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Reviews:
- - - - - Aquarius Records - - - - - Skratch Magazine Boyjazz rocks like Ted Nugent, Blue Oyster Cult, and the rocking end of the Ween catalog mixed and shined. Boyjazz is a two-man project gone good. Sexmouth (Adam Hobbs) plays guitar, bass, and sings as cool as you please with a sweet, rockin' voice. On drum-programming duties and recording and mixing, Supertouch (Aaron Levin) puts it all together. IN THE CITY TONIGHT is a remarkable disc. Some of my favorite cuts are "Potfinger", "Swedish Dates", and "Stank on the Halo". The coldness of machinery slips through on some tracks, such as on "No Doubt About It". Boyjazz is a great team. Sexmouth is my new favorite singer. He's got a shredder's attitudeŅa real rocker. Get on board or miss out. - - - - - SF Bay Guardian Not to be confused with San Francisco all-girl action band Boyskout, and definitely not to be mixed up with turgid boy-beef pop group Boyzone, Boyjazz cometh, announcing their wiseass yet altogether kick-ass glam rock presence for all to see and hear and file noise complaints about, in tribute to their undeniable loudness. 'Cause you know you've got to turn this kind of Bud-guzzling, silly-strutting, snarly, gnarly cock rock up. Retardo-cool from their name to their corduroy blazers, the 'Jazz and their debut, In the City Tonight, just make you want to dispose with those lame formalities like taste and live the rock-hard hard-rock cliche. To heck with it - it's fun like that. Let's say any band that promises to "make your head explode" - even in passing, like an afterthought - should be given a high-five for their appreciation of Scanners and ultimate teenage kicks, or a good sound spanking for their lack of imagination. Yet you suspect that a dearth of creativity isn't a problem. For instance, why hasn't anyone thought of titling a song "Potfinger" before? This one's the degenerate, distant city cousin, several dozen dive bars removed, of "Powderfinger," made that much more delightful by the warmed-up Stooges riff wrapped around the tune like a homemade tortilla. Yep, Iggy smiles down on this bean-filled enterprise, much to the dismay of those sickened by the overuse of those rock tropes, but then again so do Paul Stanley, Ozzy Osbourne, and Marc Bolan. Thus there's a little more glitter here than gutter, despite spelling mishaps like "Tuff Luv." And that yearning for the bright lights and even brighter stars gives Supertouch, a.k.a. Aaron Levin, and Sexmouth, alias Adam Hobbs, a kind of poignancy. They may be ace recyclers in a rock genre that could easily be pegged "city trash," but the fact that they manage it with such conviction in this otherwise laid-back, almost always "right-on" town is a true feat of - well, well, well - imagination. - - - - - Exoduster This is certainly a strange group. With a name like Boyjazz and on Frenetic Records you probably expect something relatively esoteric and eccentric involving some electronics and the like. Though Boyjazz has a bit of that, the two-piece Sexmouth (Adam Hobbs) and Supertouch (Aaron Levin) rock out in an over-the-top glam 70s rock explosion - not unlike a dirty Spinal Tab. Even after the first song "Pot Finger," a song that has gotten comp action, you still don't know what you are in for. Though some elements are leaked on "Swedish Dates" about the Swedish music scene, probably the first true show of what Boyjazz is or at least should be is on "Stank on the Halo." The song is so 70s-early 80s cock rock that it would be banned at other times. Sexmouth is in charge of the vocals and guitars while Supertouch's job is the programmed drums that add that certain flair of fakeness. Sexmouth's vocals are what really lead Boyjazz into the 70s-80s rock feel. I guess "Swedish Dates" does offer up some of this love, particularly in the chorus with the use of the vocal delay, but "Stank on the Halo" is unmistakable. Other songs that offer up good times include the harshness of the physical law of "Gravity," the echoing laughter on "You + Me = Fight" is classic, the 80s reminiscent cockness of "Tuff Luv," the comedic repetitive chorus of "Actual Heat" and finally "Dual Cat Action" with its tripping beats. If you are interested in a less studio polished and more ballsy Darkness, then this debut by Boyjazz will fulfill your wish. I'm interested to see if Boyjazz can translate the recorded product live and with some sort of theatrics. If they can then they will be a hot number. - - - - - Deep Fry Bonanza I didn't really know what to make of this disc by Boyjazz given the nondescript cover artwork and their label's penchant for releasing lots of instrumental music, but shit does this thing rock! The last thing I expected from this band when I dropped their CD in the player was a revival of Mudhoney's post-Stooges stomp mixed with modern garage sounds and a slight hair metal flair, but that's exactly what I got. Without sounding the least bit retro, Boyjazz manage to combine just about every style of music that one might conceivably refer to as "good old-fashioned rock and roll" into one unholy, hell-raising package. What really strikes me about In The City Tonight, though, is how inspired every song feels. While most bands have a stock of chords and beats that they rearrange in different ways for every song, Boyjazz seems to be a band who are ready and willing to let anything happen when they pick up their instruments. The dance-inflected buzz of "No Doubt About It" and the b-movie romp "You + Me = Fight" are inspired by totally different muses, the former bouncing around like the stoner kids have crashed the raver kids' scene and the latter sexy and cheeky enough to be the theme to the next James Bond movie. From song to song In The City Tonight feels like a party where anything can happen. If you've been a fan of what the Icarus Line has been doing for the past few yeas you should definitely check out Bodyjazz. They have the same fuck you rock and roll thing going on, only they actually have the guts to put their hips into it, refusing to maintain any sort of ironic hipster distance. Unlike most of the rock bands in your collection, Boyjazz aren't record collectors attempting to recreate the sound and style of something that already existed; their music seems to be a natural byproduct of growing up on a combination of 90s alternative rock and our generation's parents' 70s AOR rock. And as cheesy and lame as that combination may sound when written like that, once it's injected with the holy ghost 'o rock n roll it sounds pretty damn tough. - - - - - Tastes Like Chicken Like Batman and Robin in laser-light strap-ons, Supertouch and Sexmouth are the main duo that make up Boyjazz, the next step in futuristic butt-rock space-jams. And when I say "futuristic", I mean it. Especially since (according to their dossier) Sexmouth was born in 2053, and Supertouch was born in 2054. Whatever century these space monkeys are from, they definitely learned something on their trip through the time warp - how to rock the fuck out. In The City Tonight is their 30-minute, 12-track, debut album, and it just plain bleeds a hardcore rock aesthetic. Brimming over like an amp-shaped toilet that's clogged with high-hat-print toilet paper, this LP vibes with jump-up tempos that'll have you tapping your foot when you should be running for your plunger. The drum beats bump while the guitar riffs grind. And the eardrum-scathing vocals come in just at the right angle to further bridge the gap between classic hair-metal bands like Iron Maiden, and modern cock rockers like The Darkness. As if that weren't enough, the lyrics to this album are horribly fun. With lines like "When you lick my dirty brown / Ooh, it makes a squeaky sound", it's pretty obvious these guys are just having a hell of a good time. Still, this album isn't even close to being as much of a retarded/genius good time as Fire, the 2003 release from The Electric Six that touched on the same borders of glam rock and insanity. But, then again, what is? Comparisons aside, pour it all into an evenly buttered pan, then top it with a homemade crust. Bake it for 45 minutes at 250 degrees, and you've got yourself the arena rock pot pie for the 21st Century that is In The City Tonight.
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