Fabulous!

Great job, Jules. <3

That’s how I felt about Wake Up The Sleepers. The stuff that didn’t work for me REALLY didn’t work, but it works as a whole, and I really enjoyed the album. I think KH deserve to be proud of what they’ve accomplished.

Of course, as is pretty much always the case with KH, the songs come across even better live. Can’t wait to hear more of the album translated to the live show.

Also, I really liked this review and I agree completely. Part of me feels a little jealous on some levels because I had many of the EXACT same thoughts with respect to the record (I’ve literally said, “Escape Artistry is All that He Wants ‘09″ to several fans/friends while discussing this record) and you beat me to the punch! Ah well.

Here’s how I would sequence the record:

1. Radio
2. Living In Misery
3. Laika
4. New York City Speed
5. Why I Have My Grandma’s Sad Eyes
6. Tokyo (Dance In The Dust)
7 Acid Rain
8. Mouth To Mouth
9. Snowblinded
10. Strobe Lights
11. Vultures (Be There For Me)
12. Promise Me
13. Escape Artistry

I sequenced this record as if I was sequencing multiple movements within a record. Think of it as a couple of killer EP’s strung together with tracks that bridge those movements. I think the first and last movements should be a mix of slow and fast components (mixed). I think the second movement should have most of the energy, though. In my mind, the last movement should have some of the quieter and weightier songs (by subject matter) and should also leave on the best possible note.

For the first movement, I like Radio as an opening track, so I’d lead off with that. I sort of imagine Radio as the epic helicopter flight over Chicago that introduces the record and the basically says “We’re back, fuckers.” The ending of Radio calms down enough to lead perfectly into Living In Misery (try it – you might like it!). I like having Laika follow it because it kicks the tempo up without feeling like we just ingested some New York City speed and are tweaking all over the place. Laika can ramp things up for a big New York City Speed dance fest on Track 4 . I think Why I have Grandma’s Sad Eyes is different and quirky enough to serve as a proper cool down and a bridge track for the next movement.

Movement Two should start of as punchy and direct, and I think Tokyo fits that bill nicely. Acid Rain is also an up tempo and punchy song, but it has a nice slow intro that eases you into things with the slow intro so you once again don’t feel like you are ingesting too much sugar/crack at once. As such, I think it is a perfect track 7. The reality of this album is such that you are going to get some faster paced or really energetic songs next to each other. You just can’t avoid it unless you literally separate the album into slow halves/fast halves, which I don’t think is as creative or interesting (personally). So, I bit the bullet and followed up Acid Rain with Mouth To Mouth because it has a minute long intro that ramps things up and will hopefully give people a bit of breathing room after Acid Rain’s frenetic double-bass fuck fest and rockin’ outro.

That brings us to Movement 3. I really wanted to start this movement with Snowblinded because it is such a gorgeous love song and Benji Madden brings SO much A-game to this instantly mind blowing track. Despite being fairly mid-tempo, the song feels VERY Romantically moody to me – especially the outro refrain with the simple vocalizations (”bah bah bah bah – I just want you to know”). I think that moodiness sort of mentally slows down things, even when the rock is still keeping pace. The song makes you think and has such an elegant string crescendo that I find it perfect in that spot. Vultures slows things down a bit more, but it is the heaviest song on the record (lyrically) and what I think is personally the best song Kill Hannah has ever written. I relate to that song so much on so many levels! Anyway, I followed that up with Promise Me because I almost treat Promise Me as a sort of quiet interlude. On the commentary, Mat talks about how the song was originally only a minute long or so. Mentally, it feels very focussed and minimalist – just like a one minute musical segue. Considering the heaviness of that subject matter and considering the fact that I didn’t want to use it as a bridge song or toss it in anywhere else (it would just kill any momentum that might be generated by a movement), I found it appropriate to tack it onto Vultures, since Vultures is so damn heavy. HOWEVER, I didn’t want to end with that as the last track because I don’t think it should end on such a sober note. I don’t think that reflects the general mid -tempo to uptempo vibe of the record or the . One of the things I learned in speech and debate is that people remember things by primacy (whatever they hear first) and recency (whatever they hear last that is most recent).I was pretty cognizant of that fact. Like you and I have both said (independently of each other), Escape Artistry is basically All That He Wants ‘09. All That He Wants opened American Jet Set in a HUGE way that I think it would be so awesome to end like that. Instead of letting the heaviness of Promise Me and Vultures drag one down to some sort of epic Van Goh-esque fugue of depression, I figured that Escape Artistry could serve as the light-at -the- end- of -the- tunnel song.

After all, Mat’s big message (I think) in Living In Misery is “BUT WE HAVE TO HOLD ON.” I think Escape Artistry can convey that same thematic message if delivered as the parting shot after Vultures/Promise Me. To me that says, “Yeah, we’ve been through hell and back, but we still have fire in our bellies and the spirit that made you guys fall in love with us in the first place. That pioneer spirit that makes us just take off with no destination in mind. The spirit that is reflected with the thunder in our eyes.”

In a sense, that spirit is conveyed with the opening song as well (Radio) which basically says, “Fuck you, you guys doubted and we stepped up to the plate every time and keep swinging no matter what and continue to knock balls out of the stadium.”

Kill Hannah has such life-affirming music that I think that theme should be reflected with the ending song.

Anyway, I spent forever typing this out! I hope I didn’t bore you to tears! Regardless, I would seriously encourage you to give my mix a shot. I’ll definitely do the same with yours.

Let me know what you think.

Regards,

Evan Sanchez