Former Dismemberment Plan frontman Travis Morrison’s new album All Y’all (with backing band The Hellfighters in tow) starts off sounding downright Plan-ish but then (as expected) changes course and explodes into a fragments of a hundred different genres. Even though they made a few valid points, I’m not about to blast this record like Pitchfork did and give it a 4.5 out of 10. It is way better than that.
I’m certainly not the only person that strongly disliked Travis Morrison’s first solo effort Travistan, but I can rationalize it. Coming out of The Dismemberment Plan, Travis wanted to incorporate all of his diverse influences and musical tastes to make something different. I (and everyone else) wanted a rehash of The Dismemberment Plan and would have been disappointed with 98% of anything Travis could have released. That’s what happens when one of your favorite bands raises the bar to an almost unattainable level and then breaks up.
Moving back to the topic of All Y’all, I think that it is a great album. It is disjointed, scattered, and more than a little cheesy. It is also hella fun, rhythmically solid, and more like The Dismemberment Plan than anything since The Dismemberment Plan. The reckless abandon and fearlessness that Travis shows on All Y’all is refreshing. It may not always work perfectly, but that is much of why I like it so much. There is a human element at work here that we can all relate to in some manner.
Imagine The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified with a few free-jazz horn blasts and a guest rapper. In other words, its pretty darn good.
MP3 | Travis Morrison Hellfighters – As We Proceed All Y’all
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