i started this blog mostly to focus on record reviews, film criticism, and shameless self-promotion of my own media projects. you may have noticed a distinct lack of said content. so, in the spirit of it all, and thanks to Tax Relief For America’s Workers, here are my thoughts on a recent purchase.

Sad Like Crazy

Love Songs to Death

for longer than i would care to admit, sad like crazy was the only houston band i was aware of. this is not to say that they are not worthy of the destinction or that i had been particular adventerous in an attempt to connect with the scene somehow. but rather, they always seemed to be opening up for touring bands that featured a member of weezer or something like that. for the longest time i raved endlessly about a band called ‘satellite crazy’, and how they were the greatest thing this side of hoboken. eventually i was corrected and before i had the chance to see them again, the record arrived.

i use hoboken deliberately, for while the influence is unmistakable on tracks like ‘hallowed haze’, i invoke yo la tengo as a reference point rather than a write off. love songs to death‘s twenty two tracks softly rock from acoustic introspection(‘can’t hardly wait’) to indie jangle (‘sweet to me’) to the nascently epic (‘butter in yr coffee’). that last track, the album’s closer, i hope to be deliberate statement of slc’s direction. lush in orchestration and a clear example of production dollars well spent. indeed, love songs is more a collection of 8 and 4-track recordings than a deliberately crafted album. john croslin is listed among the album’s engineers, and while specific songs are not mentioned, his touch is unmistakable – just as with spoon and sixteen deluxe, slc sounds most, well, like themselves when he is at the levers.

this is not to say that the other tracks on love songs should be discounted. the raw ‘effin sea’ has always been a personal favorite, and here it retains the sonic purity of its live embodyment (it has mild claps at the end – perhaps it was recorded direct from the soundboard). so sweet is her delivery, no indie rock boy living could listen to mari sing the chorus and not daydream she was singing it about them – in spite of it being a song about endings: everything falls apart.