It's interesting to note that Out Hud immediately let you know the status of
their new LP with its intriguing title. Out Hud's debut LP, S.T.R.E.E.T.D.A.D. was a surprisingly fresh booster shot of mammoth-sized dance floor paranoia and galloping beats that rose and crest like a darkened sea. Listening to the debut LP, the listener is reminded of several of the bands under the Constellation Records umbrella who played instrumental passages loaded with buckshot and baring brass knuckles. The debut was one that stuck around in my CD player for weeks, nearly months based entirely on its originality, verve, and one of the single greatest long songs of the decade, the positively divine "The L Train Is A Swell Train And I Don't Want To Hear You Indies Complain," which still causes snot bubbles to form around my nostrils every time I listen to it. Unfortunately, Let Us Never Speak Of It Again barely registers any of the emotion or punch of the debut and, worst of all, goes ahead and adds positively dreadful lyrics to nearly all the songs. The new LP starts out well enough with the trademarked Out Hud cough, grumble, click of brief opener "This Just In," which sounds somewhat like what robot stress must sound like. Things head downhill with "It's For You," matching a bump 'n grind flourish of syncopated beats with aimless female vocals that meander and rely on club music-inspired stylings that demand a lost love returns or the first sight of a new love blooming on the horizon. The vocals do absolutely nothing for the song or any of the songs on the LP, and the LP's only bright spot is once again its longest tune, the unfortunately titled, "Dear Mr. Bush, There Are Over 100 Words For Shit And Only 1 For Music," which attempts to scale the same heights as "L Train" but instead flounders about for nearly 12 minutes. I once believed the heavy female presence in Out Hud would lead to greater things; now it seems it's only led to improbably heavy-handed vocals and a band that can't decide whether or not to go all in and show its cards.
1. This Just In
2. It's For You
3. One Life To Leave
4. Old Nude
5. The Song So Good They Named It Thrice
6. How Long
7. 2005: A Face Odyssey
8. The Zillionth Watt
9. Dear Mr. Bush..
10. The Stoked American
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