It's always a good feeling for DJs when someone comes up and asks, "Hey, what was that last song you played?" Most of the time that means two things: 1) The person enjoyed the song enough to ask a stranger about it, and 2) The DJ succeeded in finding a song that at least somebody hadn't heard before. This has surely been a common occurrence the first Friday of every month for the past three years at Marx Cafe. That's when We Fought the Big One takes over the Mount Pleasant bar to play some of the best obscure post-punk, synth-rock, shoegaze songs you've never heard before. Tonight marks the night's third anniversary, and the WFTBO anniversary bashes are especially worth checking out. That's when DJs Brandon Grover and Rick Taylor cook up a special compilation of some of their favorite tracks, which can be culled from long out-of-print 7"s or import-only CD singles. Past volumes have included almost-classics from the likes of the Mo-dettes, Josef K, House of Love and Kitchens of Distinction ... all of your favorites, right? There's no cover, but the free comps will be in limited supply, so you may want to get there close to the 10 p.m. starting time.

--David Malitz (February 2007)