3 out of 5

Label: Temporary Residence Limited

Produced by: Greg Norman (recorded by)

The leaps and bounds these guys made from release to release… Swan song Panda Park is a psychedelic post-rock masterpiece, doing up the 70s swirl in a truly unique, Chicago-ed way that I don’t think I’ve ever heard since; a step before that they were doing the more mature version of their dissected-Big Black shtick on To Everybody; and on their debut disc, they were split between minimalist, extended workouts and angsty, angular-lyriced, pummeling aggression.

And to start, there were some singles, and there was this EP. To be sure, the 90 Day Men of It Is It is very, very apparent on the rockers: opener My Trip To Venus, Sweater Queen; the energy is there, the noise is there, and the deep, driving bass and drums are there. Brian Case certainly had his nonsense swagger in place, but it’s not yet as distanced as his singerly persona on later releases. Similarly, the group has its share of experimentation with the spacey Sink Potemken and the sloppy, live sound of Streamlines and Breadwinners, but this feels more ‘different to be different’ than the band delivering something fully inspired; the EP is more of a generic indie Chicago sound than the wholly none-other-than 90 Day Men effect of any of their albums to follow. As such, this would have come across as a band to watch, and I’m down with the music when it’s on, but there’s no lasting impression except as a reminder of how far the group would advance on each release thereafter.