Search - Clem Snide :: Your Favorite Music

Slow Motion Heartbreak

George a Pletz | Central PA, USA | 02/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is so pervasively laced with sorrow that even its most upbeat songs are tearjerkers. But the trick here is the saddest moments feel like the most uplifitng as we see into a heart thar seems the most familiar. While this joy breaks the spell on the subsequent album, the pleasing but less resonant "The Ghost of Fashion", "Your Favorite Music" never dispells the sensation that the sparse, but never spare, music and clever lyrics delivered in a broke, but nerver broken, voice deliver. Something for the musicians and the lyrically obssessed equally. With songs like "Loneliness Finds" and "Sweet Mother Russia", when the coffee house accoustic groups find these songs, this album will live a long time. It is a wonderful album extolling the idea of good music supporting sublime lyrics. While we are giving thumbs up to songs, let's give two more for the funny but grim "1989" and the rousing folk of "Failed Messiah Blues". This album is so good, I have hesitated to check the recent stuff because I don't want this dream to end. Moat certainly recommended for those seeking classical folk rock kicks with just a touch of punk."

Shambling and Spectacular

Santiago Foolish | Upper California | 01/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Clem Snide's second album is not one of many moods, but the mood it sustains--through lyrics that toe the line between clever and smart, half-sung and half-whispered over shuffling folk arrangements--is good enough to last. Resigned, wry, always about to wind down into nothingness, the best tracks on the album transcend the unabashed jokiness of what's being sung through their sheer charm. A little play on words--"we're going to party / like it's 1989" becomes undercut by refrains that poke fun at its hollowness. On the title track, he sings "your favorite music / well it just makes you sad," as fiddles drone and the rhythm track shambles along. And that's true, but we like it anyway."

Very good

indierockjunkie | Madison, WI | 07/02/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Simple, beautiful melodies with an acoustic/countrified feel and offbeat lyrics. "Dairy Queen", "Bread", and "Messiah Complex Blues" are the standouts in my opinion. Throw in a nice cover of "Donna" and you've got an impressive disc."