JOBS is an invigorating group: studious, intense, skilled, sharp. They’re stark modernists, sticking close to the intensity of virtuosity — the power and presence of critical, focused musicianship. The band constructs odd, bestial arrangements steeped in anxiety. Drum hits lock-in and skirt off in various directions, as guitar stabs slice through grooves, mutating them in spontaneous episodes. They shrug off trite, unstable aesthetics in favor of musical embodiment, occasionally delving into odd environs that call to mind Zorn, Dismemberment Plan, or even Tool.
When you reach a certain skill level of playing an instrument — a near-peak skill level that guitarist Dave Scanlon, drummer Max Jaffe, and bassist Rob Lundberg have clearly reached — it becomes clear that the nebulous skronk of free improvisation just might not cut it. Rather, JOBS handles instrumental exploration as an experiment in rigid formality. Of course, their method draws from the freedom of improvisation, but they forgo simply delving into free-play, choosing instead to sustain an hyper-active rigor. killer BOB sings suspends and animates moments of brutality through precise, film edit-like cuts that create near perpetual momentum. About as extensively conceptual as music can voice itself through instruments, hands, wrists, voices, etc., JOBS mutates primal energy found in avant works like Godard’s Weekend: bizarre characters and events punctuated by violent car accidents.
Stream the aptly titled “Rhythm Changes” below, and pick up a vinyl copy through New Amsterdam.
• JOBS: http://jobsband.bandcamp.com
• New Amsterdam: http://newamrecords.com
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