Yuck // Album Review (The Best Steve Albini Produced Record Not Actually Produced By Steve Albini)

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For some reason it’s been hard to keep up with what’s good, what’s not so good, and what’s a total waste of time in the music world. Deciding if I should listen to the new this, the well reviewed that, or a severely scratched mix CD that never fails to incite…awesome, has been an atrocity for me. Maybe I don’t like music anymore? Heh. No chance.

That said, one album that has been the repeated answer to the repeated question of “what have you been into, lately?,” is Yuck‘s S/T debut on Fat Possum. Sure,the cover art is a bit…hideous and the London based quintet chose a name that is a bit off putting. I don’t know how many people have said- “Did you say Yuck?” after I mentioned it to  them, but trust me they’re more than worth your time.

I attest Yuck’s mainstay status in my rotation to the idea that the album unfolds like a mixtape I would’ve made in 1997. The entire record is brimming with 90′s influence. It is impossible not to hear the Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr., The Pixies,Modest Mouse, or Pavement on nearly every track. And it’s superb. It’s exciting and full of musical emotions that I haven’t heard or may have tuned out since that era.

Yuck is an explosion of angst, fuzz, adolescence, and confusion that is tracked by loud guitars and perfectly pronounced bass lines. Songs like “Get Away” and “Holding Out” ooze with so much sludge that you might forget what musical year we’re in.  But the album isn’t all pomp and pyrotechnics. Songs like “Suicide Policeman” and “Shook Down” are delicate enough to give the album shape.

While a lot of what I love about this band is based on music from the past, I say who gives a shit. I’ve always though that it doesn’t matter who your influences are, but how well you use them. I actually feel pretty good about Yuck, because if this record urges kids that would’ve never thought to pick up Gish or Bossanova, then it’s a win.

And if you’re from the “why not just listen to bands that are their influences” camp, I hope you have little on your shelf besides Beatles albums. And Grandmaster Flash.

Buy Yuck // Amazon MP3 // iTunes

MP3: Get Away- Yuck