Review: Health – Get Color
Health – Get Color (2009) [Lovepump United] // Grade: A
Health have done almost too good of a job setting the stage for whatever comes next. The band’s 2007 debut was well-received and afforded the LA noise act crossover status within the electronic music community, a vital connection that would result in a remix album and extensive blog buzz for the band.
Health have returned with their second album, Get Color, and it’s every bit as dark and brooding as their debut, still embracing the band’s favored noise rock and industrial genres. Without deviating too far from what has come to be their unique sound, a mesh of aggressive traditional instrumentation backed by electronics and gently filtered vocals, Health build upon their foundation with their sophomore release, and let melody take center stage. Vocals run the length of the tracks this time around, wafting in and out with abandon, intertwined with the crashing riffs and synthesized pulses. Health seem to be pulling vocal inspiration from My Bloody Valentine and warbling over and under curtains of noise, Jake Duzsik’s lilting voice takes on an eerie, occult quality.
“Die Slow” is a nearly flawless track and the album’s best illustration of Health’s maturation. Driving guitar mingles with pounding industrial electronics and washes of vocal melodies for a sound that is hard to place in time. The album’s closing track, “In Violet” in uncharacteristically subdued for Health, over six minutes of minimal instrumentation and haunting lyricism that serves as an unexpected and pleasing end to an ambitious followup release that proves the band highly capable of expanding on their unique, niche sound.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I’d like to pretend that talking shit is not my norm, but if anyone who knows me read that they’d roll their eyes. I don’t get HEALTH. It’s not that I don’t grasp exactly where their coming from: take whatever is cool, combine it together and capitalize. First they copy and pasted the EX MODELS formula into their sound, pairing it up with shitty Incubus mock-emo vocals confirming their roots as Spin magazine “what’s hot now?” fanboys. The first album combined those basic ideas with LIARS’ “Drums Not Dead” and I was surprised how many lameoids were fooled into thinking this band was groundbreaking and original, but they were. Maybe I’m old and bitter and perhaps part of me wishes I didn’t know these dudes and their backgrounds cause maybe I’d just swallow this bullshit like everyone else, but all in all I think this band is hugely unimportant in the grand scheme of things. In fact, everyone I speak to says the exact same thing, but alas, they are megastars. Life is strange.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Being a somewhat recognizable indie band doesn’t make you a megastar… Health aren’t even close to No Age’s status and No Age are hardly megastars, Letterman appearance and all.
I don’t really see the Ex Model swipe… Ex Models never really wrote songs, they wrote assaults and the Liars never tried to infuse straight up pop/dance sensibilities into atonal noise. It was always just synths and a lot of post-punk idol worship with both those bands in my opinion. And while Health could snuggle up real nicely with those two on a shelf, their much more in tune with No Wave and Disco sensibilities, something they do really well in blending together.
Have you heard this record? Or are you just going by their first album and remix album. Get Color is really, really good.
September 12th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I’ve heard the record. It’s not my thing, and while I can admit knowing these guys personally has lead to my general feeling of disgust in regards to everything they do, I’ve made it a point to be as unbiased as possible lately and just enjoy what’s worth enjoying.
Ex Models wrote plenty of songs. You might look at them as “assaults”, but they had several very recognizable songs with what I’d call hooks. When HEALTH started out, prior to releasing any albums, they sounded like an Ex Models clone. “Drums Not Dead” was a huge influence on them, as was Black Dice’s flirtations with DFA and dance music. The first album is their attempt at “Drums Not Dead”, and maybe I should be more specific in describing what they’re going for because it’s a more streamlined accessible approach to these bands. They’ve set out to be big, and more power to them, but that was always in their game plan: success and popularity. And if they were truly “no wave”, I think that’d be pretty unobtainable.
No Age is “bigger” in a sense because No Age are respectable dudes from the Los Angeles scene who made a lot of connections all over the country with their last band. I hate to drop the “cred” bomb, but they have it regardless of what I or anyone thinks of their music. HEALTH I always remember as being really popular among the kids who go to shows but being mocked and laughed at by the bands who made up the scene. This had a lot to do with not only their music but they personalties and the fact that they were really open about their “we wanna be rock star” attitudes. At the end of the day I’d rather have fans than bands who respect me, and I think it’s rad that HEALTH is achieving the success they’ve sought out for. It proves that anything is possible but I’m just trying to throw a different perspective your way. I’ll give the record a second chance.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:10 am
This isn’t going to be a long as some of the essays here, but I think T you’ve just contradicted yourself. You started to completely slight HEALTH then halfway through you begin to defend them? WTF, dude?
Anyway, I personally love HEALTH and find that I can’t stand listening to any other noise bands. It sounds weird I know but whatever. Get Color and ‘HEALTH’ are really good records.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:14 am
Did you even read the review how and where does it contradict itself and where the hell is there even a single slight against the band? What the hell are you talking about?
October 31st, 2009 at 10:27 pm
My Pal the Crook: Not the review dumbass, the comment by ‘T’.
BTW I did read the review. You obviously can’t read, so I’ll write it again but in caps: THE COMMENT BY THE COMMENTATOR ‘T’… You understand now?
Oh if you still are confused read T’s comments and it’ll slowly might make sense to you. Bye, son…
November 1st, 2009 at 11:06 am
My bad. You’re commenting on a review and comment that are almost 2 months old. When you wrote “T” I just thought you had typoed.
Comment approvals come in on the backend in sequential order that they’re made, and not assigned directly below all the previous comments on a post. Just saying “T:” at the start and direct it to him would have saved some confusion… but i still should have just went back and looked at the comment chain before wrongly chastising you. Feel better?
November 1st, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Yes thank you I do. What does it matter if a comment is 2 months old? It’s still relevant.
Anyway I don’t like confrontation, but when someone slights me on a misunderstanding I feel the need to defend myself.
But now everything is cleared up, we can leave it alone.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Did I say your comment wasn’t relevant because it was two months old? No I said that since it came in two months after the fact that it wasn’t easily seen in the moderation/approval stream as being directed to “T’s” comment but rather just the review in general.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:01 am
[...] are equally worth anticipation. A system first premiered with //Disco in 2008, Health follow up last year’s stunning Get Color with ::Disco2 (and bonus material, ::Disco2+), opening the doors for their own music to be reworked [...]