where is my spaceship, DIEFAILING, 2017

Album Review

Back in 2015, I reviewed where is my spaceship's mostly crocodile. Back then, I said that I got the sense that Josh Evensen "shares my worldview." The album dealt with themes like squandered potential and the numbing effect of the daily grind. Things I can identify with, basically.

Evensen and where is my spaceship are back with DIEFAILING, and let's just say he hasn't really lightened up. Here, though, rather than dealing with worklife and the daily grind, where is my spacehip take on mid-20s aimlessness.

"//" sets the stage with its choir-like intro of "everything's a waste / it's all pointless / that was a big deal / for a while there" before Evensen comes in with the realization that, no, "i was nothing! / i was no one!" That bleeds right into what I think is one of my personal favorite songs of the year, "nothing / no one / no distinction." Lines like "30 is the new 17" and the long list of "could haves" that Evensen rattles off get at that sense of being stuck and running in place. Like "snake juice anthem" from mostly crocodile, "nothing / no one / no distinction" is a monster of a song that -- probably not totally unintentionally -- reminds me of Titus Andronicus.

On "i wanna be tim tebow" we get the image of a now young adult who pines for his high school glory days, when he felt like a big deal. Faced with adult-type things like college, marriage, and starting a family, he just wants to go back and play football.

By "25," Evensen is already feeling stuck and aimless, but "what's the problem, kid? / you're only 25." When we reach "28," that repeated line "you're only 25," really has to sting.

After getting fed up with crashing at friends' houses and mooching off of their "big screen tv," Evensen decides he may try and shed the responsibilities of work, relationships, and adulthood by going back to college on "drop out of college 2: back into college." "i'll take out loan after loan after loan after loan / they won't be my problem." Things close out, though, with "don't try again," which is really kind of a restatement of all that stuff in the beginning about everything being a waste and being pointless.

Evensen and I connect on lots of things, I think. I spent over forty years following along with all the things that we're supposed to do, like go to school, take out loans, go to college, and get some corporate drone job. I lucked out by virtue of being born when I was. My loans were relatively small, and there were corporate drone jobs to be had; but I was never really happy. Nowadays, people who follow this path come out into a world that has saddled them with debt and offers them few prospects, not even the chance to be unhappy at a job.

And, while you might be saying (correctly, probably) that there are individuals with way worse problems than these; it ain't a good thing for our country when a good chunk of the young-adult population is underemployed, untethered, and crushed under a mountain of debt.

OK. Rant over.

Kevin McMahon recorded, mixed, and mastered most of DIEFAILING. McMahon has produced some of my favorite albums ever. In places, DIEFAILING features the theatrical drama of his work with Titus Andronicus (everything) and Diarrhea Planet (I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams). In other spots, there's the subtlety and the lighter touch McMahon's lent to albums by Laura Stevenson (Wheel) and Real Estate (Days).

DIEFAILING is out now and available over at where is my spaceship's Bandcamp page.

Super Bowl Single from where is my spaceship

"i wanna be tim tebow"

Holidays inspire Josh Evensen, I guess. The driving force behind Hackensack's where is my spaceship, Evensen has previously given us singles for both Christmas and Halloween. Well, today is the biggest holiday in America; and there really isn't any way that where is my spaceship were gonna miss it.

So here's "i wanna be tim tebow" in which Evensen's narrator pines to just keep playing football rather than deal with the responsibilities of growing up. He can't even come to grips with the fact that you can't play on the high school team when you're not in high school anymore.

Have a listen to "i wanna be tim tebow" below.

Merry Super Bowl. Enjoy your commercials.

Coupla Halloween-Type Things from where is my spaceship, Ex-Girlfriends, and a New 7" from Black Flamingos

Black Flamingos are releasing a new 7" and playing The Saint tonight.

Halloweekend

Halloween's on a Monday this year, so this weekend is the big-time party fun-fest. I spent most of the day running around looking for dalmatian ears to complete CoolDaughter #1's costume. Apparently, she and CoolMom couldn't get it together in time to order them for the Halloween dance tonight.

Guess what. There aren't any dalmatian ears to be had locally. But a pair of rabbit ears, a little bending, and a Sharpie equal problem solved. Who's a CoolDad? Yeah, that's right.

Anyway. A few things came across this week that seemed appropriate for this weekend so...

where is my spaceship, "Thinkin Bout My Tombstone"

When I was in Europe with the family this summer, we took a tour of the bizarre Paris catacombs. Over the years, the city of Paris had both been filling up its cemeteries and carving out a network of limestone caves as they built the city's largest structures. One day, someone got the bright idea to make room for new residents in the cemeteries by relocating the current occupants to the caves beneath the city. The result is a mind-bogglingly huge ossuary made up of meticulous arrangements of skulls and other bones.

CoolMom was reading about the place as we walked through and mentioned, "There are apparently some pretty famous people down here."

CoolDaughter #2 quickly replied, "Welp. They all look the same now."

All of this is, maybe, meant to assure where is my spaceship's Josh Evensen, who we see in this video lamenting the low station of his future small-town cemetery neighbors, that even the big-city cemeteries are full of total losers.

This one was directed by Evensen and Ashley Tobin.



Ex-Girlfriends, "Bones"

We recently premiered the first-ever single, "My First Abortion," from Brooklyn supergroup Ex-Girlfriends. Co-fronted by Sharkmuffin's Tarra Thiessen and Sidebitch's Heather Cousins, the five women of Ex-Girlfriends channel some of their more riotous forebears, both male and female, through some aggressive guitar and a snotty vocal delivery.

In the video for second single "Bones," Ex-Girlfriends work some Craft-style magic to raise a bleached-blonde guy from the dead for some Jersey Shore summer shenanigans. By the end of the clip, though, we're pretty sure things didn't go totally according to plan.

Thomas Ignatius directed "Bones"



Black Flamingos, "Flamingo Twist" b/w "Neon Boneyard"

This week, Black Flamingos announced that they'd be releasing their first-ever 7", "Flamingo Twist" b/w "Neon Boneyard." Pre-orders are up now, and the single is expected to ship at the end of January. You can check out both tracks at the band's Bandcamp page.



I also wanted to mention Black Flamingos because, tonight, the guys will be joined by The Primitive finks, DJ Sufferin Bastard, DJ Elle Von Skelle and Robbie, DJ Hi-Tide, and DJ Felton Fink for "Monster Surfing Time" at The Saint. There will be a costume contest, B-movies, tiki drinks, and some spooky stories told by me as GhoulDad. You'll get to hear Black Flamingos play "Haunted Hall" live, and I'll give you some theories on how Convention Hall got so haunted in the first place.

Things get started at The Saint at 8pm.

Have a fun and safe Halloween. Check all your candy and don't drink and drive.

Where Is My Spaceship Release Holiday EP and Video

Everybody Hates Christmas

Earlier this month, I posted my list of favorite albums of the year. One of the albums on that list was Mostly Crocodile by Where Is My Spaceship. The album is an emotional and cathartic ride, and many of its themes hit home for me, maybe even a little uncomfortably.

This holiday season, Josh Evensen and Where Is My Spaceship have a subtle holiday message for you in the form of 3-song EP Everybody Hates Christmas. From the simple message of "don't bother" to the ode to parenthood "no greater joy" to the title track, Where Is My Spaceship again touch on some uncomfortable themes. They're uncomfortable because they're true. At least a little bit. Sometimes.

The title track also gets a video. The Will Frazier-directed clip deftly and, as I said, subtly delivers the EP's overall message.

Watch the video below, then head over to Where Is My Spaceship's Bandcamp page to grab Everybody Hates Christmas as a Name Your Price download.

Happy holidays!

where is my spaceship, mostly crocodile, 2015

Album Review

I'm a little disappointed in myself. I wanted to get this review done and posted yesterday. Instead, I went without posting at all. It was a busy day. It was kind of a crappy day. I was running around. And, during just about every free moment that I had, I was listening to where is my spaceship's mostly crocodile instead of writing about it.

I first came across where is my spaceship -- which, from a recording standpoint, is a mostly solo project by Hackensack's Josh Evensen -- when I stumbled on single and album-opener "snake juice anthem." The track is a burner -- "a fucking monster," as a friend of mine called it -- that sees Evensen killing off brain cells, numbing himself, dumbing himself down so that he can "maybe act like a human." It's got the passionate self-awareness of Titus Andronicus, and I can't help thinking that "love them and not just because we're empty" is a Pavement reference, which is always good.

"sad songs all night" continues the intensity, rolling in on kind of a Sonic Youth-y riff before Evensen begins working hard, post-breakup I think, to convince us and himself that things like sleep and giving a damn are for suckers. And he's not a sucker. Big finish: horns, guitar solo, and Evensen literally crying, "I don't care about you!!" somewhat less than convincingly.

Following the epic one-two punch of the opening tracks, mostly crocodile begins to reveal some of where is my spaceship's folk-punk leanings. Both "red shirt" and "it won't be forever" open with some very New Jersey-sounding big guitar chords, but trade the screaming intensity for some lower-key clever wordplay. Some of the record's themes -- not living up to your potential, trying to fit in, the numbing effect of the daily grind -- also start to take shape. Evensen sings, "I'm just a guy in a red shirt" rather than a hero like Captain Kirk or Superman. He consoles his friend Mabel who, initially, hates her job in a butcher shop, telling her, "It won't be forever." The "all day, every day" of the job eventually numbs her to the gore, wears her down; and she even starts to enjoy the sound of her cleaver.

On "lemon heart," Evensen admires the devil's ability to live for himself asking, "Won't you say a prayer for me? Help me to live my life the way I want." You get the sense that the catalog of activities on "anything" ("When I wake up in the morning, I feel like I can do anything.") like sitting at a desk until 5:30 and using his paycheck to buy beer and Taco Bell and cigarettes and sushi and a brand new pair of jeans aren't really the "anythings" that Evensen wants out of life.

The album closes with the quiet "roll away the stone" in which Evensen asks Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn to "Teach me to love the way that you love. Crucified sometimes, but not too hung up." My obsession with Craig Finn and the overt Catholic imagery in his songwriting is well-documented here; and that lyric just made me smirk. "I just want open arms," Evensen continues; and, when talking about his inability to shake off his "ghosts," he says, "No matter what I do, I can't roll away the stone." Ah... ...CCD.

mostly crocodile got me through the day yesterday. In between the some of the mind-numbing mundanities of making breakfasts, driving to school, listening on 2-hour conference calls with my head in my hands, I worked through some of my issues by air drumming like a maniac and singing along with someone who appears to share some of my worldview. Those are the albums that work best for me. The ones that grab me and make me say, simply, "Oh, yes."

mostly crocodile is due on February 21st. You can grab the "snake juice anthem" single right now at where is my spaceship's Bandcamp page.

where is my spaceship have a release show scheduled for February 22nd at the Oak Ale House in Maywood, NJ with Young Legs.