Julia Sets Present
"An Alternative To Extinction" CD EP (Julia Sets Present)
It looks like a CD EP until you look at the running time - then it seems more like an album (two songs go on for 37 minutes and 14 seconds). Drawing from influences like Red House Painters (fitting, since Mark Kozelek was a Midwesterner before he lived in the Bay Area) and shoegazers like Slowdive as well as hints of mid-‘80s college rock, these five songs are actually quite a pleasant surprise. Instead of being the useless emo shit that I typically get to review, this is an unexpected and well-done throwback to a more innocent time when indie bands merely hoped to get their single played on the local college station and didn't look much beyond that.