So for this first real post, I'm going to do a review of sorts of Andrew Jackson Jihad's "People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World."
AJJ are a local Phoenix based duo who have been around for some four years or so. Live shows just consist of Sean Bonnette on acoustic guitar and Ben Gallaty on stand-up bass, usually, with the guitarist shouting over the crowd. This album was released last year on Asian Man Records, and soon after (or maybe before?) I saw them perform with The Asian Man himself, Mike Park. One of the best shows I've ever been to! Most of the lyrics are violent social satire, which usually makes you laugh at first, then on the second listen, makes you think about the things in our society that we just take for granted.
This album really re-affirms my opinion that the best music produced these days are the simple, no-frills type. The bass provides an awesome melodic base for the vocals, and the guitar is pure rhythm genuis. The singer mostly just shouts, but he does so in the most melodic way. He is probobly the best shouting singer I've ever heard.
On previous albums from this group, other in studio instuments kind of drowned out the guitar and singing in final mixes, but in this one the extra instuments take a back seat to the singing. Which isn't to say that the added instumentation shouldnt be there, just the opposite, it really supports the melodies on this album. The backing musicians some of the cream of the Phoenix music scene crop, like Haunted Cologne's Andrew Jemsek, and Foot Ox's Teague Cullen.
The standout tracks here are, for me, the re-recorded version of "Rejoice," "Bad Bad Things," "People II: The Reckoning," and "People." This is AJJ at their lyrical and musical best, and I found myself singing along throughout the day, as I just couldn't take this record off my turntable. My neighbors probobly hate me.
Go check this shit out!
No comments:
Post a Comment