Probably not forgotten, but definitely underappreciated, Orange Rhyming Dictionary, Jet’s to Brazil’s 1998 debut on Jade Tree Records, is a study in shockingly literary post-grunge powerpop. Indebted greatly to the Jawbreaker legacy, Jets to Brazil formed around Jason Schwarzenbach of the aforementioned band, but their purpose was definitively non-related; it only happens that the main songwriter and figurehead of one of the most important punk bands of the 90’s was coincidentally taking the next logical step in his progression from punk to legend. It is interesting though, that Orange Rhyming Dictionary is such a quietly introspective record compared the the extroverted emotionality of Jawbreaker. Eschewing the difficult-to-place stance that his former band took, Jets to Brazil fall neatly into the category of late-90’s powerpop punk aphorisms, but their malleable posture makes them harder to interpret when stacked up next to their contemporaries. Winding song structures and often atonal vamping lends an interestingly tough skin to the records stylistics—songs like hazily beautiful “Chinatown” and the bleakly passionate “I Typed for Miles” all reek of Jawbreaker, but there’s something much more grown-up about the music, with a very roadworn though never weary maturity to it. And unlike their contemporaries, Jets to Brazil never found the same success as Jimmy Eat World or others; rather, they basked in their aloofness from it all, enjoying the distance and the freedom from pressure that had consumed Jawbreaker. Orange Rhyming Dictionary is very much a relic of its time, but the artifice and the pre-Millennial feeling detracts nothing from its volubility and perfection that carries it on as a cult record—never forgotten and forever loved.
Listen to “Chinatown” (Live in Chicago, 1998) and “Conrad” (Live in Seattle, 1999)
Download “Orange Rhyming Dictionary“
