Essential Music: Rocket From The Crypt - Circa Now!

San Diego’s RFTC was putting out high quality rock’n’roll long before this, their major label debut, but this is where it all came together. This was released in the early 90’s when San Diego was being whispered about as “the next Seattle”. That designation never panned out commercially, artistically San Diego cranked out some great music. A lot the music of the time was angular math rock like Drive Like Jehu (i believe Speedo, RFTC's singer, was in Jehu) and No Knife, but when it came to Rocking The Fuck out, RFTC was (and to some extent, still is) THE band. Incorporating saxophone in a (thank God) non-ska way, Circa Now consists of one juggernaut after another. It’s hard to come up with a good comparison for their style, but add some melody to the previously mentioned bands and you’re getting warm. It's Heavy, it's melodic, it's fast, it's slow, you know, fuck it, I’m not gonna try and describe them, just go get it. If you listen to it three times and don’t love it, I’ll buy it off of you. Oh, and don’t ask me what any of the lyrics mean, I have no idea.