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National Features >

  • Miami New Times

    Budget Ballin'

    South Florida's lawless exotic rental car industry keeps rolling.

    By Gus Garcia-Roberts

  • Houston Press

    Crime Doesn't Pay Back

    In Texas, restitution for victims is nothing but a state-sanctioned sham.

    By Chris Vogel

  • Seattle Weekly

    Hot and Frothy

    If you thought Seattle couldn't fetishize coffee any more, you haven't been to a "cupping" yet.

    By Jonathan Kauffman

Fools and Urinals

By John Garmon

Published on August 26, 2008 at 12:06pm

After forming in 1978, Los Angeles' Urinals perfected the "sound of three people struggling with their instruments," a singular approach that influenced the likes of the Minutemen and Yo La Tengo. The band's brief, monochord blasts of fly-buzz guitar, speedy surf rhythms, and brilliantly minimalist lyrics resemble a warmer West Coast version of Wire's undiluted art-punk. After breaking up in the early '80s, Urinals members resurrected the band in 1996, and now the group performs Sunday on a bill including San Francisco's the Traditional Fools and Seattle's Intelligence. They share space at a concert put on by Your Flesh, a 27-year-old publication dedicated to spotlighting innovative underground talent.