Bricks and Blackouts
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Bricks and Blackouts
| type = studio
| artist = Gaunt
| cover = Bricks and Blackouts.jpg
| alt =
| released = March 24, 1998Martin, Richard (1998) "[https://books.google.com/books?id=aSoEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Gaunt+%22bricks+and+blackouts%22&pg=PA9 Gaunt]", CMJ New Music Monthly, June 1998, p. 9. Retrieved June 17, 2014
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio = Pachyderm
| genre = Punk rock
| length =
| label = Warner Bros.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1437925/gaunt-singerguitarist-dead-at-33/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906211150/http://www.mtv.com/news/1437925/gaunt-singerguitarist-dead-at-33/|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 6, 2021|title=Gaunt Singer/Guitarist Dead at 33|website=MTV News}}
| producer = Brian Paulson, Gaunt, Tim Mac
| prev_title = Kryptonite
| prev_year = 1996
| next_title =
| next_year =
}}
Bricks and Blackouts is an album by the American band Gaunt, released in 1998.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/gaunt-mn0000159623/biography|title=Gaunt Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=AllMusic}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RrR_6nx3FAC&pg=PA152|title=We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001|first=Eric|last=Davidson|date=September 6, 2010|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=9780879309725|via=Google Books}} The album was not promoted by Warner Bros. Records, due to huge layoffs in their marketing division. Gaunt supported the album with a North American tour.{{cite news |last1=Farber |first1=Jim |title=Gaunt Coney Island High |work=Daily News |date=24 Apr 1998 |location=New York |department=New York Now |page=65}}
It was Gaunt's final album; in January 2001, frontman Jerry Wick died while riding his bike.{{cite news |last1=Beck |first1=Aaron |title=Local Bands Will Play Memorial for Wick |work=The Columbus Dispatch |date=January 18, 2001 |department=Weekender |page=9}}
Production
The album was produced in part by Brian Paulson.{{cite news |last1=Soeder |first1=John |title=Gaunt Goes Major, Retains Its Edge |work=The Plain Dealer |date=March 22, 1998 |page=11I}} It was recorded at Pachyderm Studio, in Cannon Falls, Minnesota.{{cite news |last1=Beck |first1=Aaron |title=Big Sky, Big Deal |work=The Columbus Dispatch |date=May 17, 1998 |page=1F}} While the band's sound was poppier than in the past, the lyrics reflected the difficult year the band endured prior to the recordings sessions.{{cite news |last1=Ferguson |first1=Jon |title=A year of bad luck leads Gaunt to good music |work=Intelligencer Journal |date=17 Apr 1998 |department=Happenings |page=2}} "Dancin' When You're Down" employs a horn section.
Critical reception
{{music ratings
|rev1= AllMusic
|rev1score = {{rating|3.5|5}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/bricks-and-blackouts-mw0000597984|title=Bricks and Blackouts|website=AllMusic}}
|rev2 = Chicago Tribune
|rev2score = {{rating|2|4}}{{cite news |last1=Ryan |first1=Mo |title=Album reviews |work=Chicago Tribune |date=27 Mar 1998 |department=Friday |page=47}}
|rev3 = Pitchfork
|rev3score = 6.6/10{{Cite web |last=Mirov |first=Nick |date= |title=Gaunt: Bricks and Blackouts: Pitchfork Review |url=http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/g/gaunt/bricks-and-blackouts.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010629075950/http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/g/gaunt/bricks-and-blackouts.shtml |archive-date=2001-06-29 |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=Pitchfork}}
|rev4 = Reno Gazette-Journal
|rev4score = {{rating|1.5|4}}{{cite news |last1=Earnest |first1=Mark |title=Gaunt 'Bricks and Blackouts' |work=Reno Gazette-Journal |date=26 Apr 1998 |department=Calendar |page=17}}
}}
The Chicago Reader thought that "the shrieking rage that fueled the earlier records has either dissipated or been groomed away; if Bricks and Blackouts achieves nothing else, perhaps it will dispel the pernicious myth that Warner Brothers is an artist-friendly label."{{Cite news|url=http://chicagoreader.com/music/gaunt/|title=Gaunt|first=J. R.|last=Jones|date=May 7, 1998|work=Chicago Reader}} CMJ New Music Monthly opined that Gaunt possessed "an innate understanding that copies nothing but examines various elements, in the process creating something hard, passionate and timeless."{{cite magazine |last1=Roberts |first1=Randall |title=Best New Music |magazine=CMJ New Music Monthly |date=Apr 1998 |issue=56 |page=12}} The Plain Dealer declared that Gaunt "may tear through short songs like punks with no tomorrow, but their attention to melodic detail bears the unavoidable influence of the mainstream rock that rules the airwaves in [the Midwest]."{{cite news |last1=Soeder |first1=John |title=Gaunt Hits the 'Bricks and Blackouts' Trail |work=The Plain Dealer |date=March 23, 1998 |page=2E}}
The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel wrote: "Recycling AC/DC riffs through a squall of digital noise—modem beeps and so forth—Gaunt counts up suburbia's casualties in the information age."{{cite news |title=One-Syllable Names Often One Two Many |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1998-07-17-9807170189-story.html |work=Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel |access-date=6 September 2021}} The Washington Post called the album "excellent," writing that Wick "writes fast, melodic, punchy songs in the tradition of the Saints and Superchunk."{{cite news |last1=Porter |first1=Christopher |title=Gaunt's Late, Late Late Show |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=19 Aug 1998 |page=D3}} Miami New Times thought that "'Mixed Metals' and 'Don't Tell' chart the remarkable growth of Gaunt as a band and Wick as one of the underground's best songwriters."{{cite news |last1=Floyd |first1=John |title=Seven Inches to Salvation |work=Miami New Times |date=August 20, 1998 |department=Music}}
AllMusic wrote that the album "has a shaky foundation and too many songwriting and production lapses to complete its potential."
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing =
| title1 = Anxiety
| length1 =
| title2 = 97th Tear
| length2 =
| title3 = Mixed Metals
| length3 =
| title4 = Different Drum Machine
| length4 =
| title5 = Glitter
| length5 =
| title6 = Bricks and Blackouts
| length6 =
| title7 = Pop Song
| length7 =
| title8 = Don't Tell
| length8 =
| title9 = Maybe in the Next World
| length9 =
| title10 = Far Away
| length10 =
| title11 = Duh
| length11 =
| title12 = Powder Keg Variety
| length12 =
| title13 = On Fire
| length13 =
| title14 = Honor Roll
| length14 =
| title15 = Dancin' When You're Down
| length15 =
| total_length =
}}
References
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