My first ever album review - You love her coz she's dead

So once again, here's me trying to make some use of my blog for once. I've decided I'm a massive music fan so its a shame for me not to do reviews etc, so I though I'd give it a bash.

The last album I bought is called 'You love her coz she's dead' by You love her coz she's dead. Imaginative. (for reference Ill be calling them ylhcsd from now on in, and that also suffices in a google search).

So you may cry, who is this obscure band who goes by the acronym of a strange sentence? Well a couple of years ago I came across a band called the crystal castles (infact it may be nearly 4 years ago now), and over time developed a taste for their angry bit sound, its certainly no atari teenage riot digital hardcore type stuff, but certainly got some beautiful written sounds juxtaposed against some angry fucking noises. Introducing their second album to my freinds the crystal castles became know as '8am ear chocolate' because their second album felt a little bit more finished but certainly not as upbeat and pissed off.

Never satisfied with my taste in music I tried to investigate a few more bit pop bands, there were some hits (anamanaguchi, slagmalsklubben) and some misses. However that year I saw a band purely by chance called Kap bambino at glastonbury, they were amazing live and I wanted to hear some more music like them. After furiously searching the internet I came across the obscure ylhcsd, who had had track on some Kitsune Maison compilation albums, and had just released an EP called inner city angst.

Inner city angst was interesting, it was clearly made by a band who had a talent, but as with most bands the tracks weren't quite finished enough to be album worthy. However they were exciting, used noise that I like, and I could imagine them live.

So fast forward a couple of years, here's me scouring the internet to see what album releases I'd missed this year and completely by chance I come across this album. I had a listen to the itunes preview, bought it and was certainly not dissappointed for my £7.99 I paid for it.

From the start if you like this kind of music, its an exciting listen, and there's quite a few noteworthy tracks. I will say that its not the longest of albums, and the tempo is pretty standard throughout the album (as is per usual with crossover/bit bands), but its more than made up by the warps, booms and glitches throughout.

As far as noteworthy tracks go I'll mentioned my favourite 3:
Mud (feat sucker twin) - Well I'm not sure whether the 140 bpm dubstep feel is from sucker twin (who ive not managed to find any information about online), or ylhcsd having a bash at something a bit more bass driven, but I must say I love this track. Its got a pretty nasty, but still smooth bassline, with some nice stutters on the vocals and a very playful little tune over the top. I would certainly try and drop this into the right type of dubstep set, although I'm not convinced how well it would go past your traditional dubstepper (not well at all I'd imagine). Overall definately my favourite tune on the album, and certainly one that I could imagine drawing a few more listeners in.

Pull out the nails - An odd tune, but another standout one for me, a more traditional tempo for 'bit' but with a very playful overtone one what I'd call the 'screamer' sounds, and then with a drop to smash you in the chops a little bit, this would certainly be a good one live.



Leap of desire II - This is a track of many motions, what I think is meant to be a reprise of the first song of the album. We start off with an intro that feels a bit like a moment out of 90's trance euphoria, whilst some might hate it, ive got not problem with that, it then flows along nicely like I'd expect until 1.45 ish, then it takes a twist for the nastier (the way it should be), the kicks get a bit harder and everything else a bit more dischordant, personally I think its a true skill when you can do that in music, but still keep it balanced, but there'll always be some that cant see past a slightly irregular beat.



So in summary for this album, probably not to everyones taste, but I'm giving it a big thumbs up for a debut album, a bit like the crystal castles, but not as pretentious, a bit like kap bambino, but with added oomph and a bit more of a kick in the head. I've been left craving to see ylhcsd live, and wanting to blast it out on the biggest soundsystem I can find. So I'll be giving this one an 8/10.