Customer Reviews

ctrl-alt-del

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I have really gotten into this band just recently. The Diggs are totally getting back to the late 90s, Deep Elm type sound, although the band they remind me most of is Sundays Best. Indie / emo of the highest calibre. Now, I think I prefer their previous album Commute, which was even more in the vein of the Deep Elm sound, but this follow up is still more than worthy of your time. Basically take some tasty Sunny Day Real Estate style riffing, and vocals that can be both strong and vulnerable (yet not as piercing as Jeremy Enigk). Stand out song is "Careen" which is an utter blast, bubbling the bass in a Promise Ring type fashion, with light vocals drifting over the top. This song is killer, and that bass is just spot on, moving the song along to great effect. They do have a tendency to pile on the guitar effects and post rock occasionally, but this song keeps that to the minimum, and it was also the element that they didn't really have on the previous album (probably why I prefer Commute to be honest). Still, the, dreamy shoegaze is more than acceptable and just gives the band a slightly different sound to what they had before. Songs like the gently rolling "Brigante" are pretty much perfect to my ears, it's not setting out to do anything clever or oddball. Good, straightforward music tends to be what I crave the most. "Brightness Falls" is another corking number, belting along with that Promise Ring-esque drive to things. Wonderful.

OK, so I know nobody apart from me likes Sundays Best, but if you were into that band or have a hankering for late 90s indie / emo and enjoy newer bands like Empire! Empire! or Arrows, and you want to listen to music for Autumn, then you should definitely check out the Diggs, as I think they'll be right up your alley. Oh the 90s, how I miss your music.

If you're going to listen to this album be prepared to take a nap. That being the case, I'm going to tell you exactly what it sounds like: If any band could best exemplify the musical epitome of sleepy indie rock, it would be The Diggs (and about 10 bands I can't recall at moment). Influenced largely by the buzzing guitars of 90s alternative, the band has created a sound that is so incredibly derivative you consistently feel like you've heard it all before -and that's probably because you have.

After listening to several tracks, Ctrl-Alt-Del begins to blur together into a hodgepodge of everything you don't miss about 90s rock ("Careen" and "Collide/Collapse"). Vocalist/ guitarist Tommy Lannen tries his best to emulate Bloc Party's post-punk cool (who are really just ripping off Gang of Four, but at least they do it well) by pumping out some of the most jangly reverb-drenched guitar lines he can fathom, but unfortunately, his results are tepid.

The closest this Brooklyn, New York three-piece ever gets to exciting is the intro of "Brightness Falls" which comes off as a watered-down Strokes' single. What may be the band's most unnerving quality is the inability create appealing or captive music, resulting an incredibly passive record. There is nothing conceptually, aesthetically, lyrically, musically, or texturally interesting about this album. Not one moment of the album will jar listeners or invoke...well, anything; making this album fall completely flat.