New Music: The Airborne Toxic Event

You have to give it to The Airborne Toxic Event – they are REALLY GOOD at writing anthems.  I’ll never forget the first time I heard “Sometime Around Midnight.”  It was the Locals Only show on KROQ and I almost swerved off the road trying to call them to find out who had written that amazing Jeannie-Emo or Jemo(*) jam.   After that, it became my mission to see them live.  I probably saw them five times at small clubs before the record came out and they got big.  Cut to two or so years later, and I almost slam into a car, trying to figure out the source of “Half of Something Else,” which happens to be off their sophomore release All At Once.

Sometimes it’s hard for bands to nail it after a hit debut.  I loved that first record.  But, The Airborne Toxic Event doesn’t seem to have that problem.  The new songs are very similar in theme (love, heartbreak, yearning, remorse, death), but they’re way darker and the sound is a lot richer and louder this go-round.  There also seems to be a folksy, Pogues-ish influence on songs like “It Doesn’t Mean a Thing” and “The Kids Are Ready to Die,” which is also a little different.  I also love that he name checks The Cure’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me on “Strange Girl.”  Such a sweet and different song…I wish someone wrote that song for me!

There are still my favorite 'anthematics', like “All At Once,” “Numb” and “Half of Something Else,” which were also my favorites on the record.  I don’t know what it is, but there’s something in Mikel Jollett’s wail that just spreads through my veins and makes me all dark and melancholy.  "All At Once" makes me emo and “Numb” has a new wave influence that makes me think that one day I will be dancing to it by myself in my living room (after a few drinks, of course).

Overall, All At Once is a solid record.  I’m such a huge fan of their live show, I can’t wait to see them play this record live!  Right now, I'll have to take my solace in that they are streaming the entire record on their website.

 

(*)Jeannie-Emo/Jemo – there are certain songs that make me super emo by tugging at something inside of me, giving me chills and getting in my craw.  Some are obvious, like Stars “Your Ex-Lover is Dead,” but then there’s “Temptation” by New Order or “The Rat” by The Walkmen, which are not-so-obvious.  Definitely not some Dashboard Confessional bullshit.  See also: Funeral Songs