t some point between right now and the last time I wrote a review for Stylus, my standards for the music I listen to have completely changed. Simplified, I guess, to a level that has made it nearly impossible for me to write or even think critically about songs or albums in a way that's interesting for folks to read. Basically, all's I look for these days is a good melody. A memorable hook. And if it's got that, it doesn't make much difference who it's by or how it sounds, I'll probably like it, or at the very least appreciate the songwriting.


I'm like my fucking father, in other words, and although he likes the Pogues and Leonard Cohen, dude's also into Alanis Morissette and the Barenaked Ladies. Which leaves me fearing for my future.


My new, low expectations lend themselves better to pop music than that jarring party blip shit that Sam Bloch likes so much. A year ago I might have liked Think Tank as much as him (and I probably would have written about it in the same way that he did), but these days if it's not catchy, if it's not simple enough, if it clearly places form or texture above songwriting, chances are I'll hate it. That said, Think Tank? Fucking atrocious.


And the Riverdales new album? Genius! Here's Ben Weasel again, back for the attack and back with his buddies, back to doing what he's always been good at. Writing songs!


And this is just another batch of them. Not really a landmark, or an event like his last one, which was an unprecedented solo record. It's just his latest. And the longer I follow Ben's career as it unfolds (rather than just listening to his old records and ignoring the fact that he still exists), the more I can appreciate the fact that not every album is supposed to be a development, or a turning point- something a lot of SERIOUS bands have ignored, carefully and systematically evolving with every new record so as to stay fresh and avoid redundancy. Two months until it's out, and I've already heard countless dummies criticizing the new Strokes album for being too much like their first one. Because, you know, Hail to the Thief was that fucking great. Ben himself has said that a few of the Screeching Weasel records (Television City Dream, I think, and maybe Emo) were half heartedly written and recorded because the back catalog wasn't paying the bills. They were still pretty good, but the very essence and reason for their existence made me realize that a new CD from Ben Weasel isn't anything but ìmore.î Not a change or an evolution, simply an addition. And every album Ben writes is in some way better than his last, if only because he's gotten his art down to a science and his band down to friends only. He gets more efficient, more punchy. Quicker. Stronger!


But yeah. They're still two minute pop punk songs. And they always will be. Because every hack writer and ex-pat fan who has ever complained about Screeching Weasel's records sounding "samey" doesn't understand that change is simply not the point. Songs are the point. And the songs keep changing. Because Ben and Dan keep writing them. God bless 'em!


There's twelve tunes here, and the LP clocks in at just over twenty minutes (kind of a setback for Ben's campaign to stop file sharing, but sort of funny if you don't think about the fifteen dollars you just dropped on an album that for all intents and purposes barely qualifies in runtime as an EP). Almost every song is great, and even though Phase Three probably isn't as ìimportantî chronologically or personally as the solo Fitadevi, musically the songs are tighter, and in general much better written. Highlights are ìHome Sick,î ìTick Tick Tick,î ìParty at the Beach,î and ìLast Stop Tokyo,î the last of which is actually more complex and varied than anything Ben's ever written.


There's a good feeling behind this album, behind these songs. A feeling that from here on out it's smooth sailing, that we've gotten the hard part outta the way and now we can just write tunes and rehearse and get better. No more worrying about tours, or change, or fan building. From here on out it's content and productivity. Pride in our work! From here on out it's Phase Three!