ALC16 #8 I Don't Think It Is by Say Anything

benpaco · 2016-03-21T00:45:50-04:00

Curious about this thread and what the ALC is? Check out the main topic here and sign up for a week if you haven't So it's technically 3/21 and here we go I guess I Don't Think It Is by Say Anything Release Date: February 4, 2016 So I've fallen rather behind on my 2016 listening and, much more than that, cataloging my 2016 listening. The number of decently good albums I've heard and forgotten the bands/names behind is frankly embarrassing and that made this difficult. On top of that, I've only really found myself revisiting 4 albums from this year, 2 of which are fairly known, one of which is an EP, and then there's this, which no one else here has rated and, to my knowledge, only Gowi had checked any of. Say Anything is really just Max Bemis plus whoever. It's sort of like Dr Frank to The Mr T Experience or E to Eels, it's more a solo project with an ever-evolving backing. Bemis is perhaps best known for "... Is a Real Boy", a fairly well reviewed pop punk album from some years back, but since the quality of his work has been ... varied. I'm one of the few who enjoyed Hebrews, a concept album with strings in the place of guitars for the most part and guest vocalists galore. His style generally has been a bit all over but tends to range towards anthems celebrating awkward moments/people, and I think what's set this album apart for me is it still has that really anthemic feel but it's less marketed towards a middle schooler's daily life (not that there isn't a place for that). This album leans away from the pop punk and power pop ideas more common across his older work and into NY hardcore influences, which isn't to say it's a hardcore album - far from it - but it's much more hardcore than your usual pop punk. And I really don't think this qualifies as pop punk even, it's veered fairly far away from that sound on the majority of tracks. The backing band here includes his old bassist and the biggest improvement I think, the drummer from MUTEMATH, a band whose ideas I like more than their execution. There's some interesting math-rock influences throughout as a result of his influence, as well as Dylan of Tiny Moving Parts being featured on several tracks. Princess also features half of The Hotelier and the anthemic emo vibes get added to by their influence. The sort of lo-fi production throughout seems like something that shouldn't gel with these ideas necessarily but somehow, it does. Overall, it's not a perfect album, the flow in some places is a bit weird, there's a track I could do without (Bret Elison), but it's a very different look at what this man's brain is like and it's a strange melding of power pop, math rock, and hardcore, 3 genres that aren't that far separated but I somehow don't associate as working well together, and the result is some strangely catchy rock tunes. Favorite tracks: Give a Damn, Goshua, and Varicose Visage. Album can be streamed from spotify or the official youtube playlist here.

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benpaco wrote:

It's interesting, I've heard that from several people, but I felt the opposite personally, it just felt a bit out of place on this album for me. Not a bad song but I could've done without it, but you're not the only one who I've seen make it out to sort of be the saving grace of the album. Tis interesting

I just thought it was the perfect moment on the album to change the setting a bit, as the previous two tracks... you know, I couldn't really tell one from another very well.
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