{"id":40941,"date":"2016-02-03T00:24:10","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T06:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=40941"},"modified":"2016-02-03T00:30:10","modified_gmt":"2016-02-03T06:30:10","slug":"mozes-and-the-firstborn-mozes-and-the-firstborn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2016\/02\/03\/mozes-and-the-firstborn-mozes-and-the-firstborn\/","title":{"rendered":"Mozes and the Firstborn: Mozes and the Firstborn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-40943\" src=\"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R-5484305-1394558295-1239.jpeg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"270\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R-5484305-1394558295-1239.jpeg.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R-5484305-1394558295-1239.jpeg-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R-5484305-1394558295-1239.jpeg-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Melle Dielesen, the vocalist and rhythm guitar player for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mozesandthefirstborn.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mozes and the Firstborn<\/a>, is unflinchingly convincing. His sympathetic, almost tender, voice seeps through the cracks of the room Mozes and the Firstborn originated in (a basement, as Dielsen revealed on <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2014\/02\/16\/277882091\/the-sunny-grunge-of-mozes-and-the-firstborn\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NPR <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in 2014). \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mozesandthefirstborn.bandcamp.com\/track\/bloodsucker\" target=\"_blank\">Bloodsucker<\/a>,\u201d the opening track to Mozes and the Firstborn\u2019s eponymous <a href=\"https:\/\/mozesandthefirstborn.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">debut LP<\/a>, is simultaneously condescending and sincere. Despite being a confrontational ballad, it\u2019s hard not to sympathize with Dielsen. This character, as disenchanted and nihilistic as he can be, creates a unique dynamic between grunge and anthem sunshine-pop, and it helps make <em>Mozes and the Firstborn<\/em> a strong debut album. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even when Dielesen gets lazy with his lyrics, the tracks are still irresistible\u00a0to sing along to. The hook\u2019s lyrics are repeated at least a dozen times on each song, so there\u2019s plenty of time to join in. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mozesandthefirstborn.bandcamp.com\/track\/i-got-skills\" target=\"_blank\">I Got Skills<\/a>\u201d is so simple and repetitious that, when the audience hears it, they would be committing an injustice by not chanting \u201cSkills; I got skills, I got skills to make it through your doorway,\u201d with Dielesen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cultish, Rolling Stones-esque rhythm guitar\u00a0on tracks like \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mozesandthefirstborn.bandcamp.com\/track\/peter-jr\" target=\"_blank\">Peter Jr<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vy31Dhgd7lo\" target=\"_blank\">.<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mozesandthefirstborn.bandcamp.com\/track\/party-crasher\" target=\"_blank\">Party Crasher<\/a>\u201d are embedded with the catchy driftiness of Ty Segall on <em>Melted<\/em>, making them more digestible. Mozes and the Firstborn sounds helplessly fun, but Dielesen sings of helplessly succumbing to troubles, similar to\u00a0a bastardized of Montreal. Mozes and the Firstborn only sound truly solemn on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mozesandthefirstborn.bandcamp.com\/track\/heaven\" target=\"_blank\">Heaven<\/a>\u201d but, on balance, they recognize that solemnity will not incite their audience to chant along. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mozes and the Firstborn\u2019s conclusion, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mozesandthefirstborn.bandcamp.com\/track\/heaven-reprise\" target=\"_blank\">Heaven Reprise<\/a>,\u201d is just darn silly. After reciting sobering lyrics from \u201cHeaven,\u201d Dielesen cedes the soundscape to slapstick, hypnagogic pop that extracts the bubbling synths from Tame Impala\u2019s <em>Currents<\/em>, featuring xylophones that contribute to Mozes and the Firstborn\u2019s goofy conclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mozes and the Firstborn embrace garage rock that swarms with contagious energy and, for a band that hatched out of the basement not too long ago, they certainly have skills.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended If You Like: Ty Segall, Black Lips, Paul Cary &amp; The Small Scarys<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended Tracks: 1 (Bloodsucker), 2 (Peter Jr.), 6 (Time\u2019s a Headache)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Do Not Play: None<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Written by Logan Gossett\u00a0on 02\/03\/16<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"jp-relatedposts\" class=\"jp-relatedposts\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mozes and the Firstborn craft irresistible garage (or basement) rock on their self-titled, debut LP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6418,"featured_media":40943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3235,3230,181],"tags":[3406,4185,513],"class_list":["post-40941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-music-reviews","category-new-music-rotation","category-rock-rotation","tag-logan-gossett","tag-mozes-and-the-firstborn","tag-ty-segall"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R-5484305-1394558295-1239.jpeg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40941","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\/6418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}