Send "Bomb the Music Industry! " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Punknews |
 Bomb the Music Industry!’s sixth full-length may come across as an attempt to break away from the band’s usual hit of spastically fun ska-punk with the occasional slow dose, but I see it as more of a step in the right direction for them. Jeff Rosenstock has grown immensely as a songwriter and lyricist over the years, and it became more apparent on their previous LP, 2009's Scrambles. The three songs from Scrambles that really sounded the winds of change were “Sort of Like Being Pumped”, “$2,400,000” and “Wednesday Night Drinkball”. They are dreary, yet uplifting tunes that sprawl through a day in the life of the narrator. They also featured instruments not normally heard in BtMI! songs, such as classical pianos, banjos, and wurlitzers. One could only imagine what their next release could be like when considering this detour from their original sound. While Vacation may be a more serious album in terms of the songwriting and lyrics, it still sounds like a fun summer album. I've seen this compared to the likes of Titus Andronicus and the Thermals and those comparisons are pretty spot-on (at least, I know the Titus Andronicus one is). Another difference between this album and the previous five is that all of the songs are, on average, a minute-and-a-half longer than they usually are. The album opens up with the dreamy, piano-driven “Campaign for a Better Weekend”. Vacation is truly a concept album of sorts and that is apparent within the lyrics of this song. “Wake up at 10 a.m. It’s 55 degrees, and even since it’s barely March. Since all winter it’s been freezing this is cause for celebration. Cause for picnics and coffee” opens the song and stresses to the listener the need for an escape from the norm. Even without the lyrical push, any frequent listener of BtMI! would know that they are headed far from the loud, beer-soaked sound of their prior releases. It’s almost as if the older album were positively negative, while this one seems negatively positive (?). One delightful surprise on Vacation is hearing the alternate and fresh takes of the songs previously released in the album’s infancy, such as “Everybody That You Love”, “Can’t Complain” and “Hurricane Waves” (which, by the way, is an unreasonably perfect song). The songs sound much cleaner and “fitted” for their placements on the track listing. Another great surprise is the somewhat spooky sound of “The Shit That You Hate”. You can really hear the Andrew Jackson Jihad come out on this one (and while I’m not sure if this is the song they recorded on, it’d be my first guess). The song clocks in at almost six minutes and finishes with the most epic finale on the album. The colliding of instruments and the chanting really ties the whole package together and makes for what is probably my favorite song on Vacation. I have two very minor issues with Vacation, which is, there seems to be the inability to just throw it on in your car when you’re driving to the market. Another way to compare this to Titus Andronicus could be in how the songs don’t necessarily stand out superbly on their own as well as they stand together in unison. It’s hard to appreciate a classic like Titus Andronicus’ The Monitor if you listen to it one song at a time. It’s a ton better when you take the time to listen to the songs as they flow into the bigger picture. My other issue is the lack of songs. The list calls for 13, but two of those tracks are interludes. I suppose it’s a trade-off, though, since the 11 full songs on Vacation are all about four minutes long, and it has a "hidden" bonus track or two depending on whether you're listening to the CD or the vinyl....full text |
| Sputnikmusic |
| Somebody mentioned recently that Vacation is the Pet Sounds of punk music. Obviously, that is a ridiculous statement, but the thing is Bomb The Music Industry! fans really might think that. In today’s music scene, BTMI! might have the most slavishly devoted fan base in the US. Its interesting that all the reasons BTMI! is great to those people, the sloppy punk riffs, silly and ridiculous shouted gang vocals and hooks, the hilariously stupid (but imminently relatable and thought out) lyrics, and the disregard for songwriting conventions are why most people would HATE them, but BTMI! do everything with so much enthusiasm and energy its like watching a kid learn how to ride a bike for the first time. Its pure magic. Vacation finally finds Jeff Rosenstock (singer and mastermind behind BTMI!) recording what could be considered to be a “normal” record. Fans would see that and cry “nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo”, but it’s the exact progression they needed to make. Gone are the days of just being inane constantly and the moments of somber reality. Instead, Vacation sees the band write songs that are tight, anthemia, and with a bit more gloss could easily be filling up an arena near you. Instead of it feeling like they’re writing ‘normal’ song though, it feels like BTMI! are taking the mainstream sound associated with rock and punk and twisting it to fit their needs. There aren’t any punches held, every song is a cacophony of the band flailing about in the classic BTMI! fashion: songs are full of crazy, bouncy synths, tempo changes and random outbursts of whoahs and ohs and nonsensical yelling. The key to the albums success is staying true to what has always made them special as a band: the songs are fun, intimate, personal, and at times simply epic. Its hard to think that what amounts to a garage ska-punk band could make a song that swells to the heights “The Shit That You Hate” does, but the song moves from a quiet Jeff with just an acoustic guitar to a weird tension filled bridge, and as the strings and lightly plucked mandolin slowly give way to the full blown march the song builds into with Jeff yelling “all the shit that you hate don’t make you special”, you realize they finally really get it. Of course they don’t ignore the blissfully ignorant fun side of their music, as “Everybody That You Love” and “Vocal Coach” prove. “Everybody That You Love” remains an awesome affirmation on life despite the rather horrifying circumstances the song was written about (a drug deal Jeff just happened to stumble upon, and almost got SHOT DEAD), and “Vocal Coach” is a classic loopy synth driven track, with flighty lyrics and an enormous sense of sarcasm (I mean come on, that vocal/guitar harmony though out the song?) Songs like opener “Campaign for a Better Next Weekend” (where apparently Jeff wanted to be Chris Martin if even for just a couple minutes) and “Can’t Complain” find Jeff a lot more introspective (sounding, at least). “Can’t Complain” has Jeff sighing about having a decent life, even if shit ain’t all roses....full text |
| Popmatters |
| Calls for an upheaval of a music industry that prioritizes profit over artistic ability have been heard by plenty of artists over the past decade. Amidst all the talk, there have actually been decisive actions to change the way we buy and listen to music. Radiohead’s “pay-what-you-can” experiment with In Rainbows was a significant success. Two of this year’s finest releases, The Weeknd’s House of Balloons and Frank Ocean’s Nostalgia, Ultra were released for free on their artists’ respective websites. And while multi-platinum pop artists still manage to do very well, independent musicians who are making music for the sake of music are still able to craft and release great records. Bomb the Music Industry! takes the independent artist spirit quite seriously; not only is their name a rally call for an overhaul of the cold professionalism of modern music labels, the band even has released the majority of their studio output for free on their website. (The pay-what-you-can concept that Radiohead popularized was actually done by this band prior to the release of In Rainbows). Vacation, the band’s sixth LP, is more indicative of the album title than the band’s name. The music, while very good, is by no means a complete 180 from anything that’s been done before. The album’s ska-tinged punk isn’t too far off from the band’s past outings, nor is the record full of calls to arms against the music industry. The most unconventional thing does is end the album with 25 minutes of silence with random bits of the band’s banter. The music does, however, sound like a perfect vacation accompaniment; the album’s optimism, shown effectively through the use of glockenspiel and buzzy synths throughout the record, is evocative of beaches spent on summer’s shores, not unlike the one on the album’s cover art. Quite aptly, Vacation is one of the most summer-sounding records of the year; it’s a record that sounds like it was a blast to record and, as a result, is a great joy to listen to. The album’s sunny disposition starts with the very first track. “Campaign for a Better Next Weekend” begins with a piano part that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Coldplay record. Fortunately, instead of transforming it into one of Coldplay’s syrupy-sweet inspirational pep songs, the band uses that to build up into a glorious, guitar-driven climax, with power chords kicking the song’s sanguine tone into overdrive. The song sets the stage and mood for the rest of the record, while also keeping the album grounded in a sense of honest happiness instead of idealized fantasy. Even when the songs venture into the more pop-oriented punk (such as “Can’t Complain,” which recalls some of Relient K’s earlier material), the merriment doesn’t sound forced. Throughout the record, the band recognizes the reality of hard times, even as they try to withhold cynicism over the difficulties that face the world. “So leave me here; you can just leave me here / To find something new so I don’t feel as good as dead”, vocalist Jeff Rosenstock sings on “Vocal Coach”. The adversities of the past and the present can be seen clearly throughout the entire record, but the band doesn’t let what many see as bleak times overpower their positive energy. When Rosenstock sings, “And I’m glad it wasn’t like that summer when everybody died” on “Sick, Later”, one can only laugh at how he seemingly brushes off the things that would haunt most people. Given the harsh economic climate the world faces, not to mention the multiple wars being waged, it’s nice to see a band, especially a punk band that’s been no stranger to cynical observations, with something of a smile on their face. And there’s no better time to express that sentiment; summer records tend to be the best time for exuberant music. The brief interlude “Sponge Board/Baby Waves” recalls summer favorites The Beach Boys with its vocal harmonies. “Why, Oh Why, Oh Why (Oh Oh Oh Oh)”, with its vocal filler-driven chorus, also harkens back to the music of the ‘50s and ‘60s, songs that didn’t take the time to be pretentious or complicated and instead took the time to be just plain fun....full text |
Bomb the Music Industry! lyrics
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