Sub Pop, 1992, the stage seems set for a particular kind of album.
This album has some of the hallmarks of the age, but is an altogether more wild beast, full of dissonant, angular guitars, hitched rhythms, and a sound that is somehow simultaneously nastier and dancier. The main reference points are The Dismemberment Plan, Modest Mouse and Le Savy Fav, bands that all came later, as well as contemporaries Pavement and Fugazi.
In short, it's an album on the vanguard of its time, if not ahead of its time, full of harsh, inventive moments, compelling and unfriendly and difficult, all mired in a certain early 90's sound that muddies its impact and keeps it from being as good as its imitators. The vocals in particular lack that detached element that made later bands work, still having that strained self-importance that you associate with second-tier alternative bands.
Important but not wholly enjoyable, its one of those I'll wheel back around someday I'm sure 3.5/5
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