Three 65, Day 19
Failure, Magnified

Failure are anything but. I first caught the band opening for Tool in 1994, and they nearly blew them off the stage. Their mix of feedback-y, shimmery guitar and bass-driven songwriting floored me, and throughout their (admittedly short) career, I have treasured the fact that no one else seems to know about them. It's a barometer of a person's musical taste, to me, if they've even heard of Failure.

A lot of people swear by the album that follows Magnified, Fantastic Planet, and I wanted to write about that, but decided on this record instead, partly because I'm a perverse fuck and partly because I like it better. Fantastic Planet is almost too ambitious in its scope, and the band occasionally loses sight of its goals there. Not so on Magnified; every track is a keeper.

The album opens with the gritty "Let It Drip," and it's there that we get our first taste of the Failure sound: bottom-heavy bass that leads the song, with guitar sounds to accentuate the central melody. Vocalist/guitarist Ken Andrews has a wonderful singing voice, both melodic and forceful, that complements the music greatly.

"Moth" and "Frogs," the latter about mental illness, go together and flow into one another seamlessly; "Bernie" is an ode to copping drugs from a remembered dealer in the park; and the title track, with its chilling lyrics about burning ants ("the sun's just a big glass / we're all ants / I love you"), is a perfect noise-pop masterpiece.

The band was comprised of two central members: Greg Edwards, who brought the bass, and the aforementioned Andrews. And they really were larger than the sum of their parts. After the band disbanded in 1997, Edwards went on to form Autolux, while Andrews (in addition to fronting some forgettable bands) became highly sought after for his production skills. Here's to hoping this is one more band that attempts the nostalgia trip, because nothing they've done since has measured up.