Dan Andriano in the Emergency Room - Hurricane Season

Ed. Note: This album has been out for nearly two months, so it's just going to be a brief write up. Chances are that if you're into this sort of thing, you already heard it.

I'm pretty sure I've gone on record that when it comes to Alkaline Trio I think that Matt Skiba writes the catchier songs, but Dan Andriano writes the more interesting, and to some extent, better, songs. So you can imagine my excitement when Dan Andriano announced that he was finally releasing a solo album (especially since he started playing solo as the Emergency Room about two or three years ago).

While the album has its fair share of dreary and sad sounding songs, as one might expect from the Alkaline Trio co-vocalist, but it also takes several twists turns that will catch a listener off guard if they're expecting reworked Alkaline Trio b-sides or acoustic folk songs. Unlike some of his peers who have gone the 100% folk route (coughChuckRagancough), Dan Andriano's solo debut is in the same vein as Dave Hause's Resolutions, released earlier this year. This means expanded instrumentation throughout most of the songs as well as the exploring of genres instead of being stuck to just one. Some songs do follow the typical "man-with-a-guitar" structure, other tracks are filled with a completely line up- drums, electric guitar, keys, organs and so on.

Whereas Andriano's previous work showed off his skills as a latter-day emo/punk rocker (except for maybe Slapstick), the songs on Hurricane Season show off his skill as a singer-songwriter in the vein of Bruce Springsteen (because not enough punks are doing that these days) and Ryan Adams. It's too early to tell if he'll also have a backing band* that will be credited on future albums like the aforementioned artists, but if you ask me Hurricane Season is a good a place as any to begin.

*perhaps said band will be known as The Emergency Room

Samiam - Trips

I've always been kind of a casual Samiam fan. I guess a part of it stems from the fact that I've only really been listening to them for two years and they've been mostly inactive until late 2010. But even then it's not often that I've found myself listening to an entire album by them. I'll usually start one but then skip around to the songs I like. Or I'll have to go somewhere or I'll have a sudden urge to listen to something else.

My point is that I'm not a die hard fan of them the same way I am about Green Day or Isocracy.

There's something about this album that's changed things for me because I really like it a lot. The general composition of the songs are no different than the last few albums but the production is nice and crisp which can make the biggest difference sometimes. Whatever's Got You Down had some great songs but it sounded pretty muddy at times and I think that's one of the biggest improvements that Trips makes. Maybe I'm just paying more attention to this album than I have with previous ones, but the songs are also catchier with more obvious hooks and "woahs" right out in the open instead of being hidden underneath layers of musicianship (not that the band's musicianship has ever been poor, quite the opposite, but it seems as if this time around the band went in with a different approach and focusing more on melodic sing-along songs than intricate playing).To make an analogy that might help sum up what I mean, Trips is to Samiam as Caution is to Hot Water Music: All the staple elements are there, but the production is cleaner and the songs are definitely "poppier" in comparison. To see what I mean by "poppier" take a listen to Clean Up the Mess or Crew of One and you'll probably have a better understanding.

The album's highlight is definitely El Dorado (misspelled as "El Dofando" on YouTube thanks to an early [pirated] leak). The drums and bass lay down a smoother and nicer atmosphere although the vocal delivery combined with the lead guitar create an intensity not found on other tracks. It may not be another "Capsized" or "Dull" but I think that it still holds up on its own.

Gainesville-esque is a term I've seen thrown around to sometimes describe a band's sound. I don't know if it's appropriate to use for Samiam. Probably not since they're from California. But Samiam is definitely up there alongside bands such as Hot Water Music and Small Brown Bike for consistently churning out albums that tend to be overlooked by the mainstream but continue to have a huge underground following. I may be one of Samiam's newer fans, but I think that Trips is a welcome addition to their discography.


Lastly, sometimes I think that Jason Beebout sounds like Dave Grohl. Not a bad thing- just sayin'.

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Knife Man

There are a few things you need to know about Andrew Jackson Jihad if you don't know them already:

1. Although they're an acoustic duo at their core, their albums often feature other instruments such as drums, kazoos and accordions. This means even if you see them play a song live, that doesn't mean it will sound exactly like that whenever they get around to recording it.

2. They like to use a lot of morbid and hyper-sarcastic imagery. Like, almost excessively. To the point where people sometimes either miss the sarcasm and get offended, or just plain get offended. They don't do this with every song, but they do it more often than not.

3. Given their acoustic status and their association with Asian Man Records, they're often referred to as a folk punk band. I think they take it so much further than that though. If anything, Modern Americana would do it, but they experiment with traditional folk sounds, some jazzy stuff, some bluesy noises and even straight up rock songs. Especially with each new album as they add in new sounds.

Now that you are armed with this knowledge, you're ready to listen to Andrew Jackson Jihad. Knife Man continues the expansion of sounds from Can't Maintain, but I find that it in terms of lyrics the album finds a nice balance of the "finding the beauty in ugly things" from Can't Maintain and the "in-your-face anti-PCness" of Cap Guns & Candy Cigarettes and People Who Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World.

In other words, this is essentially the ultimate Andrew Jackson Jihad album. I still recommend all of them, but this might be the best place for a beginner to start to get a full scope of what the band is all about.


Also, this is the best song ever:

American Tune 

Just listen to the lyrics and you'll understand the second

thing that I said that you should know about them.