For the second time this year, Hussalonia is our Album of the Week. Any piece on Hussalonia requires a bit of back story, so I'm actually going to quote myself since I think I said it best last time...
"'Hussalonia is a pop music cult. Pop music does not mean popular.' Cryptic words from a cryptic man. That being said, we don't know much about Hussalonia or its origins, only that it was started by a Buffalo, NY native who refers to himself as, 'the founder.'
In the early to mid 2000s, the founder became disillusioned by the saturation of bands into the social media market... so much so that he wanted to distance himself from the fray as much as he possibly could. Although Hussalonia is mostly the work of one man, the founder calls his musical outlet a "cult" in an effort to further distance himself from the sad state of commercialism in the music industry (I feel like I'm describing The Polyphonic Spree or something)."
- Nick Sessanna, buffaBLOG
Now, I stick by my words and say that while it still sounds like I'm describing The Polyphonic Spree, Hussalonia is a much more concise and, for that matter, sane offering. These songs are simple, well-written nuggets of 60's influenced pop-rock. The generic comparison to be made here is The Beatles or the musical side project from an indie movie star (like Jason Schwartzman's Coconut Records). The founder even sounds a bit like Saves the Day's Chris Conley at times.
Home Taping Is Killing Me is nineteen tracks full of the sardonic attitude we've come to expect from Hussalonia. Three of the tracks are PSAs, five-second songs meant to poke fun at the state of the music business. For the most part, the founder revels in writing songs that don't quite breach the two minute mark, and they are full of fuzzy guitars and Lennon/McCartney hooks. "Keeping the Company of the Dead" and "History is Mine" kick off the album with Hussalonia trademarks - fuzzed out guitar to give you the warm-fuzzies (pun intended) and the founder's intelligent lyrics. In "Keeping the Company of the Dead," the founder claims that he can only think in metaphor. On this count, he's right, and I love trying to decipher what he's really getting at.
The founder doesn't always step away from his tried-and-true methods, but on Home Taping Is Killing Me, I noticed a few forays into slightly less poppy territory. Remember that Saves the Day comparison I made earlier? Well, I think Chris Conley wishes he could have written "No To Some," which is one of the few songs that cracks two minutes on this record. Complete with a piano solo and an upbeat, punk-rock-influenced beat, "No To Some" is one of the rare moments on Home Taping Is Killing Me that doesn't fit into that perfectly-maintained Hussalonia brand... Even "O rlly?" with it's rebellious guitar-bent chorus remains fairly consistent with our expectations. That being said, it's hard to pick a favorite song on a Hussalonia album. Somehow, everything the founder has to offer is inherently good. Reviewing two of albums (which clocks up to nearly 40 songs), I haven't been let down yet. But if I had to pick one track, I'd pick "The Rattle Under My Hood." It's not the founder's most profound song, and it's not necessarily his catchiest, but I love the simple heart-on-your-sleeve metaphor about being a broken down car and the sludgy guitar fuzz that comes close to giving me chills. I think that's enough to consider it my favorite... That is, until I got to the end of Home Taping Is Killing Me.
Hussalonia surprised me with the blistering "Time Will Measure Me," a song about as fuzzed-out and bombastic as you can possibly get. The guitar solo at 1:25 nearly blew my face off. Just when you think the founder is out of tricks, the song devolves into a beautiful cacophony of wrong notes and bizarre instruments, supported dutifully by an ever-present wall of guitar fuzz. I could continue to go on and on about this album, but the more I listened to it, the more I realized that Home Taping Is Killing Me is about more than just the music. I have this nagging feeling that I might be doing the album a disservice by trying to dissect it to people who haven't listened to it yet. I think you know what to do next (see below).
Hussalonia surprised me with the blistering "Time Will Measure Me," a song about as fuzzed-out and bombastic as you can possibly get. The guitar solo at 1:25 nearly blew my face off. Just when you think the founder is out of tricks, the song devolves into a beautiful cacophony of wrong notes and bizarre instruments, supported dutifully by an ever-present wall of guitar fuzz. I could continue to go on and on about this album, but the more I listened to it, the more I realized that Home Taping Is Killing Me is about more than just the music. I have this nagging feeling that I might be doing the album a disservice by trying to dissect it to people who haven't listened to it yet. I think you know what to do next (see below).
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This new album is absolutely fantastic. There's no point in listening to any more local music... this is the best Buffalo album of 2013.
^ Jack Toft would like a word with you.
If you're fine with the best album in Buffalo being a reasonably enjoyable parody rap album, that is.
sometimes the comments on buffablog are stupid
^aimed at kyle too
I'm well known for my stupidity.