Send "Andrew Jackson Jihad " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Sputnikmusic |
 Just in case you hadn't looked at the tracklisting yet, the tenth song on this album is called "Love Will Fuck Us Apart". There are two very distinct, very different mentalities that could lead somebody to write and record a song with that name. The first means that the song is parodic; that they've taken one of popular music's few remaining sacred cows and attacked it, making it profane. The second means that, for the writer, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" actually didn't go far enough - that the love and loss expressed in the song was too simple, too clean, and that it didn't reflect the realities of messy, violent passion. Andrew Jackson Jihad's "Love Will Fuck Us Apart" is the latter, which might surprise you. It certainly surprised me, given that some of the other track titles include "We Didn't Come Here to Rock" and "Love in the Time of Human Papillomavirus". That's a sexually transmitted disease that often leads to cancer of the penis and/or anus, just in case you were wondering. You'd be forgiven for dismissing AJJ as a joke band off the back of that, but the reality is that they've got so much emotion coursing through their songs that they can barely contain it at times. Parallels could obviously be drawn with Cap'n Jazz - another band who were messy and scattershot, and happy to crack a joke, but were never anything less than completely sincere....full text |
| Radiofreechicago |
| Sean Bonette and Ben Gallaty are busy guys. The duo, who perform under the name Andrew Jackson Jihad, both have day jobs in their home town of Phoenix, Arizona, spent a good portion of this summer touring the United States and have just released their tenth studio recording in less than seven* years, Can't Maintain. Previously relying almost completely on the pairs acoustic guitar and upright bass, Can't Maintain finds the band expanding their sound, from going electric on the first track, "Heartilation," to adding strings and horns, making their sound alot more on the "indie folk" side of things than the "folk punk" we're used to hearing from the fellows. The Neutral Milk Hotel influence that the band has always had but I never heard before is audible on a vast portion of the cd, from the horn section in "Love Will Fuck Us Apart" to "Truckers Are The Blood," which starts out sounding incredibly similar to the band's recent cover of "Two Headed Boy." Can't Maintain finds the band at their strangest ("Kazoo Sonata in C Major" is exactly what the track would lead you to believe.) and their most darkly optimistic . "I have seen the darkest heart of humanity," Bonette sings on You Don't Deserve Yourself before insisting "But I believe we are capable of good as well." Andrew Jackson Jihad - Love In The Time of The Human Papilloma Virus The stand out third track, "Love In The Time of The Human Papilloma Virus," is surprisingly tender and beautiful. Featuring a string section and abstractly loving lyrics ("My heart, it has eyes and my love, it has sight even though it might be a little cloudy."), "Love In The Time of the Human Papilloma Virus" is quickly becoming one of my favorite tracks of the summer and is certainly one of my favorite tunes that Bonette has ever written. The girl Sean's singing to may or may not love him but regardless, he still cares for her and he'll persevere. In fact, all of the more ballad-esque songs on the album are incredibly beautiful, especially when contrasted to Andrew Jackson Jihad's back catalog. "Love Will Fuck Us Apart" finds a more mature Bonette than we've heard previously and my favorite track off of the band's recent Operation Stackola EP, "Sense, Sensibility," is rerecorded here and remains just as wonderful if not more so with the addition of a swell whistling solo....full text |
| Threevue |
| I’ll admit it, just like another band lately (We Were Promised Jetpacks), I was immediately drawn to the band name but stuck around for the music. AJJ make what their fans classify as “folk punk”, and have a very organic, DIY sound (and touring ethic, supposedly). To me, this sounds a lot like The Mountain Goats if they were always a full band and they were only playing their more intense songs. The songs are a couple minutes long each tops, which is what I like to see (too much punk rock in my formative years, methinks). The only real downside to this album are its self-deprecating lyrics. Seriously, the singer must HATE himself, and life in general, because if you actually listen to the words you’ll invariably be left with a bitter, whiny taste in your mouth. And because the vocals are such a forefront in the mix it’s impossible not to notice them. Despite its juvenile lyrics and mostly predictable song structures, it’s a short and engaging album of high-speed “acoustic” (with some really engrossed accompaniment to boot), and it’s worth a listen....full text |
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