2006 : 37-38 Two tracks by Mates of State

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"Fraud in the 80's" See the glow up above See it glow telling us it rained on the streets of London Like it pours on other towns But the glistening of make-up helps to construct a better clown And you will surely find this news pleasing to your ears You can surely try to be more alive Every even year in the 2000's I took a trip to Portland. Even though I only lived there for one year, it is still one of my favorite places to go. It is a great place to get away from the life I am living for a few days. Because of all Portland's great record shops, of course I would always visit one while I was up there, and I would buy an album that had just come out. In 2006 the album was Mates of State's Bring It Back. I took the title as a sign that I should buy the album. I could not have been more lucky. It is one of my favorite albums of this decade. I love angry music. Not music that is full of rage, but rather the anger of "Oh yeah? Well, I'll show you." The kind of anger that makes athletes want to win. "Fraud in the 80's" has that kind of anger. You can hear it in the keyboards, the drums, and singing. It is the kind of anger that makes me want to turn the stereo all the way up and speed on the freeway. "Like U Crazy" I saw Mates of State play as the first act before Death Cab For Cutie and Spoon. The last song they played was "Like U Crazy." When they play it live they use a section of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" as the bridge. When I heard it, I thought that it was even better than Cat Power playing "Crazy" as an encore. I thought it was a nice way to take a song that just came out and add it to their song that just came out. Somehow this made the song even better. —Rich Thomas Listen: Mates of State >> "Fraud In The 80s" | "Like U Crazy"