Good Luck Everybody – AJJ
★ ★
AJJ, formerly known as Andrew Jackson Jihad, have never exactly been strangers to mixing politics into their music, as their previous name would imply. Albums like 2011’s Knife Man were captivating with their raw honesty and clever lyricism, but with their latest effort, Good Luck Everybody, they unfortunately lose the infectious charm of past releases with ham-fisted, defeatist messaging.
‘Mega Guillotine 2020’ is an almost lullaby-esque aside, a humorous contrast to the accompanying video where caricatures of billionaires are positioned under a comically large guillotine. This light-hearted yet sincere flirting with revolutionary imagery is betrayed by the more trite politics that begin to peek through in later songs. ‘Psychic Warfare’ sounds like Coldplay if they had decided to make a career out of obsessively replying to Trump tweets – “for all the pussies you grab, and children you lock up in prison”. There is no fresh criticism offered in these songs, but rather stale repetitions of points reiterated time and again. It even finds time to pander to the anti-technology crowd on ‘Normalization Blues’ – “they make us fight each other with our faces buried deep inside our phones”. In the rich history of left-leaning punk, Good Luck Everybody barely registers as a footnote.
Matthew Derwin – Music Editor
