Andrew Jackson Jihad – Knife Man (Asian Man Records, 2011)

Phoenix, Arizona seems like a fitting hometown for folk duo Andrew Jackson Jihad. The city is a sprawling metropolitan center isolated by miles of desert in any direction. That isolation gives the band (vocalist, guitarist, and professional cynic Sean Bonette and bassist and vocalist Ben Gallaty, along with a slew of guest musicians) a definite air of pessimism that has refused to waiver over the course of three studio albums and countless EP’s. As Knife Man, their fourth studio effort, reveals, nothing’s changed.