REVIEW: You Blew It! – ‘Keep Doing What You’re Doing’

Artist: You Blew It!
Album: Keep Doing What You’re Doing
Label: Topshelf Records
Genre: Emo, Indie

As someone who has written his fair share of album reviews, I always jump at the opportunity to take a look at the newest releases from bands on Topshelf Records. Their bands run the gamut of being anywhere from good to great to mind-numbingly fantastic (see The Lack Long After), and as such, you can expect a certain level of quality when listening to a new record. With You Blew It!’s newest record, Keep Doing What You’re Doing, we get to hear another addition to Topshelf’s growing catalog of emo, that does just enough to set itself apart, while still sticking to its guns.

If you’ve been on the You Blew It! train for a while now, you know a great deal of what to expect from Keep Doing What You’re Doing. You Blew It! keeps their fuzzy emo sound, however this time around it’s slightly more refined, with cleaner vocals and just better overall production. The album is extremely catchy, without ever feeling cheap, which at this point in the game is a pitfall that bands can easily get trapped into. For those who don’t know, Keep Doing What You’re Doing was produced by Into It. Over It.’s Evan Weiss, and as you’re listening through the record you can definitely feel some of his hand in the more intricate song structures. Portions of tracks like in “Rock Springs” or even the end of “You & Me & Me” feels like parts that would fit very nicely into the Weiss catalog of tracks, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I will say I found myself being taken out of the listening experience creating mental notes that “oh this really feels like Evan helped out with this section.” Whether he did or not doesn’t really matter, because the songs all still rip, but being a big fan of Into It. Over It. and his sound, part of me wishes he didn’t produce this record since their sounds are so similar. I’m not saying that “these songs are Into It. Over It. rip-offs,” cause they’re not, I’m just saying there are little nuances, turns, and sections that feel very inspired by the Weiss playbook. I’m not dull enough to think that great records don’t have their producer’s hand in the writing process, I just can feel that hand pulling the strings a bit more than others.

Lyrically, this record plays out much like a well done melodrama, commenting on the everyday struggles of getting by, trying to figure out if you’re actually happy, and falling in and out of relationships. The first time I heard “Award of the Year Award” I fiendishly wanted to know all the words. I continuously find myself wanting to tell people some of the incredibly clever lines peppered all of the record, with quips such as “you can always consider me a friend, but strictly in past tense,” ringing in my head long after I listened to it. Keep Doing What You’re Doing feels very anthemic at moments, with a certain level of contentment and self-satisfaction finding its way through songs, most clearly exemplified in “Better to Best” and its final lyrics, “Maybe things aren’t quite as bad as I let myself believe.” It’s the lyrics that really keep this album moving along, and I think it’s these lines that help keep this album from just being just another addition to your emo vinyl collection.

While I’m sure some other writer thought this up already, the title of You Blew It’s record pretty much sums up my overall thoughts on the record. They kept doing what they were doing, because why fix something that isn’t broke? Keep Doing What You’re Doing is a solid addition to the Topshelf catalog, and while it probably won’t be my favorite thing I hear this year, I suggest picking this one up, as it makes for a nice soundtrack for a bus ride home, and it marks what I like to think is the first good record of 2014.

SCORE 6.5/10

Review Written By: Tyler Osborne

Tyler Osborne
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