The Brave Little Abacus is one of the most annoying bands I've ever heard. The singers are nasally and strained, every song is filled with sound effects from Yoshi's Island or Ren and Stimpy, and in an era of crystal clarity, they have the most washy, peaked out recordings, making it almost painful to listen to at an appropriate volume. Hell, even the name kind of bugs me. These factors, then, are a great tribute to just how awesome this band is, because I can't stop listening to their music. The band is so catchy, smart, charming, and are obviously having so much fun doing what they're doing, that they manage to take all these irritating elements and craft amazingly intricate and memorable music with them. It's hard to describe; you should really just go to their Myspace page and take a listen for yourself.
I can't say for sure, but if I had to guess, I would go out on a limb and say this band is made up of 16-19 year old band geeks who just happen to have really good taste in indie rock and traditional rock and roll. There's a youthful energy and nary a hint of cynicism or irony to any of it. Instead, it's positive, upbeat, and makes you want to sing along. The lyrics, from what I've managed to catch, are twisting and introspective, but have a twang of nerd humor underneath everything. This also extends into their abundant use of sound clips, which are all from great sources and, unlike most bands using clips, fit rhythmically into the composition of the songs.
The musicianship and songwriting are both top notch, and their sound doesn't fit neatly into any clever sub-genre modern indie kids use to pigeonhole themselves with. I hear everything from On the Might of Princes to The Who to U2 in this music, but mainly it sounds to me like songs written by an unholy union of Cap'n Jazz and The Flaming Lips, as covered by HORSE the Band. And again, just even writing that horrible sounding description annoyed the crap out of me, but these guys make it work. The off-kilter nasally vocals manage to fit the sound perfectly, despite their roughness, since the vocal lines they come up with are so fun and sung with such conviction. Even the washiness of the recording works in the band's favor, lending a unique, distinguishable contour to the sound. There's a total lack of self-consciousness to it all. They just do what they do really well. After a few listens, I found myself completely buying it, 100%.
Out of all of their songs, my favorite is El Capitano. The 2 second flurry of shredding at 2:14 is what first sold me on this band. Don't ignore the rest though; they're all worth a listen. They just came out with a new split with Matt Aspinwall, and whoever is reading this would be wise to check it out. And if you're in New Hampshire, or hell, within hours of there, try to catch their live show and report back about it. I really want to hear how these guys sound live.
-Scott Delbango
