Handjob Community

Love of Everything is essentially the solo project of Chicago’s Bobby Burg, but not in the sense one would typically expect. While Burg is a current member of bands Joan of Arc (Jade Tree Records, Polyvinyl Records) and Make Believe (Flameshovel Records), Love of Everything is an altogether different creation. The songs flow from him, and he physically creates much of the music on the record, but Burg chooses to bring in his many talented friends to accent and work with a different combination of musicians on almost all of his songs, making his eclectic approach to pop even more unusual. Handjob Community brings in Burg’s friends from Storm & Stress (Touch & Go Records); Rainer Maria (Polyvinyl Records), The Race, Make Believe (Flameshovel Records); Euphone, Joan of Arc, Owls (Jade Tree Records); and Pinebender (Lovitt Records) to extend his experimental but heart-warming pop rock to the next level. To call it “cute”—as it has been at times—is an understatement of its touching and sometimes jarring sentiment. All sixteen songs stick in your head, as the record moves in a decidedly singular and progressive direction in perfect continuity, pulling the listener gradually uphill toward its energetic conclusion.