Born Ruffians - Say It

Paul's Choice:

Born Ruffians - Say It

Friend Review:

So way back when (last year), my friends went to go see Franz Ferdinand perform at the House of Blues and opening up for them was this new rad band called Born Ruffians. Instead of going to the show like a good little musician, I opted to go to prom instead. While I don’t regret going to prom (my date was pretty cool I guess), I really wish I could’ve seen Born Ruffians because right after my friends raved about their performance I downloaded Red, Yellow, & Blue and absolutely fell in love. While Say It does provide a good listening experience, it can’t match the fun of the sound Born Ruffians’ debut album brought.
Overall, Say It provides a good listening experience. It has a calm sound that can relax and please. However, I was hoping for much more. The best parts of this album are when you can hear Born Ruffian’s authentic sound. “Retard Canal” is probably their best representation. Poppy guitar riffs, choppy drums (which I usually hate, but in Born Ruffians’ stuff I don’t mind it at all; having a defining quality in drums feels good man), and a groovy bass groove makes me a happy man. The opening track “Oh Man” also has one of Born Ruffians distinctive qualities as they take one the sad tone that is a common sound in their debut album that gives a sincere feel to their songs. Besides this, it’s hard to hear Born Ruffians outside of the screechy vocals. I dearly miss their coordinated yelps and cries which I can only imagine would be absolutely fantastic with audience participations. Say It has a very different sound from Red, Yellow, & Blue. A calm, breezy groove is felt throughout the entire album which is very relaxing. It’s not a bad sound by any means, just kinda different from the spaz and excitement. If you were to go on a picnic and had this album playing in the background, I’m sure it would be very pleasant. Especially if you had turkey paninis to eat. I love turkey paninis. Anyways, I’m going to go watch The Chronicles of Narnia and see if there’s any sandwich shops open at the moment. This album is good, just different. And that’s the bottom line. Toodles.

Friend Rating:

7.0

Hipster Review:

After seeing Born Ruffians play with Franz Ferdinand in April last year at House Of Blues, I instantly fell in love with them. I got a copy of their debut album Red, Yellow & Blue that night, and it became a frequent spin on my iPod soon afterwards. To this day I still love the album, and while it's no classic, it is nevertheless a truly enjoyable listen. Now we come upon the sophomore follow-up, the album that usually spells out the fate of a band, the album that shows whether the band is truly worthy of it's praise or if it's simply a product of hype. The unfortunate latter is referred to as the "sophomore slump," and as much as I loved Red, Yellow & Blue, I had my sneaking suspicions that Say It would fall under that category.
I am happy to say that this is not the case, although it also doesn't belong in that former category either. It's simply a slightly-not-as-good-as-their-debut-but-nevertheless-enjoyable album. The best songs here are the ones where the band experiments a bit, where they move away from their comfort zone; alternately, the worst songs are the ones where they stay in their comfort zone too long, and as a result become stale. The interesting thing about Born Ruffians was always how loose and sporadic they were as a group, which makes it disheartening how a few of these songs don't have a lot of that unhinged juice in them. However, as unfortunate as their presence is there are only a few of them, and thankfully the quality of the album isn't marred too much. And while even the best songs on here can't match the pure fun of their debut, as long as you take the album for what it is, you'll enjoy yourself.

Hipster Rating:

7.6

Coming up on Sunday, This Is Happening by LCD Soundsystem!

P.s. Taylor and I graduated on Friday, leave a comment telling us congratulations! : D