Labels: Oni
Review by: Luke Younger
Indie alert! Any die-hard punks or emo kids turn away right now!
Urusei Yatsura used to be one of my faves when I was a mere 14 year old, bopping away to the latest NME friendly indie sounds and they still have a place in my heart, so naturally I had to buy their new album.
For those unfamiliar with them, they sound like Sonic Youth playing great pop songs in YOUR garage. Nothing has really changed in their 5 year career, and that’s half the problem. They do sometimes verge on something exciting, but never quite pull it off, therefore ending up with more or less the same bunch of songs as they had on their last record. Another problem I have with this is that they sound so held back, so unpowerful and so forced whereas they should sound in your face and angry. Maybe they’ve always sounded like this, and this is just my realising that now I’ve moved on or so in the last year and a half, I just cannot listen to this kind of music anymore.
I really don’t want to slag them off – their garage gig with Eska in 97 is still one of my favourite shows ever, but this just doesn’t cut it for me anymore. This is the cold reminder of seeing a once exciting band turn into a lame lazy bunch at Reading in 98 and feeling very disappointed. *Sniff*, sorry Urusei.