Glass Beach Album Reviews

In the heady days of the 1990s, it felt like Beck was the apex of post-modern innovation, blurring the lines between genres on projects like Odelay. Los Angeles band Glass Beach take this approach about six light years further on their debut album. They ignore genre conventions and change gears abruptly multiple times during a single song.

“The sound of glass beach is a fusion of our diverse range of influences including 1960s jazz, new wave, early synthesizer music, and emo, but all presented with the harshness and irreverence of punk music. we embrace the trend towards genrelessness caused by the increasing irrelevance of record labels and democratization of music brought about by the internet and enjoy playing with musical boundaries even to the point of absurdity.”

Glass Beach

The band’s core – J McClendon (vocals/guitar), Jonas Newhouse (bass), and William White (drums) have been together since 2015. They spent three years working on their debut album. Lead guitarist Layne Smith joined in 2019, bonding over a shared love of Dungeons and Dragons.

Glass Beach Album Reviews

the first glass beach album

Plastic Death

Best Glass Beach Songs

the first glass beach album

2019, 8/10
Glass Beach launched their career with grandeur – many bands start with EPs, but Glass Beach simply released an hour-long debut record. It paid off – they gathered enough momentum to receive the attention of taste-makers like Pitchfork and TheNeedleDrop.

There’s extreme diversity on the first glass beach album, but much of it has roots in the late 1990s and early 2000s. There’s more than a hint of emo in the vocals of ‘Casio Dad’. The first half of ‘Neon Glow’ is driven by pop-punk energy, while the second half builds from ambient noodling into acoustic indie pop, before lifting in intensity for the climax.

Sometimes Glass Beach’s vocals fail to match the grandiosity of the music – the vocals are malleable to keep up with the intricate melodic twists and turns but can grate after a while.

the first glass beach album is one of the densest records I’ve ever heard – there are so many ideas here, and it’s worth listening to see if some connect with you.

Plastic Death

2024, 7.5/10
Glass Beach’s music is like a modern spin on progressive rock. Even though the songs are succinct, there are unpredictable time signatures and tempo shifts. It jumps from beautiful to abrasive at the flick of a switch. The band dips into jazz, and sometimes sounds similar to the ambience of 21st-century Radiohead or the convoluted aggression of the Cardiacs.

Their second album isn’t as dazzling as their first. It doesn’t feel as fresh and exciting, and sometimes Classic J’s vocals don’t quite do justice to the complex music. But it’s often impressive anyway, breaking new ground for the band.

It’s eclectic – the brief ‘Guitar Song’ sounds surprisingly like Mark Kozelek. The almost ten minutes of ‘Commatose’ has a brutal section in the middle, but other parts recall the gentle majesty of 1970s Pink Floyd. Sometimes the strongest tracks are punchy and hooky, like the energetic ‘Cul-De-Sac’.

Glass Beach are always technically impressive, but I don’t find this record as invigorating as their first.