TJ Cabot & Thee Artificial Rejects - Digital/Tape

Well I guess the cat's out of the bag. Goodbye Boozy Records, that veritable institution of lo-fi trash, has identified the previously mysterious TJ Cabot & Thee Artificial Rejects as the home recorded solo project of Tyler from Phone Jerks. This revelation accompanies the label's release of the latest ear-battering product of Tyler's recording under the influence. This EP is available as a digital release from Goodbye Boozy's Bandcamp. In addition, 14 cassette copies were made - of which none remain at the time of this review (I guess if you've ever considered Tyler a sellout, you are now technically correct). The release of exactly 14 copies seems like an oddly specific choice. Was this based on a meticulously-calculated projection of how many people world-wide would actually buy it? Does it represent the number of adult beverages that fueled the conception, recording, and production of the EP? Is this a subtle tribute to Maple Leaf great Dave Keon?

This release is something quite different from Phone Jerks, and it's actually quite different from the previous TJ Cabot demos. It's...what's the word I'm looking for...weirder? Yeah, that's it! "What's In It" is really great Devo-inspired minimalist punk rock, the second in what we can all hope will be a long string of songs written about Tyler and Emily's beloved greyhound Donair. "On The Menu" sounds like a rare Stooges cut that could have been released as a Rip Off Records 45 (and if it couldn't be on ROR, Goodbye Boozy is surely the next best thing!). It's the most straight-forward punker track on this EP - a raging ball of hate hurled at some of the most despicable individuals known to humanity: foodies. I can laugh at this one become I'm kind of a foodie myself (If Tyler ever does a song about craft beer dudes, I'm really in for it). I appreciate that this track sounds less like the work of one man at home and more like the creation of a full band that routinely caps off its recording sessions with fistfights and crime sprees. To finish, "Kissin the Causeway" is a weird as fuck cover of a song by Cape Breton, Nova Scotia legends Buddy and the Boys. Common reactions to this track so far have been "What the hell is this?!" and "God, turn that off!". But if you consider the TJ Cabot project to be an on-going tribute to the land of Tyler's upbringing, then this cover choice makes perfect sense. Goodbye Boozy, a label with the stated mission of releasing "crude and minimal records", has most definitely found a kindred spirit.



-L.R.

https://goodbyeboozydigital.bandcamp.com/album/digital-tape
https://tjcabot.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Goodbye-Boozy-records-290057827714548/