5 out of 5

Label: Magic Bullet

Produced by: Rich Costey / Kurt Ballou

Damn. So, I like Antenna, as a very purposeful balancing of the band’s then-developing rock sensibilities with the atmospheric Radiohead stuff Brodsky seemed to encourage, mainly just stripping it of the hardcore dressing they’d already been letting go, but: the B-side of this Antenna, Rich Costey-produced slick, fun single is a wild example of what that album could’ve sounded like as recorded by Kurt Ballou, and / or if Cave In decided to make a straight up grunge album, and / or maybe could’ve been a more straight-faced Mutoid Man outtake. It rocks, in a linear way that syncs it with some of Antenna’s singles, but heavier and more aggressive than anything on that disc. Like, I get why this wasn’t on there, but I kinda want to hear this album, as it cuts a straight line through a lot of the clutter and posing that sometimes irks me on Cave In releases.

It’s a great set: a solid song from the album, and then it’s devilish reflection, and one of the best sounding / most fun tracks the band had performed to that point, as long as you’re down with Cave In being hardcore punk and leaving the mathy stuff back at Hydra Head.