A decade ago, a savvy guitar-pop technician like David Terry would be bashing out lo-fi cassettes with whatever sympathetic musicians he could round up in his hometown. Terry actually did that for a couple of years, producing post-grunge with the Tulsa band Epperley in the late '90s. Lately, he's been taking advantage of cheaper, cleaner, and easier recording technology, and with his friend Andrew Rudd, he's been throwing random instruments and clever lyrics together in the now-Seattle-based Aqueduct. Following the self-released 2003 mini-LP Power Ballads and the 2004 EP Pistols At Dawn, Terry has picked the best old Aqueduct songs and added a few new ones for I Sold Gold, a bright, catchy collection of textbook indie-rock.
Just the title of the I Sold Gold track "Growing Up With GNR" evokes the ironic sincerity of Yo La Tengo as much as the heyday of hair metal, and the song's wholesale swipes of Guns N' Roses lyrics over martial beats and pumping piano is catchy and funny enough to make rock fans wish that Pavement had become a dominant mainstream influence instead of Nirvana. Aqueduct piles electronics on top of its hooky, twangy pop, adding bounce to tracks like the swinging "Hardcore Days & Softcore Nights" and the insistently moody "Heart Design." After 10 tracks of diffident, postmodern songcraft, I Sold Gold ends on a small note of triumph with the tinny synth-pop anthem "The Tulsa Trap," an inspiring statement of purpose about breaking the bonds of a provincial living to go out and "give the people what they need." Whether they actually need it or not, the people can certainly use it.