Dazey and the Scouts · 2017
Maggot
Riot Grrrl resurgence. Queercore landmark. But just excellent punk, honestly.
Dazey and the Scouts were a 4.5 person band from 2016 to 2018. They released this one (fantastic) album which nobody noticed at the time, and then they disbanded. That is until 2021, when they were re-evaluated by horny and punk hungry music nerds looking for something intimate, passionate, and full of energy. Bless them, for this album is some good shit. The attention prompted the band to release physical copies, pressing nine records, a CD, and a cassette—all these years after the album’s release.
Groan
I found this album through this song, and it remains my favourite of the seven tracks. This track—and the entire album by extension—is incredibly fun. In Groan, instrumentals refuse to back down against the incredible vocals of Lea Jaffe, painting an image of each player letting it all out. You can only imagine how intense the energy would be in one of their basement concerts that I will unfortunately never be a part of. Vocals are clearly the highlight, full of sass and giving maximum attitude. The note at 2:28 is some stunning soprano shit.
The song is direct about its subject, unabashedly chasing inappropriate love tainted with unbalanced age and power dynamics. The magic, however, is in how you find yourself falling in with the performer rather than being an adult about it. “I wanna spend the night with you” is the most straight forward way to tell how much you want someone. You can’t help but share the sheer desperation in being wanted. It is made obvious who’s in the wrong, with lines like “For a girl this young, naïve, and miserable” and the repeated “You want a fresh cut flower, and I’m your sweet red rose”. It’s also painfully obvious that the younger one isn’t manipulated, unaware, or stupid. Fully knowing how foolish she’s being, She just can’t give a fuck. Honestly, I’d do the same for attention that I so dearly crave.
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Wet
Maggot as an album gets rave reviews owing greatly to its lyricism. The scouts’ literary prowess is usually the cherry on top of catchy top-lines and quirky riffs, but not everything can hit. Wet is retro pop reimagined with lyrics that are uncomfortably literal. My discomfort doesn’t come from the blatant depiction of an emotional crywank session—I wouldn’t rate this album so highly if this was the case—but rather the punny and turgid verses that evoke a cringe reaction before I can appreciate everything else that’s so great in this song.
I noticed this has eleven millions plays on YouTube. Cool.
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James Deen You Let Us Down
lol? This relatively slower, calmer track requires some research to appreciate. It’s a funny surfy tune per se, but provides a deeper insight to the humans behind the voices and instruments. Maggot being a debut album, the track does a fine job at introducing you to Dazey and the Scouts.
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Sad Boys
Outstanding performance. Sad Boys has a good ratio of ups and downs, captivating guitar hooks, and thought-provoking lyrics that make you wonder if you should have answered your ex’s call that one time. The pace and construction of this song demand vocal endurance that Lea Jaffe delivers perfectly. Full of musical talent unfortunately eclipsed by lack of… Lack of what? I wish I knew. Sad Boys is clearly better than its leading track, but James Deen as a subject portrays more soul. Maybe it’s too clean. Maybe too textbook. Maybe I haven’t been through enough breakups, but Sad Boys did not impress me too much.
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Maggot
Starts slow. Cardiac is a bit predictable and poppy. Actually overall track is poppy.
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Sweet Cis Teen
Noisy song. rage and isolation
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Nice Nice
lmao. high three for sure. maybe even a four idk.
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Album Score
CohesionSCompletenessAArt3