''Mic City Sons'' is the third and final album by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Heatmiser Heatmiser was an American rock band, formed in Portland, Oregon in October 1991. Consisting of Elliott Smith (guitar and vocals), Neil Gust (guitar and vocals), Brandt Peterson (bass; later replaced by Sam Coomes, frontman of Quasi) and Tony La ...

, released on October 29, 1996 through record label Caroline.

Recording

''Mic City Sons'' is the band's only recording for a major label. However, when individuals at

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

learned the band might be on the verge of disbanding, the album was subsequently licensed for release through the smaller sister

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

label

Caroline Records Caroline Records is a record label originally founded in 1973. Initially founded in the United Kingdom to showcase British progressive rock groups, the label ceased releasing titles in 1976, and then re-emerged in the United States in 1986. ...

(also an

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

subsidiary) and their independent distributor of the same name.

Content

The title of the album is taken from a line in the ninth track, "Pop in G": "Mic city sons seem to dumb everything down". On the album's style, Michael Frey of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

noted "a decidedly more pop feel than its predecessors".

Release

''Mic City Sons'' was released on October 29, 1996 through

sub-label Caroline.

Reception

Michael Frey of

called the album "an outstanding collection of diverse and invigorating tracks". Tracks "Pop in G" and "See You Later" were called "two of the best indie rock songs of the '90s". He finished by saying "Despite the success Heatmiser's members have achieved since their disbanding, it's unfortunate that this collective decided to split up just when they had reached such a creative peak."

Track listing

Personnel

; Heatmiser *

Sam Coomes Samuel J. Coomes (born April 23, 1964) is an American musician, and one-half of the Portland-area indie band Quasi, along with his ex-wife, drummer Janet Weiss. Coomes was also a member of the mid-1980s underground pop band The Donner Party and ...

– bass guitar * Neil Gust – vocals, guitar, sleeve design and photography *

Tony Lash Heatmiser was an American rock band, formed in Portland, Oregon in October 1991. Consisting of Elliott Smith (guitar and vocals), Neil Gust (guitar and vocals), Brandt Peterson (bass; later replaced by Sam Coomes, frontman of Quasi) and Tony La ...

– drums, sleeve photography, mixing ("Rest My Head Against the Wall") * Elliott Smith – vocals, guitar ; Additional personnel * Aaron Day – additional vocals ("Get Lucky") * Sean Croghan – backing vocals ("Cruel Reminder") ; Technical *

Rob Schnapf Rob Schnapf is an American record producer and musician. He was the co-producer (along with Tom Rothrock) of Elliott Smith's albums ''Either/Or'', '' XO'' (on which he also played guitar on the song " Baby Britain"), ''Figure 8'' and ''From a ...

– mixing (all except track 4) *

Tom Rothrock Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

– mixing (all except track 4) * Steve Marcussen – mastering * Storm Tharp – sleeve photography

References

External links

* 1996 albums Heatmiser albums Caroline Records albums Albums produced by Tom Rothrock Albums produced by Rob Schnapf {{1990s-indie-rock-album-stub