Mic City Sons

Mic City Sons is the third and final album by American indie rock band Heatmiser, released on October 29, 1996, through record label Caroline.

Mic City Sons
Studio album by Heatmiser
Released	October 29, 1996; July 25, 2025 (30th anniversary reissue)
Genre	Indie rock power pop
Length	38:35
Label	Caroline; Third Man Records
Heatmiser chronology
Cop and Speeder (1994) Mic City Sons (1996)

Recording

Mic City Sons is the band's only recording for a major label; however, when individuals at Virgin Records learned the band might be on the verge of disbanding, the album was subsequently licensed for release through the smaller sister independent label Caroline Records (also an EMI subsidiary) and their independent distributor of the same name.^{[citation needed]}

Content

The title of the album is taken from a line in the ninth track, "Pop in G": "Mic city sons seem to dumb everything down".

On the album's style, Michael Frey of AllMusic noted "a decidedly more pop feel than its predecessors".^[1]

Release

Mic City Sons was released on October 29, 1996, through Virgin Records sub-label Caroline.^[2] A thirtieth anniversary double-LP edition of the album, on standard black 12" vinyl and limited-edition color variants,^[3] featuring demos and unreleased tracks, was released by Third Man Records on July 25th, 2025.^[4]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[5]
Pitchfork	7.9/10[6]

Michael Frey of AllMusic called the album "an outstanding collection of diverse and invigorating tracks". Tracks "Pop in G" and "See You Later" were called "two of the best indie rock songs of the '90s". He finished by saying "Despite the success Heatmiser's members have achieved since their disbanding, it's unfortunate that this collective decided to split up just when they had reached such a creative peak."^[1]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Get Lucky"	Elliott Smith	2:50
2.	"Plainclothes Man"	Smith	3:28
3.	"Low-Flying Jets"	Neil Gust	2:50
4.	"Rest My Head Against the Wall"	Gust	3:31
5.	"The Fix Is In"	Smith	4:38
6.	"Eagle Eye"	Gust	2:18
7.	"Cruel Reminder"	Gust	2:41
8.	"You Gotta Move"	Smith	2:08
9.	"Pop in G"	Smith	3:18
10.	"Blue Highway"	Gust	2:48
11.	"See You Later"	Smith	3:43
12.	"Half Right" (hidden track)	Smith	4:22

Expanded 30th anniversary edition - disc one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Get Lucky"	Elliott Smith	2:51
2.	"Plainclothes Man"	Smith	3:30
3.	"Low-Flying Jets"	Neil Gust	2:50
4.	"Rest My Head Against the Wall"	Gust	3:31
5.	"The Fix Is In"	Smith	4:38
6.	"Eagle Eye"	Gust	2:19
7.	"Cruel Reminder"	Gust	2:42
8.	"You Gotta Move"	Smith	2:08
9.	"Pop in G"	Smith	3:18
10.	"Blue Highway"	Gust	2:49
11.	"See You Later"	Smith	3:43
12.	"Half Right"	Smith	4:20

Expanded 30th anniversary edition - disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"Cocksucker's Blues" (bonus track)	Gust	2:38
14.	"I'm Over That Now" (bonus track)	Smith	4:13
15.	"Silent Treatment" (bonus track)	Gust	2:33
16.	"Burned Out, Still Glowing" (bonus track)	Smith	2:14
17.	"Rocker in C" (bonus track)	Gust	2:31
18.	"Get Lucky" (demo) (bonus track)	Smith	2:42
19.	"Everybody Has It" (bonus track) (originally appeared on the Everybody Has It single, 1996)	Smith	4:02
20.	"Dark Cloud" (bonus track)	Gust	2:16
21.	"Dirty Dream" (bonus track) (originally appeared on the Everybody Has It single, 1996)	Gust	3:12
22.	"You Gotta Move" (demo) (bonus track)	Smith	2:04
23.	"Christian Brothers" (rock version) (bonus track) (a different version than the Heatmiser version on the Heaven Adores You soundtrack)	Smith	4:35
24.	"Untitled Instrumental" (bonus track)	Smith	3:04

Note: track timings taken from YouTube.^[7]

Personnel

Heatmiser Sam Coomes – bass guitar Neil Gust – vocals, guitar, sleeve design and photography Tony Lash – drums, sleeve photography, mixing ("Rest My Head Against the Wall" (original release); bonus tracks on reissue except "Everybody Has It")[8] Elliott Smith – vocals, guitar Additional personnel Aaron Day – additional vocals ("Get Lucky") Sean Croghan – backing vocals ("Cruel Reminder") Steve Hanford – drums ("Untitled Instrumental") (reissue)[8]

Technical Mark Chalecki – mastering (reissue)[8] Rob Schnapf – mixing (all except "Rest My Head Against the Wall" (original release); "Everybody Has It" (reissue))[8] Tom Rothrock – mixing (all except "Rest My Head Against the Wall" (original release); "Everybody Has It" (reissue))[8] Steve Marcussen – mastering Storm Tharp – sleeve photography