The Convincer's cover mystifies me. What does a '70s-o-riffic love pad, complete with firepit conversation area and mountain view, have to do with a grad school-rock band from Lawrence, Kansas? Maybe it's the house one of T*Shirt's members can afford now that they've moved on to other, more lucrative things. T*Shirt were a short-lived but acclaimed band from a town that isn't known for its music scene, but apparently has a respectable one. The Convincer combines four of the group's last recorded songs with some of their early material, much of it previously unreleased. Fans of what was called "alternative" back in the early nineties (excluding the whole grunge thing) will find lots to like here. The rhythms are driving yet delicately complex, the guitars can be soft and chiming or slice through the melody with tasteful feedback and abstract noise. The male/female singing is earnest and intense. Leslie Sink and Cotten Seiler's voices come through mostly free of tech-y embellishments, dating the music somewhat -- not putting obvious effects on the vocals is, like, so '95 -- but it lets the attention paid to the music shine all the more. When the vocals are put through effects, it's for a reason -- Sink's flange-y backups in "Decca" sound almost like a guitar with a human voice.

T*Shirt were a deliberate band, crafting their music as well as occasionally rocking out. Unfortunately, whatever legacy they've left will probably be buried among the stories of more famous and prolific bands of the nineties, at least outside of Kansas. But The Convincer manages to keep alive some music that shouldn't fall beneath the radar just yet.