Customer Reviews

Polymer

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This album is obviously a departure from their earlier work, with Dave Stern leaving a gap in the songwriting of the band. Not their finest work, but definately worth repeated listens. New Young Residents and the title track are two excellent songs, but New Shoe Premonition is definately one of the best songs Bluetip has come up with to date. If you like these guys, check out Kerosene 454 or Burning Airlines.

Bluetip is seriously one of the most underappreciated bands to come out of the DC Dischord/DeSoto Records scene. It might be that they are a little more tough then a lot of the other bands (without necessarily being macho). Not unlike Jawbox in many respects, but with more choruses and melodic singing on the part of Jason Farrell.

Bluetip really has a pretty powerful dynamic and the strength of their songwriting is definitely worth many listens. I think the one problem is that their songs aren't terribly memorable or remarkable. I just can't see anyone saying "My favorite band ever is Bluetip." Most other DC bands wouldn't have that same dilemma. This doesn't seem to concern the band too much, they keep writing catchy, high-energy songs and opening for fantastic bands like At The Drive-In and The Melvins (!!) and it seems that everytime I check the paper, Bluetip is playing soon. In fact, they are playing soon and I think I'll finally go see them play.

I have all of the Bluetip albums and I have to say that Polymer is overall not as strong as their previous two albums. "Join Us" had better moments over all such as the title track, "Carbon Copy" and "I Even Drive Like a Jerk". The songs were punchier and more stylish. Polymer is consistent, but not outstanding. It seems that they've lost their guitarist Dave Stern, which is tragic as Dave was also the guitarist of Sweetbelly Freakdown and surely the most talented member of Bluetip.

One of the sharper tracks "New Young Residents" has a really tense tight beat and I like the lyrics in the song quite a bit "woke up afraid I may not be living up to my potential. I go to bed more afraid that maybe I am." "It's hard to recognize the beauty of some things until I see them framed by another's hands, that's how covetous I am."

I think that anyone who is a fan of Jawbox or Fugazi would probably find Bluetip to be a really fine addition to their collection.