Alex G: DSU (LP+7") [LUCKY NUMBER]

Why you'll love it

Lucky Number's reissue pairs the original thirteen-song album with a bonus 7" of "Soaker" and "Waiting for You." DSU was the record that took Alex G from bedroom recordings to the wider world, and Metacritic has it at 79.

This edition

• LP plus bonus 7" single
• Bonus tracks "Soaker" and "Waiting for You"
• Lucky Number pressing (cat# LUCKY071LPXX)

About the album

Alex Giannascoli made DSU the way he made everything back then: at home in Philadelphia, playing every instrument himself and recording it all straight into his computer. He had put out a stack of albums online already, but DSU, first out on the small Orchid Tapes label in 2014, was the one that crossed over. Reviewers heard echoes of Elliott Smith and Built to Spill, and fans heard someone who could make a lo-fi pop song feel like a secret passed across a classroom.

The songs are short, strange and very catchy. "Harvey" and "Sorry" are wistful and melodic, "Serpent Is Lord" and "Axesteel" crunch and wander, and "Boy" ends the album on a gentle, puzzling note. The bonus 7" adds "Soaker" and "Waiting for You," two songs from the same era that fit right in. It all sounds a bit worn around the edges, which is exactly the point. A decade on, with Alex G now making records for big labels and film soundtracks, DSU still feels like the moment the door opened.

Tracklist

Listen

On Lucky Number (cat# LUCKY071LPXX), a reissue of the 2014 album.