Coming across as unique is a nearly impossible feat. Listening to the radio and watching MTV, I find myself constantly confusing which band does what song, and which latest band du jour is the "new" hot sound that everyone else is copying (read:Seattle,grunge...remember that whole fiasco?) Saturn 138 sent us their release "Saturn 138" and the immediate reaction was "look at this killer packaging!". From the first strains of "Ball Lamination" to the kink-like (i think so vocally, anyway) "Where's Alfonso" there is a very deliberate subtlety to Saturn 138's writing - it's almost a deconstructed minimalism. That's not to say the sound is sparse, because it is incredibly thick on all fronts. The urge to pigenohole comes to me, but I struggle to categorize these guys. Maybe it's a lack of a frame of reference, but this release seems to be the freshest disc to come to us in a long while. Truly Unique.

If I had to play the "sounds like" game, I pulled references from Cake, Hum, Failure, the Kinks (haha) and maybe a few others. There is a great deal of texturing and experimentation happenening here and there, and the quality of recording is crisp and clear, thanks to Train Wreck Studios (Season to Risk's studio I believe) and Westend Studios where the mastering took place.

Most notable, however, is the truly unique packaging by HammerPress. I went to school with Brady Vest over there, and I recommend a bunch of you musician types look him up. tel 816.361.4689