Friday, July 30, 2010

#138 The Sugarcubes - Life's Too Good

Once again, I was reading the latest Believer and these guys were mentioned. I'd heard the name before, but didn't know where, figured I'd hit it.

At first I dismissed this as derivative: "This just sounds like some 90's singer. Who does it sound like? Oh yeah, you're totally trying to be Bjork you stupid...typa typa...oh, it is Bjork."

Fair enough.

This is the kind of time I'm glad that I'm doing this project, because I can immediately see how these guys were influenced by early REM. Also, they themselves certainly influenced later early alternative/indie bands like The Dismemberment Plan. Its a very 90's album, despite coming out in '88, and I guess I have to give it credit for its prescience. Bjork's voice is powerful and nuanced here, and that's certainly the main draw. Musically its uncomfortable in a way that evokes 90's acts like the Cranberries, Bjork's solo work, and even Tool, somehow.

That said, its not really pleasant to listen to, and the male singer takes a huge shit on every song he appears on. He comes across as a German douchebag, or the guy from The Prodigy, and he gives the music a pretentious 80's euro slant that I don't enjoy. At the end of the day, the album's interesting to have heard, but I have no use for this, and will likely never listen to it again, so I can't see giving it better than 2.5/5

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