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.
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 and their independent distributor of the same name.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".
Release
Mic City Sons was released on October 29, 1996, through Virgin Records sub-label Caroline. A thirtieth anniversary double-LP edition of the album, on standard black 12" vinyl and limited-edition color variants, featuring demos and unreleased tracks, was released by Third Man Records on July 25th, 2025.Reception
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."Track listing
Note: track timings taken from YouTube.Personnel
; Heatmiser- Sam Coomes – bass guitar
- Neil Gust – vocals, guitar, sleeve design and photography
- Tony Lash – drums, sleeve photography, mixing (recorded music)|mixing]
- Elliott Smith – vocals, guitar
- Aaron Day – additional vocals
- Sean Croghan – backing vocals
- Steve Hanford – drums
- Mark Chalecki – mastering
- Rob Schnapf – mixing ; "Everybody Has It" )
- Tom Rothrock – mixing ; "Everybody Has It" )
- Steve Marcussen – mastering
- Storm Tharp – sleeve photography