by JAY WATTS III

As every other messageboard worth its obscenely high thread count sees their treasure trove of downloadable mp3s exposed to the light of day, and then promptly responded to by the threat of legal action, there are precious few places where we can find that latest, obscurest, soon-to-be-on-a-car-commercialist track/re-edit/remix—PR firm e-mails notwithstanding. (No, I’m not interested in Queensrÿche, or Oberst-ist wailings from trust-fund lofters).

But lo, there be some hope in these dark times: Paper Thin Walls (www.paperthinwalls.com), yet another “online music community,” has gathered up some of the finer scribes, from the dime-a-word amateurs to the salaried interns-made-good, all eager to deliver three daily doses of uninhibited praise or scorn on an mp3 that the cool-hunters from Madison Ave., and maybe even yourself, can download. Still only a baby at three months old, the site manages to stand on both feet, albeit a bit wobbly. And with such schizoid thematic choices as metal icons Goatwhore, sexfunk pioneer Blowfly, indie muzak-meisters Tortoise, the late, great J. Dilla and even the much-ballyhooed Cummies, promises have been made that must be kept.

Today, Montrealer Tim Hecker (who’s at Casa del Popolo this Friday, with Nadja and Genou, for Pop Montreal) gets Seattle Weekly crit Andy Beta (a real writer, obviously, as he pens stuff for an alt-weekly) as champion/defender of the faith for his static-grazing track “Dungeoneering” (from his new album, which should be prominently displayed in whatever student-loan laundering bureau/record store you happen upon), in what passes for a playlist of late-afternoon prep when you’re plotting a weekend of revenge and mutilation (alongside Skullflower, Black Boned Angel and Hototogisu, par exemple). And just to preserve that authentic messageboard feel, users are even offered the ability to join up and verbally joust in the comments section. Set to RSS feed, now!

DIVORCE! ITALIAN STYLE! goldkicks@gmail.com

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