The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?

The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? (2003)

Genre: Indie Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Lo-Fi

The Unicorns' sole studio album release in a mish-mash of goofy and creative ideas that makes for a fun and at times comedic listen. This album is being reviewed per request. As a reminder, I do not intend for this to be a really in-depth and complex review. I'm just sharing my quick personal thoughts on the album. As for any album review I do, I try to be objective without letting any personal bias get too much in the way of the final grade. 

I appreciate the obvious fun that this band had in compiling this record. While not often classified as psychedelic, I can't help but hear traces of it throughout. Tuff Ghost features a prominent eerie bass and synth groove that brings to mind acid rock influences of the late 60's. The aforementioned fun I spoke of derives not only from the cool rhythms and creative music ideas being mended together, but also from the often zany lyrics that paint an absurd, but captivating story.

The title track I Don't Wanna Die and the closing track Ready to Die loosely tries to make of this a concept album, but is most surely done for simple comedic purposes. I couldn't help but actually laugh out loud at the ending track's abrupt ending, where the singer seems to choke, obviously indicating his sudden death. This kind of cleverness is only present in more subtle doses throughout, but it's silly all the same. Perhaps the most nonsensical lyrics come in the form of the song Jellybones, which from the title alone should be a good enough indication of what I mean.

For having a lo-fi aesthetic, the group still manages to sound completely confident in their craft, coming out very forward with their sound. It doesn't feel like a debut, but more so like a group who has had some experience under their belt, and so I applaud them for that. And on a completely unrelated note, I can't help but notice the sizeable number of times that ghosts are referenced throughout. It's ironically bittersweet how an album that heavily pushes the theme of death and imagery of ghosts happened to be the first and final album to be released by the band.

It's a shame that they haven't reunited with the purpose of creating a new album, because I would certainly be up for a listen. The band has a flurry of creative ideas that blend relatively well with their goofy style of songwriting and dream-like aesthetic. As an obscure footnote in indie rock history, I'm glad that someone recommended I check this out. It definitely deserves some more love and appreciation.

A-

Favorite Songs: Tuff Ghost, Sea Ghost, The Clap, I Was Born (A Unicorn), Tuff Luff, Ready to Die

Least Favorite Track: Inoculate the Innocuous

Daughters - Canada Songs

Daughters - Canada Songs (2003)

Genre: Grindcore, Mathcore

Daughters have come a long way in developing their sound and straying from their hyper-aggressive style that can be found on this debut. And oh boy, is it really aggressive. As a reminder, I do not intend for this to be a really in-depth and complex review. I'm just sharing my quick personal thoughts on the album. As for any album review I do, I try to be objective without letting any personal bias get too much in the way of the final grade. 

Up to this point, I have never come across something as short as this that still qualifies as an album. This is a measly 11 minutes in length, but man, does it pack a punch within that timeframe. None of the ten songs on here go past the 2-minute mark, and nearly half of them don't even go past the 1-minute mark. Within the context of the musical style presented here, I can fully understand why that is the case, though. This record isn't so much about melody, because honestly, you'd be hard-pressed to find any on here, but more about disgustingly fast riffs and tempos.

I was initially put-off by the lack of a general structure, as the amount of distortion, fast instrumentation and wailing vocals don't exactly add up to create much variation on a surface level. I find it incredibly easy to go through this album and end up feeling like you just heard one long continuous song that was simply chopped up at parts. Upon further listening though, I found it a bit easier to focus on the distinct riffs hidden underneath the chaos. I still couldn't find a strong enough difference between tracks to immediately pick out any favorites or least favorites, though.

Really, this is one of those albums I can't really recommend for anyone who isn't already a fan of grind or hardcore and abrasive sounds. More so, I wouldn't consider this a bad album by any means, but it takes a certain level of appreciation for the genre and an open-mind to more extreme forms of musical expression to really get much enjoyment out of it. I admit, as you'll see by my score, that it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. However, for what it is, 11-minutes of runtime certainly prevents it from overstaying its welcome, and I certainly enjoyed this album to an extent from a technical standpoint. As a quick side note, the titles of some of these songs really made some of these songs that much more quirky, that I couldn't help but chuckle, even if the lyrics themselves were at times masochist or sexist.

C+

Favorite Tracks: Nurse, Would You Please Prep the Patient for Sexual Doctor, The Ghost with the Most

Least Favorite Track: Hard to say, really.