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Les Savy Fav

Inches (2004)
Frenchkiss Records

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: alkalinetrio0087
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on July 23rd 2004

I had listened to some older LSF material and it all seemed kind of sketchy to me. It was your basic loud punkish stuff and didn't really stand out from the hordes of other punk bands. But I was willing to give them another chance and I picked up "Inches" on a whim. And it hasn't left my CD player since. This is some amazing stuff, kids. "Inches" is a collection of nine of their singles, all of which they released over the past seven years with the intention of eventually compiling them on this CD. It makes for interesting listening, hearing a band evolve and turn from a so-so punk band to an absolutely incredible art-rock band a la Q and not U or a 10x more kickass Interpol.

The first nine songs (out of eighteen) are probably the best, and are also the newest, since the album is organized in chronological order. Those songs seamlessly blend little things like feedback loops into soaring arena-indie anthems. The lyrics don't dissapoint either, ranging from a comparison of indie rock hipsters to vampires ("Hold on to your genre") to one of the best love songs I have heard in my entire fucking life, ("We'll make a lover of you"). The second nine songs aren't necessarily bad, they're just not anything exceptional. That is, except for the stunning "Reformat (Dramatic Reading)", which is the story of a submarine disaster told in the format of a play.

This is one of the best CDs of the year, and if you get the version with the DVD you can catch some sweet live footage, (their lead singer is huge, balding, has a thick beard and is fucking insane), and some interesting music videos.

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Anonymous (July 27, 2004)

that wouldn't be hip at all.

Grat band, great live show.

Anonymous (July 27, 2004)

i humbly suggest that no one should write the word hip in their comments after this post

Anonymous (July 26, 2004)

Call this "hip" or whatever, but what seems to be more hip than this band itself these days are people calling this band "hip". Fuck you, fucking hipsters, this record kicks ass.

Anonymous (July 26, 2004)

i can't see how anyone could possibly call Les Savy Fav minimalist. are you that oversaturated?

Katie4213 (July 25, 2004)

amazing band. amazing album. their live shows are like non other.

Anonymous (July 25, 2004)

Hipster shit indeed.

I saw them live and was massively disappointed. Every song sounded the exact same--poor minimalistic garbage with the same annoying guitar echo effect. Everyone loved them, but it was really terrible. The singer had a ton of energy, though.

Anonymous (July 25, 2004)

Hipster shit.

slippy (July 24, 2004)

Fucking sweet band.

ElVaquero (July 24, 2004)

Great band.

slippy (July 24, 2004)

Good band.

Anonymous (July 24, 2004)

I dont know what it is with these guys, each album has a handful of tracks that are and the others are just so so. This album would've been great, but the version of "reprobates resume" is terrible, the one on Go Forth is so much better. Also, the tracks about the submarine with all the guys just talking is kinda odd, but its Les Savy Fav . . . .

Jesse (July 24, 2004)

Cat and the Cobra, Go Forth!, and Rome (upside down and backwards) were all better, but I really couldn't get into them as much as I wanted to.

Anonymous (July 24, 2004)

i've been waiting for a review of this album on this site for quite some time. i would have to say that this is their best album (and that's saying a lot) and it's been in my changer since april. and you forgot to mention the best song on the album (in my opinion), "the sweat descends."
great band, great review.

Anonymous (July 24, 2004)

These guys are great.

My friend took some photos at a show with the ex models and pretty girls make graves and he wasn't allowed to use them for class because they were "obscene."

Vote yes on awesome.