Login for Favorites
EDIT INFOThe Radio Dept. - Lesser Matters
Tweet
Album Details
- Artist: The Radio Dept.
- Album: Lesser Matters
- Label: XL
- Year of Release: 2004
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: dscanland on 2005-01-06
RecommendIt really does seem that shoegazer is back. That's basically what Sweden's The Radio Dept. have mastered on Lesser Matters. Don't let that turn you off though because this is a pretty decent album. I do find it hard to believe that this is The Radio Dept.'s debut album. It is quite mature for a first effort. Lesser Matters was an album that I basically "accidentally" listened to too much. How does one accidentally listen to an album too much? When you get caught up in other work besides reviews, that's how. You have the same album on repeat over and over for a few days and before you know it you have fallen in love with an album that wasn't meant to be. There are times on Lesser Matters where you can hear the Strokes like the amazing "Where The Damage Isn't Already Done". It's not quite as aggressive but it has that fuzzy distortion on the entire track. You might also make a comparison to My Bloody Valentine with all the fuzzy distortion that Radio Dept. uses on the album. Then a few of the tracks are as gentle as Kings of Convenience like "Bus". The album does take some warming up to but it really is a pleasure getting to know Lesser Matters.
User Reviews and Comments
Log In or Register to Rate Albums
User Rating:
Write your own review
Tell us why this album is great or sucks ass, or correct the reviewer. If you write enough quality reviews you may find yourself on the editorial staff.
Reviews have to be over 100 words, shorter ones are classed as comments.
Tell us why this album is great or sucks ass, or correct the reviewer. If you write enough quality reviews you may find yourself on the editorial staff.
Reviews have to be over 100 words, shorter ones are classed as comments.
Log In or Register to Rate AlbumsReview:
on 2012-01-17 CharlesMartel Said:
Modern day dream poppers have a difficult time of it. Dream pop, born out of the ethereal sounds of the Cocteau Twins, has tempted many, few with any success. Radio Dept., with their debut album, " Lesser Matters" , exemplify why that should be.
As the name suggests, dream pop consists of two elements dream and pop. Now Radio Dept. do the dream very well. It's the pop which lets them down. Their music is effortless and seems to flow naturally. It all sounds so easy, if all you are interested in is the sound. But the problem is that the technicality of " Lesser Matters" far outruns the band's ability to produce something truly creative. Had they managed, this could have been a great album. The songs, you see, are quite simply, boring.
There, I said it. This album bores me (look I said it again). Radio Dept. have seemingly eschewed melodies in favour of atmosphere and managed to come up with neither. They have managed the utilisation of fuzzy guitars and basic synthesiser patterns but not managed to string together anything truly interesting with it. And the almost lo-fi production does not help.
And then there are the lyrics. Now some people may cut them a bit of slack for singing in English when Swedish is their first language. But why should they be given a free pass on that account? Some of the lyrics are truly awful, and whoever thought of this one, on "Your Father" , needs to re-evaluate some basic principles of matching sound with words
" Now that youre away
I'm jerking off every day
To your memory"
Seriously guys, punk band the Vapours managed to write an entire song about masturbation without even mentioning it once so it's not that difficult.
In the end, the album disappoints, especially after the promise shown on their earlier EPs. All the ingredients were here, but as any good chef will tell you, ingredients are just one part of the pie. If you put the blueberries in before you've kneaded the dough youre going to have a pretty sad looking muffin. Radio Dept. seemed to take a step backwards when they released " Lesser Matters " and failed to provide the lift off from their EPs that they should have done. Thankfully, they would get better than this, but it was a shaky start and one which could have seen them fall flat on their face from the outset.
Rating: 5/10
