laura jane grace

Weezer-Weezer (The Black Album)

/ James P. Crowley / Leave a comment

If you’ve never seen the 2007 Jason Lee-starring children’s film Alvin and the Chipmunks, I implore you to watch it before listening to the latest Weezer record, The Black Album.  Of course, it was only a matter of time before Weezer entered this Spinal Tap realm that was mostly occupied by Metallica and Jay-Z, but it was developed with loathing diehard fans.  While Weezer is a cultural touchstone, and their Teal Album was the subject of ire from many critics, The Black Album is like Alvin and the Chipmunks in that it’s really enjoyable in a mind-numbing way. Continue reading →

‘Tranny’ by Laura Jane Grace with Dan Ozzi

/ James P. Crowley / 1 Comment

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Rock biographies are very often boring.  Sure, the tales of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll are enticing, but after reading stories from Led Zeppelin, Guns N’ Roses, Kiss, and countless others, all the stories seem to blend together.  The first rock biography I ever read was No One Here Gets Out Alive by Jerry Hopkins about the life of Jim Morrison.  Your first foray into rock literature is always unforgettable, but following reading Slash, Stairway to Heaven, No Regrets, and many others, I realized that sex and drugs were only so interesting.  The one exception to this rule had always been Marilyn Manson’s The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell, until Laura Jane Grace and Dan Ozzi published Tranny. Continue reading →

Against Me!-Shape Shift With Me

/ James P. Crowley / Leave a comment

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During “ProVision L-3,” it seems like Against Me!’s seventh album will be a return to more hardcore punk roots albeit in a bland way.  Laura Jane Grace and company shatter that idea by the time Grace sings the opening lines of “12:03.”  Against Me! deliver a nice helping of heavy power-pop throughout Shape Shift With Me.  If Transgender Dysphoria Blues was a rebirth for the punk outfit, Shape Shift With Me is the band finding steady footing.

Transgender Dysphoria Blues set out for Laura Jane Grace to record her experience as coming out as a trans-woman, and Shape Shift With Me seems to show what Grace’s love life has been like since she came out.  She has songs that both show excitement for a new relationship (“12:03,” “Crash”) and others that show anger and grief (“Delicate, Petite & Other Things I’ll Never Be,” “Boyfriend”).  The melodic instrumentation is reminiscent of punk rock heavyweights like The Gaslight Anthem or Green Day.  Grace’s vocals still cut through everything making some of Against Me!’s most solid music and lyrics.

Laura Jane Grace sings some songs at a mile-a-minute.  Tracks like “12:03,” “333” and “Norse Truth” have moments where Laura’s speak-singing style crams in all the words she needs to say.  “Delicate, Petite & Other Things I’ll Never Be” is one of the most powerful moments on Shape Shift as it seems to see Grace tackling her gender dysphoria again as she had on Transgender Dysphoria Blues.  “Boyfriend” has Grace chastising a lover not to treat her like “some dumb fucking boyfriend,” and you can hear both the anger and lament in her voice.  Where most of the early cuts on the album are self-reflective and emotional, the latter tracks of the album take a more lustful approach.  “Rebecca” glorifies “just a good couple casual fucks” in a seemingly BDSM relationship, and “Dead Rats” seems to blur the lines between love and lust.

Shape Shift With Me only suffers from the lack of boundaries it pushes.  Against Me! have constantly been a band of reinvention, and Shape Shift With Me only succeeds in being a pretty great album.  It doesn’t tackle large issues like on Reinventing Axl Rose or Transgender Dysphoria Blues, but Grace’s explorations of personal relationships are still just as enjoyable.