ARTiST: Jakobinarina
TiTLE: The First Crusade
LABEL: Regal/SonyBMG
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 37:26 min
SiZE: 60,4 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Sep-07-2007
RELEASE DATE: Oct-01-2007
WEBSiTE: www.jakobinarina.com
Track List:
01. Monday I'm In Vain 03:04
02. His Lyrics Are Disastrous 02:17
03. 17 02:43
04. Jesus 02:46
05. Call For Advice 04:13
06. End Of Transmission No. 6 01:32
07. Sleeping In Seattle 02:24
08. (I've Got A Date With) My Television 02:51
09. This Is An Advertisement 04:01
10. I'm A Villain 02:58
11. Nice Guys Don't Play Good Music 03:08
12. Spit Me In The Eye 05:29
Release Notes:
Teenagers, hey? Always bloody moaning. Ooooh, I have
to work a crappy job. Ooooh, it's not much fun.
Ooooh, let's write some music about how rubbish
everything is. However, unlike the Enemy who are
essentially really shit, Jakobinarina, a group of
self described ôIcelandic adolescent wastrelsö craft
glorious punky indie numbers. Shouty choruses echo
out as, like all good youth rebels, they rail
against everybody else for being rubbish, their
lives as well as the old teenage perennial favourite
of escaping small town humdrum tedium.
'Jesus' encompasses this perfectly, full of
admirable condescension to all with the refrain of
"jump around to the sound of mediocrity." Their
peers are dismissed with Jakobinarina deciding some
people are just destined and deserving of boring
desk jobs. Not for them, however. Certainly not
based on the strength of melody and the goddamn
catchiness of what's to be found on 'The First
Crusade.' Coming over like the Hives let loose in
the sweetshop, they're all pop melodies and whip
snap quick guitar riffs mixed into a gorgeous mush.
The song titles themselves demonstrate the bands'
all encompassing worldview. 'Monday I'm In Vain,'
'His Lyrics Are Disastrous' and 'Nice Guys Don't
Play Good Music' all show the verve, wit and panache
that is entwined into the cracking little ditties
found on the debut of Iceland's new favourite sons.
Lead singer Gunnar sounds like he'd strangle his nan
to get out of the Reykjavik 'burbs he's emerged
from. On '(I've Got A Date With) My Television' he
pronounces that he would change their beautiful
moniker to ôthe Coca Cola Band/ just to get our
pockets filled.ö Getting rid of that good a scrabble
score?
If Jakobinarina don't escape the mundanity that they
desperately evade like it's a leprosy ridden tramp
then the record buying public deserve purgatory in a
call centre hell. ôIt's Monday and I'm in vain/
Stuck in the mundaneö is the opening couplet of the
album, and not a more concise summation of it can be
found.