Hi all. I've been reading back through some of my older reviews that came in threes, like celebrity deaths or all of Julian Casablancas' fears, and they were pretty easy to write but also pretty useful it seems. Meanwhile, I've listened to a whole lot of music since then - so much so that I have felt a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of doing reviews in the order in which I bought them. As a result, I'm going back and doing these in alphabetical order. Also, I'm limiting myself to the kind of obscure albums in my collection, because otherwise why else would you be reading this? Anyway, let's get started. Also, my rating system may have shifted a bit from their previously ultra-generous scale. Hopefully these are brief enough to give you an accurate representation.
SEAM -- ARE YOU DRIVING ME CRAZY? -- 7.5/10
To start with, The Problem with Me is a great album and you should listen to it. It's got this soft, intimate quality combined with a strange sense of energy, like a friend telling you a secret. The follow-up, Are You Driving Me Crazy? has that same sound, still a surprise from the lead singer of Bitch Magnet, but Seam mixes things up on their third album by turning around from the very introverted songs from The Problem with Me, and show some actual anger and frustration. Nonetheless, they show it with a softness and sense of futility that can be very relatable in moments of weakness. It starts out, however, with two of Seam's best tracks. "Berlitz" has a pace and passion that is missing from Seam's mostly low-key output, yet it feels very in place. It's followed by the also excellent "Hey Latasha," which is similarly average-paced in a way that's a bit more in line with other American Lo-Fi bands, compared to whom Seam is usually much more fluid and gradual. After these more energetic songs, Seam glides back toward their usual meandering pace, which is a comforting one, yet the content is clearly much more fraught with frustration and even anger. Even the album title suggests as much - Are You Driving Me Crazy? is directed outward while The Problem with Me was fittingly more involved with self-discovery. This shift is clear from the lyrics. "Port of Charleston" seems to glare angrily with the line "She's just a skinny little thing, doesn't mean any harm, doesn't mean what she says." And while the pace slows down, and is almost glacial in songs like "Rainy Season" and "Tuff Luck", there are still moments like in "Two is Enough" and album closer "Petty Thievery" that instill a sense of awakeness and energy that make this album itself a bit frustrating in its inability to free itself from the sense of resigned anger expressed in lyrics like "It's something that takes my breath away, and I blame it on you" or "There was a time that I would've cried, but that part of me has up and died". In this end, this is a relatable album with definite moments of brilliance, but at the end of the day, I guess I want something with a bit more hope. Highlights include "Berlitz," "Hey Latasha," and "Petty Thievery."
SCISMA -- ARMSTRONG -- 8.5/10
Want a review of an Italian album, written in English? I've got you covered. Scisma is a band that flies between indie and pop, and has something for everyone, with a consistency of quality that is admirable. Armstrong is in my opinion, just a bit better than its predecessor, Rosemary Plexiglas, in my opinion, and here I will explain why. Scisma is a band with frequently clever lyrics, poppy fluorishes, and a sophisticated interplay between singers Sara Mazo and Paolo Benvegnu', who is, as far as I can tell, actually now a fairly successful solo artist (unrelated, but I found out last week that Morgan from Bluvertigo is a judge on the Italian version of X Factor, which blew my mind because Bluvertigo is a very weird band). Armstrong is the slightly lighter and more exploratory of the two albums, with more multilingual tracks and less of a rock/grunge influence. As it turns out, it also seems to have many of the Scisma songs with the most sticking power on it. Opener "Tungsteno" feels a bit derivative and has a much faster pace than the rest of the album, but is undeniably catchy. The songs that follow are sensitive and insightful character sketches in a sense. "Troppo Poco Intelligente" has such a biting sense of humor that matches its catchiness, and songs like "L'Innocenza," "L'Amour," and "Simmetrie" are frankly adorable da morire. Meanwhile, songs like "I am the Ocean" and "Giuseppe Pierri" inject a sort of smooth jazz, sort of Portishead-esque atmosphere into the album that makes it really stand out. Even though songs like "Tungsteno" and "Jetson High Speed" seem a bit shallow, Scisma have a knack for bringing out the big choruses, as on "Troppo Poco Intelligente" and "L'Universo", and the multiplicity of impressions that the rest of the album imparts makes it an engaging listen. The nuanced simplicity of closer "Good Morning" really caps this off, and leaves us wondering, in a way very similar to Idlewild at their cheekiest moments, when these songs are being serious and when they're reflecting the superficial acting we do every day throughout our lives. Highlights include "Troppo Poco Intelligente," "Giuseppe Pierri," and "L'Universo".
SUEDE -- BLOODSPORTS -- 8.5/10
Oh man, I remember when this album came out. Ten years after A New Morning, I was not expecting an opening single like "Barriers," and the rest of this album really just blew me away. In my experience, comeback albums can be either spectacular, like Majesty Shredding, painfully disappointing, like the new Blur or Idlewild albums or like Pixies comeback Indie Cindy that I'm assuming we're all going to pretend never happened, because as fans of a band, we want something from the same people who brought us so many special moments, but we also want them to bring something new and exciting to the table. It's a hard task, but when it works it's truly inspiring. With Suede's new single "Outsiders" just having come out, I can't help but think back to the excitement I had for Bloodsports to come out, and while it's no Dog Man Star, it really was great, as much as I try to temper my love for Suede in order to properly evaluate this album. Sure, this album has its slow moments, much like, if you'll think back for enough, Suede's self-titled debut, but much like that album, there are such dizzying highs on this album that it really doesn't matter. "Barriers" sees Brett emerge with a whole new vocabulary and Richard Oakes finally has an identity that's dazzlingly precise, and while he doesn't have the subtle restraint of Bernard Butler, his guitar riffs seem to quiver much like the intonations of Brett Anderson's finely aged but still vital voice. Before, his voice was like a scimitar, dazzlingly sharp and capable of an immense range of moment, from the low lows of "The 2 of Us" to the slicing highs of "Stay Together." Now it's like a bell, ringing with a sagely purity that forces us to admire its steadfastness. These songs still sound fresh years later, which is incredible. A song this poppy shouldn't have the sticking power it does - surely catchy singles like "Electricity" and "Lazy" didn't - but I can still go back to even the weaker catchy songs, like "It Starts and Ends With You", and it still makes my heart beat. Meanwhile the true standouts of this album - "Barriers", the incomprehensible but potent "Snowblind", "Hit Me" which makes me wonder why and be thankful that Suede aren't all over the radio so that they're all mine, and "For the Strangers", which is literally every bit as good as "The Wild Ones", I promise - are truly spectacular. Yes, I love Suede, so I may be being generous, and the album does lag a bit in the second half during songs like "What are You Not Telling Me?" and "Always" which have the angst but not necessarily the gutting punch of "Heroine" or "The 2 of Us", but Bloodsports remains a fantastic album not just as a comeback album, or as a Suede album, but as an album, truly underrated when it came out as an entity unto itself. Highlights include "Barriers," "Hit Me," and "For the Strangers".
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