Review Summary: LP4?
There is
something about the directness of the references that constitute the flesh, bones and vital organs of Captain Jazz (not that one) and I don’t know what that
something is!!! The headline: terminally online emo project proudly dons Kinsella memorabilia and rides coattails to hell and back. Oddly, it doesn’t share substantively in aesthetic; this is dirty emoviolence plus post-hardcore first, fifth-wave eclecticism second, and
Cap’n Jazz cum
American Football worship
never. Perhaps the intent was to depict the seemingly endless death-rebirth cycle of a genre well on its way to a 6th iteration, setting
the house and associated memories ablaze, though that would seem to overcomplicate the blatant goodwill-suckling such a move entails - why else did you click on this review, but for the nostalgia practically dripping off of that cover art? The fake jazz captain’s Bandcamp page makes light of this bait and switch -
“this isn't cap'n jazz. obviously. this is like cooler and way more underground/lofi ... you wouldnt get it” - but I’m not sure if that makes things better or worse. The lines of inspiration, imitation, parody and plagiarism blur and buckle; insert
hbomberguy intro here.
Plot twist: this slab of angsty thievedom is actually quite good! There’s a bouncy roughness to it all, youth crackling and hot, tablecloths yanked out left right here there, metallic PxHxCx cascading, into the diy and cri, vocals deafening, drum cannons urgent, guitar-music spectacle - uh - spectacular. Please pet the depressed chameleon on your way out, though, for that wave five
lol so random thing is very much the nougat-y center here: via breaks pit-pats (There’s No Gold, Is There?), noisecore sewage (Trace the Line), pop punk anthems (0x) and literal
100 gecs copypasta (Microphones 3030) no I am
not joking. The latter ties us back to para one’s conflicted rant re creative faux pas: there is a line where sampling becomes literally playing someone else’s song, which is exactly what happens here, the group chopping up and spitting out “money machine” with pitch-shifts, fuzz and trap-rap stanzas pinched from a SOUL GLO song (is it just a shitting cover montage i am so confused?!?).
Again, this is no haphazard oopsie. Referentiality and homage is intentionally baked into Captain Jazz’s DNA - see also tunes “Oh Sussy Life”, “The World is a Marketable Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Sell”, and “Nickelback Photograph” - and certainly lends these tunes the fragrant whiff of
internet, but the points scored are for charm, not originality. It remains mostly palatable, I think, specifically because it smacks of a dumb and giddy love for the genre, rather than of targeted malice; of an attachment to silly things and zoomer humor. It also, necessarily, kneecaps itself along the axis of authenticity. I find myself struggling to connect with the tunes here, beyond the surface, when doubts re intention and sincerity hang so heavily, thickly, overtly over everything. It’s a shame, given the songcraft here is, otherwise, so viscous and full: the gorgeous ratcheting cacophony of “Minecraft Creeper Tutorial”, ascending metallic-melodic magic on “Trace the Line” and genuinely affecting energy that radiates, everywhere, everywhere.
“Creation as a disease.”
“The inability to emote outside of performance.”
“Rare splatter variants of cease & desist letters.”
“12 new fifth wave emo songlets perfect for TikTok chocolate peach challenge videos”
Is it a shame, though? I guess, more than anything, that
something is a morbid fascination, that I have, with, this, album. I, personally, have not encountered a record this polished, well-realized and all around GOOD that engages in such heavy-handed, unfazed and untactful brand pinching. Its identity is loose, spread like butter across an entire musical subculture, contingent. If the makers of this hodgepodge are reading this sentence (
henlo) would you like a cup of tea I would be interested in discussing the process behind these paint splatters. I am (not) sure I (don’t) get it.
