Vee Vee

After the release of their classic debut, Icky Mettle, and the excellent follow-up EP, Vs. the Greatest of All Time, it was clear that Archers of Loaf were a band that had hit the ground running and never seemed likely to stop. On Vee Vee, the second full-length offering from the Chapel Hill indie innovators, the band deftly avoids anything even resembling a sophomore slump by returning with a kind of gnarly ferocity, which the quartet uses to great effect as they bang and bash their way through an album of beautifully misshapen and unpolished indie rock. Armed with nothing more than some ugly guitar chords, big ideas, and a brash attitude, Archers of Loaf make the bold move of using the album to bang more dents into their sound, rather than refine it. While this would be a step backwards for anyone else, the band has a talent for effortlessly making the unpolished seem charming, as they bash their way through tracks like "Nostalgia" and "The Worst Has Yet to Come." Songs like these, as well as quintessential (and more or less perfect) '90s jam "Harnessed in Slums" found Archers of Loaf proving time and time again that what really matters in music is heart, sweat, and grit, and that if you have those on your side, everything else just kind of falls into place. ~ Gregory Heaney