Les Savy Fav is a five-piece indie rock band from New York City; a band which takes a heavy influence from the genres of art rock and post-hardcore also. ‘Inches’ is an eighteen track compilation album of singles from the band; it comprises of the bands material between the years of 1995 and 2004 and originally was released through French Kiss Records in April 2004. It’s an interesting album from the band and one that showcases a number of excellent tracks; it’s not all good but certainly there are some great moments of promise contained within the hour and ten minutes of music that is ‘Inches’.
Before this album was released these tracks were available on vinyl only, for all fans of Les Savy Fav ‘Inches’ is truly essential listening and definitely the music contained within this collection does not disappoint. ‘Meet Me in the Dollar Bin’ begins this release, an amusing little track which looks into the subject of one hit wonders; it’s a great way to start the collection and certainly begins this ‘Inches’ compilation on a high. The music of Les Savy Fav is intelligent and well worked, the sound created here is always strong and although the music will not appeal to all; those that do appreciate it should absolutely love it.
The music of Les Savy Fav is quite out there, it’s hard to pin them down into any one particular genre and instead the band bounces between several. The band wears its art rock influence on its sleeve, it’s indie rock but not in any kind of real conventional sense. It’s hard to describe the music of Les Savy Fav; it’s quite a cacophony of sound, a musical mash-up of a variety of different genres and one that is not always successful. The vocals are often shouted, the drumbeats are simple but effective, and the guitar riffs go all over the place. The bands sound changes from one track to the next, never are you sure in which direction the music will head next and as this is a compilation collection which spans a full decade of music a bit of variation should always be expected. A bands sound does not generally remain static over the course of a decade; it changes and evolves, for that reason this album does not run particularly smoothly but still it is an interesting one to listen to.
There are definite moments of absolute hardcore present here, ‘Blackouts on Thursday’ for instance reminds me of Refused and this is certainly no bad thing. I love Refused, Refused was a great Swedish hardcore band and with this track Les Savy Fav has really captured the energy, enthusiasm, and riotous nature of the bands music. ‘Blackouts on Thursday’ could almost be a Refused cover track; it’s not, but it’s certainly extremely similar in sound.
If you’re looking for something a little different then you should certainly consider investing in this ‘Inches’ album from Les Savy Fav; give the bands music a listen before you buy as it may not be of appeal, it certainly offers something a little different to the norm however and Les Savy Fav is a band making music like no other. To listen to this album it’s incredibly obvious that the band has a vast array of different influences, the album heads in many different musical directions and never do you know quite what this ‘Inches’ compilation collection will offer next. The album is unpredictable and it is this that I love so much about it, this band does not play by the rules and never does it restrict itself to the confines of any one genre of music. Les Savy Fav here flits between the genres of indie rock, hardcore, and in fact all things in between. So many different genres are covered here that I’d probably have great trouble in trying to list them all; in naming them all even. Certainly consider giving this album a listen, you may well greatly enjoy what you hear.
Label: French Kiss Records
Release Date: April 20th 2004
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
