It takes a lot to shock me these days. After all these years of writing about bands, when jealous people, especially those who aren't even making music, say spiteful things to me, well, I've heard it all before, and it just doesn't register. Until sometimes, when it does. It's been such a long time since I've heard, much less had to address, such a remark, that, as Thomas Dolby sang (in a song that was written in 1967 by Dan Hicks), I scare myself, because it makes me so dang sad. What's this all about? I've been super excited about a group of bands lately; ones I've thought were benefiting the local scene by doing something different. I've written about them more than once, and some folks believe it's because I'm currently sucking the dick of one of the band members. Haven't we been through this enough? Apparently not: To make such a remark, and mean it literally, in the year 2004, is retarded. Blowjobs: We all love to give them, talk about them, and laugh about the bad ones. It's all fun. Yet there's one band in particular I wish I could write about because I love what they do, but can't because I became romantically (yes, romantically) involved with a member of the band prior to mentioning them in print. That's a personal rule I stick to. Believe otherwise and you are talking out of your ass, and your breath stinks.

Now, anyone involved with the FCS/Sientific EP and mass mvmnt has absolutely nothing to do with that earlier diatribe, but I like what they're doing, so I'm going on record, in print, with my admiration. Formed by members of the band FCS North (Chad States left last fall for reasons none of the survivors knows--the band is not over, but maybe a bit thrown; Joshua Warren told me the other night that he hadn't even spoken to States since October), mass mvmnt is a new label formed by Joshua Warren, Andy Sells, Mune Yamakawa, and former Hush Harbor member and composer Andy Rohrman. It's the kind of label where no band that puts out a record on it should ever find themselves screwed, because here's how it goes: A member of mass mvmnt hears your demo or sees you perform. (They specialize in deep bass electronic club music--dbm--but anything inspired by that trend is cool, too.) They express their interest, but let you know that you are responsible for making the album--which can usually be done cheaply on computer--and shouldn't expect any kind of "advance" or "recording money" from the label. Basically the conversation will go something like this: "Do you want to do something with us? Great. It's up to you to get it done." The idea is to become a part of a collective of musicians who not only share common interests, but a sense of dedication. This one won't be a label for bands or artists who are looking to get some kind of highfalutin record deal. And if you are one of those types who is currently hoping to ride as high in the saddle as possible, I implore you to ask people who've gotten one of those kinds of deals in the past couple of years how they feel about them now. Or how they're paying rent these days.

Now this may not be the kind of music I'm fluent in, but having observed so many bands and artists (of all genres) go down in crashing flames after being fueled by dreams of superstardom, I like the whole mass mvmnt ideal a lot. As for the FCS/Sientific EP, be ready for something entirely different from what you heard from the original FCS North. The CD release party is at Chop Suey on Saturday, April 3, with FCS North, DJs On Strike, Sientific American, Fourthcity Crew, and Pleaseeasaur.

kathleen@thestranger.com