In her bi-weekly column, Audrey Hunter ’28 reviews an album of her little brother’s choosing, finally making the most of having an annoying little brother with good music taste. We explore obscure genres, indie classics and bands with 12 Spotify listeners.
Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.
After 16 long, grueling years, I’ve decided to finally start making the best of the disaster that is having a little brother. Specifically, a little brother who plays in several indie-rock garage bands, has backyard concerts with animal masks, a disturbing amount of band-lore and the most devastatingly awkward, yet shockingly confident, crowd banter you’ve ever seen. A little brother who is (somehow?) very cool — and a lot of that coolness is due to all the niche music he listens to.
For today’s review, I’ll be talking about Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s self-titled album, my little brother’s current favorite. Released in 2005, this indie rock album is best known (in my life, at least) for containing “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth,” the song played at Jim Halpert’s house party in Season 2 Episode 9 of “The Office”. So, if you like this album, I guess you have the same music taste as Jim from “The Office” – whether that’s a pro or con is up to you. The album is short and sweet, containing only 12 songs and lasting 38 minutes. Every Noise, a music discovery website featuring scattered words across the page, describes the band as “brooklyn indie, philly indie, dance-punk, chamber pop, alternative dance, noise pop” and, of course, “indietronica”. If any of that sounds like your vibe, I would recommend giving it a listen.
Before I give my thoughts on the album, I have to admit that I don’t really know that much about music, so forgive me if I’m a little inaccurate. To me, one thing that defines the sound of “Clap Your Hands Say Yeah” is Alec Ounsworth’s whiny, almost scratchy indie-rock voice that nearly breaks sometimes – kind of Morrissey from The Smiths, except not at all. It doesn’t have The Smiths’ invitation for sadness. Instead, it has a kind of plucky, quirky vibe that makes you feel like an outsider – like it’s you and Alec Ounsworth against the world.
My favorite song on the album is admittedly also the most popular, “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth” (yes, like Jim Halpert). It’s the kind of song that you can picture having quintessential, kind of reckless, coming-of-age movie fun to (probably outdoors, in a field or something). With a combination of punchy drums, catchy electronically generated melodies and guitar refrains and his weird, screamy little voice — it somehow works. The song eventually picks up in a fun way, resulting in a rewarding song with a full arc.
I also recommend “Gimmie Some Salt.” It’s a little edgy and toned down, but still has catchy electronic melodies. Fueled by a harsh, repetitive bass and simple drums, this is the kind of song for when it’s cloudy and you’re wearing a leather jacket, walking around some city somewhere wanting to feel like the main character.
I didn’t enjoy “Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood,” the final song of the album. Although I think it probably has a good point about the evils of Hollywood, and I really liked the first half, at some point he just started repeating the words “child star” over and over, and I just couldn’t do it. All in all, I think it was a pretty good album, and I would give it a solid 7/10.
My little brother is here at Stanford for family weekend, so I took the opportunity to ask him in person for some funny or interesting quotes for the article. He said, “No.” I asked him why he liked the album, and he said, “Ask me tomorrow.” The only insight he was willing to give me was that he liked “Is This Love.” It picks up right from the end of “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth,” which is cool. It’s a song with a partial sense of urgency, driven on by a wall of overlapping vocals; overall, I think it’s pretty good. God willing, I will be able to get some better commentary out of my brother for the next one.
Even though he didn’t give me a quote, since I’m a great sister, I’m going to take this opportunity to plug his music. Go listen to his band Mineral Wells (on both Spotify and Apple Music). Specifically, I like “The Strange Stance” (Waiting in Line at the Bratwurst Stand). Good luck listening to this very indie-rock-little-brother-album!
