The Telescopes – Taste
(Note: This article was written in 2008 for an old Blogspot music blog that I managed (flyingairplane.blogspot.com); meaning, I was 18 years old when I wrote this. The blog's format was such that each article contained a short “review” of an album and a download link to the full album (usually through Mediafire). Blogspot was a go-to source for obscure music back in 2008, with many blogs like this popping up with download links, and I wanted to be part of the illegal-music-download literati myself. Unfortunately, this blatant violation of copyright eventually caught up with the blog (and most others of its ilk) and got it removed from the Blogspot service entirely; however, the first page of the blog remains archived through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.)
The Telescopes' debut album, Taste, packs an abrasive sonic sound full of grungy screaming, powerful fuzz, and ear-piercing feedback. “The Perfect Needle” is by far the most listenable song, and their most renowned track as far as popularity goes. The album itself is, like I said, very abrasive... sounding very much like a less poppy version of The Jesus and Mary Chain's Pyschocandy. That being said... this is not the most easily loved album in The Telescopes' catalogue. This album is the hardest shoegaze is going to come, by far.
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