My first scathing review

Here's a mean one, from iheartmusic.net: http://www.iheartmusic.net/serendipity/index.php?url=archives/2145-Wilting-Flower-City.html&serendipity[csuccess]=true

 Brampton Comes Alive isn't the worst album I've ever heard.

I realize that's not exactly a ringing endorsement of The Flower City 3's debut. That I can write that, however, actually comes as a bit of a shock to me, since, for its first half, the album was sounding like a pretty strong contender for that title. For it to avoid that dubious honour and attain a level of...average-ness speaks to both a surprisingly decent second half, not to mention how, after repeated listens, the beginning of the album actually starts to sound endearing in its awfulness.

Of course, that could just be the musical equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome kicking in. Because make no mistake, the first half of Brampton Comes Alive is pretty awful. Painfully off-key vocals, even more off-key melodies, bizarre timing, production that makes it sound as though the album was recorded at a distance from the bottom of a well -- all those things are present on tracks like "All In The Bramalea" and "Wooden Parts", and they collectively make you wonder whether you might be in the presence of an album that never should've seen the light of day.

And then, magically, everything seems to come together around the midpoint of the album. While the band may not improve much on songs like "How I Came" and "Starting Over Again", they still get better, to the point you can see what they're going for. Specifically, you can tell (I think) that they're going for a lo-fi, Pavement-y kind of aesthetic -- and even if they're clearly not in the same league as Pavement, they've at least improved sufficiently over that horrid first half that you think that maybe, just maybe, the band might be worth listening to one day. As for the present...well, I think I'll wait until that one day comes. (Though the fact the album is currently available on a PWYC basis means you don't need to take my word for that!)

 Ouch.