Review Summary: What have you done.
On Wednesday, July 3 at 12:28 AM EST,
Jeromes Dream sent out a collection of seven raw guitar demos in anticipation of their upcoming LP, their first official release since 2001's "Presents." Not two days later, a seven-track release entitled "x" began to make its rounds on the internet, mischievously under the name
Jerome Dreams, with song titles invoking a certain Facebook comment. Looking through the Bandcamp page, it's clear that there's a lot to unpack here.
Five of these seven tracks are, for all intents and purposes, sped up, shortened, and re-amplified iterations of the seven demos that were played by Erik Ratensperger, drummer of Jeromes Dream, and made public by the band itself. Hastily attached are some programmed drums (mere shades away from stock Superior Drummer sounds), simple but intentional bass lines, and some wordless (or otherwise incomprehensible) screamed vocals. The fifth track dispenses with drums, bass, and vocals-- listening to the original demo reveals that it is not exceptionally different from the Jerome Dreams adaptation, and provides a slow, simple repeating melody. Halfway through the track, a digitally annihilated sample from the intro to pg.99's "In Love With An Apparition" makes an appearance. The demo version of the seventh track is much like that of the fifth track-- a repetition of a slow guitar melody for about a minute or so. On "x" however, Ratensperger's original guitar track is cut short by a pitch shifted version of the entirety of "Silver" by Jesu, which slowly devolves into a distorted mess over the duration of the track.
The whole Bandcamp page is an enormous middle finger to Jeromes Dream, who have provoked the ire of tens of nerds on the internet by crowdfunding over $15,000 for their new record. There are plenty of better places to read up on the specifics of this controversy (though this Acclaim article from 2012 gives a fascinating insight into the activities of Erik in particular since the initial break-up https://acclaimmag.com/style/hem-sew-erik-ratensperger-of-mishka-nyc/ ), but it is important to understand that people on the Internet were Angry. And when someone gets Angry on the Internet, they *checks notes* make parody music using material distributed by the band that is being parodied. Apparently.
Jerome Dreams is the work of individual(s) clearly adept at what they do. "x" was conceived, structured, and executed in under two days (maybe even less time, who knows). It's not an exceptionally detailed work, and clearly not much time was put into polishing these tracks. I could surely sit here and nitpick about the mix all day, but I feel like that would be missing the point. "x" seems to channel all of the frustrations that the creator(s) had with pretty much every part of the release of Jeromes Dream's LP. As of the writing of this review, twenty nine viewers preferred to listen to the Youtube video for "Cataracts So Far" at 1.25 or 1.5 times the speed. Jerome Dreams therefore sped up every demo at least that amount. Search for any review of the LP and regardless of the score, there will be some comment about the quality of the vocals. Jerome Dreams dispensed entirely with any vocal style that Jeromes Dream was previously known for and substituted grating, angsty screams. The minimalist painting of highways and landplots used as Jeromes Dream's album artwork is derided by Jerome Dreams' MS Paint imitation. At the bottom of the Pandcamp page are the only written statements from the creator(s), coyly demanding $15,000 and then immediately providing a free Mediafire download link in case Bandcamp downloads come out.
"x" brims with a level of spite that I do not think I have ever seen in the Spotify/Bandcamp/Facebook era of music dissemination, and listeners have responded to it in kind. One listener deems it as the work of "some 20-something zoomers who can't get their records released by less than 5 co-releasing labels doing dumb zoomer ***." Another writes "lol very 'punk'." Yet another writes "can't stand this kind of screamo anymore but I admire how ironic this is though." It's impossible to see just how many people have heard the record since it cannot be paid for on Bandcamp, but considering how many reactions were found after a cursory Google search and ten minutes of web browsing, it seemed to have touched the community that it was involved in fairly broadly.
So why, reader, have I decided to waste my time on this record that I think is "pretty good" on its own? Why have I spent hours digging through the internet, poring over Bandcamp pages and forum archives full of insufferable nerds? What struck me so deeply about this record that, two months later, I'm writing and uploading this review?
"x," to me, is a statement about the boredom and ennui of punk rock. Jeromes Dream is not the first "classic" late-90s/early-2000s band to release a reunion record, and they will certainly not be the last. Yet the Jeromes Dream LP seems to encapsulate the feelings that I, and perhaps Jerome Dreams had about the vulnerabilty of creating music. Had Jeromes Dream paid for their own release process and surprised the world with the exact same record without saying a word, "x" would never have happened. There would have been nothing to be angry about, other than maybe a disappointing record. However, that is not the reality we saw. Jeromes Dream were fighting an uphill battle the minute they announced a reunion, with many immediately doubting the creative output of a perhaps aging group of men. Is it any wonder that these very people would latch onto any chance to confirm their suspicions? With each email and video update, Jeromes Dream drew the ire of fans who were obviously passionate about the music, but who were weary. We have seen polarized reactions to the reunion records by Refused, At The Drive-In, Daughters, and more-- how optimistic could one be about yet another reunion?
The musicians(s) behind Jerome Dreams clearly have a great love and literacy for the style they represented on "x." Most of the original demos contained one to three distinct riffs, mere ideas. Yet they were able to take these small kernels of music and develop them into more fully realized (if not short) songs that were relatable to an audience that could parse them. No one who truly hated Jeromes Dream and what they represented to their broader audience would have even bothered to listen to the demos themselves, and in a very roundabout and backhanded way "x" is almost a tribute to Jeromes Dream, or perhaps an idealized Jeromes Dream. There are flashes of creative genius-- a spicy drum fill here, a hard hitting transition there-- that are lovingly and intentionally rendered. Without any context whatsoever, this would be a fine EP that would probably have gained a modest following. "x" is not without its inherent bitterness, however; on the fifth track, a digitally annihilated sample of pg.99's classic intro to "In Love With An Apparition" plays towards the end. Kurt Cobain's somber statement of "punk rock should mean freedom" seems shaded by the aggressive pitch correction and time stretching, and his words seem tired, mocking almost. Punk rock should mean freedom, but what at what cost?
In the end, "x" presents an interesting idea, or at least one interesting enough that it's wasted this much of my own time. Jerome Dreams goes out of its way to kill its hero with the the weapon that was handed to it by the dead man himself. It presents a conflict between the beloved historically impactful art and its place in a world that has iterated it to death. It represents the difficulty of creating legitimately compelling music to an audience that refuses to hear it. It has a [BASSBOOSTED NIGHTCORE] version of a Jesu song. This nonsense is modern internet culture taken to its extreme, and deserves examination.
I'm gonna go outside now.
