Solids—Blame Confusion

Review by Luis A. Apolaya

The debut album of the guitar and drums duo from Montreal is full of energy and buzz, though sometimes their restlessness gets the better of them and they start sounding repetitive. Nonetheless, anyone looking for new indie rock songs to listen to (and doesn’t mind the fuzzy guitar and vocals in here) can be satisfied with this album. Recommended: 2, 4, 7. RIYL Yuck, Dinosaur Jr., Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dreams.

*1. (2:53) What appears to be confused signals from outer space for the first thirty seconds, then shifts into a head-nod-worthy mid-fast-paced rocker with lots of guitar fuzz
**2. (4:53) Upbeat, high-adrenaline guitar work, solo in the middle of track, slows down in -1:00, multifaceted and engaging, last 13 seconds have really low volume buzz
3. (3:02) Upbeat, vocals distinctly passionate here, not that much variety here
**4. (3:46) Mid-tempo, pleasant guitar chords and drum work, a more wide-audience indie rock approach
5. (5:15) Fast track, assertive drums, also a likely head-nod-worthy track
6. (2:33) Mid-tempo, chords have happy undertones, but mostly guitar (only about 20 seconds of singing)
**7. (4:18) Sudden start, upbeat, suggests punk attitude in instrumentation and vocals, actually pretty catchy
*8. (4:12) Slow-mid tempo, builds up well from the beginning, slow head-nodder
9. (1:55) Fast, unappealing vocals, guitar sounds like a wall of indistinct fuzz
10. (4:52) Portentous bass-like riff at beginning, builds up like the finale to a concert, mid-tempo throughout, unintelligible buzz from -0:52.