Can't Maintain - Andrew Jackson Jihad

Andrew Jackson Jihad.

A name with a twist.

A name for a band.

A band.

That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? Bands. And this one is pretty darn good.

Now, the modern ‘folk punk’ scene includes such groups as This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, Ghost Mice, Ramshackle Glory, and Defiance Ohio (among others)- and it’s the unfortunate truth that for many novice listeners of this genre they all sound pretty much the same.

Now, once you delve a little deeper the differences between each group become wildly apparent; Ghost Mice, for example, is entirely acoustic, and is easily the most frantic of the groups that I’ve listed. Defiance Ohio, aversely, uses a much more melodic approach to its songs, bordering the sphere of folk rock at times.

Andrew Jackson Jihad is a different beast. From track to track, they don’t hesitate to vault across the genre; while they typically maintain the quick-strumming and driving vocals inherent in punk music, they’re not afraid to incorporate more unusual elements- bringing me to my review of their fourth studio album Can’t Maintain.

Released in 2009 and boasting thirteen tracks, this album didn’t really garner much public attention. Like many punk bands, it supported a fairly fervent cult following.

Beginning with the stuttering “Heartilation” and the opening lines, “I want to break apart my heart, move the pieces to my car, crash it into a wall, I don’t want to feel it at all”, Can’t Maintain locks into the angsty punk groove right away.

This continues throughout the entirety of the album, with fun side-tracks such as “Kazoo Sonata in Cmaj” and the Southern Blues-esque “Love Will Fuck Us Apart”- not to mention the sixth track, “Olde(y) Tyme(y)”, which stands reminiscent of some pseudo-riverboat romp.

I would say that the highlights of this album can be found in the third track, “Love in the Time of Human Papillomavirus” (which incorporates strings large and small as well as a killer set of lyrics) and “We Didn’t Come Here to Rock” (which directly and ruthlessly calls out their critics while also making good use of percussive bells).

The twelfth track, “Who Are You?” is a fairly personal song concerning the singer’s father who was absent during his life. The lyrics are pretty righteous, and they manage to incorporate saxophone and trumpet on top of their fast-paced structure. In my opinion, this track could have easily served as the end of the album. It serves as a nice little node of emotion and the instrumentation feels tight. That being said, the final track on Can’t Maintain, titled “White Face, Black Eyes”; a sort of punkish ballad that incorporates a string section towards the end. It seems a little out of character at first listen, but, ultimately, I would say that the drawing out of the album for this one, pretty closer was a good choice.

So, at any rate, this reviewer would call Can’t Maintain a shining example of the diversity that Andrew Jackson Jihad brings to the folk-punk genre; and I would highly recommend checking out some of their other albums (People Who Can Eat People are the Luckiest People in the World and the much more briefly-titled Knife Man are great points for further exploration) as well as looking further into the folk punk scene as a whole. A score? I don’t know. If Queen’s Jazz would be a 10/10, this would probably get right at a 7/10. This is an exponential scale, right?

Pretty good score.

All right, I’m out.

The Why? Cult

While I do not quite have the lyrical prowess of our other fine friends here, I will do my best to provide what insight I may have, which primarily lies in memorizing/analyzing obscure lyrics and making sarcastic pop-culture references.

For my opening post I will discuss the band Why?. Why? is a part of the Anticon label, although they tend to stray a little further from hip hop than their label-mates. They border on indie rock, but that is by no means indicative of the entirety of their sound. What draws me to the band and back so frequently is their use of percussion instruments and bizarre lyrics. They frequently use chimes, multiple drum sets, and other percussive toys which really add to Yoni Wolfe's beat poetry style of singing. Why?'s live show is quite a sight to behold. Yoni's live rap is interesting in that he doesn't rap quite in time as would be expected and he will elongate a syllable or two, so even if you are singing along, Yoni gets the last word. Their audience interaction is completely nonsensical and hilarious, but what makes the show most memorable are Yoni's eyes. His eyes possess the most soul piercing gaze I have ever seen in my life. It is as though he is looking at everyone at once.

Recently, Why? released a fan inspired album called Golden Tickets. The album as a whole is pretty ho-hum. It has some moments, but is largely forgettable were it not for the stories behind the songs. "Dropjaw," for instance, is particularly bizarre. For Golden Tickets, a video contest was held in which the winner would have a song written about their video. "Dropjaw," the winning video, is a shirtless man with dreads simply sitting and talking at the camera without any sound.

For me, Why? was a band that I listened to once and had absolutely no clue how I felt about them. A few days later I went back and gave them a second listen, and from that point on I was hooked. If you haven't given them a listen and would like to start, Alopecia, Elephant Eyelash, and the EP Sod in the Seed are my personal favorites, although they are all pretty good albums. Also, Yoni's podcast, http://whywithaquestionmark.com/, is quite entertaining. It is updated quite frequently and includes interviews about a huge range of topics. At the time of posting, the most recent podcast has an interview with Sean Daley (Atmosphere). They discuss rap in the modern era and what it is like to be an aspiring rapper. Why? and Yoni's podcast are definitely worth a listen.

Kane White's Favorite Albums of 2013, YEAH!

Wow! 2013 was a great year to be a person! It was also a great year to be someone that likes music, and it just so happens that I like music. I also really like lists, so I have one here. Below are my favorite albums from 2013, or "the year that mankind was almost apocalypsed." Keep in mind that these are all albums that were released in 2013. I didn't include anything from other years, and they're in no particular order. Okay, let's do this...

Melt-Banana - Fetch

This album is crazy and intense. The lyrics are all but unrecognizable, and that guitar sound is ridiculous, but it all comes together in the best possible way (or the worst, depending on who you ask). Thanks to The Needle Drop for introducing me to Melt-Banana.

Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork

Josh Homme brings rock to us lowly mortals once again on ...Like Clockwork, this time with less stoner rock and more sauntering-guitar-monster-tracks and piano ballads. This one is a really fun listen.

Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse

YL's 2011 release, The Year of Hibernation, was a pretty exciting collection of self-produced indie anthems. Wondrous Bughouse, released earlier this year, took that same sound, layered it a little thicker, and made a really coherent and interesting record. The album art is actually pretty fitting for the listening experience.

Black Milk - No Poison No Paradise

This is probably my favorite hip-hop album of this year, Run the Jewels getting runner up. The production on this album is amazing, and "Sunday's Best" and "Monday's Worst" are must-listens. Seriously, go right now and listen to them on Youtube. Actually, here:

It's not lyrically life-altering, but No Poison is a super refreshing hip-hop album with some seriously genius beats. 

Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana

This one's a pretty straightforward indie rock album, but the use of jagged guitar and vocal melodies is pretty exciting throughout Major Arcana. It's got a lot of catchy songs and some really interesting lyrics, and a few spots here and there rock pretty hard thanks to some great drumming.

Swearin' - Surfing Strange

Sometimes I get the feeling that I'm the only person on the internet that enjoys Swearin' over their sister band, Waxahatchee. They're more or less making the same brand of lo-fi indie rock, but the garage band attitude that Swearin' puts forth on Surfing Strange is undeniably satisfying for fans of toned back production.

Baths - Obsidian

What a strange, twisted, catchy, album this is. Baths uses some pretty disturbing imagery on Obsidian, an album mostly dealing with death and sickness, but musically, it's the same Baths writing some good electronic hooks.

Deafheaven - Sunbather

I don't really listen to black metal, so I debated whether I should mention this album. But I do really love Sunbather, and that's probably all that matters. Maybe I jumped aboard the hype train (again) with this band, but any record that transcends genres like this one is worth a listen. The songs are epic in the truest sense of the word -- Massive, sprawling, powerful -- but they're also well composed, and little rays of light shine through brutal guitars and growls periodically on Sunbather. 

Los Campesinos! - No Blues

Definitely not my favorite Los Campesinos! album, but No Blues still stays true to the most lovable aspects of LC! Gareth Campesinos lyrics are as witty as ever, and I'll still listen through and chuckle at lines that I didn't hear or understand before. If you do listen to this album, don't try to fight the silliness of "Avocado, Baby." That final refrain is pretty cheesy, but it's undeniably catchy and you might end up singing it to yourself all day if you're anything like me.

Streetlight Manifesto - The Hands That Thieve

Hooray for ska! Streetlight sounds like they've matured a lot on their newest record in just about every way. But who am I to judge maturity? I still listen to ska.

Savages - Silence Yourself

This album rocks hard, plain and simple.

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

This album grew on me a lot, and I even liked it when it first came out. I just wish "Young Lion" was twice as long, because every time I hear it, it stays in my head for hours. I won't disagree with anyone that says this was the best release of 2013, because it really is a beautiful album from beginning to end. That said, I'd rather promote Modern Vampires for what I think it really is: the most relevant record of the year. You'll be hard pressed to find a band that's more representative of what popular music is today and where it'll hopefully be going in the future.

So, that's my year in review in blog post format. Tell me what you think. Hopefully you got a little something from this and if you have your own personal feelings about 2013, feel free to share them! Until next time, friends.

- Kane

Jim Hall and Pat Metheny

Facebook has so kindly informed me that "Jim Hall" is trending, as the jazz guitar legend passed away this Tuesday. I can't say I know very much about this man, except that he was featured on a CD that played in my car for about a month straight. The 1999 album, "Jim Hall and Pat Metheny" is a jazz compilation of dueling guitars in the very best sense of the term: not a competition to see whose fingers move faster over predictably distorted licks, but more of a call and response of softly-picked melodies that just sit right.

I'm more drawn to Metheny's playing, and I think he sort of overshadows Hall in this album, but that's not to say Hall isn't relevant. In particular, the second song of the list, a take of "All the Things You Are" is fantastic. Metheny's characteristic improvisation underlies Hall's creative interpretation of the head to open the piece. I really get a sense that these two gentlemen have utmost respect for each other and are reveling in each other's greatness.

The album continues on with songs that didn't even bother to be named. "Improvisation No. 1" is the first of five songs that seem like they derived from an uncontrollable need to just let loose and have fun in the recording studio. When two giants of their genre do this, it's good enough to publish. Along with the improv numbers, there are seven recorded tracks to go along with six live tracks.

If you're into jazz, or just want to get a taste of the late jazz icon, I would recommend this album. Just take a moment to appreciate the masterful tone of these two guitars, and their clean, serene melodies.

Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork

"So good to be an ant who crawls atop a spinning rock," sings Josh Homme halfway through QOTSA's newest album. But if Mr. Homme is an ant, I don't even want to know what that makes the rest of us. Josh Homme has been churning out hard-hitting, face melting, guitar-heavy rock albums for longer than I've been alive. He's been with Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal, Them Crooked Vultures, and he even produced an Arctic Monkeys record. The scary thing is that everything he does is awesome. Sure, these bands don't venture far out of the world of "rock music," but it's amazing how these bands manage to be diverse and interesting on their own.

So now we have ...Like Clockwork, released half a year ago, and it's fantastic. Everywhere that Queens of the Stone Age has left me feeling unsatisfied in the past has been completely corrected. Where other QOTSA albums could get a little too hazy, ...Like Clockwork keeps things up front almost all the way through. There's a good hook in almost every song and licks and tricks are flying all over the place. If I had a dollar for every good guitar solo on this album, I'd have enough money to go out and buy QOTSA's next record. Even more in-your-face are Josh Homme's vocals. Like a big muscular siren, he draws listeners in with his smooth voice and kills them with lines like "I blow my load over the status quo." Even at the vulnerable moments, QOTSA sounds fearless. Josh Homme's intro in "The Vampyre of Time and Memories," a pretty base composition of piano and vocals, still manages to demand attention before growing into a new-age rock ballad. 

Sure, it's nothing genre-changing, and mainstream rock music still probably sucks as a whole (I haven't checked in awhile), but ...Like Clockwork makes me thankful that Josh Homme is still trying to be interesting with the vocal, guitar, bass, drum set-up. So let's take the time to thank QOTSA for validating the "rock band" in 2013 by picking up an instrument and jamming. Good luck with finals, everybody. You are all awesome!

Check out the video for "My God is the Sun," with a giant winged skull shooting laser-beams from its mouth.

- Kane

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Live at the Fillmore

This last summer, I managed to snag tickets and see the “Yeah Yeah Yeahs” at Fillmore Theater in Detroit. Their opener was not very good; the set list was mostly about sex, (my particular favorite was one about sex robots) and they concluded by passing out the condoms in their pockets, which was a grand total of two. Pressing onward to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; let me just start off by saying that Karen O., their lead singer, is a goddess. I’ve never seen someone have as much fun, or own a stage, as brilliantly as she does. She is unshakably enthusiastic, her outfits are glittery insanity (she changed them twice), she does NOT skimp on the confetti bombs (the confetti got all the way up to the balcony where I was), and she loves encores (there were three).

She was jumping for literally the entire show (she was even bouncing when she played keyboard for a couple songs), managed to break 3 mics by the end of the show, spit water on the standing room and just generally caused a ruckus. Karen O. was so wound up that it was hard to tell if she was naturally peppy, or if she’d done a line of coke before going onstage. In spite of her rather insane behavior, the music was quality. Looking for an excellent show? Look to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; they know how to fire up a crowd and keep them going all night.

“It’s Blitz!” is an excellent driving album, one that was pretty much permanently in my car’s CD player all through high school. I do homework and blog to this album (I’m listening to it right now, as a matter of fact) and it’s my go-to for getting fired up/staying awake/focusing on work. Look, if you’ve never listened to them, I highly suggest you do.

Happy Listening!

-Hanae

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero