The Thermals
Fuckin A (CD)
 A good way to get your album noticed by nearly everyone is to name it Fuckin A as The Thermals have. So what if there's a "parental advisory" sticker on it. Or is that a calculated advertising hickey, a little Subpop lovetap? Either way, the attitude, the sneer, the choppy chords, the back to basics distorted solos... they all grew on me the more I listened to this disc.
To say that The Thermals are raw and loud is like saying Vegas is a pretty good place to play cards at. (Sorry, been watching too much World Series of Poker lately). But godamn if I hate those references these guys and gal get to Guided By Voices. Don't get me wrong. I have the utmost respect for Mr. Pollard's beery, faux-Briton lo-fi stylings. But The Thermals don't sound anything like him, except in their propensity for short tunes. Maybe those references are for their debut album, which I haven't listened to but have heard was even more lo-fi than this one. I much prefer the references to the Buzzcocks or even the Strokes, though the Thermals seem to blow the pants off the latter.
I would say that this is one of those albums where it took awhile to get a hold of my head. I mean, what's so special about a band that utilizes Ramones-style 3 chord riffing, distortion, slamming drums... and that's pretty much all that they do? But in the end, my reservations were just steamrollered over. It happened around the third track "How We Know", a fantastic example of how main singer Hutch Harris gets his wobbly ol' voice to lead by example, the band crouching all around him like killer rabbits ready for the attack. It's almost incomprehensible that this is the same Hutch and Kathy of ... well, "Hutch and Kathy", a folk-tinged project that I'd heard before. The switching of gears is so amazingly complete. The anthemic "Remember Today" contains licks nicked straight from the Jam, while "A Stare Like Yours" is equally explosive and angry. Other favorites included "Every Stitch" and "End to Begin".
Darlings of the Northwest scene that they currently are, much of the laudatory comments are well deserved. This is such a rocking album, full of hooks and tasty nooks, that I completely forgot about my only potential complaint which was that the music is somewhat one-sided as far as dynamics go. But I'd be rather dumb to expect a slow song in the middle of this firestorm of a disc. In any case, if I was 10 years younger, this CD could easily be the perfect soundtrack to rebellion against just about anything.
- review by BY (7.15.04)
Sub Pop Records
2514 Fourth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121
206-441-8441
thethermals@thethermals.com
www.thethermals.com/
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