Send "Clem Snide " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 The Meat of Life can be considered a sort of a comeback record for Clem Snide. It's not a comeback in the sense of being a return to form or a drastic departure, but it is a promise that prolific frontman Eef Barzelay won't have to go it alone again. Hungry Bird, a shoulda-been swan song that was initially abandoned mid-record because of the band's slow dissolution, was issued a year ago with news that Clem Snide would press on. So while Meat of Life should get a little burst of energy coming from a band returning after being so near the end, it winds up being a plodding next step from a group that once got by on its smirk and quickness.Lambchop's Mark Nevers again handles production duties, and much like Hungry Bird, Meat of Life finds Clem Snide deserting wily, irreverent arrangements and witty aphorisms in favor of a more earnest and streamlined sound. Even Barzelay's voice-- once bursting with character, unafraid of the occasional pubescent crack or gargle-- now sounds subdued and polite. Hungry Bird was ostensibly about a break-up, and while this record digs into love and lust from a few different angles, it's hard not to notice that the guy sounds not only a little burned, but just plain burned-out. Even from its title, "Wal-Mart Parking Lot" might seem pretty over the plate, but Barzelay plays it straight: She bails, he drives all night and ends up watching the sunrise outside of a Supercenter, and he still can't manage to find any irony in the commerce of love....full text |
| Popmatters |
| Clem Snide’s return was one of 2009’s more pleasant surprises. Sure, Eef Barzelay was doing all right on his own, but his solo work didn’t quite capture the feeling, the subtle energy his band always had on their records. The document they gave us upon their return, the long-recorded but never released album Hungry Bird, was a soft, breezy reminder of what we’d been missing. However, it was also weighed down by the past. Hungry Bird felt like a hangover from all the band’s old baggage. The one last thing to leave behind before they start again in earnest. So, in a lot of ways, Clem Snide’s real return is now, with The Meat of Life, and it’s awfully good to have them back. Recorded and co-produced by Mark Nevers, and including a number of players—including excellent work by keyboardist Tony Crow, who plays in Lambchop with Nevers—the album has a richer, brighter palette than its predecessor, and isn’t afraid to turn up the volume here and there. Opener “Walmart Parking Lot” starts as classic Clem Snide, as swaying chords behind Barzelay’s heartworn bleat fill out the verses, but something changes in the chorus. The song kicks into a fuzzy rock overdrive, breaking up the mid-tempo track into something more off-kilter, and awfully catchy....full text |
| Avclub |
| After a short stint as a solo artist—which produced the excellent 2008 album Lose Big—Eef Barzelay revived his long-running band, Clem Snide. Barzelay apparently felt better off under the group’s moniker than his own, but the band’s subdued 2009 album, Hungry Bird, was a comedown from Lose Big (and Clem Snide’s better material, for that matter). However, Hungry Bird wasn’t technically a new album—it was older material that had been previously shelved. So The Meat Of Life offers the first real state of the union for post-reform Clem Snide. As such, the state of Clem Snide is middling. Barzelay can be counted on to deliver clever turns of phrase and subtly engrossing moments, but The Meat Of Life just doesn’t have enough of them. It starts off promisingly with the raucous “Walmart Parking Lot,” a quick two-and-a-half minute overview of Clem Snide’s charm: country-influenced indie rock with guitars that chime and twang; Barzelay’s voice, which finds importance in the mundane (“Sunrise in a Walmart parking lot never looked so beautiful”); an inconspicuous tunefulness that makes the “ah-ah-ah-ah” vocal coda linger in memory after the song has ended. Clem Snide specializes in that kind of understated memorability, but The Meat Of Life sometimes feels too understated. The quieter moments recede too far, and the album struggles to maintain momentum. As a harbinger of Clem Snide to come, it’s neither ominous nor promising....full text |
Clem Snide lyrics
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