From a dude who’s got two Tiltwheel tattoos and hoping for more—I don’t have to pray that Escondido’s favorite sons are going to suddenly start slurping shit the longer they play music and I’m gonna have to get a big ol’ rose for a cover-up for shameful indiscretion. Nope. Melodies, big landscapes, pretty parts: it’s all there in a humble package, as big and dripping as Davey’s heart. Aces. Off With Their Heads: You know that part the Jawbreaker song, “Boxcar,” where Blake sings “Killing cops and reading Kerouac”? It’s always seemed a little disingenuous. Like, he was overstepping the sentiments a little from the melancholy and trying to puff up a little beyond his frame. Make Jawbreaker work shitty jobs where the deep fat fryer’s burning the hair off their forearms and they’re ugly and they’ll never have clean fingernails. Make ‘em howl because the pain’s hammering them every time they walk out the front door. That’s what I like about OWTH. If they sung songs about killing cops, I’d believe ‘em, and that’s what makes this a great record on both sides.
–todd (Fast Crowd)