Comet Gain - Mailorder Freak 7" Singles Club

(Kill Rock Stars, 1998)

The September installment of Kill Rock Stars’ 1998 Mailorder Freak 7” Singles Club. “If I Had a Soul” is crammed with ringing guitars, mixed-gender harmonies, mini drum-breaks, and handclaps, which means it’s pretty much more of the same outta Comet Gain. And that’s no knock, cuz this is a catchy one that careens along effortlessly without doing much of anything wrong – Black Tambourine with more sophistication. Rest of the single is equally strong: “He Walks By Night” goes a heavier distortion-happy route, while “The Brothers Off the Block” is the clean, sensitive one that builds in volume with each “Sweet Jane”-copping verse. The single is a limited edition (of 2000?), but copies are still bouncing around and are worth the few bucks you’ll have to shell out for ’em; these songs beat hell on the sometimes overcooked retro-isms of other Comet Gain records.

Now let’s talk about something different! While I was getting my coffee this afternoon, there was a grown-up adult woman ladyperson explaining to her boyfriend how she had recently lived in a haunted apartment and had had to convince her landlord to let her break lease because, well, the place was h-h-h-haunted. This was good stuff, so I eavesdropped for a while, waiting to hear the punchline. It never came, and I has left kinda stunned. People actually (a) believe in this nonsense, (b) will move over it, and (c) will talk about it in public?? Advice to the guy who was being told the tale: Run for the hills. If you stick it out, this imbecile could one day be RAISING YOUR CHILDREN.

(Hopefully my sneering dismissal of this gal’s earnest story will not bring any sort of spectral retribution down on my head. Do ghosts use the internet?)