Phew. Boy have I got my work cut out for me here. The first Joan of Arc review on the site so happens to be their most collaborative and, as a consequence, their least cohesive release.
[For those of y'all that don't know, here's a brief history: Cap'n Jazz is the group where singer/guitarist Tim Kinsella and bassist Sam Zurick got started. The sound was a fun, rollicking sort of raw dadaist pop punk, that eventually produced a highly praised one disc collection titled Analpabetapolothology (Jade Tree). If you enjoy bands like Jawbreaker and Lync, you might wanna check this CD out. After Cap'n Jazz, half went on to form emo whiners The Promise Ring while the others went in a more adventurous direction with Joan of Arc. The first two JOA albums are slightly tweaked, but for the most part fairly unthreatening emo-ish rock stuff. Next came Live in Chicago 1999. Critic's rightfully trashed this album's self-indulgent leanings, but I've found some exquisite gems here. This is the album that made this reviewer look past the scratchy annoyingness of Kinsella's vocals and into their uncanny ear for unconventionally infectious rhythms and melodies. Check out "When the Parish School Dismisses and the Children Running Sing" or "If It Feels/Good, Do It" to see what I mean. Then came The Gap (okay, this crap is pretty hard to listen to) and So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness (jeez, at least The Gap was kinda interesting at times. This is some boring, depressing music.) and we're up to speed save a few EPs and side projects.]
That took longer than I'd hoped. Anyhow, here we have Joan of Arc joining forces with members of Califone, Chicago Underground Duo, and 90 Day Men. If you didn't like them before, you still won't like them. Kinsella's voice is as raw and unrestrained as ever, and he is still playing the arty, pretentious twat. Now, don't get me wrong. I have something of an affinity for artyness so long as it's not too conscious of itself or without some conventional accessibility to balance it out. Something like This Heat or Fly Pan Am. As a consequence I have a confounding love/hate relationship with these songs. My favorite track is "Barge", even though it's basically a Hood song. But I like Hood, so whatever. The scattershot quality of this album reflects the cut and paste manner in which it was put together (with So Much Staying Alive... outtakes). The Bauhaus anecdote (he'd heard the band's Sky's Gone Out lp at age ten and was profoundly disturbed by it) that the bassist claims inspired the title-track is unfortunately the most intriguing thing about the track.
"Sing the Scarecrow Song" and "Gang Language" unfortunately contain the same stale dirge-like melodic structure with little to no alleviation. I almost find his voice more annoying when he sings low like he does on these songs. "That Radiant Morning" is an interesting (mercifully) little instrumental nugget with some field recorded folk music fading in and out of a piercing drone. I frequently find myself defending weird-for-weird's-sake exercises due to an insistent absurdist sensibility within me. "Happy 1984 and 2001" makes me sincerely regret having this sensibility. It's like performance art at it's worst, with Kinsella listing off all random things shadow (but ultimately Shadow Government). I realize it might not reflect well on me to quote a film version of Hitler here, but as Max's incarnation of the man quipped, what are you Kinsella, some kind of intellectual wet fart?
Joan of Arc is not totally condemnable. They have some truly original and enjoyable music in their catalogue. It's just that with these last two releases, the gems have grown scarcer. They could have a notable best of collection on their hands some day. Till then I might suggest Friend/Enemy. It's a Kinsella side-project with some of the same people on this recording. It's a little more cohesive and mercifully shorter. Or just look forward to experiments more deserving of your patience.
As for the title of this album, I'd like to politely ask Mr. Kinsella to suck a fart out of my asshole.
1. Sing the Scarecrow Song
2. Happy 1984 and 2001
3. Excitement Is Exciting
4. Barge
5. Gang Language
6. Moonlighting
7. Dinosaur Constellations, Pt. 1
8. Them Brainwash Days
9. Dinosaur Constellations, Pt. 2
10. No Corporate News Is Good News
11. That Radiant Morning
12. Them Heartache Nights
13. Dinosaur Constellations, Pt. 3
14. In Rape Fantasy and Terror Sex We Trust
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