Drive Like Jehu
Yank Crime (1994)
Now I know what you're nearly all thinking.
"Who the hell are Drive Like Jehu?"
You haven't heard of them for very good reason. The band only released two albums; a self-titled release in 1991, and this album, Yank Crime, in 1994. After that, they just.....stopped. No announced breakup, no big deal, they just didn't play anymore.
Of the members of the band, the best known is guitarist John Reis, also known as Speedo from the punk band Rocket from the Crypt (and, for those of you with kids, he's The Swami, host of the Super Music Friends Show on Yo Gabba Gabba). Wikipedia also informs me that lead singer Rick Froberg, who created the album artwork, has continued to play in other San Diego scene bands, as well as create merch and artwork for Reis's Swami Records.
And....that's all I can tell you.
Oh, they're post-hardcore apparently.
So this album was highly recommended to me by a mate (better be good, Les.) Let's find out about it.
The Album
Yank Crime is an unrelenting assault on the senses. Abrasive, squealing guitar riffs, sprinkled with the liberal use of feedback, are laid over a loose but talented as fuck rhythm section. Drummer Mark Trombino is an absolute beast, not only showing a talent for syncopated math rock unpredictability, but also for rapid-fire snare fills. The vocals are, for me, the only drawback to the group's musical stylings. Froberg is a screamer, first and foremost, and on the rare occasion that he tries to sing with more melody, his voice is quite weak. Having said that, the sheer fury and balls-out anger of the guitars and drums matches the frequent anguished, almost unintelligible screams well.
Standouts? Well, Do You Compute features as bitter and furious a lyric as you'll ever see. The guitars and bass are buzzy, dirty and as abrasive as sandpaper on sunburn. However, the dissonant guitar breakdown adds nuance and calms the mood somewhat, while remaining doom-laden and foreboding. The equally furious Luau encapsulates everything that the band seems to be about - squeaky, feedback-laden noise rock solos, those scratchy riffs and Froberg screaming an incitement to native Hawaiians to rise up and murder the tourists. Something else the band is about is constantly shifting the intensity. At the five minute mark, that frenzied chaos is replaced by a comparatively low-key bass and noodling guitar section. Gradually, though, the chaos is reintroduced, and the song finishes with some outstandingly innovative guitar playing.
Golden Brown compresses the Drive Like Jehu formula into three minutes, thanks to some of that rapid-fire machine-gun snare drum goodness, some tight rhythms and more of that demonic guitar sound. New Math is math rock in all its glory; perfectly structured chaos. To most it would sound horribly messed up but there's incredible precision in its rhythms. It's a full on audio assault from the first second, opening with possibly my favourite riff on the album; it's the most non-musical musical guitar riff I've heard in some time. Closing track Sinews is similar to Luau in its attention to constantly shifting intensity. A pared-back, slow start gives way to a mild increase in tempo (albeit accompanied by more squealing guitar, sounding as though Froberg and Reis are waterboarding their instruments for information). Then, suddenly, at the 6:40 mark, the song explodes; the rhythm section drive the song with great urgency, while there's some dissonant, heavy riffing over the top.
The word that could best describe this album, in my view, is raw. At times the playing is sloppy, there are a few occasions where drumbeats fall out of time or the guitarists seem to be making it up as they go. Yet that's part of the record's charm. This is rock and roll recorded Steve Albini style; just a band doing what they do live in the studio. A more polished production touch would have ruined the best part of this album; its honest, raw and powerful sound.
The Verdict
Fans of post-hardcore bands, such as At the Drive-In and Fugazi, will love this record (Cedric Bixler-Zavala himself said the San Diego post-hardcore sound, produced by bands like Drive Like Jehu, was deeply influential on ATDI). It does indeed contain elements that would be found on albums like Relationship of Command, even if that album was more melodic than Yank Crime.
Personally, I loved the group's complete disregard for traditional melody, instead focusing on creating a noise rock-style sound. That's not to say there aren't melodies, but they're usually dissonant and awkward. That aspect does make Yank Crime a tough listen at times, but it's worth sticking with.
A good album, but one only for lovers of aggressive guitar music.
My rating: *** and a half
Standout Tracks
New Math
Luau
Golden Brown
Tomorrow's album is going to be something a little more commercially acceptable. And probably not as good. But we'll see.
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