Wednesday, October 27, 2010

LBJ-28

The Faint - Blank-Wave Arcade (1999)

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Have your black hair dye and white belt on standby. Maybe a pack of Parliament Lights, too.
I've been seeing so many Faint LPs in used bins over the last month that I sort of took it as an omen and felt compelled to post an album of theirs.
THE FAINT is an electroclash band, I guess it's now known as new wave revival or something. But they started off as probably the worst post-hardcore band you've ever heard. Their first album is seriously painful, but you'll probably never hear it. So I guess this can be seen as the first "true" Faint record in terms of the archetype for scenester dance music that would be prevalent for the next six to seven years. Hard to believe this came out in 1999.
Released on Saddle Creek (originally Lumberjack which would explain the catalog number), the label responsible for your favorite guilty pleasures: Rilo Kiley, Son Ambulance, Bright Eyes, Cursive, etc.

3 comments:

  1. not originally released on lumberjack, it's just that saddle creek was distributed by lumberjack. killer record that is sorely underrated due to the trend based/fickle social structure of the indie economy. casual sex is a completely fucked up song.

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  2. and the first albums isn't THAT bad, just no good. now worse than whatever surfer wolf dream band that is popular for the next week on pitchfork anyway...though that's not saying much....

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  3. I meant that Saddle Creek was originally called Lumberjack. Guess it's not that clear now that I read it again.

    It's pretty bad. Their singer is always off key, which would explain why he's so monotone. But this is definitely a fun record.

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