[mp3] EMMA

Emma - "Volcano" (mp3)

A lot of CDs probably benefitted from landing at the radio station contextless. I rarely suspected bands of intentionally engineering facelessness for themselves, though-- most of the borderline-interesting discs we got came in fat envelopes full of glossy photos, press kits and promo stickers. Emma chose the right path, I think; based on their sound they could easily have had a cover photo of the singer sitting in a bar looking thoughtful or some other local-band cliche. Instead, they put on an opaque front. I actually expected this disc to be musique concrete or slowed-down birdsongs or something. That said, this song stood out; I couldn't hum any of the others for you.

Their webpage says that in 1998, they made a seven-inch out of two album outtakes, and... "666 copies were pressed, wrapped in pages of local classified ads, and mailed to randomly chosen local businesses... There are no copies in possession of Emma or the Schwa-Disk offices." My disappointment at Emma being a conventional rock band has just tripled.

[You can buy Different Engine #23 from Schwa-Disk.]