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Remember when Barack Obama was a long-shot chance for the White House, Hillary Clinton was still in the running, and John McCain was riding The Straight Talk Express through the Heartland of America? Us neither, but according to Wikipedia, these things happened. Also, we have a recording from Alex Arrowsmith for historical perspective. 

Listen to "Going Insane for the McCain Campaign" by Alex Arrowsmith - full album available for only $5!

If you'd like some context for this auspicious track, read some back-story below:

Alex Arrowsmith came to my attention based on a flyer for his show at the Holocene sometime in early 2008 near Hawthorne Blvd in Southeast Portland. It was probably the mixture of his name, which I was sure was a fake, the stark - no nonsense, intelligently designed 8" x 11" image attached to a telephone pole hyping the concert, and the fact that I had little knowledge of the music community at the time other than bands who booked venues in the neighborhood.

After looking up Arrowsmith, it was decided almost immediately that he should play The Banana Stand. Louie was won over by tracks on Arrowsmith's MySpace page, which was a thing that happened even before Barack, Hillary, and John were running around America trying to convince people that they were the best. It had music on it, or something, and pictures of girls in their bathroom with their boobs pushed up and lips pressed like a duck. Anyway, the rest of the people involved with The Banana Stand were excited to bring someone as unique as Alex Arrowsmith to the space.

The first show we had with Alex was fantastic. 

I think the biggest reason Louie and I fell in love with Arrowsmith was his sense of humor, an accurate barometer of a kindred spirit. Alex didn't take himself too seriously, but he did music. Like a modern Weird Al or Zappa, Alex Arrowsmith is a quirky genius who simply loves to create catchy pop-songs that juxtapose honest emotion with odd reference to familiar cultural symbols. That's probably the most goddamn pretentious thing someone could say, so I hope it doesn't reflect poorly on the artist. Because if there's one thing you need to take away from this glowing review, it's that Alex is a fucking charming dude who makes good music.

-Aaron

Going Insane for the McCain Campaign was performed, mixed and mastered by Alex Arrowsmith. Find more from him at alexarrowsmith.com.

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