Alien Nosejob The Derivative Sounds of… or… A Dog Always Returns to its Vomit LP
Jake Robertson continues to pivot away from the expected, as one of DIY rock’s great shapeshifters under the ALIEN NOSEJOB moniker. While we’ve heard mutant garage punk and AC/DC worship before, Robertson chooses with this full-length to expand the palette into something a bit more lofty, though no less catchy than previous efforts. This album still maintains a feeling of collage rock, taking disparate elements from the past and reconfiguring them into something singular, with a penchant for the joined jangles of ’60s psychedelic pop, Australian garage both then and now, and a faint aura of the New Zealand Dunedin sound. What results is locked in to Robertson’s expanding universe, at times evoking another giant of visionary songwriting, Anton Newcombe. But this is no retro homage to anything, and continues to be a project built on confident melodic work and well-structured guitar pop. Anchored by rolling bass lines and driving rhythm, songs like “The Punisher Was Cool” drill their way in with ease and mess about with an undeniable energy while never forgetting to have fun (no self serious erudite rock scholardom on display). I’ll be the first to admit that I was never an immediate sell on ALIEN NOSEJOB, and this full-length has driven me to go back to see what I was missing. Turns out it was a backlog like an entire solar system.