Will Beg 4 Money

Full disclosure:  it is entirely possible that the back of my head features fairly prominently in the above video.  While I understand that giving a glowing write-up to my pals in Rib Cages could be seen by some as a shameless fame-grab, I assure you that it is nothing of the sort.  Yes, the back of my head BADLY wants to be famous.  No, that is not my motivation for writing this piece.

Instead, I write to address an imbalance that has been giving me the fits lately.  To wit:  if the media is to be believed, my city's (Portland, Oregon) music scene is full of fucking WIMPS.  The Decemberists.  The Shins.  Stephen "Pencil Neck" Malkmus.  Modest FUCKING Mouse.  This is to say nothing of the legions of soundalikes (And And And, my Pavement records and I are looking at YOU), folk-rock candyasses (Shaky Hands, you PUSSIES) and out-and-out ABOMINATIONS (Sallie Ford And The Sound Outside).  

But!  This perception is FALSE, I tell you!  Rock and/or Roll live and breathe in Portland,  despite what those demented scribblers of the Music Press would have you believe.  Rock (and/or) Roll of the sort embodied by RIB CAGES.

What we're dealing with here is yr basic garage-rock with a few crucial innovations.  One!  The guitar (played by "Nation") is an electric twelve-string, so every chord is turned into a blizzard of noise and chaos.  Two!  The rhythm section ("K-SE" and the more reasonably-named "Josh") play like they are fucking POSSESSED,  with the end result that Three! the tempos never dip below "blistering".  Which, for those of you who remember this earlier lesson, goes a hell of a long way to making your band "awesome."

My gift to you today is the only Rib Cages 7-inch that made it out before the band's (temporary?) dissolution (if any of my readers are in the Chicago Metro area, please tell K-SE to get his ass back here so his band can start demolishing clubs again).  Four songs.  Seven minutes (not even).  Flawless victory.  You should buy a copy from 'em so yr not a total deadbeat.

In related news, The Best Show on WFMU recently played "Lock Horns" from this very 7-inch.  I think this is the best thing that has ever happened to anyone I know, ever, and YES that includes your stupid marriage/kid/promotion/Nobel Prize.  This is the goddamn Best Show we're talking about.  Congrats, boys.  I'm super jealous.