Andy White - So So So We See (2007)

Andy lives down the hall from me. He's a cool dude. This is his album.

Originally that's all I was going to say about So So So We See out of fear of offending. But that was before I'd really given it a good listen the whole way through. Now that I have, I've got a bit more to say about this album. As I listened, I heard bits and pieces of things I like: the off-colour folkiness of Neutral Milk Hotel or The Microphones, the tuneful weirdness of earlier Animal Collective, the sort of random sound-ness of The Olivia Tremor Control, and occasional fuck-it-all bursts of noise. But it gradually becomes apparent that this is much more than a collection of high quality influences. This is a fucking good album in its own right, and even if at times it does sound a little raw or reminiscent, that's part of what made the last 45 minutes of my life so enjoyable. This is noisiness with a point, and I am sincerely impressed that a teenager sitting in Florida could pull his shit together and create something like this. Put on your headphones and play this loud. It might occasionally make you feel like your eardrums are about to blow out, but then it'll bring you right back down with a burst of pretty melody. And seriously, tell people about this, and hopefully Andy won't mind me saying this, but burn it, pass it along, re-sync your iPods, whatever. This deserves to be heard.

Andy White - So So So We See (2007)