The Jealous Type - Blame Everyone But You
(Engine of Reason)
Rock and Roll Attitude. Yeah, who doesn't love it? I mean, come on... all the great bands have it. No, really. They all do. I mean, Rock and Roll Attitude. But they've got to be able to segue into the quiet, angst-ridden emotional side as well. Oh yeah.
Actually, I'm just fooling around. I don't love that Rock and Roll Attitude... in fact, I find it to be kind of smarmy and annoying. Certain people carry it with a grace that makes it loveable (even though I'm kind of soured by him, Jon Spencer, as well as Stephen Malkmus, John Lennon, and several others). But, more often than not, Rock and Roll Attitude is something that undoubtedly puts a negative spin on the music.
Where do Michigan's The Jealous Type fit in with all of this pedantic posturing about Rock and Roll Attitude? Well, I'll tell you: lead guy Damon Palyka infuses so much of his lyrical delivery with annoyingly growled attitude that he comes off sounding a little worse than the guy who fronts Creed... you know who I mean... "with arms wide open"... that guy. Anyway, Damon does not help his band by putting his vocals completely up in the mix, making each track sound essentially the same. The biggest difference between one track and the other is that one will "Rock" while the other will "Soothe." Archetypes, yeah!
Worse than this is the production. Everything is muddy. I mean, everything. And not in a purposely lo-fi bedroom pop kind of way. More like in that, "hey guys, we have $500, let's record an album!" kind of way. Whoever produced this needs to take some lessons... either that, or just stop producing. Or something.
Quite frankly, I don't know what to say about this record that hasn't already been said... pointless, annoying, and not to be bothered with. Avoid it unless you want indie rock's answer to Creed.
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