Can't Maintain

Can't Maintain
Studio album by Andrew Jackson Jihad
Released	October 13, 2009
Genre	Punk rock folk punk indie folk
Length	28:23
Label	Asian Man
Andrew Jackson Jihad chronology
Operation Stackola (2009) Can't Maintain (2009) Knife Man (2011)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Punknews.org	[1]
Sputnikmusic	[2]

Can't Maintain (stylized as can't maintain.) is the third studio album by Andrew Jackson Jihad.^[3]

Production

Jeff Rosenstock played horns and theremin on the album.^[4] The release was mastered by Carl Saff. In 2019, AJJ frontman Sean Bonnette ranked Can't Maintain as his third favorite album from the band's six releases to date^[5] and described it as "the only record thus far where we knew the sequence going into it."^[5] In 2019, AJJ celebrated the album's 10th anniversary by playing it in full at a fundraising concert in Phoenix, Arizona.^[6][7]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Sean Bonnette; all music is composed by Andrew Jackson Jihad

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Heartilation"	2:01
2.	"Self Esteem"	1:36
3.	"Love in the Time of Human Papillomavirus"	2:04
4.	"Evil"	2:06
5.	"You Don't Deserve Yourself"	2:30
6.	"Olde(y) Tyme(y)"	1:09
7.	"Kazoo Sonata in Cmaj"	1:17
8.	"We Didn't Come Here to Rock"	2:23
9.	"Truckers Are the Blood"	3:01
10.	"Love Will Fuck Us Apart"	1:44
11.	"Sense, Sensibility"	2:16
12.	"Who Are You?"	2:40
13.	"White Face, Black Eyes"	3:26
Total length:		28:23

Reception

Adam Finley, writing for PopMatters, described Can't Maintain as one of the best albums of 2009.^[8] Robin Smith of PopMatters wrote that the album "opened with scuzzy electric guitars and pounding drums" and called the track "We Didn't Come Here to Rock" a "delightfully ironic rocker."^[9] The A.V. Club included the track “Who Are You?” in its list of songs about bad fathers, adding that Bonnette "[coats] his complex emotions in witty one-liners."^[10]

Personnel

Andrew Jackson Jihad

• Sean Bonnette - lead vocals, guitar, kazoo, glockenspiel
• Ben Gallaty - bass, guitar on "Evil", backing vocals
• Preston Bryant - guitar on "You Don't Deserve Yourself", piano on "White Face, Black Eyes"
• Deacon Batchelor - drums
• Owen Evans - banjo, piano on "Evil"

Additional personnel

• Jeff Rosenstock - saxophone, theremin
• Kepi Ghoulie - whistling
• David Jerkovich - drums, viola, mandolin, electric guitar, organ, and trumpet all on "Love Will Fuck Us Apart"
• Davy Charles - trumpet, trombone on "Truckers Are the Blood"
• Matt Keegan - trombone
• Tobie Milford - violin
• Jaspen Nelson - trombone on "Truckers Are the Blood"
• Allyson Seconds - vocals on "Love In The Time Of Human Papillomavirus"
• Carl Saff - mastering
• Jalipaz Nelson - recording, mixing, noise
• Ryan Piscitelli - artwork, layout

References

1. "Andrew Jackson Jihad-Can't Maintain". Punknews.org. October 13, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
2. Can't Maintain review Sputnikmusic. Published December 13, 2009. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
3. Can't Maintain at AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
4. Jason P. Woodbury (2011) "Andrew Jackson Jihad's Sean Bonnette on Knife Man and Gawker" Phoenix New Times. Published September 16, 2011. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
5. Dan Ozzi (2019) "AJJ’s Sean Bonnette Ranks the Band’s Six Albums" Noisey. Published February 1, 2019. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
6. Amy Young (2019) "AJJ Celebrates Can't Maintain's Anniversary at Cowtown S.K.A.T.E.'s Annual Fundraiser" Phoenix New Times. Published October 1, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
7. Ed Masley (2019) "Here's some great local music to check out in Phoenix, from Fairy Bones to Spafford" AZCentral. Published October 4, 2019. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
8. Adam Finley (2011) "Andrew Jackson Jihad: Knife Man" PopMatters. Published October 10, 2011. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
9. Robin Smith (2014) "Getting Naked, Playing with Guns: An Interview with Andrew Jackson Jihad" PopMatters. Published 28 April 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
10. "Bad dads: 19 songs about shitty fathers" The A.V. Club. Published June 11, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2020.