Forgive me, but I am someone who does not carry fond memories of 90's music. Just the phrase itself is weighty with the tepid shrugs of a decade's tremendous potential and subsequent lost opportunities. Specifically, this is in reference to the explosion of alternative rock music in that era. So many bands from that time period, deserved or not, scooped up the benefits of the major label money grab in their desperate search for the next power chord providers for Generation X. For those listeners that dug a little deeper in our musical excavations, we knew that the best stuff never quite made it to the mainstream. Because of their independent battle scars, bands such as Dinosaur Jr., Superchunk, Sebadoh, Yo La Tengo, Guided By Voices, Teenage Fanclub, et al., all receive detailed and deserved chapters in the indie rock canon. When a band such as Yuck strolls into this modern day landscape making music accurately referencing a two decade old sound without a shade of irony, your inner skeptic may immediately bristle. If this is you, take the following words as a reassuring hand on your shoulder. This foursome of practiced youngsters from London and their self-titled release on Fat Possum is not a joke. They are a serious band adding sensible imperfection to a pristine package, giving reason for this curmudgeonly former "alt-rocker" to relive all of the great moments of my musical past.
I just discovered this band a short time ago, but they have been gathering blog support for many months on the backs of some great singles. However, their first album is a coming out party, containing a dozen songs of deep hooks of prototypal lo-fi. In fact, you can literally connect the dots from all of the cross-referencing of their source material. Opener "Get Away" is a Superchunk nugget with a Dinosaur Jr. squall and lazy chorus. "The Wall" could be a Yo La Tengo Painful era b-side that rumbles and squeals with another big crowd pleasing finish. When Yuck brings it down a notch, they still source with loving nostalgia. "Shook Down" has Teenage Fanclub harmonies and acoustic-electric dynamics. "Suicide Policemen" features cute tropicalia flourishes and male-female vocal sweetness that remind of an Evan Dando/Juliana Hatfield collab for the Lemonheads big label debut. "Operation" is a literal hogpile of the afore-mentioned bands coated with a ragged Sebadoh distortion. Finishing up with a seven minute calamity in "Rubber", the grungy memories spill from this storm of noble noise and muffled vocals like those drawn out encores for concert goers that never wanted that ear-buzzing evening of brilliance to end.
I was trying to find that line that divided Yuck from the their old school resource material. Everything is there from that era in music: lusty guitar jams, catchy hooks, sassy lyrics and the purposeful absence of studio sheen. Heck, even their moniker Yuck could have been a song name or an album title from any one of those bands. Then it struck me. The difference is identical to the ones my generation has with much of the twenty-somethings that are coming of age now. These bands of the past carried their independence like a membership card and battled the mainstream with a cynical humor and sneering skepticism that only allowed entry to the ones who are in on the joke. The songs of Yuck are bursting with an all-inclusive optimism and confidence that comes an outfit unrestrained by the constructs of yesterday. Bands are no longer marketing, recording, touring and struggling to get heard at such a weighted disadvantage to major record label interests. To that, I say good tidings to these upstarts who took the time to study their history before passing their big exam with flying colors.
Purchase Yuck here.
Bonus: Listen to the full album below, download a couple of tracks and watch the low-budget horror flick send-up video for "Holing Out". Warning: Video is NSFW containing some nudity and graphic bloodiness.
Right-click to download "Georgia" here.
Right-click to download "Suicide Policemen" here.
Right-click to download "Rubber" here.
Yuck - Yuck (6 tracks)
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