SmashAndGrab Torrents
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The Dollheads - What Teenage Angst? (2022) [FLAC]

Released ................ 2022
Source .................. CD
Genre ................... pop punk
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

01 - Parasite
02 - What Teenage Angst
03 - Before Friday
04 - Ode To You
05 - January 28th
06 - Still Alive
07 - Limbo
08 - Better Half
09 - I Wish I Were A Demon
10 - She's A Girl
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Death Cab for Cutie - Asphalt Meadows (2022) [FLAC]

Released ................ 2022
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... alternative, rock, indie
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 48.0 kHz

Four years after 2018's relatively warm Thank You for Today, indie rock stalwarts Death Cab for Cutie issue their tenth set, Asphalt Meadows. For a group so deep into their careers, the album sounds surprisingly urgent and revitalized, like a band reborn against the tumultuous backdrop of the early 2020s. As Ben Gibbard sings on "Roman Candles," "It's been a battle just to wake and greet the day…but I am learning to let go." That track crackles to life in a great clatter, with bassist Nick Harmer, drummer Jason McGerr, and guitarists/keyboardists Dave Depper and Zac Rae propelling the song forward like the titular fireworks. The standout title track pushes the urgency even further, riding a Radiohead-esque undercurrent, just as the breakneck "I Miss Strangers" catapults Death Cab into Cure-meets-Silversun-Pickups territory on their rockingest song in years. These energetic highlights abound: "Here to Forever" is classic Death Cab, balancing yearning and uncertainty with Gibbard's typically evocative lyrics, and "Pepper" rides restrained guitar, tinkling piano, and a persistent beat like something from their early Atlantic years. On the dreamier end of the spectrum, the soft rock "Rand McNally" sprinkles sparkling production atop patient bass plucks, before the bittersweet storytelling of "Foxglove Through the Clearcut" carries Asphalt Meadows into the ether. That spaced-out sound returns at the close with the meandering "Fragments from the Decade" -- a programming/production spectacle that is as spacious as it is vulnerable -- and the epic "I'll Never Give Up on You," a showcase of buzzing electronics, dramatic piano chords, and layered vocals. Kicking off their third decade post-Barsuk, Death Cab continue their evolution in fascinating and rewarding ways, somehow managing to surprise with fresh directions and sounds yet unheard from this ever-reliable crew.

01 - I Don’t Know How I Survive
02 - Roman Candles
03 - Asphalt Meadows
04 - Rand McNally
05 - Here to Forever
06 - Foxglove Through the Clearcut
07 - Pepper
08 - I Miss Strangers
09 - Wheat Like Waves
10 - Fragments From the Decade
11 - I’ll Never Give Up on You
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The California Honeydrops - Soft Spot (2022) [FLAC]

Released ................ 2022
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... blues, soul, funk, rhythm.and.blues
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

Formed in 2007 by singer Lech Wierzynkski and drummer Ben Malament, who started out busking together in an Oakland subway station, The California Honeydrops developed a sound all their own drawing from Bay Area R&B, Southern soul, Delta blues, and New Orleans second line. With the addition of Johnny Bones on tenor sax and clarinet, Lorenzo Loera on keyboards, and Beau Beaullieu on bass, they’ve earned a dedicated fan base and sterling reputation not just as musicians, but also as world-class performers and entertainers. "This record is all about love and good lovin' and other things that matter," says The California Honeydrops' frontman, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Lech Wierzynski of the band's brand new LP, Soft Spot. Released today, Soft Spot finds the band drawing deep from the soulful well of the great rhythm and blues acts that came before them. "We continued the Honeydrops' album tradition of bringing special musical guests to bless the studio with their magic," adds drummer Ben Malament. "Sousaphones, strings, space echoes... it’s all here."

01 - Honey and Butter
02 - Gonna Be Alright
03 - Nothing at All
04 - I Miss You Baby, Pt. 1
05 - Tumblin'
06 - Takin' My Time
07 - The Unicorn
08 - Soft Spot
09 - In Your Arms
10 - Lil Bit of Love
11 - Sneakin' into Heaven
12 - I Miss You Baby, Pt. 2
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Guided By Voices - La La Land (2023) [FLAC]

Released ................ 2023
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... indie rock, alternative
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

Not many rock bands are still exploring new ideas after their 30th album, but Guided by Voices are not like many other bands. Though the lineup of GbV present on 2022's prog rock-meets-power pop outing Tremblers and Goggles by Rank had only been together since 2017, the album was their 13th release in that short time, with the unmistakable vocals and crooked hooks of founding member Robert Pollard steering the songs down new, weird paths. La La Land is a continuation of Tremblers and Goggles by Rank's expansive construction, moving further away from the patented short, sharp pop that GbV made their name on in the '90s and opting for relatively longer song lengths, more complex song structures, and a generally more angular side of the band. Where the last album jumped right into towering prog rock, La La Land takes a little longer to get there. Opener "Another Day to Heal" is a driving banger, made up of crunchy drums and huge power chords and flying by in under two minutes. Pollard applies his mystical melodic style to the jangly sway of "Released into Dementia" and the Beatles-informed harmonies of "Ballroom Etiquette" before blasting off into unknown dimensions with more intricately designed tracks like "Instinct Dwelling." Moments like the winding, six-minute epic "Slowly on the Wheel" or ominous intro of "Wild Kingdom" aren't quite like anything GbV has attempted before, which is saying something for a band with hundreds and hundreds of songs in their catalog. La La Land strikes a nice balance between more adventurous experiments with new styles and tunes like "Caution Song" and tracks such as the starkly beautiful "Queen of Spaces" that call on the fractured pop brilliance of the group's best-known earlier material. La La Land captures the incredibly rare state of a band still sounding fresh and curious on their 37th LP, and shows no indication of Pollard and co. stopping anytime soon.

01 - Another Day to Heal
02 - Released into Dementia
03 - Ballroom Etiquette
04 - Instinct Dwelling
05 - Queen of Spaces
06 - Slowly on the Wheel
07 - Cousin Jackie
08 - Wild Kingdom
09 - Caution Song
10 - Face Eraser
11 - Pockets
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Belle and Sebastian - Late Developers (2023) [FLAC]

Released ................ 2023
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... alternative, indie rock
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

The long stretches between albums that had become standard for indie pop heroes Belle and Sebastian made their 11th studio LP, Late Developers, even more of a surprise, as it was released without much lead-up just eight months after 2022's A Bit of Previous. Recorded during the same self-produced sessions, Late Developers feels like a companion piece to its predecessor, reaching just as inspired heights and continuing the band's inspection of aging and existential dread that always comes wrapped in soft, reassuring melodies. These songs also flit playfully between styles and delivery, turning in more of the band's Motown-fixated sunshine soul on tracks like the swaying "The Evening Star" or "Give a Little Time," which finds them sneaking in another of their long-term musical fascinations with some very subtle Thin Lizzy-style lead guitar harmonies. There are also moments of towering, drumless folk-rock on album opener "Juliet Naked," spirited power pop with hints of country lap-steel guitar and fiddle on the Stevie Jackson-penned romper "So in the Moment," and multiple articulations of synth pop on a solid percentage of the album. The synth pop tunes take the form of the cold funk of "When We Were Very Young," the slick and danceable "When You're Not with Me," and no-holds-bared synthesizer-driven pop hooks throughout "I Don't Know What You See in Me," the first Belle and Sebastian song co-written with help from someone outside of the band, Wuh Oh's Pete Ferguson. Much like the meeting of vulnerable feelings and unfettered songwriting experimenting made A Bit of Previous feel like the band were still in the process of evolving, moments like "I Don't Know What You See in Me" (which almost sounds like a tune Carly Rae Jepsen could do a great cover of) suggest Belle and Sebastian are still interested in expanding their creative range. All this growth will undoubtedly be a little bit too much evolving for fans secretly wishing the group would return to the state that they were in during their Tigermilk or If You're Feeling Sinister days. The inclusion of the sadly pristine "When the Cynics Stare Back from the Wall" will scratch that particular itch. The song was written by Stuart Murdoch in 1994 just before the band began, and this 2020s version includes beautiful guest vocals from Camera Obscura's Tracyanne Campbell. Late Developers is a sturdy collection on its own, but it takes on new depth when paired with A Bit of Previous. Absorbed as pieces of a connected statement, the two albums show Belle and Sebastian deep into their career but still in a state of artistic flourishing. Even the inclusion of an older tune somehow doesn't feel like they're content to stay cycling through past ideas. If anything it serves as a stark example of just how far they've come since those timid, mawkish early days, and the rest of the songs give a glimpse of how far they might yet go.

01 - Juliet Naked
02 - Give a Little Time
03 - When We Were Very Young
04 - Will I Tell You a Secret
05 - So In the Moment
06 - The Evening Star
07 - When You’re Not With Me
08 - I Don’t Know What You See In Me
09 - Do You Follow
10 - When the Cynics Stare Back From the Wall
11 - Late Developers
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Death Cab for Cutie - Asphalt Meadows (Acoustic) (2023) [FLAC]

Released ................ 2023
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... acoustic, alternative, rock, indie
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

This is the new acoustic version of Death Cab for Cutie's 10th studio album Asphalt Meadows:

Four years after 2018's relatively warm Thank You for Today, indie rock stalwarts Death Cab for Cutie issue their tenth set, Asphalt Meadows. For a group so deep into their careers, the album sounds surprisingly urgent and revitalized, like a band reborn against the tumultuous backdrop of the early 2020s. As Ben Gibbard sings on "Roman Candles," "It's been a battle just to wake and greet the day…but I am learning to let go." That track crackles to life in a great clatter, with bassist Nick Harmer, drummer Jason McGerr, and guitarists/keyboardists Dave Depper and Zac Rae propelling the song forward like the titular fireworks. The standout title track pushes the urgency even further, riding a Radiohead-esque undercurrent, just as the breakneck "I Miss Strangers" catapults Death Cab into Cure-meets-Silversun-Pickups territory on their rockingest song in years. These energetic highlights abound: "Here to Forever" is classic Death Cab, balancing yearning and uncertainty with Gibbard's typically evocative lyrics, and "Pepper" rides restrained guitar, tinkling piano, and a persistent beat like something from their early Atlantic years. On the dreamier end of the spectrum, the soft rock "Rand McNally" sprinkles sparkling production atop patient bass plucks, before the bittersweet storytelling of "Foxglove Through the Clearcut" carries Asphalt Meadows into the ether. That spaced-out sound returns at the close with the meandering "Fragments from the Decade" -- a programming/production spectacle that is as spacious as it is vulnerable -- and the epic "I'll Never Give Up on You," a showcase of buzzing electronics, dramatic piano chords, and layered vocals. Kicking off their third decade post-Barsuk, Death Cab continue their evolution in fascinating and rewarding ways, somehow managing to surprise with fresh directions and sounds yet unheard from this ever-reliable crew.

01 - I Don't Know How I Survive (acoustic)
02 - Roman Candles (acoustic)
03 - Asphalt Meadows (acoustic)
04 - Rand McNally (acoustic)
05 - Here to Forever (acoustic)
06 - Foxglove Through the Clearcut (acoustic)
07 - Pepper (acoustic)
08 - I Miss Strangers (acoustic)
09 - Wheat Like Waves (acoustic)
10 - Fragments From the Decade (acoustic)
11 - I'll Never Give Up on You (acoustic)
12 - The Plan
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Steady Holiday - Newfound Oxygen (2023) [FLAC]

Released ................ 2023
Source .................. CD
Genre ................... alternative, indie pop, indie rock
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

There is a palpable longevity to the songs that populate Steady Holiday’s new album Newfound Oxygen, one that’s owed in no small part to Dre Babinski’s attempt to kindle within (and outside) herself a sort of self-sustaining optimism. Arriving on the heels of Take the Corners Gently, her fourth album is a reaffirmation of many of the altruistic threads woven into her last record. Grappling with the same questions of identity and purpose, as well as acknowledging the terribly arduous work of living (let alone attempting to be decent).

01 - Bomb Shelter Comatose
02 - The Balance
03 - Asleep
04 - High Alert
05 - Reprise
06 - Can't Find A Way
07 - All Weekend
08 - My Own Time
09 - Under The Moon
10 - Newfound Oxygen
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Dinosaur Jr. - Puke + Cry: The Sire Years 1990-1997 (2023) [FLAC]

Released ................ 2023
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... rock, alternative, indie rock
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

When the original trio lineup of Dinosaur Jr. imploded in 1989, guitarist/vocalist J Mascis barely broke his stride when it came to continuing the progress the groundbreaking alt-rock group had been making up until that point. Instead of taking some time to regroup, Mascis carried on immediately with the Dinosaur Jr. name, quickly delivering the first of what would be four full-length albums for a newly inked major-label deal with Sire Records. Mascis would remain at the creative center for these albums, sometimes playing all of the instruments himself, and developing a style even more unique and internal than the already unconventional blend of cloudy emotional themes and noisy guitar hooks the band had presented throughout their earliest days. Puke + Cry: The Sire Years, 1990-1997 collects pretty much every track Mascis and company recorded during this phase of Dinosaur Jr., including four studio albums and over two dozen B-sides, alternate versions, and other non-album tracks from the same time period. The difference between the murky punk aggression of 1988's Bug and the more textural production and restrained songwriting of 1991's Green Mind (the first album the band released in their new form and with their new label) was remarkable, and Mascis continued upping production values and experimenting with layers for the rest of Dinosaur Jr.'s time with Sire.

Puke + Cry highlights these experiments by bracketing together the hazy, introspective songwriting of Green Mind, the sometimes-tortured Neil Young-informed melancholy of 1993's Where You Been, the accidental pop and understated country touches of 1994's Without a Sound, and the expanded instrumentation of 1997's Hand It Over, the last Dinosaur Jr. record before a hiatus that ended when the original members reunited and got back into the studio ten years later. In addition to the albums proper, highlights among the many, many bonus tracks on Puke + Cry include studio tracks from the 1991 Green Mind companion EP Whatever's Cool with Me (among them an essential-if-croaky cover of Bowie's "Quicksand" and the fizzy melodic mess of "Not You Again"), a curious Del the Funky Homosapien collaboration on Where You Been-era bonus track "Missing Link," an inhuman cover of the Germs' "What We Do Is Secret" with special guest Mike Watt, and several instrumental versions of songs from Without a Sound that emphasize just how many guitars were utilized in the recording process. While the Dinosaur Jr. material released in the '90s on Sire wasn't quite a J Mascis solo project, it's different from the streamlined force and group chemistry apparent in everything made by the original lineup. Diving into Puke + Cry offers a focused look at what made the Sire years a special chapter in the band's history, with a different mode of expression but just as much to offer as what came before and after.

01 - The Wagon
02 - Puke + Cry
03 - Blowing It
04 - I Live for That Look
05 - Flying Cloud
06 - How'd You Pin That One on Me
07 - Water
08 - Muck
09 - Thumb
10 - Green Mind
11 - Pebbles + Weeds
12 - The Little Baby
13 - Not You Again
14 - Quicksand (Wagon Reprise)
15 - Throw Down
16 - Whatever's Cool with Me
17 - Sideways
18 - The Wagon [7" DJ Edit]
19 - Out There
20 - Start Choppin
21 - What Else Is New
22 - On the Way
23 - Not the Same
24 - Get Me
25 - Drawerings
26 - Hide
27 - Goin Home
28 - I Ain't Sayin
29 - Hot Burrito #2
30 - Quest [Acoustic]
31 - Turnip Farm
32 - Forget It
33 - Keeblin'
34 - Missing Link
35 - Feel the Pain
36 - I Don't Think So
37 - Yeah Right
38 - Outta Hand
39 - Grab It
40 - Even You
41 - Mind Glow
42 - Get Out of This
43 - On the Brink
44 - Seemed Like the Thing to Do
45 - Over Your Shoulder
46 - Get Out of This (No Words Just Solo)
47 - Blah
48 - I Don't Think So [Instrumental]
49 - Outta Hand [Instrumental]
50 - Get Out of This [Instrumental]
51 - On the Brink [Instrumental]
52 - Seemed Like the Thing to Do [Alternate Mix]
53 - I Don't Think
54 - Never Bought It
55 - Nothin's Goin On
56 - I'm Insane
57 - Can't We Move This Along
58 - Alone
59 - Sure Not Over You
60 - Loaded
61 - Mick
62 - I Know Yer Insane
63 - Gettin' Rough
64 - Gotta Know
65 - Take a Run at the Sun
66 - Don't You Think It's Time
67 - The Pickle Song
68 - I Misunderstood
69 - What We Do Is Secret
70 - Never Bought It [Live, ABC-TV, Australia]
71 - Sure Not Over You [Live, ABC-TV, Australia]
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boygenius - the record (2023) [FLAC]

Released ................ 2023
Source .................. WEB
Genre ................... alternative, rock, indie
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

The three women of Boygenius — Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker — have made alluding to their forebears a hallmark of their band. Witness the cover of their first EP in 2018, when they re-created the casual iconography of the debut album sleeve of a prior supergroup — Crosby, Stills & Nash — or when they posed as Nirvana on a recent Rolling Stone cover. On their first full-length album, prosaically titled “The Record,” the references come fast and furious, in song titles or random lines: the Beatles with “Revolution 0,” Sheryl Crow with “Not Strong Enough,” Virginia Woolf with “Letters to an Old Poet,” Joan Didion and the Cure with scattered borrowings or citations, and last but not least, Leonard Cohen with, um, “Leonard Cohen.”

These fleeting shout-outs come from bona fide super fans, with a sense of humor about culture and about themselves. But the funny thing is, when they’re not playing spot-the-reference, Bridgers, Dacus and Baker are making music so good that it doesn’t seem untoward to elevate them to the same big leagues as their heroes. Individually that’s already the case, with all three among the forefront of 20-something singer-songwriters. But it wasn’t always clear, until “The Record,” how there might be even a fourth sensibility they could bring to bear as a collective. It’d be an insult to these artists’ solo records to say that the whole of Boygenius is greater than the sum of its parts, but the new album feels like you could play it a hundred times and still enjoy decoding how their voices and personas diverge and recombine in ways that are distinctly separate and alchemistic at the same time. Even the presence here of a cheeky song called “Satanist” won’t stop you from considering the holiness of a solid super-trinity.

01 - Without You Without Them
02 - $20
03 - Emily I'm Sorry
04 - True Blue
05 - Cool About It
06 - Not Strong Enough
07 - Revolution 0
08 - Leonard Cohen
09 - Satanist
10 - We're In Love
11 - Anti-Curse
12 - Letter To An Old Poet
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The Hold Steady - The Price Of Progress (2023) [FLAC]

Released ................ 2023
Source .................. CD
Genre ................... alternative, indie, rock
Codec ................... FLAC
Bit Depth ............... 16 bits
Sampling Rate ........... 44.1 kHz

The Brooklyn band’s ninth album is vivid and weird: a celebration of second winds, unlikely comebacks, and undying rock’n’roll dreams.

You can almost picture Skippers, the stripmall bar that serves as the setting for “Carlos Is Crying,” off the Hold Steady’s ninth album. The place is packed with cubicle drones sharing pitchers of beer and guzzling glasses of box wine, everybody letting off steam on a weeknight. That’s where poor Carlos finally breaks down sobbing. As Craig Finn relates the story, the guy hasn’t been to his job in weeks, even though he tells his wife he’s earning a steady paycheck. This is not how he expected his life to turn out: “We started as skaters,” he reminds his friends at the table. “Man, we used to glide/We used to hang like the smoke.” The Hold Steady chime in with some sympathetic harmonica and a bouncing-ball guitar lick, until Carlos admits, “Now every conversation I have is about money.”

This is how the Hold Steady’s characters age. They used to skate, party, take drugs, give themselves tattoos with ballpoint pens, make up clever nicknames, finger their rosaries, and chase salvation “into dark parts of big Midwestern cities.” Now they work unspectacular jobs, scrape to pay mortgages, and tell the same old stories about the past as Finn measures the crushing distance between adolescent dreams and adult realities. But this is not the way the Hold Steady ages. In their best songs the scene was always better a month or a year ago, the bands always heavier, the drugs harder. They traffic in the tragicomedy of lowered expectations, and they’ve yet to lapse into self-parody because Finn is always generous with the details and the Hold Steady are always ready with a dramatic guitar lick. They never condescend to any of the dreamers still clutching at their old dreams.

Rather than ignore the flatline trajectory of adulthood, Finn first embraced it on his solo albums, and he has examined it more determinedly with the Hold Steady over the past few years. More than anything else—including their 2016 reunion with keyboardist Franz Nicolay—this untapped thematic territory gave the band a boost after two disappointing records. The Price of Progress is full of second winds and unlikely comebacks, with Finn’s characters finally reaching a point where they can move forward again. On opener “Grand Junction,” a frayed couple drift through the West, searching for a destination and almost getting there by the final verse. The song evokes a very particular American vista, with the guitars counting the white lines down the highway and the synths hitting a crack in the windshield. It’s less a travelogue than a 21st-century landscape painting where “all the mountains were mocking our own little pitiful lives.”

Finn subtly expands the stage and stakes on the album’s second half without taking his eyes off his characters, who travel without really going anywhere. “The Birdwatchers,” an epic with music-box keyboards and minor-key tension, follows a couple traipsing through an unnamed country and looking for thrills that can’t be found in their guidebooks. Maybe it’s the same country in “Distortions of Faith,” a woozy waltz about a desperate musician who accepts millions to perform for a dictator. Despite some murky production by Josh Kaufman of the Fruit Bats and Bonny Light Horseman, the Hold Steady turn these songs into weird, vivid snapshots, always looking for new ways to soundtrack Finn’s globetrotting tales, whether that means the ’70s spy motif that adds a wink to “Understudies” or what sounds like an ’80s TV theme that casts “Perdido” as a strange period piece.

These are songs about desperation with no direction, alienation with no reconciliation, isolation in a crowded bar—a hunger for something that can’t be found on the laminated Skippers menu. That’s another way to say that the Hold Steady have lived up to their name: By slyly tweaking their musical palette and by expanding their familiar milieu, they’ve managed to thrive at a time when even high-functioning rock bands are having too many conversations about money. They’re adaptable, much like the protagonist of “Sideways Skull,” a woman who keeps her band going while living in a recovery clinic. Finn crams in so many amazing details about her world: the blood capsule in her mouth, the glam-rock top hat, the “jacket held together by the rock band patches.” It’s funny, but it’s not a joke. Instead, it’s a rousing anthem, an unabashedly positive jam. The Hold Steady are sincerely rooting for this artist who finds it “hard to fully rock in a halfway house.” They get you to root for her, too. “The trick is not getting cynical,” Finn barks, which sounds like the soundest and most adult wisdom they could pass along.

01 - Grand Junction
02 - Sideways Skull
03 - Carlos Is Crying
04 - Understudies
05 - Sixers
06 - The Birdwatchers
07 - City At Eleven
08 - Perdido
09 - Distortions Of Faith
10 - Flyover Halftime
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