"They're gonna turn the power off...on your very lives."
Alright! Harriet the Spy Week continues...and ends. Whoops. But we've got some doozies. First off: two tracks from their very out of print, one-sided, limited tour 7", issued just in time for their summer 1998 tour. I've seen copies of this record with funny things etched on the blank B side, but my copy is just blank. Also of note: these are the last recordings they ever did, and were "recorded with haste, May 1998 in our home". "Synthetic Synthesis" is kind of long and pretty depressing on all fronts but with great lines like "let's be pieces of shit together", while "So Called Reality" is also pretty depressing but with some outstanding guitar notes towards the end. Meanwhile, the Live 1998 split with the Party of Helicopters finds them raging through two songs at the More Than Music Carnival in Columbus, OH. Very lively and awesome versions of "The Forgettable Fire" and "When Will Gentlemen Rule the World?", and precisely the kind of stage banter I dream about. Why was this wasn't expanded into an entire album I will never fully understand.

Harriet the Spy - "Synthetic Synthesis" (from the Summer 1998 Tour 7")
Harriet the Spy - "So Called Reality" (from the Summer 1998 Tour 7")
Harriet the Spy - "The Forgettable Fire" (from the Live 1998 7")
Harriet the Spy - "When Will Gentlemen Rule the World?" (from the Live 1998 7")

Song of the day is the Nation of Ulysses' "N.O.U. Cooking With Gas!", from one of those Kill Rock Stars compilations, maybe the first one. Its a jazz jam similar to their cut on the Feer of Smell comp, or like those couple songs on Plays Pretty For Baby. Video of the day is THIS!