Send "Joan of Arc " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Somewhere near the beginning of “Howdy Pardoner”, which is somewhere near the end of Joan of Arc’s Life Like, bandleader Tim Kinsella wonders if “there’s some connection between mass species extinction/and the common production values of ass.” Think about that for a second. Is there? What are “the common production values of ass”, exactly? Mainstream pornography? Boring sex? Intimacy made trite by media oversaturation? Two out of three or all of the above? I don’t think it really matters. What does matter is that Kinsella doesn’t seem to like sex much, or is at least more interested in its banalities than its pleasures. This matters because it reflects the infuriating disinterest of nearly everything produced under the Joan of Arc banner, and Life Like, while a little different, isn’t really different enough.One area where it does depart—somewhat—is its sound. Mercifully absent are the scattershot econo-electronics that distinguished JOA’s earlier work; in its place is a conventional guitars-and-drums setup fused by Kinsella and company’s trademark mathematics, and implemented with the (faint) formalism that emerged in their work following 2008’s Boo! Human. Although they’re still as Dada-on-downers as always, a modicum of song structure shines through their usual avant-emo, especially on the ten-minute-plus opener “I Saw the Messed Blinds of My Generation”, which has the audacity to bear a catchy riff. What remains, though, is Kinsella’s dry, stubborn, smarty-pants intellectualism, the most divisive feature of a very divisive group. Life Like is as verbally overstuffed as anything else they’ve made; more syllables are forced into each verse than each verse can necessarily accommodate, often leading to unnatural stressing (as in “Still Life”, when Kinsella criticizes the wearing of “a Band-Aid as an ac-ces-sor-y”) and general mental overkill. It’s more than a little affected, but that’s okay, because nothing is real anyway, right? Or something like that. Also affected are the words themselves, which, while more grounded than, say, Thom Yorke’s flighty abstractions, carry a cheap and easy insincerity. He declares in “Deep State” that “We, in our own way / We are indie,” which Kinsella is far too old and good a guitarist to have to say. It doesn’t help that JOA’s sense of humor seems limited, as always, to spoonerisms and mumbled irony....full text |
| Sputnikmusic |
| “By refusing to embrace humanism and try to understand, rather than alienate the next generation and their choice in music or how they choose to express himself, he has become a fascist neo conservative of rock and roll: the worst kind of hypocrite.” -Max Bemis on Tim Kinsella- Joan of Arc has been trapped within an odd predicament for the span of their career as being the arrogant older brothers of emo. The older brother who went to art school and writes weird surlistic poetry about government conspiracies that probably don’t exist. Who is nothing like he used to be and doesn’t seem to care in the least. This is what most people view Joan of Arc and the other Tim Kinsella bands as: pretentious art rock bull****. It also explains why when he writes a sarcastic editorial in AP people like Max Bemis flip out. They miss the person that helped give birth to their movement. They feel insecure that someone who helped popularize that genre has moved on without looking back, while they continue to play that same sort of music. Life Like is a comeback of sorts. People who have hung on long enough to see Tim Kinsella make something as appealing as the only Owls album, this is your album. Steve Albini comes back to helm the production of the album like he did on Owls. Victor Villareal has joined Joan of Arc and the insane guitar work of Owls is back as if not a day has passed. The winding, almost headache inducing twists, and turns of Villareal riffs remain the perfect backdrop for Kinsella’s flawed vocals. As awesome as this may seem to fans of Joan of Arc, it also comes at the expense of losing guitarist Sam Zurick, who’s riffs at times were equally as good as Villareal’s. Having both of them on here would’ve made Life Like borderline perfect. However, that would be asking far too much of a band that almost takes pride in pissing people off who expect a certain thing from them. This is without a doubt Villareal’s album. His guitar work takes center stage on nearly every song, especially the opener “I Saw the Messed Binds of My Generation.” The 10-minute plus song is mostly instrumental and gives a good feel for what the rest of the album is going to be like. Theo Katsaounis’ drumming ranges from steady to astonishing on nearly every track. The thundering yet technical rhythms fit in perfectly with the guitar work. Bobby Burg remains as consistent as he has throughout most Joan of Arc’s existence. The one thing that has always been the determining factor, and continues to be, is Kinsella. No matter how many amazing backing musicians he puts together for Joan of Arc albums his vocals seem to be the determining factor to whether people will like it. However, on Life Like, while maybe not sounding any more accessible, he has scaled back some of the bizarre rants of previous albums. This dialed back lyricism might sound like a criticism but it’s somewhat of a relief to the listener, considering how pretentious Kinsella has come off in the past....full text |
| Avclub |
| At some point, the surname Kinsella became synonymous with guitarwork and yelpy vocals, which is only partly true. Joan Of Arc records feature everything from densely-layered electronic compositions to 20-minute-long instrumental guitar pieces. For all intents and purposes, Joan Of Arc is the main “Kinsella band,” but often sounds least like the many groups who cite the band and its offshoots as influences. Over the last 10 years, Tim Kinsella, his friends, and their countless musical projects have risen to prominence amongst a small but prolific sect of DIY indie/punk bands. Groups like Snowing, Algernon Cadwallader, and Coping fuse the chaotic, noodly sounds of Cap’n Jazz and Owls, two of the most popular bands falling under the JoA umbrella, with basement show-ready singalong vocals to great ends....full text |
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