Heavy Rotation: Cymbals Eat Guitars

For me, Modest Mouse and Built To Spill represent the apex of '90s American indie rock (sorry, Pavement - you are a close third or so on my list). Both bands have spent their careers mining the fertile territory between blissfully celestial and ruggedly terrestrial. Staten Island's Cymbals Eat Guitars follows in this grand tradition - they keep both feet planted firmly in the dirt while their heads sway in the clouds. This is not to say Cymbals Eat Guitars are shamelessly derivative of Modest Mouse or Built To Spill. Cymbals Eat Guitars are simply serving as proud torch bearers while carving out their own unique sound that is informed by a multitude of other influences. "And The Hazy Sea" and "Wind Phoenix" are both shambolic, transcendent, multi-parted epics from CEG's debut, Why There Are Mountains.

Why There Are Mountains is available now via itunes and CD Baby.

Download MP3: "And The Hazy Sea"
Download MP3: "Wind Phoenix"