Why has no one heard of Jackdrag??? He is, as my friend James would say, the "man"!!
Very much in the vein of a slightly darker Steve Malkmus, John Dragonetti (His still bizarre real name) makes delectable fizzy pop, coupled with a hint of Hip-hop and psychedelia, and makes it extremely well. Although, Malkmus, Folk Implosion and Flaming Lips are reference points, Jack is very much an individual.
"We Could Have Been Big" is particularly fine example of his patented delectable pop. A strummed acoustic opening evolves into a trippy, swirling, psychedelic orgasm towards the climax (ahem). This is a record crying out to have drugs taken to it.
As opening lines go, "We could've been big, it could've been nice, we might have been more popular than Jesus Christ", ranks up their with the finest. Jack is something which many contemporary Indie lyricists aren’t. Clever. They may be emotional, they may be funny, they may well be crap, but they sure as hell ain’t clever. Jack does his best to redress he balance on this, and many of his other songs.
This is quite simply a magic little record. Jackdrag??? I'm sure Shifty Disco won't be able to keep him a secret for any great length of time at all.....
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8Joe Wisbey's Score