DUMB ASK

This album captures Cheer-Accident's more abrasive side and is the first of their three noise rock/math rock albums. Certainly a change of sound from their predecessor- 'Sever Roots Tree Dies', which has more of an avant prog overtone. The 8 tracks on this album are rather dissonant and tritonic (think red era king Crimson but with a 90s grunge feel) and only guitar, bass, drums and vocals fill the mix making this the simplest instrumentation on a C-A album. Fans of math rock should check out this album as it is cited as one of the earliest in the genre. (Recorded before the first Don Caballero album and the influential 'Spiderland' by Slint.) Cheer-Accident's second album (well, third if you count 'Life Isn't Like That') is certainly a good one, but their next, 'Babies Shouldn't Smoke' is even better.

Favourite tracks: Fat Dog's Gonna Hatch, Garbage Head, Everyone's Ugly Up Close.

4 stars