Glasser have made an accessible and often fantastic album. Ring often undulates and flourishes simultaneously. The songs are full, lush and vocal heavy with methodical repetition. They also wear on me after awhile. If it’s possible to hear an album and be subliminally confident in how good it is without wanting to hear it, this is that album. This is accomplished songwriting, beautifully really, yet I am kind of happy to set it aside for awhile.
In fact, if I could write a letter to Ring, it would be business-like, short and tight.
Dear Glasser’s Ring,
Thanks for accidentally ending up in my hands. I can’t tell you how excited I am to hear a new, creative voice within your electronic/dream-pop genre. I hope you continue to strive for excellence.
Yours Truly,
Jeff Laughlin/10Listens.com
It’s not often I want to write a letter to a band, and it is even less often I am left speechless when trying to write about one. So, Glasser, this is a Pyrrhic victory. I can’t figure out a way to talk about you, and it’s not your fault I’m so disinterested. You wrote a damn fine album and I hope a bunch of people hear it and review it way better than this cop-out.
Damn, now that’s two letters to Glasser. I’ll stop here, but only because I am starting to feel like maybe I shouldn’t write about an album I can’t grasp anyway. THIS REVIEW DOES NOT EXIST. THIS REVIEW WILL SELF DESTRUCT. SWIRLS OF VOCAL NOISE, OFF-KILTER AFRICAN-STYLE BEATS, PRETTY DISSONANT INSTRUMENTATION. EXPLOSION IMMINENT.
Ed. note: This post first appeared in 2006 in a rougher form for an older project.
When Bluetip’s Join Us came out in 1998, I had no idea who they were. In fact, I had only limited knowledge of their contemporaries. All I knew was Dischord Records had provided some other fantastic taste-altering selections in my young life: Minor Threat, Fugazi, Rites of Spring, Jawbox, Government Issue, etc. I was mostly juggling upbeat pop-punk (Promise Ring, Get-up Kids, etc.) and downtrodden rock (Jawbreaker, Sunny Day Real Estate). The former was a by-product of three years removed from society—a jaunt in military school that was as much fueled by jock-rock than any discernable tastes, i.e. I took what I could get and that was accessible pop—and the latter a notation of my life in a pit stop on the way to the North Carolina beaches. Jawbreaker (et al) and the occasional hardcore band were the outlets of choice for lifelong friends.
Bluetip’s importance, personally, ranged from a straightforward lyrical mentality. There was no referential “you” or lovelorn scenarios unexplained. There were no frills—no metaphors that didn’t fit or unwarranted emotional outbursts. The streamlined approach explained more without a victim mentality. This lack of showiness is, however big a downfall with modern audiences, a cat-call to the angry male. This includes alternate takes on break-ups, the pursuit of happiness—including paring down one’s acquaintances while noting one’s loneliness—work-related problems and a general awareness of one’s actions and consequences. From the first chord to the last, every phrasing complete thought, fragmented curse, and impartial judgment of character remains important to the ideas behind Join Us. Continue reading ‘Classic and Unappreciated: Bluetip’s Join Us’