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I mentioned this album in my review of The Appleseed Cast's show about a week ago, and I'm not kidding when I say that it is one of my favorite albums. Call me lame all you want, but this album is definitely the standard that I hold all female vocalists to. Jenny Lewis has a great voice, and I think it really shines on this album, more than her solo work or other Rilo Kiley albums, because she offers such a varied range. She fits the slower acoustic songs while still being able to shout her way above the din in the louder songs. This brings me to another bit I love about this record. The instruments work. The drums work. The guitars work. The bass works. Every instrument knows its place and is perfectly happy to be there and not steal the show. This causes the album to, quite simply, work. Sing-along songs like 'With Arms Outstretched' (this song is one of my favorite songs ever, by the way) contrast well with the moments in songs like 'Spectacular Views' where the band goes into full rock-out mode. All in all, while not a perfect album (the sequences about Jenny's childhood in Alaska at the end of some tracks can be annoying), The Execution of All Things comes pretty close and provides a good standard for female vocalists, instrumental cohesion, and indie-alt-country-rock hyphenated genre albums in general.
Over the years, many scholars (read: Internet dudes) have debated long and hard over what Jawbreaker's best album was. Being a 90s punk band, this question is of the utmost importance. After all the debates have raged for years, after all the evidence has been presented, after all the little intricacies have been listened to, these scholars were ready to present their pick for Best Jawbreaker Album. Right before they were about to announce the decision, I decided that I simply didn't care (this being the internet and all) and picked, for myself, Bivouac. Bivouac is Jawbreaker's second album, and it's the album that took me the longest to get into. This proved to be well worth the effort, however. Starting out listening to the pop-punk-flavored 'Chesterfield King', I eventually moved onto 'Shield Your Eyes'. I was fully content listening to these two songs for a while, but then I heard talk of 'Tour Song'. Eager to check it out for myself, I listened, and fell in love with the song. After 'Tour Song', the band launches into another high-energy song ('You Don't Know...', a Joan Jett cover). 'You Don't Know...' is followed by 'Pack It Up', a song that deals with the band's back catalog, and 'Parabola', which the band called their "angry song". The final song on the album is what I consider to be one of the best songs ever written. 'Bivouac' doesn't start out seeming like much, but over the course of the song, it builds on itself, eventually reaching the climax where singer and guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach screams 'BIVOUAC!' and the band launches into what can almost be described as a dirge. Powerful blasts of noise attack the listener from all sides, and the band pours everything they have into these last few minutes. However, everything I've said is moot if you remember what I said earlier ("this being the internet and all"), and the only way to really experience the glory of this album for yourself is to download it.
