Friends, it's been awhile, eh?

First, we've gotten two little blips about us and our EP in two different Michigan publications: Real Detroit Weekly, and Grand Rapids' Recoil Magazine (which is great, because one half of it covers music and entertainment, and the other half is a satirical newspaper, very much like The Onion). We already posted about the Real Detroit one, but, hey, I'll post it again, and include the text in the actual blog entry here. Also, the Recoil review probably won't be up on their sight after September. So, here goes:

Real Detroit Weekly, 8/15/07
http://www.realdetroitweekly.com/article_3080.shtml
In My Ear
Find the groove. Stay there a while. The listener starts to get the gist, the emotion — happy there is emotion. Change it up. Staccato perhaps. Make it feel new. Make it feel honest. Lack pretention. Make it feel only slightly familiar then pull back. Make a refrence. Take time writing a line. The beat, the beat, the beat. This is Natural Monuments and you can hear them at the Magic Stick opening for Thunderbirds Are Now! and Mason Proper on August 24.

Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
The Beatles - Help!
Brenden Benson - Alternative to Love
Feist - The Reminder
Field Music - Tones of Town
Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes
M. Ward - Transistor Radio
R.E.M. - Murmer
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
The Weakerthans - Left and Leaving

Recoil Magazine, 9/07
http://www.recoilmag.com/unsigned_artists.html
Sensory Attack
Michigan quartet Natural Monuments have produced a well-polished five song EP. This is a very professional disc with impressively cohesive pop songwriting, resonating like modern rockers such as Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes and Wilco. Urgent yet not overpowering guitars ring out loudly. The rock-stylized voice and lyrics paint realistic characters while the underlying backbeat drives the tunes forward. All elements are in place for a pleasurable listening experience. Complete with slightly inexplicable artwork, this is a CD well worth checking out, if not for the pleasant songs, then for the air of radio friendliness and stellar recording quality. See myspace.com/naturalmonuments for details.

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As for some actual updates on the band. Alec and Tom live in an apartment together in Chicago. Tom is a consultant for a business firm. Alec is working in shipping/recieving at a toy store (I believe that's what he told me). He also is writing for his next solo record. Travis and his wife Marlena have a daughter on the way come the end of October or early November.He also is writing and recording songs. I am doing data entry full time still, and looking for another awesome band to play drums in. Those are the most basic updates I can give ya.

Thanks for reading!

Love,
AQ