The Jerry Gross Organization

The Jerry Gross Organization released a debut album at the start of the year, not that you may have heard about it.

Every so often something comes is that piques the interest. PR is important but sometimes you have to admire the more modest take on a bio: “From way out in the left field of the Canadian capital comes The Jerry Gross Organization. In a city that heavily favours the pastoral and familiar in music, The JGO slip under the radar because their music resists the “band x and band y had a baby”-style of reductive analysis that has long defined the practices of Ottawa’s cultural press. Such as it is. The band have no aptitude for (nor any interest in) marketing. They find it, in a word, gross. They simply stand by the music as being, if nothing else, unusual enough to merit discussion. And so, they leave it to you, should you be willing and/or able, to decipher ‘Just Pull it Down’, The JGO’s debut album.”

So after a understated introduction, the question had to be would the music speak for itself and the answer came back as a resounding yes. With its eclectic mix of styles, from a grooving guitar to a driving beat, sometimes bluesy, sometimes retro, sometimes borderline stoner, and with song titles that are maybe a little way out, ‘Just Pull It Down’ is a record that has balls. From the dirty riffs, to the almost psychedelic vibe especially on some of the intros, interspersed with samples over a mournful guitar, just when you think you have worked out the sound, they go and toss in something different, almost as if they don’t want you to get too comfortable listening to the album. Its almost schizophrenic quality is something that stands out, as the songs flow into each other but at the same time manages to be different to the last.

There could be a lot of pretentious prose written about the album, each track dissected with an array of clichés, but having taken note, it’s one time just to be the messenger and to say go and listen to this excellent album. It is all the marketing this band need.

Just Pull It Down’ is available as a digital download from The JGO bandcamp page:

‘Just Pull It Down’ Tracklisting:

1. Jackrabbit Bit
2. Sunglasses Dick
3. The Accidental Mullet
4. The Raided Premise Discotheque
5. Theme From The Jerry Gross Organization
6. See the Man (Part II)
7. Hit the Noise and the Cherries
8. The Demolitionist’s Handbook
9. TDV
10. I Like the Second Feature Better