People Who Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World

I like punky folk-rock bands with well written lyrics. I think this niche in musical history started with bands like Violent Femmes and proceeded with Mountain Goats and Cat Power. They produce songs with a certain urgence that it only limited by the acoustic instruments. A feeling that can not be reproduced by a distorted electric guitar, because that sounds all too easy. This particular folk-rock album is also a great one with interesting lyrics. Best songs are "Rejoice", "Bad Bad Things" and "People". The only mistake is the unnecessary "Mrs. Robinson" part in "People II: The Reckoning" (while the rest of that song is not too bad).

I really enjoyed this - had a very strong early-days Modest Mouse feel to me that clicked. And I’m a sucker for a glockenspiel. Good choice!

A dear friend introduced me to many folk punk artists back in the day (Paul Barbeau, Pat The Bunny’s countless projects, the works). I recall this being a personal discovery though. There’s an inescapable corniness here, but the energy in the performances outweighs it threefold. The essence of a folk punk classic

Somehow have never listened to AJJ before. This is so fun and I love it and once the album finished a similar playlist started and it just kept me so happy I let it play.

This album doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's the point. The singer is a poet. His words speak for themselves. Absolutely love this! Favorite songs: People, Rejoice, Survival Song, Bells and Whistles, People II: The Reckoning, Personal Space Invader, Bad Bad Things, Brave as a Noun, No More Tears, A Song Dedicated to the Memory of Stormy the Rabbit Least favorite songs: Randy's House 5/5

So glad someone added this. One of the things I enjoyed about the pandemic was playing music while I was working. For some reason during those times the Spotify algorithm determined that I needed to start listening to folk punk. It was so right. I did need folk punk in my life. Since they I regularly play a wide variety of the genre. This is a great example of the style and hopefully a gateway to people listening to more.

A freak folk classic, one of those albums that defines a genre following its release. I always appreciate AJJ's breakneck approach to the usual singer-songwriter fare, throwing words and instrumentation together into a chaotic mix that all somehow works together. It's a heady blend that requires active listening, and pushes the bounds of what you'd expect from the typical ho-hum guy with a guitar tracks that seem to be everywhere on the 1001. Great add, cool to see such a small but strong corner of the indie sphere getting some recognition here.

Too bad it was over so fast. It was kinda fun

Folk punk, anti-folk, acoustic. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Better than I thought and had never heard of them before. Neat add.

I like how all the vocals and instruments sound like they had this album for homework due by midnight and they remembered they have to record it at 11:35. In the words of the band's bassist, the tempo is really fucking fast. It fits the manic lyrics so well. It's like I'm being yelled at by a lunatic, which I think was the intended listening experience. Strong 4/5.

The strength of this album is that these dudes know their limit, so they know how not to overstay their welcome. Also, nice Funny Girl reference.

I love AJJ

I enjoyed this, for all it's depressingness

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Bad bad things, Bells and whistles, Personal space invader

What a terrible band name

Quirky and creative, doesn't overstay its welcome, and is lyrically exciting. People II is fantastic, as is Bad Bad Things. Really liked this.

Overall I enjoyed this one, the off the wall lyrics were at times amusing and others I was not sure what I was hearing. It was good that I kept listening through a second time before I realized it had started over.

Folk punk, anti-folk, acoustic. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Very rarely do I want an album to last longer, but this 25 minute whateverthefuckitis was pure joy to listen to. 4/5

This felt like if Neutral Milk Hotel made a punk album. The array of instruments, the singer with the average voice and long drawn out notes and the depth in lyricism all match. Except NMH were a bit more conceptual and AJJ was more song to song. It was okay but if I wanted to hear the tambourine and organ with a guitar this wouldn’t be my first choice. 6.0/10

I enjoyed this. Clever, offbeat and briskly-paced. Mildly unsettling lyrics at times, but highly listenable. Fave Songs: Brave as a Noun, Rejoice, A Song Dedicated to the Memory of Stormy the Rabbit, Randy's House

Don't know what to say about this one. Silly?

I can't take this seriously. 2/5.

Ok, so yes, the universe is a cold and indifferent void. But the world -and your life- is basically a mirror. While it is chaotic and cruel and beautiful and unfair, in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. If you think that the world hates you, it might be because you’re an insufferably pompous twat with a fucking annoying voice.

Yay! Back when crust punk was still cool and not as gross.

Had it not already been on here, this would have been my pick. Insane, chaotic and intensely personal. It’s finished before you notice and fun all the way through.

February 18, 2026 HL: "Rejoice", "Bad Bad Luck", "A Song Dedicated to the Memory of Stormy the Rabbit", "People II: The Reckoning" When you only booked the studio for one hour and the drummer is 30 minutes late As slapdash as this album is, I really enjoyed it. If this is AJJ's highest point, that'd be a little unfortunate, but I'm not sure that the bright energy and humour on display would necessarily improve with longer songs and better production. From my Can-eh-dian point of view, "Stormy the Rabbit" sounds like a parody of the Weakerthans

Fun

Not without its charms, but I find this particular vein of pseudo old-timey, rootless roots music pretty played out, particularly in the vocal style, which was especially monotonous here and too clever by half. Not to be overly harsh though, it was generally good enough fun and didn't overstay its welcome.

A solid collection of songs from freak folk pioneers AJJ. Good songwriting and fun (if often a bit extreme) lyrics, but some pretty rough recordings and a lack of variety (though admittedly the album’s only 25 minutes) that holds it back from its full potential. I think AJJ really nailed their sound a few years later on Knife Man, which is far more confident, exciting, and better produced

It’s different but it’s ok.

Sometimes irreverent, sometimes thought-provoking lyrics.

Mezcla de ska, música celta y algún toque más improvisado. En líneas generales, bien. Canciones divertidas y alegres. Sin enganchar especialmente, es todo un aire fresco de estilo

Real 2007-era Cracked dot com ass band name & sense of humor. The folk-"punk" works pretty well, though—it was very frantic and hyperactive, which made it more interesting than most indie folk of the time.

Torn between judgemental horror and amusement it's catchy and interesting in a kitsch lo-fi way. Worth listening to again in order to appreciate in a deeper way.

Fun and weird. But not exactly for me

It's alright

Me recuerdan a Friska Viljor, pero menos melancólicos. Divertidos.

Fun and frolicsome and Femmes-y, if a little one note. Seems as emo (with the warbly vocals) as it is punk and gives off definite smart-smarmy grad-student vibes (cf Vampire Weekend). “A Song Dedicated…” might be best cut, thanks to a little variety in the instrumentation. Kazoo, toy piano and glockenspiel are an underrated trio configuration, perhaps. The brevity’s a good thing but speed kills a few tracks. One can’t in good faith recommend for list proper but decent listen.

Reminiscent of Neutral Milk Hotel but uneven and sonically shallow, but with a lot of chutzpah.

Kinda cute and funny. Also pretty frickin' dark at times too. 6/10

I have not thought about Andrew Jackson Jihad for years. I have however seen the AJJ band name around still playing. I had no idea they were one in the same. Crazy! People loved this album and this band when it came out. Certainly a specific time and a place for sure. Cool to revisit for sure.

Trying too hard to be clever. 2 stars.

Ah I’m sure the frontman has something interesting to communicate in his lyrics, but I just couldn’t get past the grating sound of the vocals by around the 4th song. Such an odd thing, to be a singer who can’t actually sing. Cool cover art though.

What was this?! It did feel like a whole album of the same tune, and some questionable lyrics. I’m still confused

A little brash for being "folky".

Meh just couldn’t get past the vocals on this one.

The cover makes me think of bun bun from Sluggy Freelance, but I'm sure that's only me. This is like a angrier less likable one note version They Might Be Giants. Quick songs with lots of clever words very fast, fun to sing along to. Unfortunately nothing pulls me in enough for me to give it time it would take for this to grow on me. I like the spirit but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Sorry, but I didn't enjoy this. Not really for me. It's quite raw, samey and vocally annoying. I've recently said punk is just not my thing, mix it with folk and that hits even more true.

Folk Punk? WTF! Not for me I’m afraid.

But not as lucky as the ones who eat _them_

I had high hopes for this, folk punk is a solid genre, it seems pretty leftist too. But in reality this was a bluegrass-punk album and that combo didn't land with me.

It’s pretty weird. I liked the title more than I liked any songs yet. I’m going to give it a re-listen.

I hate folk punk.

This is irritating. The lyrics are wank. At least it's short.

Goofy US college art rock shit that actually isn't very funny. It reminded me of the 'skits' on US chat shows. They're crap as well. Ha, bloody ha. Jonathan Richman has some half decent jokes in his back catalogue, along with the songs to match. AJJ has neither.

bilious hearts shout, lame instead of cathartic, they won't leave a mark 1.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 2. 6.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 1.5) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 80 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 101 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 205 (including this album -- Andrew Jackson Jihad have a somewhat distinctive voice in that post-Violent Femmes punk-folk genre, I'll give them that... But speaking of voices, the performance of band's vocalist really sounds like nails on a chalkboard -- and this is coming from someone who loves the eccentric performances of people like Richard Dawson, Gus Englehorn or Daniel Johnston, mind you. Worse, the edgy lyrics end up becoming as exhausting as the vocals after some point. That songwriter thinks he writes provocative and thought-inducing stuff, but a lot of his lines are just dumb and gratuitously sickening. And pairing those lines with loosely performed fast-paced-yet-also-hackneyed "party folk" dross sure doesn't help. Besides, AJJ actually betrays the legacy of Kurt Vonnegut -- at least for me. They think they're paying tribute to the novelist with those songs -- that was publicly stated by the band members, apparently -- but all they pull off is an ugly caricature of the man's literary works. Sure, Vonnegut was cynical, but if his opinion of human nature was very low -- because of the horrors humans inflict on other living souls -- there was a salvaging tenderness mixed with self-protective stoicism and a taste for humorous or imaginative writing in his works, actually offering possibilities for redemption. Everything that's absent from the tepid lyricism in here... I don't need to hear there's "a r*pist and a n*zi in [my] heart", thank you very much. I need to hear about the best way to protect myself and others from those horrible human impulses. Good music can face the dark side of humanity, as unsettling as that might be. But when you wallow in those concerns in a self-indulgent manner instead of facing those with honesty, intelligence and a bit of restraint, you just become a purveyor of cheap sensationalist thrills. In short, and as another reviewer suggested, AJJ are either too smart for their own good, or not as bright as they think they are. So they're not for me.) ---- Émile, tu trouveras ma dernière réponse sous le *Inside* de Bo Burnham

I guess this is the sort of album one gets when the user submitted list does its thing. I had never heard of them, never heard any of their music. It's not a particular genre I care about, but then, that's the point of this site. I suppose there's at least a modicum of respect paid to the artist because there's at least one person in the world to whom this record means, well, the world. I mean, it's not an affront to taste or anything like that, it's just that the voice is annoying and the music kind of monotonous after just a couple of songs.

I did not like People Who Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World. I can't decide if it's bad or weird or both but it did nothing for me until the zany take-off of Mrs Robinson in People II: The Reckoning, and that was just because it was a familiar tune. I think it's a 1/5 because it's more bad than anything else.

The fact it took a chain of people to get this crap out of someone’s head and into my ears makes me despair for humankind.

I assumed this was one bloke – the kind of bloke who turns up at parties and plays their guitar to get attention. The fact that it takes so any of them to make such a basic noise is a surprise. Every track sounds the same, and I think it is mean to be funny, but it's hard to tell. Good for them for persuading someone to put this out, I guess, but I bailed after about 4 songs.