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The Ex Models are a prime example of graduate students with great record collections who decide to start a band. They may not actually be graduate students, but that doesn't matter; their music is full of arch graduate student notions about the simulacrum we think of as modern existence, the endless mimesis of popular culture, and -- irony of ironies -- the ultimate vacancy of profound rock and roll statements. Given these fundamental truths, or anti-truths if you will, the Ex Models decided their mission in the world was rock and roll simulation.

For them, this means a lot of live-wire dual-guitar nervousness in the vein of second wave punk bands like Wire and Gang of Four, frantic, constantly shifting time signatures, grueling rhythms, and squealed, staccato vocal dissertations on a variety of esoteric subjects. The Brooklyn group, featuring singer/guitarist Shahin Motia, guitarist Shahryar Motia, bassist Michael Masiello, and drummer Jacob Fiedler, coalesced after Motia was seized by a bedroom revelation about a symbol-object disconnect. They self-recorded a debut record, Other Mathematics, which was picked up by Ace Fu and came out in 2001, and where, as you've probably guessed by now, you can find the featured "Girlfriend Is Worse."