re-listened live, the soulchild remix still slaps, fun if bit of a mixed bag, light 7

I did not realize how many songs exactly on here were 'classics', incredibly experimental at times, enjoyed but want to sit with longer.

Kind of an awkward and meandering start, really clicks in for a solid string of tracks starting from about Broken Face to Where's My Head Tonight? Cactus and Vamos were solid tracks but sort of oddly placed, weird intermissions. A lot of fun. Light 8

There are some incredible arrangements on this piece. Minawa is breath-takingly beautiful. The Big Apple is another gorgeous track. The most compelling pieces of music seem to lay in the first half, driven by the struggles of coping in a world too busy to breathe. Major themes seem to finally land in Maesha, which is an absolute gut punch. The horns howl a wailing loneliness. The keys made me forget how cold I was. Strong 8/Light 9

I remember I was gap-yearing it out in the basement of one of my best friend (at the time)'s rental houses, and we had held the yearly tradition of our summer cook-out called the 'steak and bake', where we all cooked for each other and partied like none other. My friends' dad, relatively fresh post-divorce, picked up a stack of CDs I'd brought with me, and my boombox, as I was triaging through my first time making steamed shrimp dumplings. He picked up the recently purchased 'Smash', flipped the case over, nodded, and looked at me and said, 'you got some good shit', and then proceeded to next pick up 'Because The Internet' and stare at me strangely as I bastardized a hoisin sauce. Have some angst. 8/10

This is the kind of record where you're putting on the whole thing, or not at all. A beautiful foundation record of dream pop and better than this 3 suggests. It's probably a mid 7. Very beautiful, very strange, very inspired, surprised how it ever became popular, but also instantly get it.