Lately I have been enjoying the album The Strangest Things by Longwave. I hadn’t listened to the record since my sophomore year of high school, when I was super obsessed with it. I played it so much that I had to give it a break for a few years because I had memorized every single nuance and note. When I think about it, the album fills all my criteria for music I love. Droning, melodic guitars, driving drumbeats, and singing that is not technical or practiced.

Albums like this are how I got myself through the monotony of high school. I’d spend class thinking of a song to play for my walk to the next class or use my school-issued iPad to read about my newest musical obsession.

When I read about Longwave, I was disappointed to read Pitchfork’s review of The Strangest Things. Pitchfork is my favorite website to read about music, and I usually take their assessment of bands and albums to heart. So, when they rated The Strangest Things a 3.7/10, I was bummed out. How they could rate an album that low that had songs like “Everywhere You Turn” and “I Know It’s Coming Someday” is beyond me. It’s one of the few Pitchfork reviews I’ve read that I disagree with this strongly.

The review accuses the band of ripping off rock titans like Radiohead and U2. While I can hear those influences in Longwave’s music, all I hear is influence. I don’t think they go far enough to be accused of ripping them off. No offense to Longwave, but their music will never reach the hugeness or impact of U2 or the drama and melancholy of Radiohead. But then again, no band could.

Longwave reemerged on my radar because they recently released a new album called If We Ever Live Forever. I really enjoyed it, and it led me back to material they released when I was a toddler.

One thing I really appreciate about Longwave is the content they post on their Instagram. They have awesome live footage that I always bookmark and comment on. I’m a sucker for some good live footage.

Longwave came out of the flood of bands in the early 2000’s in New York that included the Strokes, Interpol, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, to name a few. Those bands have all released at least one song that is instantly recognizable, maybe you’ve heard it in a commercial or at Hot Topic or something. I love Longwave because their catalog is so deep and diverse that they don’t have one song that is significantly more famous than the others. Their songs are balanced. And so is The Strangest Thing. Check it out.

Ryan Meyer is a freshman journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or at r[email protected]