Until Largehearted Boy pointed it out today, I was not aware that Neighborhoodies has been offering one free MP3 download per day since late April 2005. Some of their recent picks include Brakes, Flotation Toy Warning, DFA 1979, and Wolf Parade. Today's download is American Analog Set's droning "Cool Kids Keep" (MP3), one of my favorite tracks from AAS's new record Set Free.

American Analog Set have been around for ages, but Set Free is the first record I've heard from them. That could explain why I think it's such a great record. The negative reviews I've read, such as Pitchfork's 6.8 from Joe Tangari, take issue with AAS's lack of variety, album to album. Without knowing any of their other albums, Set Free sounds fine to me.

The lukewarm response to Set Free did make me question my opinion though. To get another view, I decided to play "Cool Kids Keep" for some friends and co-workers. I'm afraid I'm still alone in loving this song.

Russ: Well polished but simple enough to be quickly forgotten. I wouldn't skip over it if playing the album straight thru, but I certainly wouldn't go back to give it another listen. You could take bored sounding two lines of lyrics out and beef up the strings for a decent instrumental though.

Ben: Sounds like the kind of song a nerd would listen to before he goes surfing.

Lisa: It's MAD repetitive - it sorta starts off w/promise but by the end I want to hurt myself. There's no variety - drummer plays same 2 beats, the guitar strums the same 2 or 3 chords as does the bass (is it even that many?). And it sounds like a joke to me - the way he annunciates his words (well the only 2 words of the whole song) "togetherrrrrrrr" "foreverrrrrrr" - is he for real?

JP: I don't have anything good to say about this song and I stopped listening after a minute. I scrolled through to see if the monotony would end, but it didn't.

Ouch is all I can say. Someone has to like this song.