Today marks the start of a new feature we’re going to try here at Tympanogram. We lauded praise on Amie Street earlier in the week, so we decided that we’re going to dive into their collection headlong, finding albums, EPs and singles that we believe are worth your time and money. We’re already spending an inordinate amount of time on the site, but now we can tell our significant others that it’s for research.
We’re going to limit the price of the album (when we review it) to $3 or less, and we’re going to give you the opportunity to win the music we’re talking about as well. We won’t be posting any mp3s, because we want to support both the band and the site as much as possible, but we will stream a couple tracks for you. So, if you like the music, please go and support the week’s band and Amie Street by purchasing it.
With that said, this morning, we’re talking about the Bridges and Tunnels EP from The Static Jacks:
I’ve been wondering lately about my inability to maintain zeal over the years, and I imagine that this holds true for most people. Moods change, fervor lessens, attitudes merge and ebb and are influenced by competing sources. I’m certain that eighteen-year-old Andy would be surprised to learn of all the things I once held dear that are barely a passing concern now. I’m somewhere along my “long journey to the middle.”
But now and again I still catch sparks, that excitement in other people, and that makes me happy. The Static Jacks give me that feeling. They’re garage rock at it’s finest – all lo-fi, handclaps, and testosterone. And it makes me happy that 18-year-old guys haven’t changed all that much in the intervening years since I was 18; there’s always a girl to be passionate about. There’s always an issue that needs promoting, from vegetarianism to animal shelters, from going green to hybrid vehicles.
The band’s talent has already allowed them to share the stage with Tympanogram favorites Youth Group and Tokyo Police Club, and their follow-up EP is slated for the fall, to be produced by Andrew Maury, who has worked with TPC and Ra Ra Riot, and who runs the RAC (Remix Artists Collective.) That’s high company for a band with just 2 four-song EPs to their credit. I’ll be looking forward to hearing that when it’s released.
The quintet has a very short summer tour lined up, with just four dates in CT, DC, MA and PA. If you’re around the Northern East Coast, check their site or their MySpace for the details of where and when they’re playing.
Stream two of the songs below, purchase the whole thing over at Amie Street, and/or leave a comment for your chance to win a copy for yourself from us. To win the EP, tell us about the cause most dear to your heart right now, along with your e-mail address. (You should also sign yourself up for an account at Amie Street.) It’s that simple. We’ll pick our favorite and send you the goods. Make us laugh, inspire us with your passion, whatever. Good luck!
The Static Jacks – Stay a Lover (stream) from Bridges and Tunnels EP
The Static Jacks – Resistance/Self-Control (stream) from Bridges and Tunnels EP
The Static Jacks – Fire on the Bridge and the Tunnel Below (RAC Maury Mix) (mp3)
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tympanogram.wordpress.com 
You guys are awesome. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.
This might be helpful http://amiestreet.com/browse/rock/browse/?g=88&f=bargain
excellent post
I’ve been following The Static Jacks for a few months now, and compliment your good taste.
The cause I get concerned about nowadays is alternate energy. I’ve actually researched some potential techniques to harness energy; like mid-ocean ‘Energy Islands’ that use multiple energy conductors, like OTEC (Oceanic Thermal Energy Conversion, fueled by cold water), Solar Panels (to collect all of the untapped sunlight in the middle of the ocean), Wind Turbines (to take in the free air on the open seas), and the like. I think this is an amazing idea and would love to see it be developed in the future.
So thanks for your promotion of a great band and letting me promote a good cause for the chance to win their EP.
My leading cause is Instant Runoff Voting. I love the idea of being able to vote my conscience and not get chastised for ‘wasting’ a vote. Anything to move us away from ‘Practical Politics’ and towards voting our conscience.
For years I’ve been sick over people anthropomorphizing the Earth. When some advocates talk about climate change or global warming they talk about it in terms of what we are doing to the Earth. We should be talking about what we are doing to humanity, our posterity and the species we rely on for survival (and are also good in themselves – separate from their use to humans). The Earth couldn’t care less what we do to it – the atmosphere used to be ammonia and the Earth did just fine – it would be humanity and a fair proportion of species that would perish it it returned to ammonia or any other combination that did not resemble the current nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide mix we evolved with.
So let’s talk in human terms, loss of habitat, competition for resources, mass migration, human suffering and the possible deterioration of civilization. I wonder how people’s (those who counsel to do nothing based on cost/benefit analysis) economic models showing the economic cost of converting to more verdant forms of energy production and resource management would come out if one of their variables accounted for the possibility that a nation state might fail or if there was a major war based on resources (like between India and China for water).