Niche Reviews, Part II

I'm actually finding I enjoy writing these brief reviews, so let's get right into it.

COSMETIC -- CONQUISTE -- 8.5/10
Sometimes it's hard for me to rate Italian music - sometimes it's a bit derivative, but it really is very good, but maybe the lyrics suck and I just don't know because my vocabulary is too limited.  That said,  regardless of all of that, I can't deny what I like and what I don't like, so here we go with Conquiste.  I'm not sure if this is shoegaze, or just indie rock with a lot of layered guitars, but it sort of feels like Loveless at double speed, or Ride with a bit of an edge.  Right from the start it has this great pulse to it, and a sort of bittersweet smoothness sort of weaves in and out.  It's quite jangly too, and is overall just a fun listen.  I honestly don't understand the words 75% of the time (also true for My Bloody Valentine), but there's something comfortable and sincere about it that's hard to pin down.  In fact, now thinking about it, it really sounds a lot like Yuck with a bit more shoegaziness to it.  But, much like Yuck, Conquiste is an effortlessly enjoyable listen, that makes you think, "This sounds too familiar and self-assured to not be copying someone," but it does have its own character to it.  The guitars here are sludgy, but they also have some nice jangly riffs, as in "Prima o poi", and "Scisma" (named after the band?) has a really cools sliding note change thing that gives it a ton of energy right off the bat.  Even some of the smoother songs like "Melly" and "Per un amico" have jangly pulse to them that powers much of this album, even if the second half does feel a bit slower than the first. Some of the songs do blend together a tad, but this album just too fun to listen to, and the catchier, poppier ones, like "Lenta conquista" and "Prima o poi" easily get stuck in your head, while the others, like "La fine del giorno" and "Lo spavento", have a touch of melancholy too them that is quite powerful.  All in all, this album provides everything you could expect from the more distorted end of shoegaze, and has an assertiveness that demands your attention again and again.  Highlights include "Melly", "Scisma," and "La fine del giorno."

KNAPSACK -- DAY THREE OF MY NEW LIFE -- 8.5/10
I went into this album the first time I listened to it expecting a typical emo album, with strained vocals and everything, but even though the opening riff totally met expectations, I was confused by the soft and straightforward singing at the start of "Thursday Side of the Street".  As it turns out, the ability of Blair Shehan to shift from calm narration to instant desperation an incredibly effective trademark, and give their songs a lot of power.  These are straightforward, punky tracks with simple chords and a slightly more polished sound than the likes of Mineral or Jawbreaker, but the relatability of the scenarios presented in these songs, almost all of which are stories of some sort, and the sheer effort you can hear pulsing through each song makes them really hit hard in their most effective moments.  Now, for me the album opener "Thursday Side of the Street" is clearly the best song on the album, a depiction that for me captures perfectly the loneliness of rural adult life, which usually leaves the rest of the album feeling a bit flat, but the remainder is compelling enough to keep you pumped up, mostly because the changes in emotion throughout each song maintain a level of unexpectedness throughout.  There are definite weakpoints on the album, such as "Henry Hammers Harder", mostly stemming from lyrics whose emotion seems a bit forced at times, but the delivery is so strong that when the lyrics hold up, they are truly potent.  When the lyrics lurch into sudden urgency, as in "Courage was Confused" and "Simple Favor", this album firmly grabs your full attention.  Highlights include "Thursday Side of the Street", "Diamond Mine", and "Heart Carved Tree".

JAWBREAKER -- DEAR YOU -- 7.5/10
Jawbreaker's final album, Dear You is a difficult album to rate, because it really does have some of the band's best songs, with lyrics as clever as they ever were on their earlier albums, but it also has some of their worst, with lyrics that are uncharacteristically cliche and oversentimental.  Jawbreaker has always been a band that relied on writing brilliantly, stingingly whitty and honest song lyrics for their songs to have much of an impact, but it feels like this is even more true for Dear You.  Many moments on 24-hour Revenge Therapy were made by the sheer vitriol of lead singer Blake Schwarzenbach when delivering the killing blow with some of his lines, but after (in)famously undergoing vocal chord surgery before recording what would be their final album, he seemed to have lost the ability to deliver his jabs with that same fire.  He tries a few times, for instance with the line "This must be the place / I can tell by your glare / I wouldn't touch you on a dare" in the song "Chemistry," but it doesn't quite have the same impact.  However, Dear You has some points where the lyrics make up for everything, along with some of their catchiest songs.  "Fireman" is a masterpiece in this regard, delivering jab after jab before devolving into an awkward apology.  "Save Your Generation" is equally uncharacteristic in its positive attitude, although both songs deal with the same troubled topics.  Nonetheless, these songs as well as others like "Chemistry" and the brilliant pastiche "Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault" are so fun to sing along to that you can't help but love the high points of this album.  Unfortunately, there are also a few down moments, notably the irredeemably un-Jawbreakerlike "Million", about longing for "a nice girl" - a concept so foreign to this band whose songs are mostly making fun of other people, that it's really quite unbelievable.  That said, despite how divisive this album is, it's really pretty decent.  They still have their dark moments of cynical brilliance, with "Accident Prone" being the highlight in this regard, and the poppy successors to "Boxcar" are too good to ignore.  Highlights include "Save Your Generation," "Fireman," and "Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault".