Review Summary: It's wierd, it seems like I heard a different album then everyone else.
"the stuff that makes no attempt to surprise or do anything artistic, is so profoundly soothing… artwise maybe not the greatest art. But the function it provides is deep in a certain way."
I'm gonna leave that up there for you guys to ponder, and I intend to get back to it. What seems to me so strange about this new Justice album isn't the response - hostile response to a new style is a musical normative, no matter its value or appeal - but the content of such a gargantuan wave of harsh response, that content being criticism of the album being glibly tiring and unoriginal. There's another positive review of this album that says Justice, on the album, are "a rock band masquerading as an electro act," reminiscent of "Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Queen, [or] Rush." There's a few reasons why those approximations are incorrect, causing the review to lose direction and appeal, explaining its 0% approval. For one, this album isn't Justice revealing their true rock roots through electronica, it's another matter entirely. This is more or less an experiment; a band trying out different influences and tastes, which suffers the situation of being released in the wake of Cross, which is one of the most prolific and well-crafted electronica albums to date. The comparison of Audio, Video Dico to past classic and hard rock bands is completely misguided. While Justice certainly probably enjoys and listens to those bands, there influence over the album is strictly marginal and indirect, or they have established a genre that is showing its old mug in a new-age electronica album. This album is, in many ways, an enjoyment of newfound appeal, and therefore a generally lighter album.
It isn't Cross II, as pointed out before, and isn't as good as Cross in comparable measures. Audio, Video, Disco is a much more loosely put together album (which seemingly led to a lot of misplaced criticism), and is certainly less inspired. What seems so elegant about it, however, and this brings me back to the quote at the top, is its directionless embrace of naivety and superficial hard rock. David Foster Wallace (a modern, recently dead author, with no direct relations to music) gave the quote at the top. His reference was to TV programs like Baywatch, in witch he found great comfort for their blatantly directionless journey through the glib and all too pathetic melodrama, which is why Audio, Video, Disco seems entirely applicable.
Hard rock wasn't exactly philosophy; most of its 'meaningful' songs were inspirational to their own extent for the sake of being inspirational, which is quite obvious in Audio, Video, Disco. It is, as Wallace said, very soothing to hear something so blatant and glib - it is a refreshing break from a band that promises much in the future. So sit back folks, enjoy the music.
The quote is from an extended interview by David Lipsky with Wallace published in book form as Although of Course You Only End Up Becoming Yourself. Thanks for reading, its my first swing at reviewing.
