Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: Post-Punk, Grunge, Hardcore Label: Sub-Pop Records Tracks: 8 Length: 28 Minutes (Medium-Length) Style: Emotional My Rating: 7/8
Seaweed is a punk rock/grunge band from Tacoma, in the legendary state of Washington. The band was formed in 1989 by a group of kids who had been going to see local hardcore shows since the 4th grade! They released a series of 7" singles and EPs, and then an LP in 1990. This is their second LP, and it's called "Despised". The album contains a lot of new songs, but the last four are from the LP before it.
1. Selfish A fast opener that ensures quality for the duration of the record. There's a slower mid-section two-thirds through the song. The chorus goes "Whoa, whoa, this guy before you... but this instinct you feel... whoa, whoa, this guy before you... but for what?". Contains a more uplifting sounding final part.
2. One Out of Four The most well-known song from this album (probably because they made a music video for it which was featured on the Sub-Pop Video Program). Really catchy chorus. The song has a generally slow tempo compared the the song before it. A mid-section that reminds me of the one from "What's Your Problem" by the Circle Jerks. Very good song.
3. Rethink Even slower than "One Out of Four". Amazing vocals and riff on this one.
4. Stale Medium tempo. Nice solo which pretty much consists of two notes repeated again and again (but still sounds legit). The album's title comes from the line "I'm becoming what I most despised" in this song.
5. Bought It Just like every other song on this record, it has good vocals and good lyrics. Best song on the album!
6. Sit In Glass It's really fucking hard to find the lyrics for songs from this album, so I'm just gonna pretend this song is literally about sitting in glass. It's a faster song, but not as fast as "Selfish", with typical hardcore-punk slowdown sections. Makes nice use of combining the acoustic guitar and electric guitar together in the verse parts -- feels like there's one thing goin' on in one ear and another thing going on in another.
7. Installing Originally a B-Side to the "Just a Smirk" single and it was also on the debut LP as well. For some reason I love the line "you can't touch me, I can only touch myself"... even if that wasn't intentionally humorous, I still laugh.
8. Patchwork This is from the 1990 LP. Really good song. Kinda fast like the previous track. I like the "You Consume" part of the song. I should probably just say about these songs what I said about them on the last review that had these songs on 'em. "Most of the song is relatively fast... blahblahblah... the song ends by slowly fading out."
9. Inside This was the A-Side to their very first 7" EP. Slower tempo than the previous few songs. Carla does backing vocals in this one, too.
10. Lovegut The last track on the "Inside" EP. Probably some sort of love song, but I don't have the lyrics. Great emotional vocals from Aaron Stauffer. The tempo is almost grungy.
So, that's "Despised", one of the many pure classics that Seaweed released in the early '90s. It was their first album on Sub-Pop Records, too, and it's still in print. It has a bunch of really good new songs and a bunch of older ones. So, if you like Seaweed, grunge, punk, or old-school emo, then give it a try. It iz legit.
Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: Hardcore, Grunge Label: Leopard Gecko Records Tracks: 8 Length: 22 Minutes (Medium-Length) Style: Emotional My Rating: 7/8
Seaweed is one of my favorite bands of all time. They are a post-hardcore band from Tacoma, Washington that formed in 1989 with the original lineup of Aaron Stauffer (vocals), Clint Wener (guitar), Wade Neal (guitar), John Atkins (bass guitar), and Bob Bulgrein (drums). I've been a fan of them for over a year, but this was the year that I started REALLY learning to appreciate them. Their music could almost be considered to be an early form of "emo-core", but don't let that fool ya, 'cause my bullshit detector's on, and these guys are GOOD. Real emotion in their music, not computer-generated corporate emotion like a lot of kids my age listen to. Their music also often gets lumped in with "grunge" music, due to the fact that they play a good number of slow songs and use a lot of distortion, not to mention that they come from a place awfully close to you-know-where.
This, however, was not their first release. Most of the songs on this album come from earlier 7" releases from 1989 and early 1990, but there's also a few new songs (which would be released on their next LP, "Despised", a real classic.) If you're a fan of grunge or hardcore punk (or even real emo), you might easily take a liking to this!
1. Just a Smirk Has a really nice beat and fuzzy guitars, with Aaron's beautiful but rough vocals. However, this iz just the beginning. A really awesome mid-section with a great solo. This should fire up a party.
2. Installing This one starts out pretty slow. It was later re-recorded for "Despised" in 1991. The chorus is faster than the chorus. Most of the song alternates between fast and slow parts.
3. Stargirl This is a beautiful song. The lyrics are about that special girl we dream about meeting, "but she isn't even there." Easily the best song on the album. Just when you think the song is going to end, there is an outro-section that re-spices up the song just before the end. This song is sexy.
4. Deertrap This is off of one of their early singles. I guess the song is about a time that Aaron saw a deer in a deer trap and tried to rescue it, but couldn't succeed. Carla Torgerson from the Walkabouts does backing vocals on this one. She did backing vocals on a lot of their songs, actually! The song gets really thrashy at the very end.
5. Inside This was the A-Side to their very first 7" EP. Slower tempo than the previous few songs. Carla does backing vocals in this one, too.
6. Lovegut The last track on the "Inside" EP. Probably some sort of love song, but I don't have the lyrics. Great emotional vocals from Aaron Stauffer. The tempo is almost grungy.
7. Carousel The B-Side to the "Deer Trap" single. I guess my main thumbs-ups to this one are the main riff and the vocals.
8. Patchwork This one got on "Despised" as well. I really like this one. The part that really pulls me into this one is the part of the chorus that has the "you consume" line it. Most of the song is relatively fast, but that part is slow. The song ends by slowly fading out.
This one is only a preview of the greatness that they would continue to spew out for the rest of the early '90s, which include some of my favorites, "Despised", "Weak" (the best one), and "Four". Their major label debut, "Spanaway" is supposedly a classic as well, but I haven't listened to the whole thing. Same can be said about "Actions and Indications". The band broke up in 2000 or so, but they re-united in 2007. They claimed to be recording a new album called "Small Engine Repair", but there's still no word of it being released as of now. Oh well. Anyways, check this album out. It's very good.
