Hate Rain On Me might be the one of the best song titles of all time. It’s clever. Know what I mean? Even the name of the band is clever. Andrew Jackson Jihad. Get it? Me either. Clever.
Lately The FSS feels like there’s an overdose of cleverness in young adult culture. Hipsters are clever (or so they think) and we fuckin’ despise those dudes. Does thy mean Uncle T doesn’t like this album? Nah. Quite the opposite. On the whole this band is too odd and uncool to carry any hipster cache. And you can tell that AJJ has deep roots in punk. Their earnestness outshines their cleverness and what’s left is the most gloriously unsure sure band I’ve ever heard. At one point they even apologize for the guitar solo they’re about to break into.
Lemme start with Sean Bonnette’s singing voice. I’ve been trying to find a good way to describe it and the best I can come up with is that the guy sounds like his allergies might be acting up but also he’s a little nauseous. I bet like GWAR and GG before him this guy is no stranger to puking on stage. See I can be clever too. But all cleverness aside Sean and his lyrics are genuine and that’s a quality not easily found these days. And it’s no surprise to me that Mike Park and Asian Man Records put this out as they’re pretty genuine in their own right.
“Knife Man” is filled with songs I think anyone past age 18 can relate to. Anthems for the underemployed. Songs about wearing sweatpants, jacking off, white guilt, loneliness, being broke, depression, etc. The weird part of it is this album doesn’t come off as a big depressed snooze fest. If anything it’s damn near triumphant folk punk. Rollicking when it needs to be. Silly even at times. If all this is clever maybe then cleverness is something we can take back from the hipster community. Mustaches we’re coming for you next.
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