album #52

majesty shredding (superchunk)

A lot of catchy pop-punk anthems- “Digging For Something” cries out across the void, “My Gap Feels Weird” is fast and shimmering, “Rosemarie” trots gallantly, “Crossed Wires,” my favorite, roars with youthful, triumphant energy. “Slow Drip” crescendos fantastically in the chorus, a Cars-like choral rally around the world 'time.' “Fractures in Plaster” is a stately gem, something about it feels like a call to arms- I can picture it as one of those Broadway rock anthems. The guitars in “Rope Light” are awesome, no other description seems appropriate.

This band I think has a deeper history and more connotations than I'm ready to wade into- the sort of band that Klosterman references, and I'm not sure if it's with love or derision. As far as I can tell, this is a really catchy band (I'm surprised they didn't have any huge '90s radio hits, maybe they did), their singer has one of those voices that makes any band sound like a mallpunk band (that is, very high pitched) and they seem like the sort of band that doesn't grow up- they're gonna play with the same youthful energy and weirdness that they played with back in the day, whenever that was.

I really feel in an awkward place with this band- listening to them brings me back to sophomore year, when my priority was being cool and I didn't know how to get there. Something in me needs to make sure that I'm leaving this band with the 'right' opinion, even though that notion would expose my entire process of listening and reviewing albums as a lie- an effort to reinforce social orthodoxies, in the privacy of my own home. The bottom line is you take from music what You take from it; though I've found music reviews very useful, mainly for catching things I didn't notice, filling in gaps in my knowledge and perspective. Having checked- the good news is, the snobs reinforce my gut instinct that this is a really good, fun record. Also, I didn't know Superchunk founded Merge records. Cool cool. Wouldn't mind hearing more of these guys.