Search - Jackie-O Motherfucker :: Liberation

The slow and thoughtful dissection of contemporary music...

M. Harris | Los Angeles, CA United States | 03/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Why would anyone give this strange, obscure, and seemingly directionless pile of noise 5 stars? I challenge the world (all you amazon[.com] attendees adventurous enough to even get to this page) to find yourself this record and be, for lack of a more appropriate term, liberated. This liberation WILL NOT come quickly, efficiently, and will not come at all to the less-than-patient. Unlike much other music I find myself invested in, I do not expect many to enjoy this work. But the work of Jackie-O is absolutely vital to today's music scene, slowing crawling along and finding a voice by conversely choosing NOT to have a definitive approach.I consider myself an avant-garde listener, taking much from minimalistic composers, and yet the record's first track "Peace on Earth," frustrated me to no end at first. I did not understand the point of random drum hits, no cohesive guitar lines, and the generally unprogressive noises. But I realized it by sitting alone late at night: this was Cubist art in music form! This was taking apart even the most post of the post-rock genre, refusing to be attached to any kind of song structure, refusing EVERYTHING. This is liberation of all things contemporary, throwing off the shackles and bounds that rock music has always existed inside. "Something on your Mind" is a POP song...a pop song with muted vocals, dirty-threeish violin, and noises rising above both. Each track refuses all boundaries, and the results are staggering. These meanderings are not simply to be "respected but not enjoyed." The minute you learn to respect this music, you will immensely enjoy it as well. Jackie-O are, in my mind, the only TRULY challenging working band- they challenge the listener's concept of what rock/jazz/electronic/folk should sound like in the first place. This is a sound collage of everything in the last 50 years in music, and would you believe it is, in its own way, grander and more expansive than all of it?You will be frustrated, you will be confounded, and you will be freed."