J. Robbins - Basilisk LP

Dischord (2024)

I was later to the J. Robbins party than most.  I never listened to Jawbox in the 90s or Burning Airlines in the early 2000s.  It was my wife who eventually showed me the error of my ways and put all of this incredible music in front of me.  I've been trying to devour as much of it as possible since then and have been adding his various bands' records to our collection over the years.

Basilisk is the second J. Robbins solo record, following up on 2019's Un-Becoming.  Chances are that if you've been following J. Robbins career and have enjoyed the various other bands he's been a part of (Jawbox, Burning Airlines, Channels, Office of Future Plans) there's probably a pretty good chance you will also like this new album of his.

Not that I have the most discerning ears in the world, but for my money these J. Robbins solo records are right up their with any of the other releases he's been a part of.  It's the same sort of angular, but familiar guitar work that constantly sneaks incredible hooks into songs that don't seem like the sort to house that sort of thing.  

There's keyboard and synth usage here and there, but it's so well done and isn't chasing any 80s pop throwback bullshit.  They actually enhance the songs, rather than work as a gimmicky sound effect thrown in just for the sake of it.  The vocals always have melodies that carry the songs and always seem to get lodged in my head after a few listens.  Basilisk is such a satisfying listen.  I think I appreciate J. Robbins much more now that I'm older and this is another record that sits right in the pocket of the sort of thing I want to listen to these days.

J. Robbins - Basilisk:
https://jrobbins.bandcamp.com/album/basilisk

J. Robbins - Un-Becoming LP

Dischord (2019)

I discovered the world of J. Robbins much later than most other folks my age.  I was very lucky that Jawbox was one of my wife's favorite bands, so that inspired me to give them another listed after I had pretty much written them off in the 90s.  The fact that I ended up liking Jawbox as much as I did led me to digging into other bands like Burning Airlines and Channels. With a body of work as large as Robbins has, it's difficult to talk about his newest release without calling back to prior triumphs.

The good news is that if you have liked J. Robbins other bands, there's essentially no way you won't also love Un-Becoming.  As a whole, I find that it leans to the catchier side of his previous bands.  Song like "Anodyne" and "Abandoned Mansions" seem like they could probably have fit in with Burning Airlines pretty easily.  But, Un-Becoming still has plenty of moments where Robbins takes detours into songs significantly less straight forward,

"Our Own Devices" is built off of a guitar riff that is frankly kind of bizarre, but the rest of the song coalesces around it making it one of the best songs on the album.  "Kintsugi" is a sort-of electronic soundscape that pops up at the end of side one.  While I don't really like it that much as a standalone song, it makes sense within the context of the album and allows for a chance to catch your breath before diving into the second half of the record.

Chances are, if you like Jawbox or Burning Airlines, you probably have this record already if you know that it came out.  But if you're not familiar, this would be a pretty decent starting point to get a well rounded look at the styles of songs J Robbins is a master at creating.

J. Robbins - Un-Becoming:
https://jrobbins.bandcamp.com/album/un-becoming

Jawbox - S/T LP

Dischord /DeSoto (2015, Reissue)

Since I was already in the reissue state of mind with yesterday's Built To Spill LP, I figured I would keep that going today with the new reissue of the final Jawbox album.  The big difference between yesterday and today is that with Built To Spill, I was writing about an album that I had 20 years of history with and had listened to hundreds of times.  Jawbox, on the other hand, is a band I completely missed out on the first time around and have only started picking up their records over the past couple of years.

The good news about getting into Jawbox right now is that most of their albums have recently been reissued.  This S/T final album of theirs was the last one I needed.  I'll still be on the hunt for some 7"s, as I want to complete the collection, but I do have all of their full lengths on vinyl now.  I'm not sure what the perception of this record was when it originally had been released.  I don't remember it being as big of a deal as some of their prior albums, but again, I couldn't say I was paying very close attention back then.  

What I can say is that this is a pretty stellar record.  The one thing I didn't know back in the 90's and the thing that I still don't think Jawbox gets enough credit for is how catchy some of their songs can be.  Even though their music is complex, with lots of interesting shifts and chord progressions, they manage to sneak in some of the catchiest hooks into their choruses.  All you need to do is look to songs like "His Only Trade," "Excandescent" or "Mirrorful."  While decidedly more complex than your run of the mill poppy punk song, you can argue that they're every bit as catchy the moment the chorus blasts off.  It's a remarkable show of songwriting talent and it's really what keeps me coming back to these records.

Hopefully you were paying more attention than me and already know how great Jawbox is, but if not, you can grab just about all of their records on the cheap now.  Too me, they seem like the sort of albums that should be n everyone's collection.

Jawbox - "Mirrorful":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXuIQa9uzpg

Jawbox - "Excandescent":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09_TEOIXaeU