Less Than Jake – Losing Streak
welcome back to the Skaject folks! our album this week is Losing Streak, the second full record from Less Than Jake!
i’ve mentioned before that Less Than Jake is one of my favorite bands, if not my favorite. i think Losing Streak was the first full record that i had heard from them – Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts and Jen Doesn’t Like Me Anymore were both big hits on the record and early LTJ tracks in my memory, so this would’ve seemed a good place to start, given that both are re-records from Pezcore and vastly improved here. it’s very funny to me though that now, neither are my top picks on the record. i think that’d have to go to either 9th at Pine, a track about seeing a barfight on tour in Portland, OR, or Sugar in Your Gas Tank, a kind of head in the clouds track if i’ve ever heard one. 9th at Pine is catchy and has some sentimental attachment for me, and Sugar in Your Gas Tank feels like a very strong representative of the record, both lyrically and instrumentally.
it’s really funny to me, as the way that most folks talked about ska generally when i was young being about “leaving this town”. i think that’s something a lot of “youth music” shares (it’s a common theme in pop punk), but i think a bigger part of it is that my friends were listening to LTJ at a higher than average rate, and man this record really starts that trend. Pezcore was a lot of “drinking and fucking around”, but Automatic, Shindo, 107, Never Going Back to New Jersey, to an extent, are all in one way or another about breaking out and finding something bigger. again, LTJ is a big band for me so i’m very aware of what tracks are coming up next in Hello Rockview and Borders & Boundaries. it’s not to say that the “fucking around” tracks are done – 9th at Pine, How’s My Driving, Doug Hastings?, Dopeman, etc, plenty of options abound, but even the closing tracks, Rock-n-Roll Pizzeria and Lockdown, discuss a relationship with a sense of place, and anxiety about change and your environment – Less Than Jake is, as a band from Gainesville, Florida, constantly wrestling with a complicated relationship with a “home”.
ngl, Roger Lima’s bass on this record is starting to show more in the recordings, and it’s tasty. the intro for Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts is a great example, and while the production here is still a little less clear, it’s something i really appreciated in this listen.
on the whole, a very fun revisit, and a very charming and fun album where you can really hear Less Than Jake finding their footing and their sound.
faves – Automatic, Happyman, 9th at Pine, Sugar In Your Gas Tank, Shindo, 107, Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts, Krazy Glue, Dopeman, Jen Doesn’t Like Me Anymore
dislikes –
Losing Streak – 8/10
we’ll be introducing Five Iron Frenzy to the skaject next week with Upbeats and Beatdowns!
previous: Tokyo Strut | next: Upbeats and Beatdowns
previous Less Than Jake release: Pezcore | next: Hello Rockview
Discussion ¬