AJJ ( Formerly Andrew Jackson Jihad) are a top-3 band for me and will remain so for the rest of my life. People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World, is a monumental album that has had a profound and lasting impact on me. It has been absorbed into many aspects of my life. The band is back to it’s dynamic duo roots of Sean Bonnette and Ben Gallant as they tour an unexpected 10th anniversary celebration of the LP.
AJJ like to joke that every new release of theirs takes the hate off their previous (as they seemingly get enraged fans stating that they’re straying too far from their early sound). It’s hard to imagine that being the case with their latest EP, Back To The Jazz Coffin.
I’ve often said that Sean is the most under-appreciated lyricist of recent times. The early output especially showcases raw,confessional, blunt lyrics sung with an unmatched earnestness. The lyrics often contained themes of addiction, social injustice, abandonment, shame, guilt, validation, self-destruction, and a masterful understanding of the human condition. AJJ offer some of the most beautifully rancid catharsis. The lyrics offer a release to something you didn’t know was burdening you, and although I’ve loved all of their releases, I’ve always found them most effective at this in the “early years” (don’t let that stop you from checking out The Bible 2 and Christmas Island, in which they get a bit more surreal and grand and still just as amazing, only for different reasons).
For me AJJ is a band that never fails to make me perspire, be it in a triumphant holler or an anxious cold-sweat of existential dread.
“Fuckboi”, the undeniably best track on the EP is AJJ at their most effective; confessional and unnerving. Sean shares a story of his past which bear emotions that can resonate with all listeners
“I shouldn’t taken out on you how I hated me so much. I don’t deserve the chance to say I’m sorry but I must, because I have to live with me, I have to live inside of me. I have to sleep in me, and so selfishly I hope- I hope you don’t remember that this happened. ”
I feel a release simply as a bystander to Sean’s confessions which is what made me fall in love with them in the first place.
Just another stellar release from the boys that deserves your time, long-time fan or not.
Shout out to runner up, KITTY KAT FAN CLUB
Scrawlings of a Naive Fanatic 