Quite possibly the best record of 2011 and 1991. Instantly familiar and immediately engaging, the Yuck album is almost completely derivative of other sources, but when you love those sources, you tend to be a little more forgiving. And when the songs are as catchy and appealing as the bulk of the selections here.
Here are my three recommended picks:
- The Wall: A Teenage Fanclub Catholic Education-era throwdown with bonus Dinosaur Jr. shredding and vocals run through the Kim Gordon Goo processor.
- Suicide Policeman sounds like a mellow Lemonheads/Sea and Cake teamup.
- Operation feels like Teenage Riot turned sideways, but it's as infectious as the Sonic Youth source code.
The homages/rip-offs abound. There's little bits of Yo La Tengo, Codeine, Helium, Pavement, Sebadoh, Bettie Serveert, GBV, and pretty much every other alterna-superstar of the nineties you can remember. The big influences are Teenage Fanclub, Dino Jr., and Sonic Youth... and like J. said, everything's cool with me.
If you don't know anything about those bands - or if you aren't hung up on spot the influence, Yuck still shines. Again, good songs can be played any which way, and the band is clearly enjoying the ride. One of my favorite live shows, although it was jarring to realize that these kids were barely around for the beginning of the decade they are tapping into.
Those three songs mentioned above made my 25 Most Played new songs of 2011 so you'll find them on my Spotify playlist Marquee Mark's El Perfecto De 2011.
Pity about the awful album cover, though, so I'm substituting a band photo which highlights the drummer's awesome 'fro.
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