Gimme Some

I have a theory that if I were to go back and listen to the albums that came out after the first album Pitchfork hyped up from a given band, I'd find they're all generally at least a little better than I remembered. (I suppose the other side of this theory's coin is that some of those first hyped albums night not be quite as good as I remember, either, but if you don't mind I'm less interested in killing any of those idols as I am finding unappreciated gems.)

I bought this album at the same time as Yours Conditionally, which I only mention because I'm sort of not sure I'd have bought it if I weren't swept up in the torrent of World Cup hysteria, and the almost equally heady excitement of being in a record shop that had a lot of Bands I Like in the used section. I thought when I bought it that I didn't know this album at all, and I thought it was the album that came out after Writer's Block. I was wrong on both counts: this is I think three albums after their breakthrough album, and playing it now I'm surprised how much of this album I recognize and really enjoy. I have no recollection of when I encountered this album; it's just there, in my memory. It might be a bit front-loaded, though I'm open to the idea that the second half is just less accessible than the first three songs, or "May Seem Macabre", which are all excellent.