Andrew Jackson Jihad formed as a folk punk duo in 2004, playing in Phoenix, Arizona. Sean
Bonnette is the yelpy singer and guitarist who clearly saw "Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas" as a
musical bible. Their bassist Ben Gallaty played a stand up bass. Everything about this band is
taken directly from that band, and I'd recommend them much more. Upon their first album release,
they were no longer a two piece, getting a drummer. Candy Cigarettes & Cap Guns (2005)
was a janky punk album, with some instrumental similarities to the Violent Femmes self titled, and a
lot of offensive lyrics. This is their most aggressive release to date. Their next album
People That Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World (2007) is their most popular record,
and sends their sound into an indie rock direction. There's a lot of great instrumentation, it's
a short album and has an extremely consistent tracklist, some highlights are Randy's House,
Bells & Whistles, A Song Dedicated to the Memory of Stormy the Rabbit, and People II: The Reckoning.
I see their next release Can't Maintain (2009) as a transitional period from their acoustic heavy era to a
lot more electric instrumentation. It's yet another very short record, with even more eclectic production.
It loses a lot of the magic of the last record, which was very raw sounding and had a relaxed DIY feel,
where on this follow-up, there's a lot cleaner production and way more intimate and personal vocal performances.
Some notable tracks are White Face Black Eyes, Love in the Time of Human Papillomavirus, and
Who Are You. Their next album, Knife Man (2011) is immersing the band in way more hardcore punk performances,
with various songwriting styles. "No One" is a punk blues song similar to the Birthday Party, "Hate Rain on Me" is a pop punk song,
along with "Distance", "Skate Park", "Gift of the Magi" and "Sorry Bro" are punk rock. "American Tune" is a cheeky track about
being a self-hating white man. "Big Bird" is a pretentious, yet well structured closing track, using keyboards, violins and a large guitar solo.
Highlights are "Back Pack", "No One", "If You Have Love in Your Heart", and "Hate Rain on Me". After such a great indie rock project,
it makes sense why people were disappointed with Christmas Island (2014), which I liked, but has a jarring lack of creativity in
comparison. It seems like some songs written while touring for the previous album. At this point they've completely abandoned
the folk punk sound in favor of indie rock with folk elements. The last 5 tracks are pretty miserable, but this has a great first half.
"Kokopelli Face Tattoo", "Coffin Dance", and "Children of God" are highlights. The follow-up is the band's 6th album, and first
to change their name to just simply AJJ (retarded ass choice, fuck them). The Bible 2 (2016) is well-known for directly taking from
Neutral Milk Hotel with a strong fuzzy and lo-fi sound. I feel about the same way about the last album,
where it's pretty overhated. This also contains what might be my favorite song by the band, "My Brain is a Human Body",
which is a beautifully tortured sounding lo-fi indie folk track, sounding more like For Emma era Bon Iver.
Some other great songs are "No More Shame, No More Fear, No More Dread" and "Cody's Theme". Good Luck Everybody (2020)
was a piece of garbage with no edge. Disposable Everything (2023) was yet another failure, except with
some very occasionally interesting "weird" riff ideas, almost appearing experimental.