Several months ago, I managed to get myself out the door to a really kickin' show here in downtown Lexington: Mates of State. It was a great show all around, but one of the best treats for me was one of the opening bands: a local group called Ulysses that happened to be the project of one Robert Schneider, one of the guys from the Elephant 6 group, which included bands like Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, and Schneider's previous project, The Apples in Stereo. Before the group dissolved.

Now, aside from the fact that a guy from the illustrious (to say the least) Elephant 6 collective had started a band based in Lexington, I was utterly blown away by their music. I really, really enjoyed it.

The problem was, I couldn't for the life of me find any of their tracks online, even on soulseek. Well, their album 010 was released recently, and I'm currently listening to it. It's quite good. It's very solid neo-psych/indie rock, still definitely in the vein of Schneider's previous Apples in Stereo stuff. I highly recommend it.

However, I have to put an asterisk on this review. Not for any particular flaw of this album in and of itself, but in comparison to the Ulysses set I saw at that concert. Apparently, that night their drummer was out, and so they did this amazing Spacemen 3-esque shoegazing drone-pop set that just blew my mind. And despite 010's lofi goodness, I'm still just left aching for stuff they played at that concert. Anyone have a bootleg??

Anyway, I highly recommend this stuff. Download (or, in this case, preferably pick up) a copy of this stuff. It's terrific.