LaGrecia
On Parallels
Suburban Home
9/10
Now, when you see a solid score from such reverent mags as Rolling Stone and Spin, you have to take it with a grain of salt. Take a closer look at Rolling Stone’s review section. Does it seem like 80% of what they review aurally gets them off? Yea, that’s what I thought. Take a look at our reviews and you’ll find that we don’t like 80% of the tunes we get to review. And while sometimes it is because the album is what I imagine rabid badgers sound like when fed acid and placed in a sack, most of the time it’s solely because your hard earned (or stolen, we’re not here to judge) is better spent on the stuff that is actually cream of the crop. Like LaGrecia’s album On Parallels.
I can’t tell if it’s the Lawrence Arms-esque gruffness in Jason Shevchuk’s voice, or the visuals that I’ve created of whiskey and beer firing from the guitar’s headstock, but this album has rarely left my CD player in two weeks. LaGrecia hit that perfect balance of sounding rough, while not having the production values of recording on an answering machine. I wish more band’s proverbial nuts would drop so that they can kick out high-powered sing alongs that are just catchy enough to lure your sister away from whatever reverse-mulleted, tight pantsed schmucks are up to their necks in jailbait at Warped Tour (I’m looking at you, Greeley Estates.) If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go listen to LaGrecia kick my ears in the face.
P.S. Racket rarely, rarely does any research into the band’s we interview or review. And here’s why: LaGrecia has already broken up. Mother fucker. Still buy the CD.
-Jonathan “The Emperor” Yost