Album Review: Mean Jeans “Tight New Dimension”
review by Erik Ghint
I believe that record reviews are the collective response of the author’s objective opinion and taste on music in general, combined, however, with some undisputed facts. Pop punk party trio the Mean Jeans released Tight New Dimension through Fat Wreck Chords on April 22nd of 2016.
TRACK LIST
Long Dumb Road
Nite Vision
Croozin’
Michael Jackson Was Tight
2 Far Out 4 Me
Trash Can
Last Nite on Earth
4 Coors Meal
Allergic to Success
I Don’t Care That I Don’t Care
Ripped Shattered and Alone
Are There Beers In Heaven?
While Mean Jeans have released two LP’s and numerous seven inches already, my first taste of this band was about two months ago when I got to review their Nite Vision 7’’, also on Fat Wreck Chords. Needless to say I was pretty blown away by their amazing Ramones/Riverdales/Johnny Thunders/Devil Dogs musical approach, which took me back to my first love of pop punk with almost the entire catalog of, sadly, the late Lookout Records.
I was very eager to listen to their upcoming LP Tight New Dimension and I was not let down one little bit. Everything I love about this type of punk is all over the place; 12 songs of super tight (as in “cool”) pop punk songs with catchy garage/surf guitar riffs and sing along choruses had me hooked from the first stream. No song is over three minutes long; half are less than two minutes long. Everything is very simple and on a three chord basis but done exactly right, singing wise it’s like hearing Joey Ramone with a ton of back up melodies in all the right places. Bridge break downs are spot on and not exactly what you expect and, yes, they even use a synth on a couple of songs. Lyrically the band acknowledges the right to keep things as stupid as possible. Don’t let song titles fool you into thinking the content can’t be this ludicrous; the spirit of this band is truly in the lyrics. I’m only assuming their live show is as crazy as everything else indicates. The band actually sent their songs to Fat through the official email for the website and the release of Tight New Dimension is now history.
There is not one thing I don’t like about this band. The record cover is surrealistically out of this world and if you’re getting this record, get it on vinyl just to enjoy watching this gem of art. Favorite songs are Long Dumb Road, Nite Vision, Michael Jackson Was Tight, 2 Far Out 4 Me, I Don’t Care That I Don’t Care and Are There Beers In Heaven, but all in all Tight New Dimension speeds effortlessly from start to finish.
Being tight is the new thing; follow this band and get their record to know how to party properly.
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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