BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Find Local//findlocal.community//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:19700308T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:19701101T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:0014943f-0ebc-464b-a92b-bb8386eb608f@findlocal.community DTSTAMP:20261012T015228Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261106T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261106T213000 SUMMARY:AJJ DESCRIPTION:Ever since Sean Bonnette and Ben Gallaty formed AJJ back in 2 004\, it’s felt like the world has been playing catch-up. That’s because the band—completed these days by guitarist/keyboard player Preston Brya nt\, cellist Mark Glick and (relatively) new drummer Kevin Higuchi—has a lways woven apocalyptic themes and imagery into many of its songs and ly rics. They even self-released a record called Good Luck Everybody in Jan uary 2020\, as if they knew what was coming. Now though\, in 2023\, with their eighth studio record and debut on Hopeless Records\, Disposable E verything\, it feels like the world is finally aligned with AJJ’s doom-l aden prophecies – albeit one that still shimmers with hope. For singer S ean Bonnette\, the record is less a prophesizing mirror held to a burnin g world than one inspired by personal grief. In fact\, for him\, this re cord is about what happens after the collapse—on both an intimately pers onal level and a much broader scale. “A large part of Disposable Everyth ing is the terrible thing I’ve been imagining finally happened\,” he exp lains. “A big theme is my mom’s death\, which is something I think every one lives in terror of. But once it happens and you’re still alive\, you figure out how to move on. It is\, in some weird way\, our happiest rec ord.” Anybody familiar with the band knows that juxtaposition—between ap ocalyptic despair and the warm comfort of an electric blanket—is nothing new for AJJ\, but these 14 tracks are the most firm example of that to date. Recorded with David Jerkovich over the first half of 2022 in vario us studios across the Southwest\, Disposable Everything truly captures t he simultaneous terror and wonder of being alive. Throughout the nearly 20 years since the band’s inception\, AJJ’s music has always found its w ay to the irreverent\, optimistic pessimists of the world. For example\, 2020’s “Body Terror Song” became a viral hit on TikTok\, an app that no one in the band was even on at the time. Their unparalleled live show h as always been the bedrock of AJJ\, with memorable tours with Joyce Mano r\, Against Me!\, ROAR\, Jeff Rosenstock\, Kimya Dawson\, and huge indie punk festivals\, like The Fest. And it’s that live energy and sense of community and collaboration that made its mark on the recording of Dispo sable Everything. For the first time recording as a full five-piece\, th e goal was to have fun\, open up a free exchange of ideas\, and just be together. That overriding sense of solidarity pervades this album\, exag gerated by the way the band look at it more like a mixtape than a record in the traditional sense–fully indulging AJJ’s wide musical range and t heir tendency to play with genre\, while also defying expectations as to what songs about certain subjects should sound like. Indeed\, this feel s more like a band record than AJJ have ever made before. Probably becau se it is. It kicks off with “Strawberry (Probably)”\, an uproarious blas t of fast\, glorious\, carefree quasi-punk that descends into a warped b lur of dissonance. That that leads into a song called “Dissonance” was\, Bonnette says\, unintentional\, but nevertheless highlights the synergy that flows through these songs. Then take “Death Machine”\, for instanc e – the song distills the current environmental and political crises pro pelled by a capitalist society into one minute 53 seconds of jittery\, f eel-good\, punk rock urgency\, in only the way that AJJ can do. “The Bab y Panda” – despite spitting a horrific truth about what humankind has do ne to the planet\, is an enjoyable singalong anthem. And the title track “Disposable Everything” spells out the damaging impact of late capitali sm while still shimmering with hope. There are moments of pure levity\, too—in the humor of “White Ghosts”\, the self-aware wordplay of “Schaden freude” and the offbeat romanticism of “Candles of Love”. Combined\, it all offers a quintessentially AJJ-esque vision of the world\, which Bonn ette\, both jokingly and seriously\, refers to as like “The Beatles on b ath salts.” As the lilting “In The Valley” brings the record to an end\, it defies—save for one ominous moment—the reality of the present moment \, transforming its chasm of nothingness into something resplendent. It’ s a powerful final statement that renders Disposable Everything anything but. Rather\, it’s a vital\, important and beautiful album that’ll make you feel better about everything while telling you just how terrible ev erything is. Bonnette has a simple explanation for that paradox. “And ma ybe where some sort of hope can be is within love\, because no matter ho w fucked the world can get\, people can love each other still.” That AJJ are still able to offer up their unique brand of humor and irreverence as a solution to the world’s ills almost two decades into their career i sn’t lost on them\, either. “I didn’t ever expect AJJ to be what it’s be come\,” says Gallaty\, “but I’m really happy with it. Some of my favorit e people play in the band\, and the whole larger community we get to be part of just blows my mind. It’s honestly hard to imagine a life without it.”\n\nTickets: http://eepurl.com/hK9ot9\n\nhttps://findlocal.communit y/event/0014943f-0ebc-464b-a92b-bb8386eb608f LOCATION:Music Farm\, Charleston\, SC URL:https://findlocal.community/event/0014943f-0ebc-464b-a92b-bb8386eb608 f STATUS:CONFIRMED SEQUENCE:0 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR