Monday, January 9, 2017

Yuck (self-titled)

Yuck released their self-titled debut album in 2011.  It sounds like the collision of the sweet spots of Dinosaur Jr, My Bloody Valentine, Pavement and Sonic Youth, with the roughest edges smoothed away.  Opening two Get Away and The Wall distil this very well, with Max Bloom's guitar in particular helping to lay the foundation of their sound.  Slower, more introspective moments like Shook Down, Sunday and the twangy Stutter veer close to the Lemonheads' imperious early 90s period though crucially, minus Evan Dando's distinctive vocals, singer Daniel Blumberg sounding more akin to Ash's Tim Wheeler.

Elsewhere, the shoegaze-y Georgia has guitars which are almost perfectly ragged (if such a thing is possible), while Operation robs Sonic Youth's Teenage Riot BLIND.  They fare well on instrumental Rose Gives a Lilly, which, like the rest of the album, is enjoyable if a bit derivative and also a bit... controlled.  It's left till final track Rubber before the band really lets loose with a full-on shoegaze effort.  Though it's hard to fault this album, ultimately you'll be looking for older albums recorded by their influences.

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