Review: Bomb the Music Industry!-Scrambles

Every now and then an artist comes along who you think can do no wrong. Ian Mackaye comes to mind with all his successful projects (minus Pailhead). Mackaye’s credibility goes beyond just his music talent though; most of it comes to his total dedication to Do-It-Yourself ethic of this ever growing community that we know as “punk.” Jeff Rosenstock of Bomb the Music Industry seems to be well on his way to becoming a modern Ian Mackaye if he already is not one. Those of course, are some big shoes to fill, but Rosenstock’s career is full of Mackayeisms.

Mackayeism No.1: Large moderately successful independent label that is changing the idea of how artists can distribute their music.

Mackayeism No.2: An amazing, moderately successful band that is already influencing several up and coming artists.

And last and not least Mackayeism No.3: Respect in the underground DIY community.

Mackayeism No.4 would be the latest release from Bomb the Music Industry, Scrambles, which applies to Ian Mackaye’s inability to release any terrible piece of music. Scrambles had some very large expectations to fill after the phenomenal Get Warmer, the last full length effort from Bomb the Music Industry and like Get Warmer, the first track on Scrambles; “Cold Chillin’ Cold Chillin’” is not all that good, much like “Jobs Schmobs” the first track on Get Warmer. It is a decent song, but with the odd distorted vocals in the beginning, the song seems to lack that punch an opening track should have. That is all right, because as soon as that song is out of the way you get a fabulous one-two punch of “Stuff That I Like” and “It Shits!” two of the albums best tracks. I guess one could consider these songs “singles” if that we were in the music business. Both songs have a BTMI signature which is the one line in the song that will be stuck in your head for days on end. In “Stuff That I Like” there is super catchy line within the verse that goes “Your fuckin’ cocaine party is fuckin’ freakin’ me out”, which will be stuck in your head as soon as you hear it and in “It Shits!” there is another catchy line that goes “Pass out on opposite ends of a couch, of a couch, of a couch, of a couch.” That will run over and over in your mind, even as you sleep (perhaps on a couch?) “It Shits!” also features a cameo by Kepi Ghoulie in which he delivers one of the catchiest verses in the entire song. Three cheers for awesome Asian Man Records artist collaborations!

After both of the singles comes what Rosenstock had promised before the album was released, some seriously rockin’ piano jams. “Fresh Attitude, Young Body”, “Wednesday Night Drink Ball” and “25!” are all Andrew WK inspired piano outings that all seem to link together all rather nicely. They all bring the level of epic to this record up about 10 notches. With its montage-like feel “Fresh Attitude, Young Body” swirls with pianos, synthesizers and a driving drum beat that makes you forget just how depressing the song lyrics are. Same goes for “Wednesday Night Drink Ball”, which is a slower tune mourning nights spent drinking all alone. “25!” speeds up the pace with a tale of feeling like you’ll never grow up and face adult responsibilities. Really, when you break it down all three of these songs are all rather depressing, but are so epic you feel like you can conquer your problems (or at least Jeff Rosenstock can).

From here on, Scrambles kind of hits a mediocre spot. “2,500,000” is another slow depressing song that questions internet celebrity, but isn’t as epic as you’d think. “Gang of Four Meets the Stooges (But Boring)” and “9/11 Fever!!!” are songs that could have probably been b-sides for this record. The first one is about a really bad experience the band had on a stop on tour with an unnamed band at a house show that took all the money made at the door. The second seems like it would have fit in more on the split with O Pioneers!!!, because it’s the only “political” song on the album and just does not seem to fit, but it does lead into one of the hardest songs to learn all the words too that Rosenstock has ever penned, “(Shut) Up the Punx!!!” This song is a total tongue twister. With Rosenstocks incoherent rapid delivery vocals, it makes me wonder how some people learn all the words to his songs. The song itself has all the best elements of a BTMI song though: featuring horns, an actual ska beat and crazy synthesizers all over the place. Plus, he’s dissing all those punk kids who ruin hotel parties.

Although an awesome song title “Can I Pay My Rent In Fun?” lacks any punch you’d expect from a BTMI song, but that’s all right because it ends rather quickly and you get to the two shining moments on the entire album “Saddr Weirdr” and “Sort of Like Being Pumped.” Despite everyone’s complaints of the original “Saddr Weirdr” demo being so much better than the album version, this song is perfect. The chorus, the verses, the instrumentation, and the lyrics are all perfect. If this album only came with 13 versions of this song, I would be content. Following in the tradition of awesome epic closing tracks “Sort of Like Being Pumped” follows through flawlessly. It too, like most of the album, has a rather depressing feel to it, but ends on an uplifting tone. The only slight problem with the song with some listeners might be the constant repetition of “I saw” over and over till the end of the song. Other than that, I have no complaints.

Scrambles has solidified itself as a contender for my top 10 of 2009 and will probably grace many lists with its presence. It is in a long line of solid releases from Mr. Rosenstock, who has not seemed to have lost any steam and hopefully we can see more great releases in the future while on his way to obtaining the utlitmate Mackayeism: Punk rock immortality. It’s a fact, look it up.


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