Dsu

Reissue of Alex G aka Spicy Boy’s first album on Orchid Tapes. DSU is short for Dream State University. This is “lo-fi indie” with strong influences from Pavement, Elliott Smith, and Youth Lagoon. There’s wobbly acoustic and electric guitars, feedback, keys, subtle percussion, and mumbled vox with a comforting sense of emo. Wonderfully unpretentious. Every song finds a way to sneak into your head without warning. FCC: 10

1. (2:21) ** After Ur Gone—Ringing, loud guitars, sweet mumbling double-tracked vox
2. (3:46) ** Serpent is Lord—Guitar noodling then layers of guitars and some feedback, Built to Spill
3. (1:40) Harvey—Rousing ode to friendship
4. (1:52) Rejoyce—Pitched-up drowned-out vox, guitars, minimal oddball weird in last minute
5. (2:44) **** Black Hair—Feedback to start, acoustic guitars and keys, feedback weaves through occasionally again... I love this endlessly
6. (1:26) ** Skipper—Lush strumming, floaty vox
7. (1:47) Axesteel—Loud, angsty, screamy sounds, listless sad vox, very lo-fi
8. (2:43) ** Sorry—Acoustic guitars, synths, regret, more prominent vox. Super similar to Beach Music, his most recent album
9. (3:32) ** Promise—Woah! Big change here. Bluesy guitar noodling, stomps, airy keys, awesome groove
10. (2:51) Icehead—FCC. Weird pitch-shifted vox, guitars, hollow beat, so incredibly emo
11. (4:04) Hollow—Starts out kind of folky then builds in those nice enveloping Elliott Smith flairs, intense feedback eventually builds
12. (0:42) Tripper—Messing around on piano
13. (3:11) *** Boy—Piano and acoustic guitars, intense. “I am not the boy you knew.”
14. (1:40) Soak (Bonus Track)—Lo-fi acoustic guitar and vox, simple
15. (3:30) Waiting for You (Bonus Track)—All instrumental piano and sax, mournful