Jawbox
Novelty

THE REVIEW

Washington District of Columbia, (amazing) year of grace: ninety-two.
Jawbox: classic rock-quartet (in form, not in content) composed of double guitar (one of which, vocals), bass (presided over by the feminine Kim Coletta) and drums; one of the most agile, intriguing, intelligent realities to emerge from the rich Dischordian cauldron of those years.
Musically akin to the vast indie/punk array of stars and stripes, driven by former members of undeniable U.S. underground realities, such as the dissolved Government Issue, they were among the few and happy precursors (Nation Of Ulysses and the phenomenal Shudder To Think preceded them by just a few months) to be able to lucidly hypothesize and coherently put into musical practice one of the most credible and possibly intriguing "escape routes" within a well-defined sound undergoing continuous and (in)complete transformation/mutation (sometimes fossilization) such as that of Post-Punk/Hc.

A basic sound/structure always vigorous, sharp, similar to Helmet (Strap it On-period...) yet wonderfully and non-sickeningly (this, the real miracle) POP (in a transversal sense, of course): highly recognizable and unexpectedly engaging vocal lines, often enjoyable and graceful (for the non-genre, obviously). The initial triad appears undoubtedly, in a wonderful sense, as absolutely panic-inducing: “Cutoff”, composed of nervous/sprightly guitar work vortexly/insistently circular and of agile yet bristly vocal lines (almost wanting to draw a contiguous trait-d-union with the material contained in its predecessor and absolute debut, “Grippe”, year 1990), proclaims the programmatic instance of the new Jawboxian course. Following is the lightning “Tracking” and the subsequent “Dreamless” which configure, in a no-room-for-doubt way, the melodefficient/aggressive coordinates of the work examined: unyieldingly bristly rhythm section, but never monolithic, non-paroxysmal rhythms, deliberately "moderate," unsuspected rhythmic harmonies and timbral solutions (in the humble opinion of the writer) elegantly post-Fugazianly flowing. Notable sound fragments worthy of mention (turning the crumbling vinyl...) seem to be the short and nimble “Chump”, and the subsequent “Send Down”, quite ruinously and almost apocalyptically direct (yet successful), and tendentially reminiscent of the first cries (akin to the Government Issue school), of the Jawboxian sonic happy adventure.

"Novelty" (minor, but still novelty) unknown to most, yet dense with fundamental audio-requirements to learn (in hindsight) the "progressive" instances of the vivid Washingtonian sound, and consequently of the fertile/dense (and sometimes, in hindsight, ignoble) overground scenery established in the years to follow.