[.ca] Broken Social Scene

Swinnngggg and a Home Run...:
This is exactly what I expect from a collective of musicians .. they experiment, they try new things, they push the envelope, they don't fall into the trappings of a 'safe pop song' .. this is bringing out the best in several musicians. Feist and Metric (yes Metric! and yes I'm a fan of theirs too) to name a few. It lacks heart? I don't think so, just because no one is stepping out in the forefront doesn't mean it lacks heart. The instrumentation is AMAZING with all the subtle time changes, layers and variety of sounds. I imagine they're having a great time doing what they're doing. We know the identities of the musicians, but screw that! They're saying it's the music that counts, and let the music speak for itself. It might be mellow, and the vocals might be subdued, but they achieve a mood and styling that is unique and make the sum much greater than its individual parts. This album is a fun exercise in musicianship, I only wish more musicians would get together and improvise like this. Job well done folks..

I tried so hard...:
I tried so hard to like this album... I really did. I had heard so much about the band, and what I found was that I was disappointed by the fact that while there are 15 or more members in the band none of them (in this context anyway) seem capable of writing a decent melody. They are all incredibly talented musicians, but all I hear in here is layered chaos. Some reviewers love this layering, but layered noise is still just noise. If you want to hear amazing layers by multi-talented musicians who still realize that it's still supposed to be a song, you know, something you might want to sing along with, check out the New Pornographers... pure pop genius with an arty edge. If you want ambient music, check out Brian Eno.

swinnnngggggg and a miss!:
i see what they were trying to do here but alas this album falls under the 'no go' category. i bought it thinking 'hey, you forgot it in people was incredible so why should this be any less?' needless to say the disjointed sounds of the entire band playing different songs at different tempos at different volumes did not find me raving about the original edge of the new BSS album. this self titled attempt is a perfect example of what you'd get if you sampled the first 45 seconds of every song on any decent album, strung them together put it on cd and tried to play it on a 15 year old cd player that had been sitting behind a work bench in the garage since 1995. broken social scenes attempt to make an album that sounds like one of their rockinest live jam shows was a serious swing with a much disappointing miss. i get what you were trying to do guys. but better luck next time.

broken social scene - pitchforkmedia:
In 2003, this Canadian group's second album, You Forgot It in People, gracefully went boom, reminding lots of people why they love indie rock-- the shambling ecstasy, the pitch-perfect experimentation, the unabashed heart-on-sleeveness of it all. The collective reacts to the furor by expanding and magnifying; another six members join the brood for its self-titled third full-length, and the band's once-refined studio sound is blown up into a pixilated blur of blood-gush guitars and squall-of-sound production that's somehow meticulously unhinged. This exercise in excess makes the ambitious You Forgot It in People seem positively understated by comparison.

Why?:
I can't see why people are saying that this album isn't as good as their last (You Forgot it in People). I think this CD is twice as good. You Forgot...was too mellow for the most part but this is for the most part awesome, upbeat tracks. I guess, maybe, some of it is a little too experimental for some people, and there is a lack of "lead" vocals like another reader said, but this is such a more creative and interesting endevure. If there was a 4.5 out of 5 stars I'd give it that.

• Our Faces Split the Coast in Half
• Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)
• 7/4 (Shoreline)
• Finish Your Collapse and Stay for Breakfast
• Major Label Debut
• Fire Eye'd Boy
• Windsurfing Nation
• Swimmers
• Hotel
• Handjobs for the Holidays
• Superconnected
• Bandwitch
• Tremoloa Debut
• It's All Gonna Break