With Ska Punk comes frenzied energy, and JER brings that energy in their debut. They carry the torch to the modern setting and sets ablaze the political system that harshly harms the marginalized with flashy melodies and direct vocal chops. It never stays still to anger, but redirects that energy to find prosperity and growth for a better future.
In picking up the whimpering flame of Ska, JER keeps it alive with an empowered fervor. Ska Punk is one of those genres that have not seen the brightest of days ever since its inception in the 1980s. Speedy spikes of punk aggression bouncing off with the jazzy, horn-accented flair of Ska mixes well with one another like bread and butter, but it is not the genre that will stick as it flails out in the 2000s and the 2010s. It’s quite unfortunate since Ska Punk can get its punchy sides while also retaining a sense of approachability due to the genre’s prevalent use of horns in its music.
Speaking of which, JER’s presence in the scene may be quite known due to their affiliation as one of the members of the Ska Punk band We Are the Union and also a guest musician on certain albums, but it’s mostly their social media handle as Skatune Network that really caught sight from a lot of people in the internet due to their ska-punk covers of multiple songs that are popular in mainstream media. And no joke, they have amassed a lot of ska punk song covers to fill in a playlist chock full of ska punk goodness for all the hardcore ska punk folks that adore everything ska punk.
But it’s not just Ska Punk covers that they’ve done for the most part. ‘Bothered/Unbothered’ is their debut project that steps forward JER’s knowledge and familiarity in their Ska Punk roots, using it to explore whatever personal dilemmas they’ve witnessed in the current state of their country and their tangled feelings within it. And with their Ska Punk fundamentals clearly in their mind, they whack their melodies with enough Punk energy balanced out with zany composure from Ska, keeping it clasp altogether.
Going through the entire record shows the markings that the album wants to process, toppling into the systems that bothered and fumed JER’s emotions. Right from the jump, JER assesses these systems that will crack open the marginalized communities in America on ‘BOTHERED’ amidst galloping grooves and energy from the horns, drums, guitars, and JER's own vocal presence. JER continues onwards with their confrontations on people that lean close to devaluing their identity on tracks like ‘You Got Yr —-- Card Revoked!’ with its throttling trombone lines as JER points at those who look at their black identity with close-minded statements spouted towards the struggles that black people like them face in the American socio-political climate. ‘Clout Chasers’ with rowdy guitar feedback and sticky hooks where JER frustratingly calls out people who turned their back on them that then came back due to the clout that JER attained throughout the years. ‘Cold Truth’ with its synth-inflected passages extends the themes of the past few tracks even further where JER pokes at individuals whose privilege has allowed those individuals to become ignorant, offensive, and callous to the harsh truth that’s affecting marginalized individuals in the country. And there’s ‘Decolonize Yr Mind’ that hits home those themes into major focus, where amidst the stable rhythms and guitar shredding centers JER’s rapping and passionate speech at the end of the song, diving into JER slicing through topics of gentrification, colonization, incarceration, and other adjacent exploitations that now put individuals like JER to keep fighting and yearning for that reality where they will never experience those difficulties in the future.
The second half then focuses on that aspect of understanding and growth despite the difficulties that JER will face. On ‘Maybe...’, they find themselves in turmoil where their spirit to fight the oppressive system starts to fade, but they do find the spirit to keep pushing forward as long as hope still shines brightly within them. Just like its title, ‘Garden Of Understanding’ is a track about the patience and constant push JER will keep contributing to so that the people who may not understand the harms and struggles that have been pushed on oppressed communities will be able to see that worldview that these oppressed individuals have to face every single day of their lives. JER understands that the process will take a while, but they will be there with them to grow and understand if there is at least the will to try. ‘Nobody Can Dull My Sparkle’ take its energy elsewhere to a more positive outlook, where amidst the driving energetic flair of the instrumentation, JER focuses more on putting their attention on fostering care and love in individuals that yearn for a protective community rather than focusing on being bothered by people that will spill the negative vibes to them. And barreling through the end comes ‘UNBOTHERED’, where after pointing out the fallacies of the people that JER has to face, they’re now surrounded by people that will stand alongside them, where even if there is the awareness that things are still dire and the reality they are facing is bleak, they can still allocate their time and energy on fighting against those oppressive systems through constant cycles of healing and building. It ends the album with the rhythms and JER’s voice blazing through everything with an energy that is positive and hopeful.
While the record does allocate its 30+ minute runtime into spectacular moments, it does falter at spots. For one, it feels a little distracting when the vocal mixing tends to be brushed aside to the background and let the instrumentation smudge JER’s voice. This happens really often, and it doesn’t allow JER’s presence to materialize, and it’s quite a wasted opportunity to push their vocal presence into the front, especially on the back half where a lot of the songs focus on that sense of growth and confidence in JER as a person. And second, there are tracks in the midsection that fall short due to some clunky arrangements. While ‘Garden Of Understanding’ is mostly fine with its potent melodies from the grooves and the horns but a rather mild chorus melody and ‘Decolonize Yr Mind’ at least has refreshing segments from JER’s rapping and impassioned spoken word even if the structure to get there come off clunky, ‘Maybe…’, and ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’ have their own different weak facets. For ‘Maybe…’ comes from the issue of structure, where amidst the first 2 verses comes off a ballistic bridge and then goes back to the repetitive mild guitar and groove passages for the next 2 verses. And for ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’ however comes from the issue of broad lyrical passages, where even in the context of the record with the song focusing on the message of trying to push through and never giving up, the lack of fleshing out the verses doesn’t help this song from feeling quite redundant on the album even with the flashier melodies and tempos from the instrumentation that makes up for it.
It’s a debut from JER that showcases their skill in the realms of Ska Punk, where even with the issues on vocal mixing and track in the midsection that don’t stand out, it’s a project that does take the torch from the ska-punk veterans of old and taking it forward to new avenues and environments where things still have not changed for the better but still have the fire to change the world. It develops from confronting those who are unwilling to change to finding prosperity and growth with other people that yearn for the same thing. It’s ska-punk with potent melodies and jaunty grooves that also carry a powerful message about being bothered by the oppression around marginalized individuals and finding the right set of people to become unbothered by the system that inflicts that harm and then fight back against that system. The world may still be bleak, but JER wants us to know that we can still push through that positive change.
Favorite Tracks: BOTHERED, You Got Yr —-- Card Revoked!, Clout Chasers, Nobody Can Dull My Sparkle, UNBOTHERED
Least Favorite Track: You Can Get It If You Really Want