Mecca Normal - Only Heat

Mecca Normal, Sitting on Snaps (1995, Matador Records)
On "Only Heat" Jean Smith vocals and guitar
"Only Heat was me on guitar listening to David's guitar track through headphones, while a highly-sensitive Boeing microphone picked up creaking floors and street noise that we could even hear in the studio. In the final mix, we removed David's track to achieve this strange, pulsating contraption speared with only the pointiest pieces of guitar tempered with something about slender leaves moving in the heat." Jean Smith for Magnet Magazine, 2024
Video by Jean Smith
Album Reviews
“Smith is damn near visionary” - San Francisco Weekly
4-star review in Rolling Stone August, 1995 by Evelyn McDonnell
“The most visionary of punk’s political bands.”
“Through seven albums over nine years, vocalist Jean Smith and guitarist David Lester have presented a consistent, evolving and luminous challenge to the reigning social order.”
“Smith creates an approximation of a childhood game. The imaginary egg is cracked and the yolk is running slowly down your hair.” - Spin magazine
“David Lester and Jean Smith generate huge power with limited means.” - Select Magazine (England)
“Through 8 albums over 10 years, Mecca Normal have presented a consistent, evolving, and luminous challenge to the reigning social order.” - Rolling Stone
“When the mix is between brainy lyrics and a meaty beat, between mind and body, pleasure and awareness, that’s when Mecca Normal revs up. Like Odysseus, they have a clarity of vision that’s rare.” - Village Voice
“Long before Bikini Kill, the Northwest band Mecca Normal was churning out shards of minimal noise (no bass or drums) with a confrontational edge, and would eventually end up influencing many of Olympia’s current female artists.” - Los Angeles Times
“Oh, what a lovely sparse sound” - NME