nieh
08-30-2006, 07:49 PM
Because SkunkIt uploaded one of their songs in that forced listening thread and reminded me how much I love these guys. They were fronted by Blake Schwarzenbach (formerly of Jawbreaker who I never particularly cared for aside from a few songs) with his pleasantly raspy voice. Their first album was an incredible indie rock album, shifting between louder, kind of punkish stuff and softer pretty stuff almost constantly. Lots of nice guitar-work, going from pretty strumming and bouncy little notes to tougher, feedbacky stuff. Great, great stuff. It's always a struggle for me when I try to pick songs from this album so you're going to get them selected mostly at random.
Crown of the Valley (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=AF2E4C23224D69BD)
Starry Configurations (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=A170E13E2695A9C2)
Lemon Yellow Black (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=E713E4113BB5099D)
Sweet Avenue (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=1F82DB300CD4366A)
Then for their second album they took a HUGE step in the pop direction. Most of the album is relatively simple, upbeat they started using a bit of piano without getting to the point of overusing. It ends up feeling almost like a John Lennon-heavy Beatles album at times. It's also, unfortunately, the beginning of their overlong, directionless, uninteresting songs which would overrun their third album. I think their first album was much better but this one's still pretty decent (though I've known a couple people that thought this was the better of the two so it just depends on your taste).
Little Light (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=6412152A76DF4D8F)
Milk and Apples (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=918ADDAA0AD7E6F6)
In the Summer's When you Really Know (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=D36EB27E4390A3B9) (one of the overlong, uninteresting songs for an example. Still better than most of the third album though)
Then there was the third album. This was largely directionless and annoying for me. The average track length is about 6 minutes long and MAYBE 2-3 of the songs actually justify their lengths. It's disappointing because a lot of the songs have some pretty neat stuff in them but because they're pretty much just pop songs and they can't keep them to a decent length for pop songs it just kills them. There's a lot of pieces of songs where they actually do something interesting only to have it dregrade into simplistic pop which sounds like crap by comparison. Also, Blake's voice is on the verge of going from pleasantly raspy to just weak and ugly (though it only really shows in a couple songs). That said, there's a couple decent songs on there but they still don't really compare to their other stuff.
Wish List (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=F42C8B07092654CF)
Further North (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=014253F3728E0260)
Anyway, they broke up in 2003 which was probably for the best considering the direcition (or lack thereof) that they were going in. But that first album was fantastic.
Crown of the Valley (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=AF2E4C23224D69BD)
Starry Configurations (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=A170E13E2695A9C2)
Lemon Yellow Black (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=E713E4113BB5099D)
Sweet Avenue (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=1F82DB300CD4366A)
Then for their second album they took a HUGE step in the pop direction. Most of the album is relatively simple, upbeat they started using a bit of piano without getting to the point of overusing. It ends up feeling almost like a John Lennon-heavy Beatles album at times. It's also, unfortunately, the beginning of their overlong, directionless, uninteresting songs which would overrun their third album. I think their first album was much better but this one's still pretty decent (though I've known a couple people that thought this was the better of the two so it just depends on your taste).
Little Light (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=6412152A76DF4D8F)
Milk and Apples (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=918ADDAA0AD7E6F6)
In the Summer's When you Really Know (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=D36EB27E4390A3B9) (one of the overlong, uninteresting songs for an example. Still better than most of the third album though)
Then there was the third album. This was largely directionless and annoying for me. The average track length is about 6 minutes long and MAYBE 2-3 of the songs actually justify their lengths. It's disappointing because a lot of the songs have some pretty neat stuff in them but because they're pretty much just pop songs and they can't keep them to a decent length for pop songs it just kills them. There's a lot of pieces of songs where they actually do something interesting only to have it dregrade into simplistic pop which sounds like crap by comparison. Also, Blake's voice is on the verge of going from pleasantly raspy to just weak and ugly (though it only really shows in a couple songs). That said, there's a couple decent songs on there but they still don't really compare to their other stuff.
Wish List (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=F42C8B07092654CF)
Further North (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=014253F3728E0260)
Anyway, they broke up in 2003 which was probably for the best considering the direcition (or lack thereof) that they were going in. But that first album was fantastic.