Mic City Sons (30th Anniversary - Remastered) Heatmiser

• 1 Get Lucky 02:50
• 2 Plainclothes Man 03:28
• 3 Low-Flying Jets 02:49
• 4 Rest My Head Against The Wall 03:30
• 5 The Fix Is In 04:37
• 6 Eagle Eye 02:17
• 7 Cruel Reminder 02:40
• 8 You Gotta Move 02:07
• 9 Pop In G 03:17
• 10 Blue Highway 02:47
• 11 See You Later 03:42
• 12 Half Right 04:21
• 13 Cocksucker's Blues 02:37
• 14 I'm Over That Now 04:12
• 15 Silent Treatment 02:32
• 16 Burned Out, Still Glowing 02:13
• 17 Rocker In C 02:30
• 18 Get Lucky (Demo) 02:41
• 19 Everybody Has It 04:01
• 20 Dark Cloud 02:15
• 21 Dirty Dream 03:11
• 22 You Gotta Move (Demo) 02:03
• 23 Christian Brothers (Rock Version) 04:34
• 24 Untitled Instrumental 03:03
• Total Runtime 01:14:17

Info for Mic City Sons (30th Anniversary - Remastered)

Nearly 30 years after its original release, Heatmiser’s last-ever record is back, remastered and reimagined as a two-LP opus containing a set of demos and unreleased tracks, bringing us right back to that DIY Portland studio where a quartet of tempestuous twenty-somethings created pure sonic magic.

The surviving members of Heatmiser — Gust, bassist Brandt Peterson (and later, Sam Coomes), and drummer Tony Lash — eventually regrouped to celebrate their output with 2023’s sprawling compilation The Music of Heatmiser, also released via Third Man Records. That process of sorting through hours of demo tapes and unreleased music led to the group revisiting the Mic City Sons sessions.

“I started to go through and found stuff that was pretty much finished, but just never mixed, and some other things that we had run out of time to fully develop,” said Tony Lash in a press release. “It brought me back to that time in a really visceral way. It made me appreciate this creative space and creative life that we were able to sustain there for a little bit. If only we could have somehow worked our way through all the interpersonal issues. I think the record shows that we could be a really good band.”

"Heatmiser was an indie rock supergroup of sorts, featuring songwriters Elliott Smith and Neil Gust (No. 2), as well as Sam Coomes (Quasi) and the multitalented Tony Lash. The quartet's finest and final album, Mic City Sons features a decidedly more pop feel than its predecessors and marks Smith's maturation into the role of the band's visionary. From the opening notes of the swaggering, bass-heavy "Get Lucky" to conclusion of the album with a soothingly soft hidden track, Mic City Sons is an outstanding collection of diverse and invigorating tracks. Songs like "Plain Clothes Man" and "You Gotta Move" exhibit the interplay of soulful, smooth vocals over gentle guitar strumming that has been so evident in Smith's solo work. The Gust-penned tunes, like "Cruel Reminder" and "Eagle Eye" are more rugged and aggressive, but complement Smith's songs brilliantly. There are no weak tracks here - in fact, "Pop In G" and "See You Later" are two of the best indie rock songs of the '90s - and the album flows incredibly well. 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." (Michael Frey, AMG)

Sam Coomes, bass
Neil Gust, vocals, guitar
Tony Lash, drums
Elliott Smith, vocals, guitar
Additional personnel:
Aaron Day, additional vocals (track 1)
Sean Croghan, backing vocals (track 7)

Digitally remastered

Heatmiser
was an alternative rock band that originated in Portland, Oregon in 1992. Consisting of Elliott Smith (guitar and vocals), Neil Gust (guitar and vocals), Brandt Peterson (bass; later to be replaced by Sam Coomes, frontman of Quasi), and Tony Lash (drums), they were known for their well-crafted lyrics and songs featuring melancholic and cheery words and melodies. The pop-oriented songs of Elliott Smith were a contrast to the darker songs of Gust, while both Smith and Gust's songs touched on subjects such as anger, alienation, loneliness and despair. The band broke up in the fall of 1996 after Smith's solo work began gaining popularity. Gust went on to play in the band No. 2. Coomes carried on as half of Quasi, as well as playing as a guest musician for Built to Spill and Sleater-Kinney. Lash currently keeps himself busy as a producer. He helped with the production of Death Cab for Cutie's first two studio albums (Something About Airplanes and We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes).

This album contains no booklet.