![]() Adam said it best with, “Ambitions always double the weight of the world.” Eclectic, fun, challenging, catchy, The Brave Little Abacus where everything an emo band should be, but they’re dead, dead and buried, gone forever, a blip on the radar, a cult project that likely will never generate money, but that’s OK. Perhaps Adam and company were too ambitious to succeed. ![]() Pound for pound TBLA is the best emo band that ever was. The Brave Little Abacus is important to me, they’re important to the genre, and to music in general: And that’s it, two full lengths, an EP, a split, and a demo. I take solace that the average TBLA fan is a devoted fanatic, but our numbers are still alarmingly thin. Rated 3 in the best albums of 2010, and 517 of all time album. It’s disheartening knowing that a band with such potential broke up, that a band whose whole discography is strange and exciting has so few fans. Just Got Back From the DiscomfortWere Alright, an Album by The Brave Little Abacus. It took a decade after fellow emo greats American Football broke up for them to catch on, so there is hope. I hope with all my heart that starts to change. ![]() There’s really nothing new to be found, but that’s OK because Okumay is icing on the discography-cake.ĭespite their limitless appeal, The Brave Little Abacus remains largely unknown. They have the songwriting chops to pull off the stripped down sound There are no samples (OK one, but it’s short), no weird stuff, no bullshit, just four fast and furious emo tracks. Upbeat keyboard riffs and Adam’s most polished vocal performance to date make Okumay an experiment in what The Brave Little Abacus would sound like if they were a “normal” band. Keyboard is often a secondary instrument for TBLA, hanging out in the background, providing atmosphere and counterpoint, but on Okumay, Zack’s ‘boards carry the music. It’s The Brave Little Abacus' least challenging, most pop oriented record. It doesn’t even attempt to live up to JGB, and that’s what makes it perfect. ![]() Okumay is not experimental in any way, it doesn’t advance the band’s sound. But once I freed myself from lofty expectations and comparisons, I started to realize I might be approaching it wrong, and it hit me that three of the four songs (all but the cover) are among TBLA’s best songs. It’s three new songs, one cover, and hardly groundbreaking, the songs are much simpler, bare, stripped back. Okumay was an anticlimactic way for a band like The Brave Little Abacus to go out. Part 5 - Big bulging eyes like frogs in the hands of boyhoodĪt first glance Okumay is a disappointing way for the band to go out - it’s short, simple, bare, and it’s not a “revelation” like Just Got Back From The Discomfort. I rate this album with 5 out of 5 stars for its adventurousness and unique sound.The Most Underrated Band on The Planet: A Retrospective The lyricist screams in a way that some love and some hate, and the way the drums and instruments complement each other is also somewhat unorthodox in a way some people love and some people hate. However, it is somewhat niche due to the way the album is performed. Since I found this record, it has become one of my favorite LPs of all time. However, the final track is not as good of a closer as “Bug-Infested Floorboards” it instead has almost annoyingly repeated lyrics and would’ve been better if it ended a track early. It then falls down to an acoustic guitar and adlibbed reprised lyrics from earlier in the song. The best track on the album is the second to last track named “Bug-Infested Floorboards-Can We Please Just Leave This Place, Now.” This track builds up to a heavily emotional and cinematic peak that uses horns, screamed vocals, and syncopated drums. The following track “Untitled (Cont.)” starts with very cinematic horns and other loud instruments, builds up to even louder instrumentals, and then breaks down into a ringing melody with tightened drums. It then builds up to yelled lyrics and then breaks down into a slower song. This song is a highlight because it is quieter and uses lighter noises, like tambourines and bells. The track “Can’t Run Away” starts with acoustic guitars using harmonics within the rhythm. The drums on this record are very unorthodox, as they heavily use repetitive cowbells and unusual time signatures, which makes the music more interesting. This feeling carries into several tracks that use synthesizers that mimic old videogame music, which emulates a sense of nostalgia well. The song is full of angsty, screaming vocals and bass-heavy guitars. The first track, “Pile! No Pile! Pile!” is jarring in the first few seconds, but I immediately got used to it, which is perfect as it continues for the rest of the album. The Brave Little Abacus’s 2010 album Just Got Back from the Discomfort-We’re Alright is an amazing math-rock emo record that uses weird time signatures, wacky instruments, and satisfying dynamics.
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