The AV Club Doesn't (But Does) Review The New Off With Their Heads Album

Yesterday, The AV Club ran an interesting anti-review of the new album from Minneapolis punk band Off With Their Heads. What does the term "anti-review" mean? You either review something or you don't? Well, yes. But, AV Club writer Jason Heller argued that record reviewing is highly, highly subjective, and that most record reviewers falsely assume a level of expertise regarding the subject of music. However, Heller argues, most people lie, and if you can have a laugh at your own self-deception, then you're just part of the human condition.

From there, Heller "reviews" From The Bottom, the newest album from the quintet:

Off With Their Heads is a punk band. Not a prefixed, hyphenated kind of punk. Just punk. And From The Bottom is one of the best punk albums I’ve heard in a long time. Their songs are about struggling with being a shitty boyfriend. They’re about being pissed off when the media tries to stir up terrorism fears after a huge bridge collapses in your hometown. They’re about fucking up, over and over, and wondering if you’re learning to get better or simply eroding your ability to ever change.

It’s plainspoken and plainly played. It’s gruff and grim and guilt-ridden and vulnerable. It makes me feel like I’m a kid again. It makes me feel older than I’ve ever felt in my life.

There's much more, including Heller explaining his personal connection to the band, despite not have meeting them, and to No Idea records, (Off With Their Heads' label) in general, and how he can relate much more to the album than to a record review of it.

Read the entire piece, which includes video, here.

Off With Their Heads MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)