If only J. Robbins could find a band that works as hard as he does. After Jawbox called it quits, Burning Airlines made one incredible record-- a near-perfect balance between musicianship and satisfying hooks-- and one confused one, a sophomore slump from a shifting lineup that may have eventually found its footing. Instead, band members keep evaporating on Robbins, leaving him to do decidedly un-punk-rock things like have families and hold down 9-to-5 jobs. Robbins, however, has done them one better by starting his own family while staying active as a prolific producer and an occasional musician. Slow on the heels of a 2004 EP is Waiting for the Next End of the World, the first full-length from Robbins in five years and the first from Channels, a trio featuring co-vocalist Janet Morgan (aka Mrs. Robbins) from Shonben and drummer Darren Zentek of Oswego and Kerosene 454.
Robbins' time spent behind the production boards rather than in front of them pays off here: Channels' LP is an immaculate-sounding rock record, flipping through a library of hair-raising sci-fi guitar tones over an ever-crisp rhythm section. The guitar in "Licensee" alone stings like a toothache and then slides backward on its heels in the chorus. The bass work on this record, heavier than Robbins is used to while still remaining limber, is nothing to sneeze at, but Morgan is more a backup singer than a real songwriting foil-- a role Robbins benefits from. (See: The difference between the first and second BA records.)
Still, Robbins deserves credit for upping his lyrical game by more than a few notches. He's been prone to abstraction, but now Channels' songs are political without being topical, and paranoid without being heavy-handed, with far more pithy one-liners per capita (e.g. on "Mayday" he quips, "Every survivor story reeks of alibis").
It's a shame that all of that is applied to songs that sound mannered at best, and often clunky. "Savory" aside, Robbins' has never been a murderer at midtempo, and very few of these songs pick up the pace, bogged down by meandering melodies and hooks too obtuse to really land. The best moments are those that have the slightest trace of sweat: The trade off between he and Morgan over Morse-code bursts of distortion in "Licnesee", the landmine bob of "Mayday", the very-BA "Chivaree", or the floating near-psychedelia of "Helen Mirren".
Not a bad batting average, but even the blistering "$99.99" seems buttoned-up somehow, and everything else is aimed straight into Robbins' comfort zone. Waiting for the Next End of the World has all the trademarks of his previous projects, excepting the melody or the bite. There's nothing here that'll disappoint his well-earned fanbase, but that's all he's playing to as that section of the populace slowly dwindles with each year in between projects. If only he'd book a few less mediocre emo bands and put the baby down on the boards; we could always use more of Robbins' A-game.
