Mic City Sons

Mic City Sons is the third and final album by American indie rock band Heatmiser, released on October 29, 1996 through record label Caroline.

Mic City Sons
Studio album by Heatmiser
Released	October 29, 1996
Genre	Indie rock Power pop
Length	38:35
Label	Caroline
Heatmiser chronology
Cop and Speeder (1994) Mic City Sons (1996)

Recording

Mic City Sons is the band's only recording for a major label. However, when individuals at Virgin Records learned the band might be on the verge of disbanding, the album was subsequently licensed for release through the smaller sister independent label Caroline Records (also an EMI 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 noted "a decidedly more pop feel than its predecessors".[1]

Release

Mic City Sons was released on October 29, 1996 through Virgin Records sub-label Caroline.[2]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	A–[3]
Pitchfork	7.9/10[4]

Michael Frey of AllMusic 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."[1]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Get Lucky"	Elliott Smith	2:50
2.	"Plainclothes Man"	Smith	3:28
3.	"Low-Flying Jets"	Neil Gust	2:50
4.	"Rest My Head Against the Wall"	Gust	3:31
5.	"The Fix Is In"	Smith	4:38
6.	"Eagle Eye"	Gust	2:18
7.	"Cruel Reminder"	Gust	2:41
8.	"You Gotta Move"	Smith	2:08
9.	"Pop in G"	Gust	3:18
10.	"Blue Highway"	Gust	2:48
11.	"See You Later"	Smith	3:43
12.	"Half Right" (hidden track)	Smith	4:22

Note: Smith's official website notes that promotional copies of the album incorrectly attributed "Pop in G" to Smith. The song was written by Gust,[5] but sung by Smith.[6]

Personnel

Heatmiser Sam Coomes – bass guitar Neil Gust – vocals, guitar, sleeve design and photography Tony Lash – 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 – mixing (all except tracks 4 and 12) Tom Rothrock – mixing (all except tracks 4 and 12) Steve Marcussen – mastering Storm Tharp – sleeve photography

References

1. Frey, Michael. "Mic City Sons – Heatmiser | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. AllRovi. Retrieved April 26, 2013.
2. "Just Out". CMJ New Music Monthly. November 1996. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
3. Smith, Ethan (November 1, 1996). "Mic City Sons". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
4. Schreiber, Ryan. "Heatmiser: Mic City Sons: Pitchfork Review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on March 5, 2000. Retrieved April 26, 2013.
5. "Sweet Adeline | Cop and Speeder". Sweet Adeline. Retrieved April 26, 2013.
6. Greenwald, David. "See You Later: Heatmiser Looks Back at Last". OregonLive. The Oregonian. Retrieved 2 August 2018.

External links

• Mic City Sons at Discogs (list of releases)