Injury Reserve albums

2021

By The Time I Get To Phoenix - 97%

My favorite album experience of 2021 is probably this one. I say probably because my opinion changes on each listen. Do I really like this menagerie of found noise and collage of utter nonsense?? Yeah, I suppose I love it. On Injury Reserve’s previous outing there were flashes of genius- “Jailbreak the Telsa" and “Rap Song Tutorial” from their 2018 debut literally mapped out how to make a rap song from your home studio. This album throws everything into a blender- rap, rock, soul, techno, industrial – and look at what magic comes out. There are memorable songs that work as odd rap tracks (“SS San Francisco” which I swear uses an obscure sample from Lida Husik's 1993 track "Light of the Day"), soul balladry at its finest (“Knees” will forever make me wonder about what age I will start thinking about my knees going bad, hasn’t happened yet!), songs that build to epic climaxes (opener “Outside” is one of the best songs to begin an album I have ever heard), and songs that just straight up disorient and terrify (the California wildfire influenced “Smoke Don’t Clear”, and more obviously “Footwork in a Forest Fire”, and blistering noise bubbles echoing the best Death Grips song with “Superman That”).

               In all there is just a great craft on display here, a craft that becomes apparent with each subsequent listen. A prominent Brian Eno sample in "Bye Storm" with clumsy rapping over it is meant to be both beautiful and hilarious at the same time. The ache and reality of seeing a video game avatar still going strong after someone has died has never, ever to my knowledge been a subject for a song and its probably my favorite song of the album, the elegant “Top Picks for You”. It's kind of a melding of The Books, Death Grips, Madvillian and some bizarre possessed sprit that haunts the world and the internet world since the epidemic started.

               Yes, you will get lost listening to By the Time I Get to Phoenix, somewhere around the creepy murk of “Ground Zero” or the jerking joy of “Postpostpartum” you will want to give up- but keep going it is worth it. The album is about 40 minutes long but feels like hours, that can be a good thing; the alternate perspective time of a fractured state of being perfectly encapsulates the fear, hopes, and desires of our life in 2021.

Best Songs: Top Picks For You, SS SanFrancisco, Knees, Bye Storm