![OUTOFBODY by Dazy album review by Greg Walker. The project of artist James Goodson is now out via Lame-O Records and DSPs OUTOFBODY by Dazy album review by Greg Walker. The project of artist James Goodson is now out via Lame-O Records and DSPs](https://northerntransmissions.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/a0196550493_10.jpg)
8.5
OUTOFBODY
Dazy
What if the Ramones and Teenage Fanclub had a baby? What if Elliott Smith used loud-as-hell fuzzed-out guitars? The result would look (or sound) a lot like James Goodson’s new project, Dazy, out of the musical city, Richmond, Virginia. His debut album (and second collection of songs) called OUTOFBODY was put out by Lame-O Records this week, and takes all of the best of the 90’s sound—grungy sweetness, edgy catchiness—and gifts us a supremely repayable album of songs, recorded with Garage Band in his house but which feel like they could be played in an arena. Partially in thanks to the mixing and mastering of Justin Pizzoferrato, who’s worked with the likes of the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr., this album is plain loud and good.
“Is that my brain hanging by a thread? / Wash it down the drain, not worth the mental rent,” he sings on the jangly, distortion-heavy opener, “Out of Body.” His lyrics may seem like an afterthought, just a vehicle for his catchy melody-harmonies, (you wouldn’t have to hear a word to be hooked,) but they are clever and capture the themes of dislocation and the attempt to compartmentalize life, to no avail, that Goodson says the album is about. “You could paint a smile on my face then tell me something that would make it fade / I’m up and down, I’m back and forth again.” Doesn’t that just capture life, for so many people?
After releasing a collection of random songs that he had written, MAXIMUMBLASTSUPERLOUD, (a pretty accurate description of his style,) Goodson had the challenge of creating an album that was cohesive, told a story, and as he’s said, “trip[s] over that specific feeling I was looking for.” The result is an album, like many of the great albums of the 90s, that is full of one song after another that compliment each other, with the “ups and downs” reflective of life, and draw you into Goodson’s fascinating world that’s not that much different from our own.
He’s on his way to rock n’ roll greatness, receiving rave reviews from many influential bloggers. He wrote an album for posterity’s sake, past and forward looking at the same time, something that, with the 90s revival that’s going on in modern music, might be played another 30 years from now. The clever lyrics, hooky melodies, and blistering guitars give it the feel of a classic in the making. They are songs with a strong respect for the rock that’s come before him, but which are all his own. For those who have heard the Ramones or Teenage Fanclub, it is a homecoming. For those who might not have heard them, it is a stunningly successful introduction to the best of modern rock.
Purchase OUTOFBODY by Dazy HERE
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