It has recently come to my attention that tracks from down MF's The Law of Diminishing Returns cd/7” are still digitally available here on the band's official website. If you haven’t already, you should ... I haven’t heard these songs in a long time, and they’ve returned to regular rotation in my car, kitchen and head over the past week.

Back in grunge-era East Lansing, down MF, or rather the band's figurehead Scott Sendra, was generally regarded as the wise-yet-unpopular sage of the local basement rock universe, a noisy, stiff-hipped bastion of straight-edge bad vibes that beer-drunk teenagers had to sit through in order to revel in the gory mosh pits of more crowd-friendly bands. But it's no surprise that every Good Time Charley act that picked down MF to open their shows would have swapped souls to be able to write songs with the same conviction ... not for nothing that my own pop/ska/rockabilly combo El Smasho opened up nine out of ten gigs with "Solid State," a down MF number that we turned into a bubblegum hardcore rave-up so frothy that Sendra nearly abandoned the song altogether (luckily, he later relented and released it on a down MF single infamous for having fewer than 60 seconds per side). It took a while for down MF to achieve the respect the band deserved, but relative obscurity was its only reward, as is so often the case.



The Law of Diminishing Returns was down MF's last (final?) release, and features the band's most high-concept anti-audience gimmick ever ... the inner sleeve of the 7" single is lined with sandpaper, meaning that every time the listener removes the record for play the vinyl is damaged that much more, resulting either in new, exciting sounds every time or ruined stereo equipment. The accompanying complimentary CD is easier to enjoy, and features down MF's best-sounding recordings ... start off with "Toast of the Town," "Brixless" and "My Trend," then keep on working down the list if you get it. It's easy enough to simply point you once again towards Deming's rave review to give you the jist, but am I really that lazy? Maybe. All I know is these songs still move and inspire in the same old way ... all that melancholy distortion and those bitter melodies, shambling rhythm and incidental noise, Sendra's clumsy baritone pointing out every fault and folly you thought you'd overcome, hidden or simply forgotten. I'm not sure what down MF makes me feel exactly, but it feels exactly right and these recordings are uncovered gems worth digging through the dirt for.