Puzzles Like You

Great fucken uplifting Brit-POP! I mean if it's on the 4AD label you don't expect anything else but brilliance. And so goes for this excellent 5th album by the band who spun off Slowdive almost 12 years ago now. Think classic late 80s/early 90s Brit-Pop sound (House of Love, Blur, Lush) mixed with retro-sounding power-chord guitar rock (power-pop), thrashing sprinkles of shoegaze, ethereal Beatles-que vocal harmonies, and country-western folky elements reminiscent of Calexico (pedestal/slide guitars and organs). Play with Boyskout, the Stone Roses, Television Personalities, the Oranges Band, the Cuts, Alaska!, and Jesus and the Mary Chain. As perverse and unexpected as it may sound for the pop-minded djs of KZSU, I love this fucking album! It's great, sincere, heart-felt rocking pop and I all for that!
Play 10, 11, 7, 1, 3
1. Straight up rock'n'rolling Brit-pop.
2. Ethereal uplifting brit-pop meets shoegaze. Hand-clap overdubs.
3. Power-popy rock'n'roll with emoting piano lines and vocal crescendos.
4. Mid tempo power-pop ballad with pedestal guitars.
5. Acoustic folky ballad. Calexico.
6. FCCs. "everybody that i have loved was some kind of a fuck-up". Yah, tell me about it!
7. Infectious catchy rock. Up-lifting and rocking!
8. Edgy and somewhat darker 60s-inspired psychedelic rock. Dig the noodly Doors-sounding keys and 60s garage organ. Think Television Personalities.
9. Almost like a Christmas song. Slow folky ballad with casio-beats.
10. Fuck yeah! In your face, sonic shoegaze-y synth effect. Heavily assaulting. Dance your heart out. The Cure.
11. Emoting and sentimental. Melodically rocking. Another great song. Mid/fast tempo.
12. Acoustic and tearful ballad.