Music Banter - View Single Post

innerspaceboy · 05-05-2017, 06:55 PM

Another apology - I'm dealing with the final weeks of the divorce, which now involves the police, physical abuse, and theft of my property. (It ain't pretty.) But I joined this thread and I'm going to stick to reviewing as best I can in the spare minutes between struggle and sleep.

I really dug this record. It's my first exposure to Half Japanese but I can instantly see the appeal to Cobain and others. I see Penn Jillette was involved with releasing some of their work, and I can definitely recognize some inspiration on projects like Captain Howdy, but this is far more raw and authentic than its imitators.

I was surprised by the variation and subtlety of several of the tracks here. The instrumentation is far more cerebral than that of its "pure" punk forefathers, and I really dig what's happening. The horns on "Our Eyes" were particularly intriguing, and the simple but bizarrely fascinating qualities of interstitial tracks like "Spin" really kept my interest throughout the album.

"All of Me" sounds quite akin to the stripped bare vocal stylings of Daniel Johnston, and the band surprises me yet again by switching it up to a bluesy number on the next track.

Really every new track grabbed me, and I only wish I had the time to fully digest this album in its entirety tonight.

And damn it - they've done it again with "Shanty Town". I'm still captivated and don't want to turn it off.

The closing track instantly reminds me of "Everything's Exploding" from Oh My Gawd!!! in '87. But the Half Japanese track is just as strong on its own so I find no fault in the similarity.

Really enjoyed this, and I'll definitely revisit it again when I can give it a more dedicated listen.

9/10