Review: Bomb the Music Industry! – Scrambles

Bomb the Music Industry! Is not a household name sort of band, nor (as their title suggests) are they trying to be. Mostly, it is just an outlet for leader Jeff Rosenstock to release cheaply recorded songs, all for the affordable price of $0.00.

Rosenstock writes, sings and plays multiple instruments on every track along with various hardworking musician friends, including Laura Stevenson and Rick Johnson. Sean Bonnette of the excellent folk-punk group Andrew Jackson Jihad contributes vocals on this particular album for “Wednesday Night Drinkball.” BTMI’s fifth full-length, Scrambles doesn’t really ever diverge from this formula, but it is another collection of great songs to the band’s growing connection.

It’s hard to pin BTMI down into a specific genre classification. Ska would be the closest, but even that may just conjure up images of Less Than Jake and Reel Big Fish, who BTMI sound pretty different from. Keyboards have always been an important part of the band’s sound, but now the traditional piano is also present in many of Scramble’s songs. A piano provides the hook to “25!!!,” one of the record’s highlights along with personal favorite “Cold Chillin’ Cold Chillin’.” The album’s instrumental credits also include sleigh bells, banjo, and theremin, so perhaps it is not a great idea to focus on one specific instrument.

Like BTMI’s other albums, much of the fun comes from Rosenstock’s funny and clever lyrics. For example, “Gang of Four Meets the Stooges (But Boring)” is a response to a band BTMI played with, who took all the money from a show and left without sharing a dollar. The following song, “9/11 Fever!!!,” is about the trivialization of September 11 by television movies and similar projects. This trio ends with “(Shut) Up The Punx!!!,”which is pretty spot-on about the more close-minded members of the punk community. If you can follow the lyrics through Rosenstock’s often rapid delivery, Scrambles is full of memorable moments. “Sort of Like Being Pumped” even manages to make the hackneyed image of a sunset into a rousing end songs for the record. Like previous BTMI album closers, it seems like it was made to inspire listeners into remembering sometimes things are great.

For previous fans of the band, Scrambles is another strong album to follow 2007’s Get Warmer. For those who’ve never listened to one song by BTMI, this new record is as good an entry point as any. –Jimmy Geurts