Andrew Jackson Jihad - Issue Problems

More polk-funk for the completely uninitiated. I guess I'm trying to set up a basic grouping of current, talked-about bands before I go into the obscurer stuff. So far I've touched on Against Me! (albeit not a folk-punk release of theirs), Defiance, Ohio, Ghost Mice, and... that might be it as far as my memory serves. Oh, I guess twoeyes did a Tim Barry/folk punk rant, too. Alright fine, I just came up with the idea to make this a progression into less familiar territory. Fuck you.

Andrew Jackson Jihad are a two-piece guitar & stand-up bass band from Phoenix, Arizona with a penchant for ridiculous, satirical lyrics and making stoned college kids laugh. Their earliest work (Candy Cigarettes & Cap Guns, Issue Problems, and Only God Can Judge Me) is very sparse, but People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World saw them fill out their sound with lots of additional instruments, and 2009's Can't Maintain had them "bringing it all back home" (ie electrifying their sound). Fortunately for all their fans, the changes they've made over the years haven't spoiled their core values at all. These guys tend to appeal to people who actually hate folk punk, too. Or at least, they had a big audience on the Mitch Clem forum - a dreadful cauldron of hoodlums and villains that didn't really dig the whole off-key wailing 20 somethings scratching on an acoustic. While I dig all of their stuff in relatively equal measure, I find myself listening to their first EP more than anything else - hence the review.
Issue Problems is basically a continuation of their debut LP, and is even more bare and rehearsal quality. It's only about 10 minutes long, and contains 6 songs, 5 of which were re-recorded for their second LP. The song "Powerplant" is the only one who got the boot, but still ended up snuggly on the split with Ghost Mice. The songs are all pretty simple, and apparently all recorded in one take, which lends it kind of a manic energy especially evident in whatshisname's warbly voice, spewing ridiculous, dark, and earnest lyrics in a way that's still somehow emotionally resonant. Maybe I just have a tendency to get "moved" too easily, though. Actually, there's really no maybe about it... "People" is definitely the highlight for me, which is just as paper airplane-simplistic as the rest of the tracks, but instantly accessible. I guess it's the joyous, realist view on how wonderfully, excitingly shitty everyone is that gets to me - a little more relateable than a first person account of slaughtering a family, for example.

If you're only familiar with the versions of these songs that were re-recorded and "beefed up" with additional instruments/tempos/etc, they might come across as a little barren and underwhelming. I don't really know how to remedy that, I guess, but for the record, I prefer them in this incarnate. The urgency and simplicity of these first takes is perfect, and the revisions seem to soften their impact. I think I'm in the minority, but give it a shot:

http://www.mediafire.com/?zfmngyoyy4y

Dead Kennedys - Plastic Surgery Disasters

Okay, so the vegetarian thing is working out pretty well so far. I've gone down about 10 pounds unfortunately, but damn do I look good in a skimpy, sheer negligee for my gentlemen callers. Also, I'm a faux-veggie. I forgot to mention that, likely because no one on the entire planet cares so I wasn't feeling much pressure: basically, I'll eat meat on the basis that animals tend to eat meat, but not corpses bloated with antibiotics and force-fed mono-crops conducive to a slew of illnesses. Either way, that's my irrelevant intro this review.

This album is amazing. I know a lot of people tend to lean towards Fresh Fruit... and Frankenchrist when picking favorites, but for me, this is the single best album the Dead Kennedys ever released. I'm not gonna go through the history again, but basically I transitioned from death metal and grindcore to powerviolence and crust punk to anarcho and theeeeeennnn... good buddy Steve (I'm one of 4 Steves) lends me this album and the progression finally hits the roots. Plastic Surgery Disasters was the second LP length release by the band, and a total embrace of the hardcore velocity they hinted at with their debut. As such, the ur, "musicality" is taken down a notch in order to crank up to jet-speed, but the songwriting is just as memorable as ever. Plus, the B-side is all slower songs if that's what drew you in on Fresh Fruit... assuming anyone has ever been drawn to a punk band by the relative slowness. I dunno. I'm not really feeling too focused on honing the literary elements of this review, today.
The production on this album has garnered some complaints over the years for being as tinny and rough on the ears as it is, but I for one think it's the cornerstone of appeal. The raw, messy, but coherent sound is the stuff of legends, and the kind of production style I found loads of affection for through countless grindcore/hardcore/early death metal listening benders. Apparently it was intentional, though, as Jello revealed in some old interview that they wanted the sound to be just as paranoid and ear-trashing as the lyrics and vocal histrionics. Fucking heroic stance. The band's musicianship shines through as great as ever, though, with tons of catchy riffs, melodies, and creative hooks - it's just noisier than most people are used to when approaching a classic hardcore/punk album.
I'm not sure I could really pick highlights from here since this album actually makes my top 10 albums of forever list, but if you've never heard it for some reason, downloading "Well Paid Scientist", "Halloween", the epic "Riot", and the surprisingly pleasant "Moon Over Marin" probably won't make you curse your ears for not being vestigial. Every track is gold, though, so you may as well just grab this linky below:

http://www.mediafire.com/?oy0jemvyjej

I just stole this link from google, so I have no idea whether it's the original master or not, or whether the In God We Trust Inc. EP is tacked on the back, but there 'ya go.

Ghost Mice - Europe

Alright, time to showcase some more folk punk that really doesn't need any additional attention. I've honestly been wanting to write up some reviews for Hail Seizures, The Taxpayers, Blackbird Raum, and Dandelion Junk Queens (among others), but fuck promoting unfairly ignored bands, let's talk about Ghost Mice.

So yeah, I'll be covering those bands later on.

Ghost Mice is a two piece acoustic unit composed of Chris Johnston (aka Chris Clavin) and Hannah Jones, who play guitar and violin, respectively. They were involved in a bunch of bands I've never really dug, such as Operation: Cliff Clavin, The Devil Is Electric, I Like Japanese Hardcore, and Disarm (who I've never actually heard), but decided to strip down to their folk side in 2002 and form this here 2-piece. Apparently, it was an effort to cast off the stressful bullshit intrinsic with a being tear-ass'ing rawk 'n' rowl demolition unit (ie: the need for a tour van, lugging heavy instruments and amps around, being dependent on gas and cash to spread their wares, etc...). Fortunately, they struck some gold with this decision, because... I like Ghost Mice but not those other bands, I guess. That wasn't very well said. If you have a low tolerance for the cliches floating around this recent influx of folk-punk bands, it'd probably be wise to stop reading now, because these two embody most of, if not all of them. They can definitely get cheesy, and the loud whine of the vocals can get sorta grating if you're not in the mood, but here's the thing: I've found that a lot of the bands I've made a really deep connection with over the years embody an earnesty that overcomes all the technical stuff. If it can seep through the clunky vocals, overstated crescendos, and lyrical obtuseness, I'll probably love it regardless of it's flaws.
Anyway:
Europe is a concept album that details the band's 3 month trip across it's continental namesake without much cash, planning, or solid contacts to choose from. Every song details their experiences in different countries (including two nautical ones) and all the hardships and beauty they witnessed along the way. I know that an album is typically something you focus on musically first, and lyrically second, but this is one of those rare exceptions. The music is catchy and enjoyable enough - the typical sweet acoustic strumming and violin stuff - lacking most of the uptempo punkiness of their earlier work, but acts like more of a backdrop to the story being told than a guide. There's definitely cohesion and prosody at work here, but the focus for me has always been the story - primarily due to the effect it had on me when I first heard it. It just has a mesmerizing way of interjecting it's plot driven structure with this warm imagery and focus on the freedom inherent with non-committal travel. I know how dopey a statement like this can come across, especially if you really can't stand this kind of music, but it really only took one listen to convince me to enact my own backpacking trip through Europe. Moreover, the tag-team with Defiance, Ohio's Share What Ya Got got me restless enough to quit my job and go traveling a year ago. Folk punk ruined my standard American existence.

http://www.mediafire.com/?n2udm5ojyyq

Here's something that made me smile last week: a new friend of mine was telling me about her 4 month stay in Europe, and how great the experience was, and I ended up responding with the same mock-able statement I made above. Oddly enough, she listened to this same album on the way back and apparently drew a ridiculous amount of similarities between her stay and Ghost Mice's. I guess there's not much more to this story, but I thought it was cool that this album helped kick off my wanderlust and found her at the end of the same journey.

Terrible Fucking Songs

If you're on facebook, you've probably seen some asshole like me participating in the 30 Day Song Challenge thing. It's vaguely amusing, and an excellent chance to post songs no one will listen to, so I hopped on board about a week ago. When I reached the second day, which asks to narrow down the myriad of songs I hate to a single representative, there wasn't a moment's hesitation. This song is like a lightning rod for my storm of hatred:

Natasha Bedingfield sucks. No, more like "suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkssss". Just a particularly putrid example of modern pop music. Of course, after posting that, I couldn't help but unleash the list. Since I started working in Key Food back in 2005, I've been slowly cataloging all the songs I've grown to hate through constant exposure in the work environment. Take a look:
Marc Anthony - You Sang To Me
The Mamas And Papas - California Dreamin'
Donovan - Sunshine Superman
Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight
Enya - Sail Away
...Depeche Mode - Wrong
Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl
LFO - Summer Girls
Carrie Underwood - Just A Dream
Ida Maria - I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked
Jamie Foxx - Blame It On The Alcohol
Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm
The Ting Tings - Shut Up And Let Me Go
Stereo Total - I Love You Ono
Sweet - Little Willy
Three Dog Night - One
Hoobastank - The Reason
Lisa Stansfield - Around The World
Ryan Cabrera - True
Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
Jars Of Clay - Flood
Seether - Careless Whisper (Wham! cover)
The Bee Gees - Tragedy
...Peter Cetera - Glory Of Love
Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone
Kelly Clarkson - Undo It
Stacey Q - Two Of Hearts
Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
Rob Thomas - This Is How A Heart Breaks
Clay Aiken - Invisible
Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination
Leann Rimes - Can't Fight The Moonlight
Frankie Valle & The Four Seasons - Who Loves You
Vanessa Williams - Sometimes The Sun Goes Round The Moon
George Harrison - Got My Mind Set On You
David Cook - Permanent
Katy Perry - California Girlz
Katy Perry - Firework
...Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Tal Bachman - She's So High
Trace Adkins - Honky Tonk Badonkadonk
Trailer Choir - Rockin' The Beer Gut
Sugarland - Stuck Like Glue
Alanis Morissette - Hand In My Pocket
Eminem - Not Afraid
Soulja Boi - She Got A Donk
Vanessa Williams - Save The Best For Last
Fergie - Fergalicious
Fergie - Big Girls Don't Cry
One Republic - All The Right Moves
Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved
Justin Timberlake & One Republic - Apologize
No Doubt - Don't Speak
Orianthi - According To You
Paula Cole - I Don't Want To Wait
Glenn Frey - The Heat Is On
Don Henley - Dirty Laundry
Nickelback - This Afternoon

Also: 50th post. Whoooo!

Indian Summer - s/t

Note: this has only been an emo-heavy month because I've been so lazy, not because I'm wallowing in self-pity and introspection. I'm actually doing purty swell emotionally, fyi. Most of these bands' sounds, however, have been permanently etched into my brain through prolonged exposure in high school, so it doesn't take me much effort to describe them or how they impact me. Fuck yeah, truckin' on through the apathy.

Indian Summer were a super-influential second wave emo band from Oakland, California who somehow made a major impact on the "genre" despite existing for virtually no time at all. The band never really toured, performed for less than a year, and only released 9 scattered tracks in really low quantities (hence the "collector prices" abounding). I guess it could be testament to how self-contained the scene was at the time, or how eager the kids were to seek out this kind of band, but it's really just the hindsight that blows my mind. If a band this low-scale could be so affecting, why have so few bands blown minds recently with the advent of the interbutt? Well... maybe they have, actually. It's probably hard for me to notice since I essentially grew up with it's reinvention of information sharing. Regardless, Indian Summer are now considered a staple band who can be name dropped amongst bands like Rites Of Spring, Moss Icon, and Sunny Day Real Estate, and it's baffling to think little they really did in a physical sense.
While the emo scene was already getting pretty dynamics-centric, and crescendos were a device for emotional payoff at the end of slow build-ups, Indian Summer's careening between twinkly, soft, guitar parts and loud, cathartic bursts was definitely a step up on both fronts. This self-titled EP from '93 is easily the band's most essential document, and contains my (and admittedly, a lot people's) two favorite songs. The opener, "Aren't You Angel", is one, and showcases especially well the exaggerated dynamics the band utilized. The song starts off quietly with whispers and a dark bassline before bursting into a crushingly blunt, driving, angular riff. Mid-song, the band begins to stutter the central riff with pauses of barely audible picking before stopping completely. The song restarts at the same super-delicate sound before finally delivering a big, gripping crescendo with a melody that makes you soil yourself super gross.
That last part was self-sabotage. Isn't it a BLAST to slog through descriptions of song structure? WHEEEEE!!!!

The shorter "Millimeter" is mostly centered on the angular, post-hardcore simplicity that dominates the first half of "Aren't You Angel", and is a great track despite living a "hard knock life" ie being sandwiched between their two most developed songs. The EP closes with "Angry Son", which is easily the band's most revered track, and often gets referred to as the essential emo song. It really is, though. It's still one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard, and often times it gets my eyes watering like a sissy*. It starts off with a quiet, lo-fidelity clip of some vocal jazz song before coming in slowly with an extremely pretty and soothing little riff that sounded incredibly nostalgic even the first time I heard it. When the whispering and twinkling finally break through into the heaviness, it's really moving. From there, the song resumes the first quiet riff as the vocalist softly speaks, this time accompanied by additional twinkly bits before finally exploding into an upgrade of the first instance of loud-dynamic complete with screaming and tears leaking out of your headphones. When I'd walk through the halls with this song playing, I always imagined all the lockers bursting open whenever the crescendo hit, and being surrounded by loose papers floating through the air. I know it's dumb, shut up. The song ends pretty much how it began, with the old record playing quietly. It's just an incredible song, and had/has a real effect on me, before and after discovering the lyrics.
You pretty much require this if you have any interest in emo before it got bastardized.

(I'll post this later)

For some reason, there was a text document with this list in it on one of my old zip drives. If you're interested, it's a list of the emo songs I thought would make a perfect introduction to the uninitiated back in the day.
In no particular order:

1.) Rites Of Spring - For Want Of
2.) Indian Summer - Angry Son
3.) Moss Icon - As Afterwards The Words Still Ring
4.) Don Martin Three - Connection
5.) Native Nod - Tangled
6.) Cap'n Jazz - Basil's Kite
7.) Constatine Sankathi - I'm An Android
8.) Republic Of Freedom Fighters - Calypso Syngenor Method
9.) Embrace - Dance Of Days
10.) Reach Out - Wall Street
11.) Honeywell - You And Me
12.) The Hated - Two People Blue
13.) Merel - The Guest
14.) Dag Nasty - Circles
15.) Sunny Day Real Estate - Song About An Angel
16.) Christie Front Drive - Turned On 8

*LOL @ a generalized put down of non-masculine men through self-deprecation

Rudimentary Peni - s/t

If you're familiar with any of the stereotypes associated with young death metal/grind/extreme music listeners, you have a pretty solid vision of me as a 9th & 10th grader. If not, imagine a paste white, poorly groomed kid with long hair that didn't make much eye contact, wore plaid longsleeves over gross band shirts and pretended not to care what people thought. Around this point, my basic criteria a band had to meet was to a.) tune their guitars to drop D, b.) vocalize in an utterly incoherent manner, c.) percuss like the drummer and his/her respective kit were tumbling down a flight of stairs, and d.) play either really, really fast or really, really slow. Somewhere along the lines, though, I "softened" my stance and learned to love crust punk and powerviolence, too. I noted them worthy for their similarly dumb-as-a-hammer approach to dynamics and rhythm, and unbeknown to me at the time, kicked off my obsession with punk rock.

Rudimentary Peni were one of those bands, and helped me bridge the gap between the "heavy-osity" of the crust punk scene and the anarcho scene they drew their sound from. Finding physical copies of their stuff proved impossible, so I hopped on the internet express to pirate-ville, and acquired The EPs Of RP, as well as their first LP, Death Church, and their over-the-top masterpiece, Cacophony. Their self-titled debut (aka Teenage Time Killer) chillin' in the left corner was my entry point since I have a built-in a mandate regarding chronology, and as such, became one of my favorites through heavy exposure.

The music here really isn't quite different from what the glut of British anarcho units were performing at the time, but even with the distorted, simple chord progressions and boom-chick drums, something rubbed me the wrong way when I first heard this. Coming from a musical background of extremes, with almost every element aurally scrawled in industrial sized sharpie, there was something really foreign about the band's sound. While the riffs are relatively straight forward, there's just something particularly ugly sounding about them, which if I'd have to guess, is attributable to the way they're played. I'm not Mr. KnowsShitAboutPlayingMusic, so I can't really elaborate, but there's definitely a seasick feeling in the delivery, as well as punctuations of feedback, scraping, and whatever else. Moreover, vocalist and cover artist Nick Blinko's vocals are nothing like the steady, shouted slur prominent in anarcho, but vary between two equally unusual modes. His screams sound extremely uneasy, almost as if he performed them while suffering hypothermia or something, with a harrowing, shakey, almost too urgent and high pitched delivery. On the other end, his low-register, slower deliveries sound sickly and drunken.

The great thing about being at an age where you're convinced that the key to the kingdom relies in the development of your musical eccentricities is this: you'll never be more patient with bands than you were when your persona supposedly rested upon it. This isn't to say I only listened to this shit out of image - I really, really enjoyed all of it - but when you finally land yourself an identity, compromise is hard to imagine. As such, through consistent exposure, I found myself giving in to Rudimentary Peni's idiosyncratic sound, and soon became a huge fan, sporting a smelly Farce t-shirt and a load of patches. This EP is short and sweet, delivering 12 short, catchy, and subtly weird tracks in record time. As I stated/implied earlier, it's pretty straightforward, especially in contrast to the ridiculousness of their second LP, Cacophony, but hey, this was released in '81. A band that pushed the envelope at a time where there barely even was a scene to feed off is something to celebrate.
Czech it out:

(I'll post this later since I'm in the library)

Also, the clitoris is the Rudimentary Peni(s).

Assorted Jelly Beans - s/t

Before I begin, I must make clear that by sharing this album is not an attempt to convert you to an Assorted Jelly Beans fan, but simply a fan of this album. This is because everything else these guys ever recorded is terrible.
Here's a brief interaction with Mitch Clem on his now deceased forum:
Mitch: Assorted Jelly Beans first album is great; hornless ska-punk that sounds like the Beastie Boys playing Operation Ivy.
Me: Is anything else they did any good? I really love that album
Mitch: NO. Everything else they did sounds like an experiment to see how shitty a band could become before imploding
Me: oh.
I later tossed away this sagely advice in favor of forming my own opinion on the band's remaining catalog, and honestly, I'm probably worse for it. Y'know the age old phrase "ska-punk bands shouldn't attempt to hybridize with hip-hop"? Alright.
So anyway, Assorted Jelly Beans were an awesome ska-punk/ska-core/third wave 3-piece from California who did indeed sound similar to "the Beastie Boys play[ing] Operation Ivy". Their self-titled album was the first release from a few members of The Vandals' label - Kung Fu Records - in '96. Apparently, this actually sold 25K copies upon release, which seems fucking bizarre to me considering how little commercial potential these guys had. I guess it was the golden age of ska-punk, though... not that this would've appealed to a lot of Christian teens what with the cussin' and drug references.
That was my hilarious sweeping generalization of all Christian teens.
...but let me elaborate on the fact that I followed up a declaration of disdain for their later, more hip-hop-influenced material with a reiteration that they sound like a hip-hop group playing ska: it's the snotty, dual white kid vocalists that draw the parallel, not the music, exactly. I've never been a big Beastie Boys fan, but Assorted Jelly Beans' approximation of their sarcastic, self-parodying smart-assery elevates this disc way above what it would be with a more standard punk dude on the mic, and I definitely don't mean to belittle the riffage present. It's just that the vocals just sound so secure and confident in their ridiculousness that I can't help but love them. The songs are tight as hell, catchy, non-generic, and completely non-cheesy, making this one of the very few ska-punk albums I can listen to when I'm not in a skankin' mood aka close to accepting Skankin' Pickle as anything less than "dorky bullshit". I'm not sure I could pick stand outs, since every track is excellent, but "Braindead", "In Our Eyes", "Punk Rock Jock", and "Doobage" are likely my favorites of the bunch.
CHECK OUT THE PROFUNDITY:

"MY LIFE REVOLVES A-ROUND
BUYING AN OUNCE OR P-P-P-P-P-P-POUND"

This stuff truly heals the battered soul.

http://www.mediafire.com/?3ggkbmuyxy2