Friday, February 12, 2016

Bully - Feels Like (Columbia, 2015)

Bully
Feels Like
Columbia
2015

Rating: 7.5 old habits out of 10

The sound of the nineties are alive and well with the new kids, and Bully are as good an example as any currently on the scene.  I see lots of PJ Harvey comparisons, and maybe I hear that a little in the vocals, but musically I'm not there at all.  I've even seen some Hole comparisons, which get a huge "hell no" from me (I never liked Hole so there's a lot of bias in that reaction).  On Bully's best songs like "Milkman," "I Remember," and "Brainfreeze," the most apt comparison might be the driving indie punk guitars of Superchunk or the mid-nineties version of Dinosaur Jr (when it was really just J Mascis solo even though he still called it Dinosaur Jr.).  Bully doesn't sound exactly like Speedy Ortiz, but both acts are mining the same territory musically - and for my money, Bully are doing it just a little bit better.  I'll be honest, not nuts about their slower songs, but hopefully they grow on me.  The upbeat tracks (such as those mentioned above) are so damn good it doesn't matter though, as this record is a keeper for sure. 

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