records is on the
scene, I may have to adjust my search parameters. (Who am I kidding, I’m a
music writer – I don’t have to lift a finger [well, except to type], and I get
my records for free!) Chattanooga’s Mythical Motors has been around for a long
time in band years, since 2006, and they’ve released a butt ton of material in
the interim. That’s actually not surprising when you’re as indebted to Guided
By Voices and The Apples in Stereo and bands like that – you’re practically
born with pop songwriting in your DNA. You wake up, brush your teeth, and knock
out about fifty tunes before breakfast. It’s just what you do.
It’s what Matt Addison does, and he and his band of merry guitar
slingers have perfected their power pop formula in basements and bedrooms and
home studios and whatever else like machines on an assembly line. Write hook,
record, move on. Remember I.R.S. Records? Flying Nun? Yeah, they’re represented
here too, and Mythical Motors would have slid right in to the each label’s
roster if they were twenty years older. But right now, it seems that Tennessee
– the whole state mind you, not just Chattanooga – is the new hotbed for this
type of tunage. It’s the new Athens, Georgia, which is weird because Fall Break
Records is based out of Athens, and they probably have something to say about
that. Maybe we can get their label staff to Wrestlemania-style grudge match
against Mythical Motors and bands like Commander Keen and others. I honestly
don’t know who’d win (mainly because I don’t know how big the FBR staff is).
Doesn’t matter, though, because you still have to get your hands on
this sweet tape. Did I mention there are twenty-two songs on it? I didn’t? Well
there are, and that’s a lot, and they restlessly refuse to stay at one point on
the rock-and-roll map. Addison and co. keep it fresh, which might be surprising
after so much time, but here they are. Selections
plays like an album instead of a compilation, and you can’t ask for
anything more from your music curators. Have you ordered the tape yet? Why not?
I’ve given you over four hundred words worth of time. You don’t have to read
this to the end. It’s not like I’m monitoring your internet usage.
--Ryan Masteller