Review Summary: A summary manifesto from DIY punk's lovable fuck-ups.
Few bands on the planet have the ability, let alone the desire, to release a collection of music without warning, but then not many bands on the planet are like Bomb The Music Industry! Recorded and mixed in just five days, the brilliantly titled
ADULTS!!!: SMART!!! SHITHAMMERED!!! AND EXCITED BY NOTHING!!!!!!! crafts the slightly over-theatrical soundtrack to an ordinarily troubled life, with Rosenstock learning the words as he sings, as rough as he is infectious, as passionate as he is grounded. The album's moniker says so much about it, born from the same smirking intelligence and uncertainty that lends itself to Jeff Rosenstock's everyman poetry, expressing discontent and forward-looking insecurity in the most down-to-earth tone, laced with irony and self-awareness. And those exclamation points, Bomb The Music Industry!'s overt and slightly awkward statement of defiance, exemplify the passion exuded by climaxes like that of The First Time I Met Sanawon, all horns and loud guitars, euphoric but maintaining that gritty edge achieved through the record's very DIY production.
Rosenstock is the focal point of everything, and for good reason: he controls the listener's flow of attention with total ease. At the end of 'You Still Believe In Me?', when he loses the cyclic melody repeated throughout the song, he's still just as in command of the song as ever. The album's opener crescendos at least three times, moving from a simple bassline and beat through horn-packed, celebratory choruses. The constant is Rosenstock, self-deprecating and gravelly as he describes his lack of direction. What would in other hands be a depressing cut wins through because of 2 factors: the lively nature of every instrument and the way Rosenstock never sounds defeated, even when he's singing about screwing up relationships and life in general. That everything here has the same honest origins is clear in so many capacities, and that impression is furthered by how seamlessly BtMI!'s sound comes together without a single uncomfortable or forced moment. Guitars occasionally screech, Rosenstock sometimes misses notes; of course they do, and of course he does.
For DIY, though, the production levels displayed by the band are fantastic, maintaining their clarity at every juncture and never hindering the quality of the recordings. There are subtle electronics sprinkled throughout, and the carefree 'Slumlord' uses handclaps in its early stages, but any experimentation is organic, and frequently capable of passing by unnoticed, just another gentle facet of the upbeat and layered punk instrumentation. The record's best individual song, 'All Ages Shows', grows from a picked electric guitar mimicking Rosenstock's vocal melody to a solid wall of guitars and it's genuinely easy not to notice
that, let alone the synths that creep in halfway through the track. These quirks, clipped onto the creative general musicianship and Rosenstock's lyrical prowess, make this another BtMI! record, an easily digestible and fairly short campaign in favour of you listening to this band. Simply put, if you enjoy
ADULTS!!! you'll find a lot to please you in the band's full-length albums, and you'll probably end up falling in love.
Can you stay here? Can we blast the Descendents?
Can we turn the phones off and get lost in The Simpsons?
I'm inches away from getting swallowed by darkness
And I know that you're tired, but can you draw back the curtains for me?
