NICE MONSTER is a musical ensemble that composes, records, and performs rhythmically challenging, catchy/melodic, and harmonically dense music at home, at friends' studios, and in venues throughout northern California. Chicago's Grayscale Records has just issued the first full-length release from NICE MONSTER, "Good Times + Sharp Knives," produced/engineered by Christian Kiefer and art by Keri Smith. Previews of the album: www.nicemonstermusic.com/songs.htm Purchase the album: www.grayscalerecords.com/artists/nicemonster/index.php The record, like the band, is an excercise in contrast. Quiet, shifting melodic passages abut noisy, dissonant instrumental transitions. Unconventional use of time signatures and acoustic instruments oriented around catchy melodies create music that is both accessible and intellectually engaging. The band has been compared to Simon and Garfunkel, Pinback, Rex, Wilco, June of 44, Beatles, Rob Crow and Heavy Vegetable, Radiohead, Joan of Arc, and other groups to whom the band is humbled and honored to be compared. For more information, please consult: www.grayscalerecords.com, www.nicemonstermusic.com, or www.myspace.com/nicemonster