Rapid Cities and mOck team up for this pretty cool split 7".

Rapid Cities impressed me with their 2009 full-length, Machinery Saints, so it's a bummer they broke up earlier this year. That LP was a bit like a more straightforward, melodic Moss Icon, or like Hot Cross somewhere between Fair Trades and Farewells and Risk Revival without the riffs and temper tantrums. These two cuts are like that, but the band blend in more of their own off-kilter, melodic aggression, plus some steady, intertwining Fugazi-esque guitars, and it's pretty great. "Techno After Party" is consistently compelling and dynamic, while "After After Party" is essentially a quick, casted-off instrumental closer.

mOck are actually from Berlin, Germany, but their one contribution here, the nearly six-minute "Count and Release" sounds decidedly American. It has a bit of a Midwest emo vibe, with Bob Nanna-ish vocals, but the first three minutes of the song moves with a really effortless, mid-tempo chug, without any wild guitar theatrics or rhythmic specialties. Things change a little bit at the three-minute mark, with a little more liveliness. I want to say that the band sound either Dischord-y, but there's a strange simplicity to what they do. I want to say comparisons could be drawn to Fairweather's Lusitania, but this is much more raw and stripped down. It's neat stuff regardless.

STREAM
split 7" EP