Whenever I get something for review that I’m unfamiliar with, I like to put it up against my old friend, the television, in a battle for my undivided attention. This challenge involves turning the television set on with the sound off, changing the channel to any foreign language programming (Korean game show, Armenian drama, what have you) and then dropping the needle on my record player with headphones intact. The victor is the one who distracts me more from the other. As soon as I started to take notice of the run-of-the-mill bar punk that was coming from my headset, I knew that this record would need to pull a miracle if it was going to stand a chance against the TV. Who won? Neither. I eventually found myself removing my headphones, cleaning my room, and ignoring both the stereo and the set. In fact, the only time I paid much attention to the record was when I heard the lyrics, “You go to hell, I’ll go to Texas.” You know what? That sounds like a plan.
–Juan Espinosa (Longshot, longshotmusic.com /Contra, contra-net.com)