A Magnatune best-seller, I Don't Know What I'm Doing by Brad Sucks may be one of the most ironicly titled albums of all time, because this deeply hooky, wry indie rock by Brad Turcotte shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that he both knows what he's doing and definitely doesn't suck. Themes of clinical depression, cultural dysphoria, and relationships gone horribly wrong become darkly funny and catchy in his hands. "Making Me Nervous," and "Look And Feel Years Yonger" are lo-fi gems, while "Fixing My Brain," "I Think I Started A Trend" and "Work Out Fine" are wistfully brilliant slower numbers; they have a dazed worldliness that works perfectly with Turcotte's languid voice. "Bad Attraction" and "Dirtbag" demonstrate the blues fluency that give the songs a nice, gritty bottom and ramshackle grace. But neither the humor nor the relaxed pose of Turcotte's work can disguise the fact that he is wrestling with some genuinely dark stuff; his work is smarter and more emotionally resonant than that of the vast majority of his indie rock peers- qualities that culminate in the tender existentialism of "Overreacting." Fun and stunning by turns, I Don't Know What I'm Doing is one of those albums that yields more with each listen. Highly recommended.
Brad Sucks is a one-man band who writes, records, mixes and distributes his music from his home in Ottawa, Canada. Dripping with grooves, a vivid lyrical style, and an incredibly catchy pop sensibility, Brad's music has been likened to that of Beck, Moby, Folk Implosion and John Vanderslice.
In February 2002, Brad began offering downloads of his music on his Web site. According to Brad, "If the worst-case scenario is becoming a well-heard musician who never gets paid, I can live with that." His debut album, "I Don't Know What I'm Doing", was released in August 2003 and has been downloaded by thousands of people from around the world.
Brad was also the driving force behind "Outside the Inbox: Songs Inspired by Spam", a compilation album of songs titled after spam subject lines. Contributing his own song to those of 13 other independent artists who decided to meet his challenge, Brad produced the album in October 2003 to great success. The novel concept and professional execution of the album has ignited a small storm of press attention for Brad Sucks and "Outside the Inbox", from as far away as Germany, the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia.
