Smog - Forgotten Foundation (1992)

Lots of lo-fi experimentalism are thrown around here, from some ultradistorted vocals to unexpected blurts of cheesy-sounding instruments, but there's far more unrealized potential than properly realized artistic goals. Sometimes there's an eerie psychedelic vibe that resembles Pink Floyd (in their just post-Syd Barrett days) as in the very beginning of the opening track, "Burning Kingdom." At other times it sounds no more clever, and equally as annoying, as Daniel Johnston in its auteurish immaturity. Sometimes the genuine sorrow and hurt that would color the best of Smog's later work surfaces in close-to-formulated songs, like "Bad Investment." More often, however, the melodic and lyrical ideas are buried under gratuitous fuzziness, or are too fragmentary and undeveloped to hold interest.