This EP opens with the jazz-funk-like bass line of "Jhazz Never Spelled So Good", which I have heard prior to this CD, so I was ready for it and it was a great way to kick off the CD. Five other songs round out this EP, one of which is the instant hit "Let Us Now Die Famous Men". The songs that I didn't already know really stood out like "Traditional Ghosts" and "The Era of Murder by Simulation".
Coming a long way since their last release with Eulogy Recordings, this debut EP on Revelation Records has really catagorized Christiansen in a sound of punk, rock, insanity, jazz, experimental fusion, which is quite a lot of ground to cover. I think that this EP is both musically and lyrically more complicated than a lot of other music out there today. It's not so easy to sing along to on the first listen, and moreso, it's not just the same old guitar chords being played in a slightly different matter over and over again. It is far too complex for many feeble minds to understand, and therefore, when they hear it, it will not be to their liking. Let's put it this way, it'd be like people expecting to see a Pauly Shore movie and ending up seeing a foriegn flick. There's nothing wrong with fart jokes and buzz words, but if you don't like foriegn movies simply because you refuse to listen through the accents or you won't read the subtitles, than this is far too superior for your plebian mind.
I've said it before and I'll say it again I'm sure, but Christiansen is definitely a band I can not simply put my finger on to their exact sound, but man are they good. Even though this is an EP with six songs, it manages to stand out in my mind far more than a lot of full lengths of recent memory with twice the songs or more.