Secretly Canadian

Bloomington is not The City That Quality Control Forgot. But in a scene that places more of a premium on alcoholic units moved (Band X adjusts set list according to whatever's fashionable, keeps the Mellencamp and Buffett covers, and secures prime weekend spot at local watering hole; Band Y plays originals and occasional Bowie or Velvets cover, and is relegated to basement shows and maybe a Friday night at smaller nightclub), it's difficult to get excited about anything but the most established bands. In 1999, that would be United States Three, Cadmium Orange, the rare John Walsh sighting, and anything with Kenny Childers. Therefore, when a band like Marmoset comes along, you can't help but pull for them.

Their nine-song debut EP, Hiddenforbidden, failed to capture the essence of Marmoset's frenetic, punchy live sets. Fortunately, on this, their debut full-length record, they come a little closer to the mark. The 20-track, 34-minute Today It's You starts out auspiciously enough with the sadly charmless instrumental "Main Titles", before "A Prayer for Elaine", replete with Brit-inflected, dry-as-an-Arizona-summer vox by Jorma Whittaker, negates the dreck. "Prayer" kickstarts Marmoset's headlong recreation of late '70s/early '80s sometimes-heavy, sometimes-dancey postpunk, all without taking themselves or the task at hand too seriously. "Shatter The Lovely", which has garnered some local airplay, is a wonderfully understated rocker in the vein of Modern English's "I Melt With You", as is side one's "Blooms". The unwieldy "(Heavy Breathing) On the Telephone" and "Pretty Girl (Pity)" both settle into a gravity-riddled groove, helped by the sludgy-sounding percussion of LonPaul Ellrich and the production of US3's Vess Ruhtenberg and the band. Old live fave "(Put) the Baby (in the Bassinette)" makes an appearance here as well, a rollicking Devo-with-personality tune. Even The Vaselines' "Lovecraft" is reconstituted here as Ellrich's "Peace In The Valley", and the title track recalls the best of Wire.

Armed with a list of influences a mile long, but clever enough not to sound like any of them, Marmoset has established themselves as a band to be reckoned; they're doing something completely different from the dirtass brand of pap that tends to permeate Bloomington in periods of musical stagnation. It helps that three of the four members contributed tracks to the record instead of one Svengali dominating output. Today It's You should ensure that Marmoset will be a formidable name for a long time to come.