A Miserable Apocalypse: Injury Reserve’s By The Time I Get to Phoenix

By the Time I Get to Phoenix (2021) is the newest release from Injury Reserve, an Arizona-based experimental hip-hop group. Their first mixtape, Live From The Dentists Office (2015), broke waves as one of the defining internet jazz-rap albums of its year, while their second mixtape, Floss (2016), and first album, Injury Reserve (2019), moved toward a more hardcore and experimental sound. Their sophomore album, By the Time I Get to Phoenix (2021), was conceptualized in the last text message from member Stepa J. Groggs, who died unexpectedly in early 2020, where he gushed over the Isaac Hayes’ cover of Jimmy Webb’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”. The sounds of the new release were realized in an improvised DJ set while they were on their 2019 tour, and they found they wanted to approach their music more experimentally and personally. This mentality definitely carries over to the new genre-breaking release, which creates a dense, apocalyptic atmosphere with themes such as death, grief, and the internet. 

By the Time I Get to Phoenix opens with “Outside,” where Ritchie With a T manically delivers stuttered lines consisting of rants about Redditors and his fears of facing death and grief. At four minutes in, the instrumental ends Ritchie’s rant with a danceable drum sequence and hyperventilated breathing. In comparison, all other Injury Reserve releases offered a moshable introduction as seen on Floss, where they dismiss all of their genre labels with an infectious chorus on “Oh Shit!!!.” “Outside” is uncharacteristic from their older work, proving how their headspace as a band has significantly progressed for the worse on this release.

“Superman That” immediately follows the dreary first track, with erratic guitars and drums sampled from Black Country, New Road’s “Athens, France.” It is compositionally an IDM song with its glitchy and off-kilter drum patterns, and is spun into a different direction with Ritchie’s poppy delivery of “Ain’t no saving me, ain’t no saving me or you.” Although this track is the catchiest song on the release, it is disappointing due to the lack of an interesting progression. 

“SS San Francisco” offers a break from the cacophony of the first two tracks with a straightforward duet by Ritchie and featured artist Zelooperz. The rambling vocals are delivered in alignment with the apocalyptic atmosphere created by the menacing instrumental, which contains a heavily manipulated rock-based sample from “Auto Tech Pilot” by The Fall.

“Footwork in a Forest Fire” is the first solo appearance of the late Stepa J. Groggs, who maniacally narrates a character stuck in a metaphorical forest fire. The instrumental consists of a chopped-up rock samples resembling the surreal and hectic experience of an actual forest fire. The song collapses in the final seconds as it devolves into a noise collage, with Ritchie’s final line fading into nothingness. The previous atmosphere returns in “Ground Zero,” where the surreal motifs are applied to a hospital setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Injury Reserve translates the experience of visiting a hospital for a loved one, and the hazy denial and depression that follows. 

“Top Picks for You” references the discovery-based algorithm found on sites such as Youtube, Netflix, and Spotify. As a unique approach to grieving, Ritchie encounters Grogg’s recommendations and finds that “Your patterns are still in place and your algorithm is still in action. Just workin’ so that you can just, jump right back in. But you ain’t jumpin’ back,” in reference to Groggs’ algorithm and his “existence” in these recommendations. “Wild Wild West” continues the modern theme in how deteriorated the internet landscape is. When Injury Reserve formed in 2012, MySpace music influenced most internet circles, and the internet was generally taken less seriously. To highlight the creative downfall of the modern internet, they begin with multiple voice changes, rambling about “5G Towers,” “shots”, and “AI cyber trucks” without meaning. The second half features a beat drop, where the paranoid ramblings about 5G towers become more aggressive with the spiraling instrumentals. It is implied here that, just like the progression of the internet from a fun to detrimental technology, Injury Reserve itself started wholesomely and is now approaching a death that sounds like a hellscape, especially in the final seconds of the song. 

“Postpostpartum” is the first instance of instrumental and lyrical clarity where the group ponders over the band’s future. The instrumentation is an amalgamation of soul and neo-psychedelia, paired with Ritchie’s insightful lyrics on himself, the band’s influence, and the current apocalyptic world. “Knees” builds off the moment of clarity with one of the most emotionally potent songs of the year. The music video contains Ritchie With a T and Parker Corey, the main producer, sulking on the glory of a stage fit with flashing lights. Instead of a signature Injury Reserve music video with flamboyant vocal delivery and dancing, we see the remaining members looking down for the duration. However, Groggs’ energetic silhouette is seen when he references his alcoholism, “Okay, this last one is my last one, shit. Probably said that about the last one. Probably gon’ say it about the next two.” Seeing as how his passing was from health complications, his admission of his alcoholism here is harrowing in retrospect. This song’s emotional clarity is represented through the shimmering guitars and dreamy synths.  Instead of disconnected and nauseating rock samples with manic vocals, we finally witness the loneliness and misery without the extra experimental noise—the band finally realizes where they are in life.

“Bye Storm” concludes the album, with Ritchie’s acceptance of his situation, the awkward future of a new album, and tour without a member. Even with uplifting yet eerie instrumentals and a depressing delivery from Ritchie, he acknowledges that the band members must keep moving and that “The show must go on.”

Injury Reserve has always desired to be the most experimental and genre-pushing act on the scene. By the Time I Get to Phoenix accomplishes this with its bold experimentation and sonic progression from their last release, shifting from a fun hardcore project to an atmospherically dense and matured release. It has such a personal touch in songs like “Knees” that other loaded experimental works, such as Danny Brown’s Atrocity Exhibition (2016) and Earl Sweatshirt’s Some Rap Songs (2018), are incomparable to this release. Injury Reserve has finally arrived at their magnum opus; they’ve changed what “rap” is, but at what cost? 

Written by Alton Sturgis