A Best Live Show Nominee in the 2006 & 2009 Awards
(Photo Credits: Ember)
Live Show Rating: 5 & 1/4 Stars. 
From the category archives:
Relient K
[Note: This was a very limited 4-song EP, which we never got a chance to obtain. However, the first three of this EP's songs were released on their debut album, and the final, exclusive track has now been rereleased on Relient K's The First Three Gears (2000-2003) Compilation. For the description of the exclusive track, please see The First Three Gears review.]
One of Relient K’s trademarks are their uniquely cliché-laden lyrics, seamlessly blending humor and seriousness. As this album shows, they had this quality from the start. What they did not have from the start was their now-distinctive Pop/Punk/Rock sound, which they switched to for their second CD and which they have modified and improved with every CD following it. In contrast, their first album is indie Punk Rock.
Old fan favorite “Hello McFly” is the first track, and no track on this CD showcases their lyric style better than this one.
Next is the second old fan fave “My Girlfriend”, a song that’s casually and playfully cynical while still blatantly true. Musically, it features a funny intro and a strange guitar ending. 
Third original fan favorite “Wake Up Call” is a funny track that pretty much details its title.
“When You’re Around” features harmonies that foreshadow their later second-release sound.
Final old fan favorite “Softer To Me”, with its solid Punk Rock sound and great lyrics and vocals, is actually the best track on here. [Note: And, in fact, Relient K's 2006 live shows actually featured this song once more.]
“Charles In Charge” is a cover of the old Charles in Charge TV show’s hilarious, nonsense theme song.
The only really strange track on here is “Staples”… the lyrics on this one are just, well, strange.
“17 Magazine” humorously and rather clearly points out the problems and ironies that arise from trusting magazines (or similar media) to tell you what’s real, in love and in life.
“Nancy Drew” is another hilarious nonsense song about being in love with the famous crime-fighting female fiction character.
And finally the last track “K Car”, an ode to their namesake, caps off the album’s labeled tracks.
Afterwards follow two Hidden Tracks. The first one is a great instrumental track, with excellent guitars. It’s layered over some weird TV-on-in-the-background sounds, but the music itself is amazing! (If the whole rest of the CD would’ve been like that… wow.) That was the serious one. The second is a funny one— it’s a recording of some guys playing accordion music!
So do we recommend this CD? Well, we’d recommend it to die-hard Relient K fans who want to hear what the band sounded like at the start of their career. Yes, there are some good songs on here, and of course that amazing first hidden track; and yes, we rate it 4 Stars; but we’d recommend that you at least get their later releases first and then come back to this one afterward.
Our rating for Relient K: 4 Stars. 
[Note: This was a very limited 6-song EP, which we never got a chance to obtain. However, the first two of this EP's songs were released on their next album, and the four exclusive tracks have now been rereleased on Relient K's The First Three Gears (2000-2003) Compilation. For the description of the exclusive tracks, please see The First Three Gears review.]
A Best Second Release Nominee in the 2005 Awards
Relient K’s second album features their move from the indie Punk Rock of their first album to their now-classic Pop/Punk/Rock sound. Another new element is their great-sounding harmonies. Lyrically, this entire album is loaded with clichés and pop culture references of the day; and as usual, they blend humor and seriousness perfectly.
Anatomy Of The Tongue In Cheek begins with the aptly-titled “Kick Off”. It’s a very short and very humorous intro track.
Follows is fan favorite “Pressing On”. This is a great, catchy track that emphasizes moving beyond the past and, well, pressing on towards the future.
“Sadie Hawkins Dance”, another fan favorite, is a cute and quite funny track describing the day of the Sadie Hawkins Dance at school. The tradition of that particular dance is for the girls to ask the guys out, instead of the other way around; so during the song you follow Matt T. as he tries to get a girl to ask him to the dance.
“Down In Flames” moves towards a more serious tone— it’s an intensely cynical, yet unfortunately true, criticism of today’s culture.
“Maybe It’s Maybeline” of course contains a parody of the (in)famous line from the makeup commercial. Again, this song has a rather cynical message; although it is a bit lighter than the previous track.
“Those Words Are Not Enough”, a song of surrender, is one of our favorites on the album.
“For The Moments I Feel Faint” is an absolutely beautiful song, and another one of our album favorites.
“Lion Wilson” is a kind of A Cappella intro to “Lion-O”, and that track in turn references the old Thundercats cartoon.
“What Have You Been Doing Lately?” describes meeting back up with old acquaintances whose lives have unfortunately spiraled downward. This song calls them out and forces them to think about what they’ve done.
“May The Horse Be With You” is very funny and entirely metaphorical.
“My Way Or The Highway…” is the most serious track on this album. It does start off with a few slightly humorous phrases; but the song’s message is intense and dead serious.
“The Rest Is Up To You”, after its very funny opening sentence, describes trying to help and support a friend who went through some tough times.
“Failure To Excommunicate” is an awesome song. It contains the hardest music of the album, and it’s the second most serious track. It shows how people with strong morals will always be outcast by those who don’t— but that no matter what, there is always hope.
And finally, Relient K closes out the CD with “Less Is More”, another beautiful song.
Attached afterwards, of course, is a hilarious hidden track, this one asking fans to bring Skittle candy and Combo snacks to the band at their next show… which started a tradition among a good percentage of their fans to actually do so!
Anatomy Of The Tongue In Cheek is a great CD, a great second release, and a Relient K classic. What else need we say?
Our rating for Anatomy Of The Tongue In Cheek: 5 Stars. 
This 6-track EP contains 3 exclusive songs available only on this disc. [Note: The three exclusive tracks have now been rereleased on Relient K's The Bird And The Bee Sides EP/B-sides/Rarities disc.]
The first two tracks, “Trademark” and “In Love With The Eighties (Pink Tux To The Prom)”, are teaser tracks that appear on their next studio album, Two Lefts Don’t Make A Right… But Three Do. Then follow the three EP-exclusive tracks:
“Wit’s All Been Done Before” is a song that basically says, “nothing’s new”. It’s rather cynical, but still funny and very true.
“A Penny Loafer Saved Is A Penny Loafer Earned” is actually a fan favorite, still played at shows [until the end of '05]. It’s a hilarious track about how absurd penny loafer shoes are… the inspiration for which came to them when they saw someone wearing them while walking through an airport.
And the final exclusive track, “For The Band”, is also humorous. Its lyrics wander a bit, but the main thrust is about a ‘fan’ who now has pink hair (!) and doesn’t like the band anymore… and also about how bandmembers’ identities can sometimes get lost so that everything is always about and for the band.
Finally, “Failure To Excommunicate”, one of the best tracks on their previous studio release (Anatomy Of The Tongue In Cheek), closes out this EP.
Our rating for Employee Of The Month: 5 Stars.
A Best Third Release Honorable Mention in the 2005 Awards
Relient K’s third studio release somewhat improves their classic music style. Lyrically there are almost no pop culture references, but of course there are still some clichés and some unique humor.
Two Lefts… begins with fan favorite “Chap Stick, Chapped Lips, And Things Like Chemistry”. As you might expect, it’s a humorous track; and its lyrics wander a bit. It starts off with most of the school apparently getting permission to get out for the day so they can have fun at a theme park; Matt then states “they’re looking for trouble, but with me it won’t be found”. Sprinkled throughout the song seem to be lots of lyrics about cell phones ; and then finally at the end of the song Matt admits that he needs some help with his relationships.
Follows is another fan favorite, “Mood Rings”. This one’s also humorous, describing emotional girls and suggesting that they should wear mood rings so that their emotions will be clear to the poor guys who don’t understand them.
“Falling Out” has a message that no matter how tough life is, or how many mistakes are made, there is always hope.
“Forward Motion” is another very humorous song, this time about the struggle to move forward in life.
“In Love With The Eighties (Pink Tux To The Prom)”— yet another fan fave— was actually inspired by Matt Thiessen’s brother! As you can imagine, this is again a very funny song.
“College Kids” then moves to total hilarity— because, as you might guess, it’s mostly about college… and wanting out of it. Its deeper message is to do what you know you’re called to do.
“Trademark” contains great, heavy guitar music (compared to the other tracks).
“Hoopes I Did It Again” is (what else?) another humorous song .
We’re not quite sure what the lyrics in “Over Thinking” are referring to; a bad relationship, perhaps. Regardless, it’s still a good song.
“I Am Understood?” describes Matt Thiessen’s relationship with God.
“Getting Into You” is a beautiful song, possibly the most beautiful one that they have done yet. It touches on the same subject as the previous track, but with much different lyrics.
Track 12 is untitled. It’s a strange and kind-of funny exchange between Matt and some kids on the street, which leads into the next track, “Gibberish”.
“Gibberish” is a hilarious song that does contain a bunch of gibberish (which is actually written out for you to follow in the liner notes!). And its point is, when you talk, talk substance.
“From End To End” contains absolutely no humor, just truth. It describes trying to help someone who is on a bad path; they’re blocking Matt out, but he’ll keep on trying to help them as long as necessary.
And finally, the last track “Jefferson Aero Plane” is a cute, funny relationship/attitude/life song.
And after all of that, there’s a hidden track— and it’s absolutely, sidesplittingly hilarious! The track features Kevan Pedan as “MC Defenseless”, and its nonsense lyrics cover topics such as silly shoes and Matt Thiessen being ‘the worst freestyle rapper [?!] ever!’
Our rating for Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right… But Three Do: 5 Stars.
[Note: This was a very limited and extremely rare 4-song vinyl-record EP, which we never got a chance to obtain. However, all four of this EP's songs have now been rereleased on Relient K's The Bird And The Bee Sides EP/B-sides/Rarities disc. For the descriptions of these four songs, please see The Bird And The Bee Sides review.]
[Note: This was physically printed only twice, and in limited quantities both times. However, Relient K now has a full-length, fully-released Christmas record called Let It Snow Baby... Let It Reindeer, which incorporates these tracks plus more.]
Well, as usual, Relient K mixes their unique blend of seriousness and humor into these songs— breathing utterly fresh new life into some Christmas classics, and also inventing some of their own.
The EP starts off with a great version of “Angels We Have Heard On High”.
“Deck The Halls” is next, and it’s probably one of the shortest versions of this song ever made! (Just the first verse and chorus. )
“12 Days Of Christmas” is definitely a humorous version. They add in their own amusing chorus after every few ‘days’, and they also do other funny things, such as sounding different during every recitation of “5 Golden Rings” (including not saying it once, and once saying each word backward), singing the entire 11th day in a hilarious falsetto, and literally screaming out all of the numbers on the 12th!
“Silent Night / Away In A Manger” puts aside the humor for a moment and mellows out a bit; this two-song medley is piano-driven. It’s a very nice track, and it leads directly into the next song (“I Celebrate The Day”) without a pause.
“I Celebrate The Day” is an absolutely beautiful song that Matt Thiessen wrote straight from his heart. It’s one of the best songs Relient K has ever done.
“We Wish You A Merry Christmas” brings back the rock. Relient K made up their own verses, although of course they still used the original chorus. This is a great version.
“Santa Clause Is Thumbing To Town” is another Matt Thiessen creation… and it’s hilarious. The story of this song is that on Christmas Eve, everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong up at the North Pole, and now (among other things) Santa is sleigh-less, having to try and hitchhike to everyone’s homes.
“Handel’s Messiah (The Hallelujah Chorus)” is next, and it’s awesome! With chugging guitars and humorous vocals, it’s fast-paced, funny, and totally rocking. It’s absolutely, hands-down, the coolest version of Handel’s Messiah that we’ve heard!
“I Hate Christmas Parties” is one more Matty T. creation. What’s different about this track is that it’s rather melancholy… and, technically, it’s performed not by Relient K but by Matthew Thiessen And The Earthquakes, Matt’s “side band”. (You can see a more detailed explanation of that, and this track, by clicking the above link.)
Finally, Relient K’s great A Cappella version of “Auld Lang Syne” finishes the album… complete with a parting message layered over the song.
And, of course, where would we be without a hidden track? The hidden track on this EP is a very short “12 Days Of Christmas” clip that has been completely altered— including chipmunk-singing, funny accents, and the like. It’s so cute and funny, it’s too bad that it’s so short. 
All in all, this EP is one of our favorite Christmas discs ever— and it’s one that we highly recommend. [But see note above.]
Our rating for Deck The Halls, Bruise Your Hand: 5 & 1/2 Stars. 
BEST FOURTH RELEASE 2005 Award Co-Winner! 
CO-WINNER: Switchfoot (The Beautiful Letdown).
Runners-Up: dcTalk (Jesus Freak), Audio Adrenaline (Some Kind Of Zombie),
Disciple (By God), John Reuben (The Boy vs. The Cynic).
Best Fourth Release ’05 was one of our toughest decisions, and in the end we had to make a tie, because both Switchfoot and Relient K deserved this Award.
With the release of Mmhmm, Relient K literally perfected their sound— in fact, it’s an amazing musical transformation. Yes, in many ways they’re still the Relient K of old; but in many ways they’re also new. There are still strong Pop/Punk/Rock influences on this album, but this time Relient K is simply Rocking more than ever. Talented musician and lead singer Matt Thiessen truly comes into his own on this album as well on the keyboards, piano, and guitar.
In addition, this entire CD feels very coherent; indeed, many of its songs actually flow into one another without a pause. And all of the tracks on this album just resonate musically, more than any of their previous work.
And, humorous track titles notwithstanding, lyrically they are even more mature than they were on previous records. (Of course, they still have cute songs like “My Girl’s Ex-Boyfriend”— after all, it’s the cute songs that everyone fell in love with in the first place — but the majority of the tracks on Mmhmm are actually very honest and mature. Then again, they’ve always been able to mix both cuteness and maturity in their albums; it’s one of the reasons they’re unique.)
The bottom line is, if you were only going to get one Relient K album so far [through '05], this would be it.
Mmhmm begins with “The One I’m Waiting For”. Its message is to relax and not worry so much about relationships; it’ll all work out how it should in the end, so “…live your life for those that you love.”
Follows is “Be My Escape”, with lyrics that focus on breaking complacency.
“High Of 75″ is a cute song that insightfully quips, “…it’s funny how you find you enjoy your life when you’re happy to be alive.”
“I So Hate Consequences” (featuring Paul Bunton of The Showdown and Kevin Kiehn of The Wedding) is musically a quite hard rocker, lyrically speaking of making (and wanting to get away from) mistakes.
“The Only Thing Worse Than Beating A Dead Horse Is Betting On One” (!) has the longest track name on the album… and the song itself is actually the shortest and fastest-paced.
“My Girl’s Ex-Boyfriend” is a really great song that’s cute and funny, but sincere. In it Matt thanks his girl’s ex-boyfriend, because if it wasn’t for him breaking up with her, Matt wouldn’t now have her as his girlfriend.
“More Than Useless” encourages with the message that when you fail, and when you think that you’re not good enough (or even any good at all), there is still hope.
“Which To Bury, Us Or The Hatchet” (again featuring David Bunton of The Showdown) is next. Its strong message, intense vocals, and surprisingly layered music make it the best track on the album. And to top it off, there’s an amazing, seamless transition from it into the next song (“Let It All Out”).
And “Let It All Out” (featuring John Davis) is a beautiful track that shows how good can come out of even painful situations.
“Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been” describes being sorry for the past, and being ready to move on and do what you need to do.
“Maintain Consciousness” is a rather humorous song about fighting laziness and “A.D.D.”-type mentalities. Musically, there is no pause between this track and the next.
“This Week The Trend” is about the struggle to get through life and mature at the same time.
“Life After Death And Taxes” (once more featuring David Bunton of The Showdown) is the second-best track on Mmhmm. It’s got an amazing, hard-rocking sound (the heaviest of the album), intense vocals, and an excellent message.
And finally, “When I Go Down” (featuring John Davis), another excellent and beautiful song, closes off the album in perfect style.
[Note: This album also contains a pregap hidden track, consisting of about 18 seconds of the background music and vocals from the end of the track "My Girl's Ex-Boyfriend". ]
In all, Mmhmm is an excellent album, and definitely worthy of Co-Best Fourth Release.
Our rating for Mmhmm: 5 & 1/3 Stars. 
Relient K’s exclusive-tracks-only Apathetic EP begins with “The Truth”, an excellent, upbeat song that had every reason to be released somewhere.
“Apathetic Way To Be”— while its lyrics are similar to Relient K’s usual style— is musically quite different from anything we’ve heard out of Relient K so far. The whole thing is very good and very interesting.
Next follow three acoustic renditions of previous Relient K songs… “Be My Escape” and “Which To Bury, Us Or The Hatchet” from their album Mmhmm, and “Over Thinking” from their album Two Lefts Don’t Make A Right… But Three Do. Although the original version of “Be My Escape” is definitely better than the acoustic version placed here, this version is still a very good and upbeat song. We were surprised at the inclusion of an acoustic “Which To Bury…”, because its original rock version was very strong and emotional. Since this version is acoustic, its vocal drama and emotion is obviously more subdued; but surprisingly, it’s still quite good. (This shows their talent.) The final acoustic redo, “Over Thinking”, is one song where you could easily interchange the original and acoustic versions— both are equally good.
“In Like A Lion (Always Winter)”, inspired by the movie The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, is a beautiful song that will probably be a Relient K favorite.
And to close the EP is a track called “The Thief”. It’s a short song that is rather reflective in nature. We’re not quite sure what its lyrics are referring to, but it’s a good song nonetheless.
The Apathetic EP is one of Relient K’s best EP’s and we recommend it.
Our rating for Apathetic EP: 5 & 1/4 Stars.
A Best Fifth Release Nominee in the 2007 Awards
Five Score And Seven Years Ago— its title referring to it being the band’s fifth (full-length) release in seven years— shows the continuation of Relient K’s growth in all ways. And while this album still musically contains some obvious Pop/Punk/Rock elements, it’s even more straight-up Rock than ever (which is why we changed their genre description).
The disc opens with the short “Pleading The Fifth (A Cappella)”. It lyrically describes a conspiracy theory about President Lincoln’s death. Musically, it is indeed done in A Cappella style, and sounds very cool. (So cool, in fact, that we wish it was longer! )
“Come Right Out And Say It” encourages you to be honest, and both talk freely yet be willing to listen.
“I Need You” actually contains quite heavy intro and bridge bass/guitarwork, and an absolutely driving chorus.
“The Best Thing” is a great, upbeat, love-song rocker.
“Forgiven” is a good rocker with a rhythmic bridge.
“Must Have Done Something Right” is another love song, this one even more upbeat and happy, and with almost no Punk elements in it.
“Give Until There’s Nothing Left” is somewhat slower (medium-paced). It emphasizes how freeing selflessness is.
“Devastation And Reform” gets back to the Pop/Punk/Rock-influenced, driving Rock. It interestingly slows down and changes tone for the final bridge, then kicks back into the Rock for the last chorus.
“I’m Taking You With Me” is another sweet, upbeat, rock love song.
“Faking My Own Suicide” (as explained in our Matthew Thiessen and The Earthquakes review)— entirely contrary to what you might expect from the title— is actually a pleasant love song. The premise of the song is basically a whimsical, fictitious what-if scenario: If he ever faked his own death, his girlfriend would finally realize just how much she loves him (and that she would have married him, had he ‘lived’); and then he’d “come back to life” and surprise her, etc. While the sentiments that they share are obviously real, Matt relates it in an unusual and quite lighthearted way. The closing verse is really the only one that is truly, completely serious; and it’s quite sweet, ending the song off with the statement that they have “a love that’s so alive”. Musically, there’s an actual Country twang to it (!).
“Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care” is a familiar-feeling goof-off track.
“Bite My Tongue” is another great rock track that describes a wish to change from saying anything and everything that comes to mind, without tact, to having better control.
“Up And Up” is a little lighter musically, until the chorus; lyrically, it’s a great commentary on life.
And the last track “Deathbed” (featuring Jon Foreman of Switchfoot) is over 11 minutes long and uses a total of 115 musical elements (!). Much of this song’s lyrics (which are quite different from anything we’ve heard out of Relient K before) spin a fictitious tale about someone who had a pretty tragic and miserable life and whose bad choices led to an early death, but who did find forgiveness and hope at the end. Because of this, the first 6 minutes of the song are lyrically not pleasant at all; but the final 5 minutes release the tension and come to a beautiful conclusion.
Limited Edition DVD Bonus Content:
The Limited Edition’s bonus DVD features a great live ‘acoustic’ performance at the Capitol Studios (acoustic in this case meaning a partial drum kit played with steel brushes, an electric bass, 2-3 acoustic guitars, and an alternating keyboard, piano, and xylophone). These versions are very good, better than any acoustic versions they’ve done before. (They’re so good, in fact, that we actually hope Relient K will someday release an acoustic album!)
On this DVD they play “I So Hate Consequences” (with the “Life After Death And Taxes” intro like they’d been doing at shows), “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been”, “Faking My Own Suicide”, a cover of Brian Wilson’s “Sloop John B” (and they do a great version of that humorous/serious song ), “Give…”, and “Devastation And Reform”; all with humorous and insightful interview/commentary clips thrown in before, after, and between them (if you select ‘Play All’).
The DVD also contains a very funny making of the “Must Have Done Something Right” video, with the actual music video at the end.
In all, this is an excellent fifth release from Relient K, and we recommend it.
Our rating for Five Score And Seven Years Ago: 5 & 1/3 Stars.
A ListenUpReviews.com Rockin’ Christmas Pick!
[Note: This album contains all 10 tracks from Relient K's previous Limited Edition Christmas EP Deck The Halls, Bruise Your Hand, a track from their Apathetic EP, and 5 brand-new, freshly recorded songs, making this their first full-length Christmas album. We'll repeat our review of the previously released tracks (updated as necessary), along with reviewing the new tracks. Enjoy! ]
Well, as usual, Relient K mixes their unique blend of seriousness and humor into these songs— breathing utterly fresh new life into some Christmas classics, and also inventing some of their own.
Their new Christmas CD begins with “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”. Its music blends smooth synths and medium-slow Rock, and it’s a great opener.
Next follows the even better track “Sleigh Ride”. Its music perfectly builds in steps, from piano to bouncy, rhythmic Rock; and it also has excellent vocal melodies and rhythms.
“Merry Christmas, Here’s To Many More” is a Matt T. original. Its music recalls one or two of the different-sounding tracks on Five Score…, its lyrics focus on hope, and it’s simply great.
A great version of “Angels We Have Heard On High” is next, picking up the pace nicely.
“Deck The Halls” follows, and it’s probably one of the shortest versions of this song ever made! (Just the first verse and chorus. )
“12 Days Of Christmas” is definitely a humorous version. They add in their own amusing chorus after every few ‘days’, and they also do other funny things, such as sounding different during every recitation of “5 Golden Rings” (including not saying it once, and once saying each word backward), singing the entire 11th day in a hilarious falsetto, and literally screaming out all of the numbers on the 12th!
“Silent Night / Away In A Manger” puts aside the humor for a moment and mellows out a bit; this two-song medley is piano-driven. It’s a very nice track, and it leads directly into the next song (“I Celebrate The Day”) without a pause.
“I Celebrate The Day” is an absolutely beautiful song that Matt Thiessen wrote straight from his heart. It’s one of the best songs Relient K has ever done.
“In Like A Lion (Always Winter)” was inspired by the movie The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, and is a rather beautiful song also.
Next is a fast, Rocking cover of “I’m Getting Nuttin’ For Christmas”. The lyrics of that song were already humorous, but Relient K’s new music and vocals for the song are even more so.
For “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”, Relient K made up their own verses, although of course they still used the original chorus. This is a great version.
“Santa Claus Is Thumbing To Town” is another Matt Thiessen creation… and it’s hilarious. The story of this song is that on Christmas Eve, everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong up at the North Pole, and now (among other things) Santa is sleigh-less, having to try and hitchhike to everyone’s homes.
“Handel’s Messiah” is next, and it’s awesome! With chugging guitars and humorous vocals, it’s fast-paced, funny, and totally rocking. It’s absolutely, hands-down, the coolest version of Handel’s Messiah that we’ve heard!
“I Hate Christmas Parties” is another Matty T. creation. What’s different about this track is that it’s rather melancholy… and, technically, it’s performed not by Relient K but by Matthew Thiessen and The Earthquakes, Matt’s “side band”. (You can see a more detailed explanation of that, and this track, by clicking the above link.)
“Boxing Day” is one more Matt T. original. This one is quite different from Relient K’s other work, with acoustic, indie Folk music and rather reflective lyrics.
Finally, Relient K’s great A Cappella version of “Auld Lang Syne” finishes the album… complete with a new parting message layered over the song.
There’s also a brand-new Hidden Track afterward, a just-for-fun, hilarious parody version of “Good King Wenceslas”, with the vocals done in purposefully awful (and ridiculously funny) falsettos! (In fact, one of the bandmembers actually breaks down and laughs at one point. )
Exclusive Digital Bonus Tracks:
Relient K has also released three more Christmas tracks digitally, which can either be purchased singly through online sites such as Wal-Mart or iTunes, or downloaded for free with a download card that comes in the physical 2008 rerelease of the CD.
“Silver Bells” is Rock, and uses a lot of layers (especially with the vocals). Of course, as you’d probably expect by now , it’s great.
“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is heavier, and contains some excellent, unique guitar melodies (which at certain points also shift back and forth between the speakers). It’s very catchy (you’ll probably be humming it later ), totally rocking, and absolutely excellent.
Finally, “O Holy Night” is the slow track of the three (and it only has one verse and chorus). Interestingly, most of the verse is sung extremely low; some of the notes are probably at the very bottom of Matt’s range.
In all, this is one of our favorite Christmas discs ever— and it’s one that we highly recommend.
Our rating for Let It Snow Baby… Let It Reindeer: 5 & 1/2 Stars.
This full-length EP actually combines a new EP and a B-Sides album into one. The first 13 tracks (known as “The Nashville Tennis EP”) are completely brand new; the rest are the “Bee” sides and rarities. Concerning the new tracks, Relient K’s musicianship (in all areas) has gotten better and better with every release, and the new tracks here are no exception. And the vocals are even better than ever, too, as Matt Thiessen uses both his ability to sing several octaves, and his intuition of musical and vocal harmony, brilliantly. Plus, there are four tracks that were written and lead-sung by the other bandmembers (one for each). In short, the new stuff is excellent. Throw in the addition of the rarities and B-sides, and this disc is pure fan delight.
The Nashville Tennis EP:
“Where Do I Go From Here” opens the disc with a short Folk/banjo intro, after which the guitars and an extremely fast, driving Punk drumbeat kick in.
“The Scene And Herd” features heavier rock, great lyrics, and a funny line or two (one referencing their new drummer). It’s an excellent track.
“At Least We Made It This Far” is a love-across-the-distance song, with different and interesting music (mostly light Country with a Relient K touch ).
John Warne’s track, “The Last, The Lost, The Least”, kicks back in the full, driving rock along with a pointed message calling for us all to care for those who are needy.
“The Lining Is Silver” is another excellent track. It begins with medium rock, then picks up after the first chorus (occasionally using some neat staccato rhythms); and it has great, firmly uplifting lyrics, too.
“There Was No Thief” is a great rock ballad that musically builds in steps. Lyrically, it reflects on a broken relationship that was his fault; and his resolve to mend it. (On an interesting sidenote, this track builds off of an older track called “The Thief” from their Apathetic EP.)
Veteran musician and new Relient K drummer Ethan Luck’s track, “No Reaction”, humorously mentions the other bandmembers not singing lead on this song; and musically, it begins with straight-up classic Punk, then turns to Ska-Punk (!), then back to classic Punk.
“Curl Up And Die” leads with several full-sounding acoustic guitars, and other musical elements come in later with everything slowly building throughout. The lyrics are slightly metaphorical, with the meaning of the chorus clearer at the end. At times during this song, Matt T. sends his vocals down lower than we’ve ever heard him go before, and his vocal melody is perfectly entwined with the music. It’s a beautiful track.
Matt Hoopes’ song (which he actually wrote and sang with Matt T.), “You’ll Always Be My Best Friend”, has great lyrics about best friends , and an excellent vocal combo.
“There Was Another Time In My Life” leads with a jazzy rock-piano, the other instruments hopping in at just the right times. This is yet another excellent (and very appealing) track.
Short track “Beaming” has slightly surf-tinged music and basically-nonsense, totally hilarious lyrics.
“I Just Want You To Know” is yet another great track. It features medium rock with just the slightest Southern feel, and (of course) great vocals and lyrics.
Finally, Jon Schneck’s track “Bee Your Man” has very humorous “Country” music, and equally humorous lyrics (and parting message ). Afterwards, there is an also-quite-funny bee-voice segue that serves as a lead-in to the second half of the disc.
In all, if we could rate The Nashville Tennis EP portion separately, we’d give it 5 & 1/2 Stars.
The Bird And The Bee Sides:
“Up And Up (Acoustic)” is an excellent, full-sounding acoustic version, with equally great new vocals. It’s definitely just as good as the original.
“Wit’s All Been Done Before” is the first of the three exclusive tracks from The Employee Of The Month EP. Lyrically, it basically says “nothing’s new”. It’s rather cynical, but still funny and very true.
“The Vinyl Countdown” is the first track off of their very limited (and extremely rare) 4-song vinyl EP of the same title. Along with excellent rock, this track features absolutely hilarious lyrics about old and new music technology.
“For The Band” is the second Employee… track. Its rather humorous lyrics wander a bit, but the main thrust is about a ‘fan’ who now has pink hair (!) and doesn’t like the band anymore… and also about how bandmembers’ identities can sometimes get lost so that everything is always about and for the band.
“Nothing Without You” is the second Vinyl Countdown track with great lyrics and driving rock music.
“A Penny Loafer Saved Is A Penny Loafer Earned” is the third Employee… track; actually a fan favorite and still played at shows [until the end of '05]. It’s a hilarious track about how absurd penny loafer shoes are… the inspiration for which came to them when they saw someone wearing them while walking through an airport.
“Five Iron Frenzy Is Either Dead Or Dying” is the third of The Vinyl Countdown tracks, this one containing hilarious lyrics about FIF.
“Five Iron Frenzy Is Either Dead Or Dying (Ska Version)”, the last of The Vinyl Countdown tracks, uses mock Ska music (including vocals mimicking brass instruments!) and different, also-funny lyrics.
“Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been (Acoustic)” is a great acoustic version with new vocals.
“Here I Go (Demo)” actually sounds nothing like a typical demo— it’s ready to go, with a great, full sound and vocal effects and harmonies. It’s yet another great track.
“The Stenographer (Demo)”, which sounds more like a real demo, uses tons of on-purpose lyrical clichés. It’s fairly ridiculous, and somewhat funny because of that.
“Jefferson Aeroplane (Demo)” also sounds more like a real demo. It’s an interesting old version of this track.
Finally, Relient K closes out the disc with the Five Score… B-side “Hope For Every Fallen Man (Acoustic)”, an excellent track with deeply forgiving and hopeful lyrics.
To sum it up, this is easily Relient K’s best EP to date; and we recommend it.
Our rating for The Bird And The Bee Sides: 5 & 1/3 Stars.
A Best Sixth Release Honorable Mention in the 2009 Awards
As you may have heard, this particular RK release has a theme: It’s a breakup album. However, it’s actually not typical for the category— not all of the tracks are directed at her; there’s some sadness, certainly, but not a lot of bitterness or sarcasm; and the record overall isn’t really a downer (!).
As a perfect example, Forget And Not Slow Down opens with its title track, which is very accepting, upbeat, and hopeful.
“I Don’t Need A Soul” switches gears somewhat. It has fairly straightforward lyrics in the first verse and chorus, but the second verse is a bit puzzling.
“Candlelight” features bouncy drums and somewhat tongue-in-cheek lyrics in the chorus. This track, like several others on the album, flows without a pause into an untitled outro (hence the skips in the track numbering on the back of the CD ).
“Part Of It” can really be summed up by its chorus statement of “If a nightmare ever does unfold, perspective is a lovely hand to hold.” This track also flows into an untitled outro.
Like the title track, “Therapy” (featuring Brian McSweeney) is also somewhat upbeat. It has a great piano/guitar combination in it, too.
“Over It” is somewhat jazzy (also utilizing a great piano/guitar combo), and despite some of the lyrical tones it’s actually quite enjoyable.
“Sahara” (featuring Arnold Thiessen, Matt MacDonald, Tim Skipper of House Of Heroes, and Aaron Gillespie of The Almost & Underoath) is excellent. Its music is different from anything they’ve done before, including intriguing, layered melodies that weave a backdrop of somewhat-suspenseful rock… and it lyrically mixes vivid metaphor with raw honesty. (We got goosebumps both in the chorus and at the end of the bridge.) “Sahara” is easily one of RK’s all-time best tracks.
“Savannah” (featuring Arnold & Jonathan Thiessen) is another track that has very different music, though this time in a completely opposite direction. It’s also very nostalgic— particularly because it describes both their previous relationship as well as Matt’s hope for a resolution that obviously didn’t happen— yet it’s still very good. This song has both a connected intro and outro.
“If You Believe Me” (featuring Matt MacDonald) has rhythmic verses and a rocking, somewhat-emotional chorus.
The final two tracks, “This Is The End” and “(If You Want It)”, are connected without a pause and are essentially one. Musically, the first half contains the appearance of the only real punk drumming of the record, and the second has some very good piano (in fact the second half is quite memorable). Lyrically, more pain is revealed on this double-track finale than on any other; but it is also evident where his healing and hope are coming from, closing both the album and that chapter of Matt’s life on an upward note.
Digital Amazon Edition:
The digital Amazon edition comes with an exclusive bonus track, “Terminals”, on which RK collaborated with Owl City. As such, the track’s music is mostly Owl City’s Electronic Folk Pop/Rock; and its lyrics emphasize Matt’s leaning on grace to get him through (though, as he points out, that doesn’t mean that you should use grace as an excuse).
In all, this is a surprisingly good breakup album , and will likely be a comfort to those who are going through the same thing.
Our rating for Forget And Not Slow Down: 5 Stars.
This compilation combines Relient K’s first three albums (Relient K, Anatomy Of The Tongue In Cheek, and Two Lefts Don’t Make A Right… But Three Do) into one three-disc package (for the individual ratings of those records, please see their reviews). It also contains several now-exclusive bonus tracks.
Bonus Tracks:
As bonuses, this compilation includes the rare exclusive tracks from Relient K’s two earliest EP’s, which have long been out of print. Disc 1 contains the single exclusive from the 2000 A.D.D. EP (“Breakdown (Live)”) and one of The Creepy EP tracks (“Softer To Me (Acoustic)”). The version of “Breakdown” illustrates how good they always have been live, even back at the very start— their layered and overlapping harmonies are perfect, and it’s a great track. The acoustic version of “Softer To Me” is even better; indeed, while its music is quite different from the final version, it’s actually nearly as good.
Disc 2 contains the rest of The Creepy EP tracks— “Operation”, “Jefferson Airplane (Demo)”, and “Pressing On (Back Porch Acoustic)”. B-side “Operation” is a familiarly metaphorical track (of which you can guess the topic ). The “Jefferson Airplane (Demo)” doesn’t necessarily sound like a demo (except for the occasionally out-of-tune vocals), and it’s interesting in the fact that its chorus is markedly different from the final version. Finally, “Pressing On (Back Porch Acoustic)” is an acoustic version that features slightly muted and purposefully not-perfect vocals, as well as various outdoor sound effects in the background (such as someone mowing their lawn, which actually goes on for about three minutes after the song is done! ). The harmonies in the latter portion of the song are quite pleasing, making this another good track.