One of New York City's preeminent DJ/producers, Morgan Geist, has long been an artist we adore. Whether working on his own, as part of Metro Area, or as head of Environ Records, the label he started while still a student at Oberlin College, we hungrily sink our teeth into whatever he unleashes. 

"Dead Eyes Opened" is hardly the only (or best) Severed Heads track, even though hipsters and DJs would have you believe otherwise.  This track, for example, is completely amazing.  I bought this record at Crazy Rhythms in Montclair, NJ.  Listening to a taped version on my Walkman on the school bus, the melody would to move me close to tears and the weirdness of the timbres made me feel there was no one else in the world who understood its beauty the way I did (this was very important to me in high school).  Tom Ellard's "group" (and opinions) were a massive influence on my music-making and my views of the music business, journalists and fans.  I imagine Tom would have some choice words for me contributing to an image-conscious headphone company's "cred" by posting a YouTube clip of his music, but maybe there will be some wonderful byproduct, like some kid hearing this track and abandoning her pursuit of "cool" in favor of buying the entire Severed Heads discography on cassette.―Morgan Geist