Pitchfork

Minneapolis' 12 Rods are ready to get back in the studio. The last time they could claim the same, the studio was in Kauai, Hawaii, and the producer was none other than the once-almost-respectable (as in 20 years ago) Todd Rundgren. Unfortunately, the result was anything but idyllic-- 2000's Separation Anxieties received reviews that leaned towards the negative side of "mixed." What once had meshed so well and rocked so hard on 1998's self-produced LP, Split Personalities, seemed sacrificed to the gods of bland pop-schmaltz. Luckily, Todd Rundgren has been left to perform in front of his tens of fans at no-name dives and sing about his ISP. (Think we're kidding? Look it up.)

Keyboardist Ev Olcott apparently got wind that his band's last album was just a tad shitty. In a recent announcement, he proclaimed that "the suits and the cubicle-dwellers just didn't understand where [the band was] coming from" and promised that the new album will be "what we want it to be, not what the label wants us to do." He further hinted that it will be another self-produced effort. Hopefully, this means a return to the fresh, innovative, spazzy post-pop that first caught our attention.

The band has yet to settle on a tracklist, title, release date, or even whether or not it will be a full-length, but they do have plenty of road-tested material to work with. The record will be committed to vinyl (or whatever it is they use in those "compact discs") as soon as the band works out the kinks in their new equipment.