Review Summary: Experimenting doesn't always amount to improvement
There was a time when U.S.S. were quite possibly the most exciting thing in Canadian music. The Toronto duo had reached a sudden burst in popularity in late 2010, and their 2009 album
Questamation was on pretty much every Canadian's list of "must buy albums". With another album on the horizon, you couldn't go anywhere without hearing "Laces Out" or "Anti-Venom". Nowadays, they seem to be getting bigger and bigger, but one must wonder if the band truly deserve it. To be fair, they aren't the most skilled group of musicians, and they represent pretty much everything that I would normally hate in music (under different circumstances); only one of the band's two musicians actually plays music of any sort while the rest is all done on computers and turntables, resulting in what sounds like more instruments than possible to play live being added. Naturally, because the music ends up being so enjoyable (while not particularly deep), their formula is quite successful, but do the question remains: truly deserve it?
The band's third full-length
Advanced Basics shows the band trying to shake things up a bit. While the band's DNB/Indie-pop sound that made them unique and set them apart from most other acts is still present, the 7 tracks here show the band experimenting with different styles, and if anything, toning things down a bit, making this quite possibly their softest album yet. The thing is, the opening track "Hydrogenuine", while being a good opener, is completely deceptive. It has you thinking that this is going to be a typical U.S.S. album. And one could be forgiven for thinking so; the riff is pretty typical for a band like them, the band's typical nonsensical lyrics are on display and the high energy is present. I say it's deceptive, because the next track sets the tone for the album properly, and unfortunately also sums up what's wrong with the album: a clear lack of inspiration. The band try to experiment, but end up sacrificing what made them unique for a sound that sounds like every other band nowadays, and while the lyrics have never been a strong suit for U.S.S., they're twice as dreadful here:
"This is the best, this is the best/My head is such a fucking mess/This is the best, crack house arrest/My head's a mess". And it's not made better by the fact that it's followed up by such a dreadful chorus, where they actually attempt to rhyme "wired" with "inspired".
Another problem here is that Ashley Buscholz's vocal performance sounds particularly bored and uninspired. True, nobody will argue with the fact that he's never been a particularly good singer, but very few will also argue that his voice has made the band what they are. Sadly, he seems as if he's completely out to lunch on this album. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say he sounds the exact same on every single song. Combined with the dreadful lyrics, one must wonder if he's just making the whole thing up as he goes along. Maybe this explains why "Yin Yang" sounds like it was sung and written by a 16 year old strung out on crack:
"All I all I all I really really really wanna say/Is what the fuck today/All I all I all I really really really wanna do/Is grind up next to you" (look out, we have a real Shakespeare over here!). While you try to figure out what lines like that and "
Ive got the infinite ammunition/Coming out the Yin Yang mean, I'm gonna go grab a beer. Production-wise, the album isn't too bad. Tracks like "Nepal" and "Built to Break" boast catchy beats, and show Human Kebab trying some new things with the band's sound, with his pulsing electronics providing a contrasting backbone to Buscholz's soft vocals and guitar riffs, but sadly, even this doesn't stop the band from sounding as if they're tired of music altogether. Rather than the soundoff a band having fun and not even caring if the music sounds good, as long as they're having fun. The band seem to be trying too hard to be taken seriously here, and this makes their weaknesses even more apparent.
It's not that this album is offensively bad, it's that it's lacking in inspiration and even worse, memorability. Ultimately I worry that U.S.S. have chosen a path that will lead to a slump in their popularity and their eventual demise; and it seems as if the last 3 years of constant touring and radio events has led the band to working themselves into exhaustion. Even the band seem to have admitted that sometimes their current schedule can be a bit overwhelming for them, and
Advanced Basics seems to be a direct reflection of that. Ah well, at least it means that we still have their live shows with Rick Astley covers as setlist regulars to look forward to.
