Grampall Jookabox
Scientific Cricket
Joyful Noise
Indiana’s Grampall Jookabox is cut from the same weird misshapen cloth as so many bands on K Records. Their adherence to any sort of level of musicianship or song structure is pretty much nonexistent, but what they lack in these areas they fill in with a thunderous joy and avant-garde take on pop and folk music.
The liner notes claim only two band members, but at times it sounds like an army of clapping, stomping, whistlers filling in for the rhythm and melody while David “Moose” Adamson lets his rapid-fire grainy verses flow. The lo-fi recording and unintentional distortion makes it sound like an urban hootenany captured around burning kerosene barrels in a deserted urban warehouse. With 12 tracks on the album, Grampall get close to playing out their aesthetic, but tracks like the absurdly empty funk of “Brick People Chant,” the electronic rock inspired “Rusty Wife” and the dourness-via-tape-manipulation on “Light My Bedroom From Below” save the group’s inventiveness from becoming a shtick.
Joyful Noise: http://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com
