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ridiculously wonderful johnny foreigner album review

25 votes
? by jamesdenial

here:

http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/

jamesdenial | 13 May '08, 11:26 | Send note | Report this | Reply

That's incredible.

What a wonderful outspilling of joy, much like the album.

DanSimpson | 13 May '08, 11:38 | Send note | Report this | Reply

hehe that is a glowing reveiw

JoFo are F-ing brilliant I get pretty excited about them too. Is this reveiw done by a DiSer?

jimitheexploder | 13 May '08, 11:42 | Send note | Report this | Reply

i know pretty much nothing...

of this band. is the album really as good as this guy's trying to make out? he makes it sound a lot like los campesinos!.

iamhank | 13 May '08, 11:50 | Send note | Report this | Reply

No way!

JoFo > Caramel Cheesecake

AIDS > LC!

Alex-in-Ciderland | 13 May '08, 11:57 | Send note | Report this | Reply

ETA: Yes, it really is that good

and the LC! phenomenon continues to astound me.

Alex-in-Ciderland | 13 May '08, 11:58 | Send note | Report this | Reply

so you like johnny foreigner but cant

understand why people like los campesinionos! huh?

dukebox | 13 May '08, 12:06 | Send note | Report this | Reply

yep me too

Los Camp! are good but they can't touch JoFo for tunes.

jimitheexploder | 13 May '08, 12:10 | Send note | Report this | Reply

From what I've heard of them

they are 'more of a mess' version of los campesinos. Doesn't really do much for me.

black_rooster | 13 May '08, 11:58 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I would say JoFo > LC!

I can understand the LC!/JoFo comparison (boy/girl vocals, etc) but I just think based on their albums I really think that Waited Up Til It Was Light is totally brilliant whereas while I found the LC! album really fun and good, I stopped listening after about two weeks.

markusvw | 13 May '08, 12:06 | Send note | Report this | Reply

This is just it though........

they aren't a version of anything, but if they were it certainly wouldn't be LC!

To my ears they sound nothing like them whatsoever.

Alex-in-Ciderland | 13 May '08, 12:08 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Well I guess we all heard things differently

Probably if you really love them then you hear them completely differently. I never really understood why loads of people used to compare Idlewild to REM.

black_rooster | 13 May '08, 12:17 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I think they are a much tighter more direct version of LC! if anything

LC!'s album has some good tracks but I found it a bit messy. Fuck it I like them both but JoFo beat LC! by quite a way for me.

jimitheexploder | 13 May '08, 12:12 | Send note | Report this | Reply

great album, review is a bit silly...

they are one of the bands i have most space for in my heart, but to say they don't sound like lots of other bands basically implies you don't listen to that much music..

MrBones | 13 May '08, 12:11 | Send note | Report this | Reply

hey!

that's by TOM WHYMAN!

fihiki | 13 May '08, 12:11 | Send note | Report this | Reply

who?

.

MrBones | 13 May '08, 12:15 | Send note | Report this | Reply

MelesMeles maybe?

if I rember right maybe I could be wrong I don't take much notice I have read his blog some times and it sounds like him.

jimitheexploder | 13 May '08, 12:18 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Hi!

I think I've just broken through to the mainstream.

MelesMeles | 13 May '08, 12:19 | Send note | Report this | Reply

:))))

MelesMeles | 13 May '08, 12:23 | Send note | Report this | Reply

are they another one of those bands

people on here will go mental about for a month or two and then forget all about them?

Jack_El_Biscuit | 13 May '08, 12:12 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I was talking to someone who does write reviews for DiS,

and he described them as being very much a Drowned In Sound band, which does have some connotations of the slightly fickle nature of DiS, but I think they're more likely to end up like Foals than, say, Youthmovies, since they are quite poppy, albeit quite manic pop.

icehockeyhair | 13 May '08, 14:54 | Send note | Report this | Reply

They're in a funny position, I think

because I've heard their name bandied about for a while as a hype band, but they don't get played by Zane Lowe and only made their feature NME debut last week. Basically, the press hype exists within this domain. When I saw them last month they got eighteen people, support included.

simon_t | 13 May '08, 15:04 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Definitely true,

and they definitely need to break out from this particular indie ghetto. It does get weird, because Drowned In Sound does have a pretty large readership and all, and even though they pretty much give handlove to JoFo, they're still not *that* well known, even in an indie way.

I went to a gig at Jabez Clegg (which will presumably be talked about in their May tour-diary), and it was actually awful, in that toilet-venue gig-from-hell kinda way. That said, the amount of touring they're doing can only help, can't it?

icehockeyhair | 13 May '08, 15:38 | Send note | Report this | Reply

i was a fan of this review BEFORE IT EVEN PROPERLY EXISTED

now you're all just jumping on the bandwagon. man, i'm so indie.

also, i would like to take full credit for the question mark at the end of that first sentence.

Constellation | 13 May '08, 14:46 | Send note | Report this | Reply

WHY DOES EVERY FUCKING BAND SOUND LIKE PAVEMENT

I like JoFo actually

still

Jesus_Quintana | 13 May '08, 14:50 | Send note | Report this | Reply

yes this album

really is that fucking good! find it online, ain't hard...
Better yet, buy the fucking thing.

I understand the LC comparison, young punters that have been listening to music for a couple years 'all in'. What else are they going to compare it to, it's just lazy...
In any case, their influences are far from bands out now. I hear bits of Pixies, Sonic Youth, Pavement, Violent Femmes, Fugazi, etc. (also, I'm old enough to be your older uncle)
But I'm sure Johnny Foreigner will come up with all sorts of more left of center bands like Owls and other bands from Chicago circa 1993...

Elmanodemuerte | 13 May '08, 15:24 | Send note | Report this | Reply

true

there are obvious signs of Pavement and Sonic Youth, but so have LC (especially Pavement, if you find an LC review without mentioning them I'll be amazed). As they have both come about round about the same time and sound reasonably similar, I think it is a fair comparison.

black_rooster | 13 May '08, 15:42 | Send note | Report this | Reply

They're both

shouty boy/girl pop bands with lots of American underground influences on their music (whole "Pitchfork effect" innit), and plus they've toured together and are just generally kindred spirits, so they're bound to be grouped together to some extent, but really they both have their own distinct sound.

MelesMeles | 13 May '08, 15:46 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I've still not got into this Johnny Foreigner phenomenon.

I've heard a couple of songs and they were okay but my life remained relatively unchanged afterwards.

What's their absolute best song that's free to listen to somewhere?

theguywithnousername | 13 May '08, 15:42 | Send note | Report this | Reply

sofacore?

Maybe... Can't find any mp3 links though

icehockeyhair | 13 May '08, 15:48 | Send note | Report this | Reply

if you're into the whole last.fm thing

their mini-album is fully streamable here:

http://www.last.fm/music/Johnny+Foreigner/Arcs+Across+The+City

Yes! You Talk Too Fast is the best song on there imo. Good clean fun.

noise_annoys | 13 May '08, 15:54 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I wish people would stop saying they sounded like Cap'n Jazz.

They sound fuck all like Cap'n Jazz. It seems that in the last year or so, every new thing has "sounded like Cap'n Jazz".

It's a lazy comparison.

Marlvrum | 13 May '08, 16:02 | Send note | Report this | Reply

-

It's the guitars that sound like Cap'n Jazz. Not the music. But Alexei genuinely loves the Kinsellas. And plays a bit like Villareal. Take the tapping halfway through "Eyes Wide Terrified" or the intro to "Yes! You Talk Too Fast" as bonafide examples.

If you can't see just a little Kinsella/Villareal there then, well, you're just being difficult.

jamesdenial | 13 May '08, 16:51 | Send note | Report this | Reply

The guitars but not the music...ummm?

It's still a lazy comparison for people who know nothing about the 90's midwest scene. "oh shit, messy guitars, a bit of twiddly work there, MUST BE CAP N JAZZ THEN YEAH?". It's not that it's incorrect, it's just annoying.

Marlvrum | 13 May '08, 17:13 | Send note | Report this | Reply

It's too long

The positioning of 'DJs Get Doubts' is awkward.
It tails off significantly towards the end.

84%

Zapsta | 13 May '08, 16:36 | Send note | Report this | Reply

^

spot on

imo after salt, pepa it just dies down. i love absolute balance mind

funkymp | 13 May '08, 16:52 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I wish MM wouldn't beat around the bush

Does he like it or doesn't he? ;)

JoFo are good, but S/E good? Yeaa...No. Hell no.

oceanRain | 13 May '08, 16:51 | Send note | Report this | Reply

only criticism is that it is a little one-paced...

best thing i've heard in a while though.

MrBones | 13 May '08, 17:18 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I downloaded 3 tracks to see what the fuss is all about

I had recurring nightmares, woke up covered in what can only be described as "human grease", formatted my hard drive, washed my ears out with bleach and repeatedly threw up on the bus merely recalling clicking "Save target as"...

vamos | 14 May '08, 09:50 | Send note | Report this | Reply

.

whatttttt?

russt | 14 May '08, 10:00 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Aren't they just...

awful?

Twee dual vocal rubbish, harking back to a set of ideas that were pretty terrible at the height of indie blandness in the late 90's, let alone now. Nasally singers trying to sound American but failing miserably.

Reminded me of Seafood. Except not nearly as good.

Maybe I'm missing something (and this is probably the wrong place to state such things), but God I really, really hated them

vamos | 14 May '08, 10:09 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Grammatical pedantry, I know

but the response "whatttttt?" doesn't necessarily suggest agreement and thus the requirement to start the response "aren't they just...?"

Obviously you're very wrong and consequently must die, but I'm guessing you knew that.

simon_t | 14 May '08, 10:13 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I wasn't implying that in an agreeing manner by the way

Rather than being said like "Oh yeah I know, aren't they just awful?" I meant "But hang on... aren't they just... awful?"

On dying however, more than happy to do so at some point. I'd just rather it was after this band have been removed from my ipod in case it counts against me at the Pearly* gates

vamos | 14 May '08, 10:21 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I dont agree at all but....

I like the way you said it even if it gave me far to much of a visual image of a greasy geek puking on a bus... good work.

jimitheexploder | 14 May '08, 10:19 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Yeah i wasn't agreeing.

I was wandering what the hell you were on about.

If music makes you wake up in "human grease" you have a terrible problem and suggest you maybe visit the doctor.

Unless you mean they are actually too good for your ears and you get some kind of allergic reaction to their amaziness then fair enough.

russt | 14 May '08, 10:22 | Send note | Report this | Reply