JDJ Band

Posted by: metal4life Jun 18 2006, 07:31 AM

Like Joey Ramone drunk and alone with a drum and guitar combo machine from Argos covered in mud and shaking hands with the ghost of Iggy Pop. (Yes, he's not dead yet, thank the forgiving r'n'r lord in the sky... but he will be if he ever hears this).

Amazing, in an '' I'm spesshal! '' way. A demo in every sense of the word, with home production and covered in utter… strangeness. Throughout it has the brilliant (and I do sincerely mean brilliant) sound quality as if it were recorded on a sun-bleached TDK90 that was left under the floorboards at the beginning of Thatcher's reign and later found, eaten and digested by a stray dog… These faults and weird traits make it more listenable than a shitload of the new wave woe-is-me ten-a-penny tat raked out again and again by typical young, venue acts. Fair enough, 'Cruel Way' will never see the light in a lot of respects and it is definitely tarred by its own mad brush, but there are tunes and there are things to remember in amongst its slurring and sleepy howls.

Despite this being the whole point of reviews, maybe I should leave the descriptions to someone else. Maybe I should leave it to the guy himself, eh? 'Kinda a mixture of punk/classic hardcore, but very American and authentic'. It holds a similar sort of attraction as Andrew W.K. It is crazy karaoke, now with added rocktacticulars. Yes!

Take it with a pinch of salt, ladies and gentleman. Part of you (if you ever listen to this genius) should like it above a lot of other stuff. Why? Well for one, there's no shit and pure fun and even though there is a lot of premeditated swagger forced into the vocals and it's mostly all over the place and blissfully shitting on your shoes, there is something endearing about it. This is an old rock 'n' roll stray dog that you will smile at as it slobbers on your face and wees in your washing basket.

Get that analogy down yer, pal 3 out of 5

• Gary Muday - metal4life (Jun 18, 2006)

DJ Band: "Cruel Way" (RPG Records)

OK, the world is a bad place, full of hate and misery and everything sucks and life is not really all that it's cracked up to be, why not kick back and let apathy take over? JDJ Band hate the world and they prove it on "Cruel Way", which sounds like it was recorded in someone's garage, with the doors closed and the car running. Imagine J Mascis making a Dinosaur Jr. record while stoned on a handful of Tuinol and you get the drift.

JDJ Band is the new vehicle for JD Jackson, who used to be in another legendary punk band, the cult-followed Destroyers. On "Cruel Way" Jackson delves into deep, dark ravines full of sludge and mud. I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, but I kept on listening and I think I figured it out. A little bit, maybe.

"Cruel Way" is a bunch of dirge-like, punk-Goth suicide jams to prove that depressed people like to do stuff too. I dig it, though, it makes for an eerie soundtrack late at night or when you're in a jaded, cynical mood and want to blast some I-don't-give-a-damn music. It actually starts to grow on you as you listen further and further. Either you get used to it after a while or else the songs do get better as the album wears on.

My favorite tunes on this CD, "Serial Killer", "She's So Heavy", which has a hypnotic hook to it and "Rising from My Grave", a demon-jam, all have a devil-may-care aloofness to them and would fit in perfectly as a backdrop in a dark, dreary dive bar where people drink beer and stare into space while loud music drones on. Remember the scene at that bar in the Twin Peaks feature-length movie, "Fire Walk With Me"? This could've just as easily been the band playing there and it would've been just as cool a scene.

• KM - REVIEWER MAGAZINE (Mar 17, 2007)