Modern Currencies is the name of the record that brought me back from the dead.

I might be obsessive compulsive, I’m a sports designer, and I’m busy as hell. I’ll be damned if I have to admit it, but working 50 hours a week puts a serious strain on my part-time music
blogging. Not to mention football season started last month. And I’m pretty damn busy trying to win all of my fantasy football leagues (in each of which I’ve made about 15-20 transactions. But combining my two leagues, I’m 5-1 after 3 weeks). I also recently discovered a nerdfest of a site which pits me against other players on the interweb in a battle of simulated management — football style. Yes it’s probably more nerdy than Dungeons & Dragons, but it’s something I’ve been searching for since I was, like, ten.

Also it’s hard to keep my motivation up for the four loyal fans of explodingNOW!!!!. But for the four of you, I am writing this. Also I’m drinking beer and I’m sick of playing Madden ‘07. And just an FYI, I’m drinking Heineken Light because I’m fat. So it’s probably not a good thing I also just ate a bunch of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Which brings me back to point #1. I can’t stop listening to Uncut’s new album (Modern Currencies). Since Sparta’s recent magnum opus, I’ve been down on every new record I’ve heard. Maybe everything is sucking right now, or maybe I’m getting harder and harder to please, I don’t know.

But what I do know is that I’ve been waiting two years for this album. Seriously, I still remember when I first heard their Those Who Were Hung Hang Here. It was back in the day when booze was plentiful and life was effortless. You know, those memories you always think were way better than they actually were. I remember it was winter and there was snow everywhere. I remember I slept late on saturdays and woke up with beer. I remember I played Tiger Woods on my X-Box with the TV on mute and the genius of “Copilot” destroying my speakers (seriously, I blew my receiver listening to that song).

Anyway, their new album is what I’m listening to right now. It’s what I’ve been listening to all night, actually. It’s a lot like their last. It’s better as a whole despite the fact that no single song here is even close to “Copilot”. There’s the instant standouts, like the Starflyer59-meets-Stars of “Kiss Me” or the dreamy-wall-of-sound that is “Out of Sight”, or the shoegazing post-punk of “Hideaway”. There’s the haunting pace of “Prison Waltz”, which reminds me of something from Marilyn Manson’s Mechanical Animals. The poppy guitar stylings of “Never Say Never”, and the feverish pwning of “Chain Fight”.

But there’s one reason why every single song Uncut records is so good. And let this be a lesson to any Johnny-come-lately in the music biz.

The vocals are turned way down.

That’s it. You want to make your songs better? Turn the damn vocals down. These sexy, dreamy vocals are barely escaping the canvases they help shape, and that is why I’m sitting on the floor listening to it on repeat, telling a bunch of strangers to scope it out, and drinking beer and listening to it again.

Uncut takes the My Bloody Valentine approach to music and treats the vocals as another instrument rather than something that stands out and commands attention.

And for that I salute them. And hopefully two years from now I will be writing the same thing. Hopefully two years from now I will be reminiscing about the good times back in the day when I first heard Modern Currencies and played Madden ‘07 on mute with my stereo blaring “Hideaway”.