Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

The lo-fi recording techniques Broken Social Scene had been using for their albums used to really piss me off. Sure, it worked when BSS was more of an idea than a band, sort of a recording project between friends, but once everything took off it made no sense to keep making albums in the same fashion.

For those of you who don't know who Broken Social Scene are (I know you're out there, it's ok) I'll give a short, slightly confusing rundown to get you up to speed.

- There is a band called Broken Social Scene.

- Originally started as a recording project between Kevin Drew and Brenden Canning, it sort of developed into a giant band full of some of the best talent Canada has to offer in this modern musical climate (Feist, Emily Haines of Metric, most of Stars, some of Do Make Say Think, and Bill Priddle, the guy who apparently made Treble Charger awesome because they sure went to shit after he left).

- In 2002 due to the critical and slight commercial success of their second album You Forgot it in People, they were actually able to make some money, and they found themselves in a better position than 95% of Canadian indie bands.

- The success of BSS alumni bands like Metric and Stars kept people interested for the next few years, and the international success of member Leslie Feist's second solo album in 2004 brought them even more attention. The influx of cash into their shared label Arts & Crafts didn't hurt either.

- Anticipation for the follow up record was high among critics and consumers alike. Unfortunately for lack of a better term, it kind of sucked. I mean, it's still better than probably anything I've done, but for the potential that was there it was lackluster. Then Broken Social Scene broke up. Sort of.

- Now they're back. Sort of.

I'm telling you all of this because every mistake that was made on the follow-up record has been corrected and improved upon with their new album, Forgiveness Rock Record. This is the album they should have put out in 2005, but better late than never.

They kept the best parts of their recording techniques and really improved on my biggest gripe with their previous albums, the drums. Justin Peroff has always been an incredible drummer, but his ability would sometimes get buried in the lo-fi marshes of the Broken Social Scene "sound". Finally he gets the huge drum sound he deserves, and it makes for a much more full bodied album (This probably has to do a lot with hiring drummer John McEntire of Tortoise to produce).

Justin is in great form on this whole album. When he alternates between a snare rim/tom pattern and a huge half time rock beat on the opening track, World Sick it sets the pace for the rest of the record, which has some fairly epic songs. He keeps things straight on Meet Me In The Basement, and he uses well timed shots to really send the song off. He can rock it when he has to, like on Forced To Love, or he can keep it buried, like the mixture of drums and electronics in Texico Bitches. I Think my favorite part of the whole album is when the drums come in amid the up tempo eletro beat in Chase Scene, but really this whole record makes me excited. It's nice to see BSS found the right balance of proper and experimental recording, and it's even nicer to hear the intricate playing of Justin Peroff without having to put my stereo on 9.