It's not Phish, but...

...if you close your eyes really tight, you may think it is. Sure Raq sounds a bit like Phish stuck in 1998, but hey, is that a bad thing? I work with a band who people sometimes mock for sounding too much like Radiohead. My response is that it's better than sounding too much like Third Eye Blind.

When I want a good intro to a band, I usually go straight for the covers. If I like what I hear, I'll start poking around the other stuff. Like when I first saw Umphrey's McGee, they laid down this sick cover of "The Stranger" by Billy Joel (with some help from Fareed Haque). It sounded good enough to me that I went and ranted about the band to anyone who'd listen. Of course, I've pulled back a bit from that ranting in recent years, but I digress...

Raq has been around for quite some time. I figured they'd be one of those bands who rear their heads for a year or two, then move on and become investment bankers. But these guys have stuck with it. So I give them an A for effort and said to myself, "Self, it's time you take a listen." So I did. And I found this...a pair of cheap sunglasses with a nasty groove in them.

"Cheap Sunglasses" - Raq, 1/24/04 Denver, CO

Download that junk here.