Well, I’m certainly abusing the audience to spend so much time discussing one band, the offshoot of perhaps my favorite band “of all time” (as if that could exist), but I’ve listened to the Thorns of Life show from Gilman St (get it here) and it’s pretty nice.  The vocals seem much, much louder than the instrumentation, but it’s a welcome voice and some good songs, like “Not A Track Bike”, which is just fine and dandy.

Jawbreaker made pop-punk bands (Green Day, for example) look and sound like The Carpenters.

Jawbreaker always has a special spot, as one of the first “good” bands I loved: unlike much of the skate punk and hardcore I was weened on, Jawbreaker had lyrics and songs that were a far step up from most of that (even if I still love it).  Blake has an excellent literary grasp and his prose is just fantastic (not always perfect, of course).  This is why his tendency to anthropromophize everyday objects, paint rich and vibrant scenes, incorporate the use of graphic imagery with the mundane, and still maintain a sense of humor has been replicated time and time again for the last fifteen years.

I loved Jets to Brazil, but sometimes you need grindy punk more than you need gentle songcraft.

March 4th, 2009 | Category: Music, Rants | Subscribe to comments | Both comments and pings are currently closed