New Releases: Smug Brothers

Every time I mention Smug Brothers here, I end up falling back on the laziest of Guided By Voices comparisons. But c'mon: Ohio indie band, comically prolific, an endless barrage of LPs and EPs packed with delightfully catchy, seemingly tossed-off pop wonders with absurdist titles, recorded somewhere between lo-fi and glorious mid-fi, and even the skippable songs pass by quickly enough that you're onto the next thing soon enough.

Right?

Though to be honest, as much as I revere GbV as one of my all-time favorite bands and continue to dutifully pick up everything they and Pollard's various offshoots release, I tend to find most Smug Brothers albums more consistent than anything GbV has done in 20 years.

So here's a good chance for you to decide for yourself. The recently released Gravity Is Just A Way To Fall is a collection of cuts from throughout their 20-year history. I only have the most recent albums myself--I keep meaning to invest some $$ and pick up the older stuff--so I don't know how representative this is, but there are plenty of great tunes here, skewed little earworms ranging from jangly faux retro British Invasion pop to Television-inspired post-punk. Check it out (and the rest of their voluminous output) on Bandcamp.