Review Summary: Even though your sound ranges from like, party butt-rock to industrial to like, black metal shit, it's still always Rabbit Junk -- Rabbit Junk Fan 2014
It has been nearly four years since JP Anderson last released a full album under the Rabbit Junk moniker, but the band has hardly been on hiatus. Rabbit Junk has released a steady stream of singles since then; singles that have displayed the band’s diverse range of styles – and doing things that way makes a lot of sense. JP Anderson’s range of influences have already caused the last two full albums to be split into three different stylistic/thematic sections each, so it was only a matter of time before he just started giving each song its own autonomous platform. After four years of singles, though, Rabbit Junk have finally returned with something a bit more substantial, the
Pop That Pretty Thirty EP.
Pop That Pretty Thirty opens with the pounding title track which features Jeniffer "Sum Grrl" Bernett delivering her signature abrasive flow. It’s a darker, heavier and more aggressive song than Rabbit Junk is really known for, but the crushing riff and shrill electronics make it rock. That heavy sound is carried over to the next track, ‘Precipice.’ JP Anderson resumes his vocal duties on the song, and delivers a chorus that will easily get stuck in your head. A lot of RJ songs are catchy, but the harmonization and vocal layering is definitely a step-up – and that main riff over an undulating electro pop undercurrent puts ‘Precipice’ in the top five Rabbit Junk songs ever. The third song, ‘IDONTGIVEAFUCK,’ returns to the upbeat, punky, electro-industrial the band is really known for and is another solid track. The final two tracks are a re-recording of ‘Crutch’ and a melding of ‘What Doesn’t Kill You Will Make You a Killer’ and ‘Pop That Pretty Thirty’. Both songs are good and are well worth listening to despite their being rehashed.
With as many influences as JP Anderson has pulling at his creative strings, Rabbit Junk may never make another full album again. It just seems to make more sense to release singles and EPs that can each have their own style/theme and then move on. That is what he has done here with
Pop That Pretty Thirty. These five songs are all similar enough to warrant being included together instead of as another four or five singles. What’s more, the first two tracks are definitely near the top of RJ’s discography with ‘IDONTGIVEAFUCK’ sitting comfortably in the middle. When you include that with the fact the band are letting you pay whatever you’d like, there’s no way you can go wrong with this EP.
Get the album here: http://glitchmoderecordings.bandcamp.com/album/pop-that-pretty-thirty
