{"id":37864,"date":"2015-10-05T10:34:33","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T15:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=37864"},"modified":"2017-10-24T15:43:41","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T20:43:41","slug":"featured-concerts-jr-jr-1022015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2015\/10\/05\/featured-concerts-jr-jr-1022015\/","title":{"rendered":"Featured Concerts: JR JR at The Bottleneck"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Featured<\/a>JR JR writes irresistible pop songs\u2014the kind that so delicately toe the line between ingratiating and
\ncharming, between cloying and clever. The group recently dropped the \u201cDale Earnhardt\u201d section of their\u00a0band name, but the name change has not resulted in any appreciable difference in sound, no blatant\u00a0attempt at reigning in their penchant for lighthearted grooves and playful melodies. Their latest self-titled effort is even more buoyant and slick than the group\u2019s preceding records, an obvious reflection of\u00a0their major label prominence and the band\u2019s astute attention to prevailing pop music trends.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0sensibility was in full view Friday night at the Bottleneck in front of a very small crowd of about 100. The\u00a0band\u2019s overwrought stage show, complete with giant flashbulbs and glittering lights, seemed at odds\u00a0with the Bottleneck\u2019s modest confines and dive bar aesthetic, an odd juxtaposition that seemed to\u00a0suggest the audience take the band more seriously than maybe they should. JR JR\u2019s songs are complex\u00a0to be sure, they are elaborately layered with electronic flourishes, odd triggers, jarring movements, and\u00a0an impeccable sense of timing. This night\u2019s set list borrowed heavily from their newest self-titled release,\u00a0as songs like \u201cAs Time Goes\u201d and \u201cCaroline\u201d were faithfully recreated on-stage with all of the verve and\u00a0pep fully intact.\"Featured<\/a><\/p>\n

At times, however, the songs sounded a little thin, the vocals a little off-key, and the bass a bit too
\noverpowering. JR JR\u2019s songs are so meticulously crafted that one subtle change or quirk\u2014the kinds that\u00a0are unavoidable in a live setting\u2014can cause things to sound a bit fractured. These moments were rare\u00a0but noticeable, as the band sometimes struggled to sing their harmonies with the flawlessness that\u00a0comes so easy in a recording studio full of manipulations and effects.<\/p>\n

There was also a languorous\u00a0monotony that began to settle in after awhile, especially after songs like \u201cJames Dean,\u201d a stab at auto-\u00a0tuned slow-groove R&B that failed to convince. Groups of young 20-somethings seemed distracted with\u00a0their cell phones, side conversations, and selfies, an object lesson in how sugar-high confections\u00a0eventually lose their sweetness. Luckily, the band rewarded its most devoted fans\u2014those whose\u00a0rubber-armed dance moves never wavered\u2014with a barreling, satisfying finish. The night\u2019s last song,\u00a0\u201cGone,\u201d is an impossibly joyful song complete with whistle effects, sweeping electronic drums, and the\u00a0soaring, elevated harmonies of multi-instrumentalists Joshua Epstein and Daniel Zott. The last song of
\n\"Featured<\/a>the evening, \u201cIf You Didn\u2019t See Me (Then You Weren\u2019t on the Dance Floor),\u201d should be a dance-club\u00a0classic, a song with such fervid bounce that Zott decided to join the dance floor himself, a move that\u00a0brought the show to an exultant conclusion. At this point even the most cynical\u2014myself included\u2014had\u00a0found the energy to join him in doing the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JR JR writes irresistible pop songs\u2014the kind that so delicately toe the line between ingratiating and charming, between cloying and clever. The group recently dropped the \u201cDale Earnhardt\u201d section of their\u00a0band name, but the name change has not resulted in any appreciable difference in sound, no blatant\u00a0attempt at reigning in their penchant for lighthearted grooves and playful melodies. Their latest self-titled effort is even more buoyant and slick than the group\u2019s preceding records, an obvious reflection of\u00a0their major label prominence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":37867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,4,3268],"tags":[1251,3669,3667,3668],"class_list":["post-37864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-on-kjhk","category-music","category-music-articles","tag-bottleneck","tag-dale-earnhardt-jr-jr","tag-featured-concerts","tag-jr-jr"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_9073.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}