Heretic Pride

Saw Justice in 2009, two years ago this month, actually. It was the absolute best weekend of my life when it happened and nothing could have ever compared. It’s still up there for happiest moments, but there have also been some other additions. 

Cross was released in 2007 and I didn’t really get my hands on it until early ‘09. I watched A Cross the Universe, the one hour documentary about Justice on the road, and also devoured the live soundtrack to that documentary. A Cross the Universe made me realize just how much I wanted to see this group live, and how talented they were when they didn’t have to put all their work into the confines of specific tracks, times, and marketability. 

The new album is nice. It’s no Cross, but then again, nothing is. And also, it shouldn’t have to be Cross. It’s a very different sound, almost held back, really, and it has a lot of thin layers that sort of lie on top of one another to create a sort of restricted sound. Cross had a lot of crunching and grinding, but it also had a lot of solid, full, bright arrangements like D.A.N.C.E. and The Party. Audio, Video, Disco is lacking the bass-heavy gears of Cross, and because of that, it sounds very treble heavy, but it’s never overbearing. Even Civilization, the heaviest song, is still pumping away at a very thin register. The title track is great. 

Either way, I love Justice, and I’m glad to see they’re moving in a different direction, away from the party/rave scene, and it’ll be nice to see what they offer again in… shit, four years? Yeah. 

Could be worse, could be like waiting for Sufjan to come back to earth and touch base with humanity. That can take anywhere from four weeks to five years. Or Of Montreal, which it seems wants to release whatever the hell it can every few months now. I still buy and listen to them because I have to because at least a few minutes of each new album are absolutely beautiful, but those moments are getting harder to find and Kevin Barnes is getting weirder and weirder without much more substance.