New home

The Textbook Committee now lives at http://thetextbookcommittee.com. Wanted to add streaming mp3s and customize the look more than Blogger would let me.

Whiskeytown - Pneumonia (Lost Highway, 2001)

Again, I have to wait until I get to Stranger's Almanac to tell my favorite/only Whiskeytown story (some of you already know it, or are tired of it). From reading this 2001 Magnet article about Ryan Adams, you probably don't want to hear this record at all... or maybe you do and can't stand not to. To know the drama that was swirling while they were making this record and then subsequently trying to release it for years later piled on top of the fact that it was an almost different crew than before, after Ryan fired everyone but a few, gives it something unique to me. Still one of the most rotated records in my collection. I remember my brother initially describing Don't be Sad as "nondescript" to which I agreed, but still liked it alongside most of the rest of the tracks. These are still some of the most well-crafted songs to me. The way Bar Lights seemingly falls apart at the end of the song (also signifying the end of the record and the end of Whiskeytown...other than the last steel drum track which is technically the last on the record, I guess) sums it all up pretty well when, at the end, Ryan forgets the words, then laughs, then breaks a string, then screams and then says "alright, im going to the bar, fuck this" after it just sort of... ends...I imagine Caitlin Cary and the rest looking around like "uh, what's he going to do now?"

Interesting liner note - James Iha plays guitar and backing vocals... never would have guessed it or heard it. Still dont know where or what he plays on this.

The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts (Hush/Kill Rock Stars, 2002)

Not my first Decemberists record, but one that struck me along with all the others. A little more acoustic in parts than the others, but the stories are all there told by one of the best storytellers, Colin Meloy and the gang. You will definitely hear more from me on this band. Thanks to my friend Jonathon for turning me on to them. Still one of the reasons we want to move to Portland someday.

Christie Front Drive - Anthology (Caulfield, 1995)

"All of these songs have been previously released on vinyl" is the top line on the back of Anthology, although nowhere on the album does it say Anthology. It was the self-titled Christie Front Drive record to me, but Anthology makes sense too, and at some point every song made it on either my radio show in college or a mix tape for someone. One reason this release was cool to me was since I wasn't hip enough to have all their 7"s or splits, having them all reissued here saved a lot of hunting (although I still like looking in the 7" rack just in case one of them is there). I found out about CFD after hearing the previously mentioned Crank! records mix Don't Forget to Breathe (to be covered in gross detail soon, hopefully). They were among the most credible emo bands and, to me, seemed more of a myth than reality. They toured with many of my favorite bands, but I never got to see them, sadly. I had looked forward to possibly seeing them in Denver, where they hail, when I left for school in Colorado, but they had already ceased touring and were breaking up - par for the course with bands in this era.

There was a lot to love about this band. The landscape they built had a certain hum to it that didn't sound like anyone else to me. I have heard absurd arguments that all emo bands sound alike, indie gets the same ignorant wrap, but no one else had the CFD sound. Each band in this genre, realm, style of music (whatever you wanna call it) was unique to me despite some common threads. I loved how they used their singing as another instrument. I could never actually understand most of what Eric Ricther was singing, which allowed me a little ownership of what I thought the words might be or could be when I would sing along, mostly with unintelligible murmurs to be honest. To this day, I know very few actual CFD lyrics, yet there are clear stories in my head about what all the songs mean... funny how that works. They were the kings of short song titles, like Turn, Dirt, Slide, and an obligatory song title of a number, 4010 (an emo standard). Now I Do was, and still is, one of my favorites and got the most rotation of all the tracks on this record. Below is the "action shot" of the boys in the moment. What I would give to have been in that crowd.

Zookeeper - Becoming All Things (Belle City Pop, 2007)

My wife said it best that if Christopher Simpson pooped in a paper bag and set it on fire on our doorstep, I would call it genius (and be all giddy about the fact he knows where we live). He can do no wrong in my book, and that's usually because he keeps me interested and seems to go through life at the same pace that I am. Mineral was a huge influence when I was in my "the world is crashing down" phase (ok ok, it was my emo phase). When my tastes started maturing and I was realizing the world around me, he was there with me in The Gloria Record. And now that I've started to take life less seriously (or at least try to...) he is Zookeeper (the picture of Simpson on the album cover with a sack on his head says it all really). While Mineral and TGR were full of design, emotional expense and vulnerability, Zookeeper loosens up quite a bit and allows for all kinds of ingredients to be thrown in the pot. Zookeeper really is the most perfect name for this new venture as all the animals at the zoo, er, more like all his musically capable friends, take part. And there doesn't seem to be too much dictation or direction from Simpson, just a basic framework to build upon by whoever wants to take part. A community of musicians-on-the-side seems like such a cool concept to me. 

Becoming All Things, the first Zookeeper full length, swings in a few directions at different points. It's not a single theme kind-of-album, but sort of leaps and hops around a bit, which I dig, of course. The bombastic Snow in Berlin and Ballad of My Friends kick oh so well, while Boy & the Street Choir and On High are whispers where you need whispers. About half of the songs on this album had been made available on Zookeeper's MySpace page for a while, so I had already heard them in heavy rotation, and was a little worried I wouldn't get the full effect. One song turned this around for me and that was the brilliance of the title track, Becoming All Things. The way it built and spun and, well, became all the things I wanted to hear, made me realize that while the structures and environments Simpson works within might have changed, there are consistent themes that still feel like home to me. I anxiously await what's next.

Here's a clip from their last tour featuring an unreleased track that's been in my head since the show. "I want to be the kid whose not. Congratulate the kid whose not."

Jellyfish - Split Milk (Charisma Records, 1993)

My two older brothers and I had been building it up for weeks. We had tickets to the Jellyfish and Dada show at Six Flags and were preparing with a constant rotation of their albums - it was going to be a huge sing along rock opera for the decades. Sadly, rain cancelled the outdoor show and disappointment settled in and I don't think it ever left. I must have been only 13 or 14 years old and this concert, of contemporary bands that I loved, was supposed to be a significant event in my life (technically seeing Heart and the Oak Ridge Boys with my family were my first true concerts, but choosing to see a band is a completely different event).

I was too young to appreciate a band like Queen, but I think the Jellyfish guys took a note or two from them with a pop twist to it. I loved the stories, the theatrics and how they still found room to rock it significantly. Records like Spilt Milk were made by heavily talented musicians who were largely appreciated in the mainstream. Doesn't seem to hold true these days. Classics include New Mistake, The Ghost of Number One and Joining a Fan Club.  

  

Brak presents - The Brak Album, starring Brak (Rhino, 2000)

I absolutely take things way too seriously. It's something that probably won't ever change, especially with the type of music I am constantly drawn to. A friend gave me The Brak Album in 2000 partly because I was a big fan of Space Ghost Coast to Coast (SGC2C), but probably more because I needed to lighten up a bit - it was, and still is, just what the doctor ordered when I haven't smiled or laughed in a while. 

If you have never watched Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, you are either a) not a nerd and/or b) had reasons not to be home watching cartoons late at night. SGC2C was comic brilliance to me, taking old Hanna Barbara animated characters, recreating them from the old footage, and pitting them against each other in a talk show format where they hate each other, yet sing so sweetly together. The end result was hilarity of the most stupidest sort, but never left me without milk shooting out my nose. SGC2C was the first of its kind and eventually Cartoon Network made spin offs and similarly designed shows, like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, and, of course, The Brak Show.


A few songs from The Brak Album and a clip from the show I love. 

"Soup on a Stick" from The Brak Album  

"I Like Hubcaps" from The Brak Album

Learning to Talk Italian from SGC2C

Paul Westerberg - Stereo/Mono (Vagrant, 2002)

I just about peed my pants when I found out there were two cds in the case. I had been listening to, and absolutely loving, Paul Westerberg's Stereo for weeks until one day when I noticed the back panel had a slight opening that I hadn't seen before. Out pops another cd labeled Grandpaboy - Mono. It was a whole other album that kicked me even harder than the first. It was like a Double Rainbow all the way!

Westerberg also did me the favor of writing the perfect explanation of each disc:

Stereo - What we have here are songs written and recorded at home over a two-year period that followed a much longer period of performing, traveling, and explaining. Cut mostly live in the middle of the night, no effort was made to fix what some may deem as mistakes; tapes running out, fluffed lyrics, flat notes, extraneous noises, etc. Many were written (or born if you will) as the tape rolled.

Unprofessional? Perhaps. Real? Unquestionably.

Mono - This is rock'n'roll recorded poorly, played in a hurry, with sweaty hands and unsure reason. 

How it sounds

What it says

Who played what

Is irrelevant

It feels right

This is my blood.

There is no denying Westerberg's way with words. It was so refreshing to hear a rock record (two actually) that knew a thing or two about what makes a raw song good. Thank you Paul Westerberg, for so many reasons. Some of my favorites:

Off Stereo: Let the bad times roll, Only lie worth telling, We may be the ones,

Off Mono: Silent film star, 2 days 'til tomorrow, Kickin' the stall

Dashboard Confessional - The places you have come to fear the most (Vagrant, 2001)

Ungh, this record is hard to listen to again. It's a complete throwback to times where it felt better to "hear the saddest songs and sit alone and wonder...cuddling close to blankets and sheets." At the time, nothing was better as Christopher Carrabba seemed to be singing directly to me and, honestly, nothing sounded like this that I had heard. It was this horribly guilty pleasure that I would turn down while driving when pulling up at stop lights, but then turn way up after it turned green again (you know what I'm talking about, don't you, whoever you are out there). 

Despite the painful tales of heartache and putting fists through walls over a girl (I swear I almost didn't make it through Bitter Pill without ejecting the cd, but kept it in for the integrity of the Textbook Committee-so far no broken rules), there were a lot of positives on this record. "The places you have come to fear the most" was where I learned what Drop D guitar tuning was and how it could be poured on in the thickest possible way (a tactic I would steal). It was on Vagrant records, a favorite of mine and one that I was a Street Teamer for, so I got free promo copies and tons of posters, stickers and buttons to take to record stores and give out to friends. I found out that Dan Hoerner, from Sunny Day Real Estate (true Godfathers to most of the music I loved then and now), hopped on the DC tour as an additional guitarist adding an instant boost of credibility. Lastly, the whole album clocks in just under 30 minutes, so its over before you know it, quick like a band aid. 

I know I sound like I'm hating on this record, but to me it's a one-of-a-kind record and is actually brilliant in a lot of ways. It just reminds me of a time and a feeling that doesn't need to be relived. I don't own any other DC albums, if that tells you anything. 

A few songs you should hear:

The Good Fight

Standard Lines

Again I Go Unnoticed

Iron & Wine - Woman King / Pavement - Terror Twilight / Jimmy Eat World - Clarity

Each of these cds represent bands that have stories to me but this particular release just isn't the one I want to talk about. Nevertheless, they have been in my "write about this" pile for a few weeks. So I will at least give a nod to a few of the songs I dig on these records. Nothing fancy. 

Iron & Wine - Woman King (Sub Pop, 2005)

An EP from Samuel Beam's Iron & Wine. Apparently every song features a spiritual female figure with biblical undertones (thanks wikipedia).

Jezebel 

My Lady's House

Pavement - Terror Twilight (Matador, 1999)

A goodbye record of sorts. You can hear it in a lot of the tracks on Terror Twilight. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Malkmus and the boys dreamed up their music videos. Like when kids get hold of their parents camcorder.  

Spit on a Stranger

Major Leagues

Carrot Rope

 

Jimmy Eat World - Clarity (Capitol, 1999)

Second full length from JEW, still produced by Mark Trombino. A definite maturity from their first release, but not one I'm sure I liked right away. I do remember driving south from Denver with this record turned way up.

Lucky Denver Mint (the knock at the ultimate frisbee geeks is both sad and funny to me)

For me this is Heaven

Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker (Bloodshot, 2000)

Where do you start with a record this solid? The best I can do is tell my story and how Heartbreaker fits in. I don't care what you think of Ryan Adams or what you have heard of his drunken asshole antics. It's a record like Heartbreaker that really makes that stuff orbiting the music not matter a bit to me. His arrogance even sort of comes across in the intro to the first track where Adams argues with David Rawlings about whether a track is on Bona Drag or Viva Hate or both. All ends well with a joke about having a mouth full of cookies and then counting in, with a "one, two, one, wee-hoo," to the opening track,  "To be young (is to be sad, is to be high)," thus thrusting you into a roadtrip across the south, into the bar fights, bouts with cocaine, and friends who stole your records, that this whole album takes you down. 

I was a big fan of Whiskeytown already but will save those stories for when I get to Stranger's Almanac. I had this impression that Adams had too much talent and an ever-inflating ego to be "held down" by the compromise it takes when you creatively conspire with others in a band. It was obvious on Heartbreaker how much Adams had in his bag-o-tricks and how wide his catalog could be. Every song was a slightly different version of his voice than the one before. He always had a way with mixing, skipping or inserting words and singing them in a rhythm that make sense only to him and only fit with his song ("I'm as calm as a fruit stand in NY and maybe as strange"). Accompanied by, the icon, Emmy Lou Harris on Oh My Sweet Carolina is beyond what I thought beautiful music could be. The middle of the record is paired well with rain crashing down outside, with tracks like Bartering Lines, Call Me On Your Way Back Home, Damn Sam... and Come Pick Me Up (usually my favorite track, depending on my mood) will get you throwing bottles against the wall, singing along and dancing around the room... it always makes me at least.

"Well, the pills I got they ask me let's go out for a while, and the knives up in the kitchen, are all too dull to smile, and the sun tries to warn me, boy those wings are made of wax, while the things I do to kill me, they just tell me to relax." To Be The One

"Bought a borrowed suit and learned to dance, and I was spending money like the way it likes to rain." Oh My Sweet Carolina

Peter Murphy - Deep (Beggars Banquet, 1989)

I owe a lot of my early musical influences to my two older brothers. One of the first artists that I remember we all dug was Peter Murphy. I guess I sort of did it backwards, not knowing who Bauhaus was until after I knew of Peter Murphy, but I was also 11 years old. My musical maturity and knowledge of relevant and influential 80's bands, although off to an earlier start than most, was still a ways off.

Revisiting Deep makes me realize how ahead of the times Murphy was, almost pulling what would be the next sound to him instead of waiting for the 90's to start. The whole album is filled with radio ready tracks and I think most of them made it to the airwaves at some point. Cuts You Up might be the one you recognize and stands to be the most finished in my ears among some very well crafted songs. Crystal Wrists is a song that seems to have influenced a lot of the early 90's stuff I would get into.


The liner notes leave a lot to be desired but get right to the point - pictures of the backing band (the hundred men), song titles, black typed lyrics on a white background, credits and that's it. Not even a Thanks to anyone... it was all business I guess at that point. I do like the image of Murphy both on the cover and on the cd itself stretching, contorting and bowing in all black. I distinctly remember walking to the Richardson Blockbuster Music at Plano and Spring Valley and asking the store manager if anyone had claimed the promotional poster they had of this album in the window, but was too late. I heard Murphy was a beanpole in real life which made you wonder where his deeeeep voice came from.

"I twist a shade to my right and spit at beezlebug on sight and go on loving all I see for here I live on patiently." Crystal Wrists

Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand (Scat/Matador, 1994)

I used to tape the Adventure Club on Sunday nights and then listen to the show over and over during the next week looking for songs that would stick. I Am a Scientist was my honest introduction to GbV when I heard it on the Adventure Club (thanks Kevin) and it absolutely stuck. In fact, it was probably the strongest a song had hit me since I started seeking out new music. I went out and found that GbV had a lot more records than I was prepared for, but found which one had this track and bought it. I'll admit, I listened to the first few tracks, scratched my head a little, and then skipped to track 18 to hear the track that got me hooked and was initially disappointed. The version of I Am a Scientist I heard on the radio, as I would later find out, was a rocked out version released as an EP later and the one on the album was, well, a lot more subdued. What happened next was a true leap of faith that would change the way I would learn to love and accept different music. I started back from the beginning and concentrated, for once, on what was pouring out of the speakers and started to discover an ear I didn't have before.

Bee Thousand represents a marked transition where I started to try harder and find the big rewards that seem sometimes hidden. Song after song, I found sparks of genius and inspiration too many to list here as I would undoubtedly leave many out. I found something in EVERY song and usually they centered around the strength of Robert Pollard's anthemic lyrics. Later, I would realize the second chapter to each of these songs when blasted live - I swear not much compares to live GbV (check out the classic lineup reunion tour news here). The handmade feel of the liner notes made it obvious that Pollard and the golden boys had their hands in the artwork too. This is not the 33 1/3 review (which you should check out to hear what someone who can actually write and loves this album has to say about it) of Bee Thousand, so I will force some of the best from this record on you although it's brilliant in it's entirety.  

Buzzards and Dreadful Crows, Echos Myron, Awful Bliss, Smothered in Hugs, Gold Star for Robot Boy, Mincer Ray, Peep Hole, The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory

"and he tells you of the dreamers, but he's cracked up like the road, and he'd like to lift us up, but we're a very heavy load, and we're finally here and shit yeah, its cool, and shouldn't it be, or something like that" - Echos Myron

Lotion - Nobody's Cool (spinART, 1995)

I am a self-admitted music snob. It is very hard for me to accept suggestions from other people, that is, unless they have a similar foundation of what I feel is truly brilliant music. Lotion was a band that was introduced to me by an unlikely friend after we realized that strong foundation existed. On the swim team we named him Pigpen (dirt clouds followed him) and he decided the school we were at was not the school for him anymore, and he went back to NY. Lucky for me, we had long enough to learn we each loved bands like Guided by Voices, the Promise Ring and Christie Front Drive but also that the New York local scene was where he grew up... cool. He let me borrow Lotion's Telephone Album and the Tear EP, to which I urgently found someone with a cd burner to make my own. I knew these guys were legit and began looking for the rest of their catalog right away. 

I found a promo copy of Nobody's Cool for $8 at the only good record store in Colorado Springs - Toons. As a NY band on spinART, I guessed that they had paid their dues, but also somehow felt like they made music for no one else but themselves, secretly letting us share in the rock. An added bonus, Pigpen made me a copy of a GbV tribute album where Lotion contributed a cover of their Quality of Armor...double cool. Swap out the liner notes for a review by Thomas Pynchon, an apparently well known NY fiction writer (thanks wikipedia, I should read more) and the answer isn't Nobody's Cool, but rather Lotion's Cool.

Nobody's Cool came out in what I consider the golden years of 1995-1996 when not only the most shaping music in my life was coming out but also marked my senior year in high school. Although I didn't get this record until closer to 2000, it took me back (and still does) to 1995 in the way it sounded and how I imagined Lotion being part of their own spinster NY scene. Nobody's Cool starts with a kick on Dear Sir, rarely drags on, even on the slower numbers like The Sad Part, and keeps you interested with side two kickers like Sandra, Juggernaut and, a radio show favorite of mine, Dalmacia 007.

"when will this be over, I can't stop wondering" - Dalmacia 007

Pinback - Blue Screen Life (Ace Fu, 2001)

So far, this record represents the biggest "oh yeah!" (more of the forehead smacking than Kool-aid man version) moment of this project. Neglected is a better word than forgotten for Pinback's Blue Screen Life when I consider how often I scroll past this band and this record on my iPod. Pinback was a recommendation from my music shaman, Andy, as a "must check out." It got to the point where once or twice a year, when we met up in Dallas, Andy and I would spend about five minutes catching up on life, and then spend the next twenty asking "have you heard so and so" and "oh, dude, you need to hear this band." Invariably he would list about twenty, I would remember about ten, all of which I would love. For every five albums he gets me into, I maybe have one that I introduced to him, and maybe he liked it. Over the years, I have learned a few of his secret resources just enough to feel like I can keep up.

Many things make Blue Screen Life a truly complete record that can stand alone from start to finish. But the biggest reason it's cool to me is the fact that it's two guys writing, playing and recording in "zach's living room, rob's bedroom, donny's garage and tom's garage." I broke my rules and listened to this record a few times and kept discovering things I hadn't heard before. Penelope, Seville and Prog are tracks that grabs you in the first 10 seconds, but there are plenty of others that take patience before you start to realize their beauty, like Boo, Your Sickness and Tres. I actually never knew the words Prog until digging into the liner notes, but its not one that you have to know the words to love it. No offense to the lyrics, which I already forgot, its just that the music has all the legs this songs needs to stand up big among some of my favorites.

"anything I say to you is gonna come out wrong anyway" - Concrete Sounds

Wally Pleasant - Houses of the Holy Moly (Miranda, 1994)

Proof that music can be, and should be, more fun, Wally Pleasant adds some humor to the catalog with Houses of the Holy Moly. I'll admit that I thought he was from Dallas until just now when I actually read the liner notes and realized he is from, and still performs in, East Lansing, Michigan - who knew? I only saw him live once at a Barnes and Noble in Ft. Worth and Josh and Kevin played Alternateen (linked here) regularly on the Adventure Club (including a hilarious local promo spot by Wally for the show), so I can see how I would make that assumption. Alternateen was my introduction to Wally and what made me become an instant fan after hearing the first 30 seconds of the song, maybe because, well, I was sort of who he was poking fun at. There's a part of me that believes he was too which makes me feel better. Every one of these songs on Houses of the Holy Moly is clever and classic in it's own right (Mr. Pleasant even helps you record a new answering machine message at the end). The titles alone will bring a smirk to your cheeks, among them Post Graduate Overeducated Out of Work Blues, Dysfunctionally Yours, Toxic Waste Block Party. I will leave you a bonus of multiple lines from a few of my favorite songs on this record.

"The day Kurt Cobain died, we both held each other and cried, but you made me feel a lot better, when you said thank god it wasnt Eddie Vedder" - Alternateen

"I've got nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, except stare at this bright yellow menu, I wish I hadn't ordered that god damn grand slam, Denny's at 4am" - Denny's at 4am 

"Now basically I feel so traumatized about my stupid day job that I'm gonna try and start singing like Morissey now, Stupid day job stupid day job stupid day job aahhh ahhh ahh stupid day job" - Stupid Day Job

Radiohead - The Bends (Capitol, 1995)

I don't plan to do this record justice, it is truly timeless. The Bends is one of those records that I knew I would come across in this project and not know where to start. So I will just tell you my Radiohead story. Like most of you, I heard Creep on MTV and the radio enough to sing both versions by heart. Bought Pablo Honey after a year or so at a CD warehouse (used cd chain store in Dallas) for a few bucks. Liked Pablo Honey, but didn't dust off a special corner of my tiny cd collection for it. In '95, still glued to MTV (when it was still delivering), I fell in love with Fake Plastic Trees, both the song and the video. My high school budget didnt allow for me to buy every record that I wanted and my instinct told me The Bends would be in heavy rotation so why bother with the record at this point. Impressed with my teenage insight, but sad it happened that way, to be honest. It wasn't until another trip to CD warehouse in '96 that I saw a used copy of The Bends for $9 and picked it up. Funny how my OK Computer experience wasn't much different. I guess it took me a while to take this band seriously just because everyone else was telling me to - I'm just not wired that way.

This is one of the best records of my lifetime and absolutely defined what could happen when a well of unending ambition and talent is tapped. The parts I love stem mostly from the lyrics that all tell stories and paint pictures like music should and in a falsetto that I never appreciated until I tried to sing myself. And a video for every category: Best slow-mo movie magic in Street Spirit (Fade Out), Most clever storyline/cliffhanger, also in slow-mo, in Just,  and the "let's-just-cut-to-the-live-footage" collage
(after all, Thom Yorke and co. in their live form are animated enough) in My Iron Lung.

I am really finding myself lost for words on this record and honestly, you shouldn't need my opinion on The Bends as you probably already know why you need it.

"if i could be who you wanted all the time" - Fake Plastic Trees

Hot Water Music - Forever and Counting (Doghouse, 1997)

I first heard Hot Water Music in 1997 on the Don't Forget to Breathe compilation on Crank! records. I know someday I will write about that pivotal release featuring 2 bands I already loved and 15 more I would learn to instantly. Their track on the mix, Elektra, was nothing short of what I thought hard core was. It still had melody and it still had rhythm, just doused with raspy voices singing meaningful words, complementing each other, sturdy bass lines and drums that ask you to turn it up louder and louder. This band sounded like a true family that cared for each other, stood up for one another and had each other's back - team players I guess.

I can't remember where I found Forever and Counting but I am fairly sure they were on the post-it note in my wallet to look up next time I was in a record store. From the first time I heard this record to this last time, I still get the same sense that the album is circular and never ends. Where the last track, Western Grace, just feeds right back into the first, Translocation and forever it goes. "Its like a carousel. You put the quarter in, you get on the horse, it goes up and down, and around. Circular, circle. Feel it. Go with the flow." (name that movie)

HWM has become a standard for me in my collection that I go to time and time again. Few bands continue to build yet stay the same these days and these guys from Gainesville always produced a great rock record and made me feel more like a man for liking them. Mitch, my trusty punk and hard core fanatic from college, loved HWM too and I always felt like it made up for all the fluffy bands that I played on my radio show that he thought were crappy (Belle and Sebastian, Velocity Girl, Very Secretary). I would throw in a HWM track just to keep him listening.

After a short haitus, due to a band member having to care for his family, HWM are back touring and recording. I anxiously await their next release and hope thier collection continues to be Forever and Counting...

"Now is when to question the questions." Just Don't Say You Lost It

caP'n Jazz - Analphabetapolothology (Jade Tree, 1998)

I can't claim to have been aware of caP'n Jazz before I was well into The Promise Ring and Joan of Arc, but I think I would have had to been a cool kid in Chicago to have been that lucky. In 1998, when Analphabetapolothology (which is very fun to say - you should try it) was released, it seemed to put together some of the puzzle pieces that had been floating around in my head. I will spare you the history of the band, but one important detail was that this double cd, featuring 18 tracks on disc one and 16 tracks on disc two, was released after most of the members had moved on to other projects where they had established footings in my music collection. In fact in the liner notes of Analphabeta... they justify this release's existence while admitting their reluctance to entertain the idea in the first place:

"Reissues by nature have to be a bit embarrassing. They undermine our pretenses by making what was once special and precious in its rarity, now somehow a little less in its convenient availability."

Reading that excerpt now seems like it was a much better way of describing the "ownership" I feel towards music and the silliness you feel when you put it out there. It's an enormous thing to feel confident about a song and you never seem to hear the good in your own work, you just hope someone else does.

They recognized that this early stuff was simply kids "spitting back out everything, everything, we thought and felt" as a bad thing, but to me it was what made thier music so relatable and playful. The songs were bouncy and the lyrics were fun. What more could I need. Knowing that the cover art for this release, and many other Jade Tree releases, was designed by Jason Gnewikow, from The Promise Ring, and his, presumably graphic design hobby (?) The Collection Agency made me feel like a indie rock know-it-all, although no one cared... no one I knew at least.

"We are all all we've done." Oh Messy Life

Face to Face - Ignorance is Bliss (Lady Luck/Beyond, 1999)

Ignorance is Bliss was my first F2F album. They fell into the category that I had heard a lot about them, but never actually heard any song. I knew of someone in high school that won a chance to hang out with them after a show which I thought was an odd thing for a band to raffle off. They seemed too accessible to me which was maybe the reason I didn't seek them out sooner.

My official introduction to F2F was when a college buddy, Mitch (part of his last name actually), whose opinion on good punk rock I truly valued, told me that Jimmy Eat World and Face to Face were sharing a bill in Denver. I was heavily into JEW at the time and we bought tickets online to pick up at will call. I remember feeling like there were two distinctly different groups of fans at the show. First, were those sensitive, heart-on-their-sleeve, fans of the slow build there to see JEW, and the second were the hardcore punk fans who liked the hi-tempo snare beat with most songs clocking in under 2:00 there to see F2F. During JEW's opening set, I could sense the F2F fans making fun of the slow beats, artsy lyrics and drawn out 6-7:00 numbers. The stark contrast when Trevor Keith and F2F took the stage was not surprising, except for the few songs that seemed more developed and out of the ordinary from what I thought true punk was. After enjoying the show, I went to the merch table, waited in line and found that their new record, Ignorance is Bliss, which was released partially under their own label, Lady Luck, was only $5.

On first listen I was surprised, pleasantly, by what I had heard just like at the show. The high tempo snare of what I thought was "punk standard" was never my bag. I needed more melody and could stand to let the song build slowly and carry for a while longer if it felt right. This sound seemed to take pages from Bob Mould (more Sugar than Husker Du) with some heavy chorus both in the vocals and on the amps. The way they produced this record made me think the drummer, Pete Parada, was smashing the drums as hard as he could, something I loved. Everyone Hates a Know-it-all, Prodigal (linked here), Lost and Maybe Next Time were a few of the tracks that initially stood out, but the album came together as a whole for me later.

From hearing a few earlier F2F albums, I learned that this record was a departure from the norm and might have been the reason for the self-labelled release and cheap price. Maybe the band figured fans shouldn't complain about the shift in sound as much if they hardly paid for it. F2F's next record, released on Vagrant in 2000, was called Reactionary and I always wondered if it was in reaction to longtime F2F fans possible disappointment with Ignorance. It was more of what I was expecting when I thought or a punk band and a punk album, but by now I was hooked and maybe "understood" it a bit more. What I understood more than anything, was that I didn't know, or care about the definition of punk, or emo, or indie. There are only two genre's that mattered now - music I like, and music I don't.

"You need a little time/So you can get your head around your mind/If you don't know what you're looking for" - Prodigal

Liquid Three - The Shadow Cabinet (1996)

I am fairly confident you wont be able to find The Shadow Cabinet if you tried. It took me about a year to find it in Dallas where Liquid Three hailed from, well Coppell (NW Dallas) to be more accurate. And a google, bing, or wiki search for Liquid Three leads you no where valuable. I'd like to think I love this record solely on its sound, but the fact that it's rare, local and unlabelled gives it so much more merit.

I heard Plastic Cross (linked here) on The Adventure Club with Josh and Kevin Sunday nights from 7-10pm on 94.5 the Edge (largely responsible for turning me on to the best of what was out there). I added Liquid Three to the post-it I kept in my wallet of artists to look for next time I visited one of the many record stores in Dallas that my friends and I frequented. This list became important as I had a terrible problem forgetting all the bands I wanted to investigate as soon as I walked into a record store, only to remember them as I walked out. I asked just about every store if they had Liquid Three and got funny looks each time. It wasn't until I went to Bill's Records and Tapes on Spring Valley that I found it. Part of the reason I found it was that Josh worked at Bill's and I made it a point to track him down to help me find it, although I knew it was not one of his picks to play, but rather Kevin's.

(Side Note: If you ever listened to The Adventure Club you would understand the mutual dislike Josh and Kevin had for each other's contributions to the weekly show. Josh pushed bands like Oasis, Suede, James, Gene and Elastica (yes all UK bands) where Kevin spun more of what spoke to me - Guided by Voices, Pavement, Sunny Day Real Estate - stuff that would stay with me forever).

Easy-to-sing-with vocals, blasting drums, and gritty guitars made this record burst from my speakers. The liner notes featured a rustily cropped candid photo (left) of the three, who deserved to be mentioned - Glen Reynolds on vocals+guitar, Jim Thomas on bass+vocals, Pete Young on drums. The playfulness of the two heads chopped off, 3D glasses and dogface elevated the mystique of this band for me as it represented a hidden, unheard scene in my hometown that I longed to explore deeper. Grand Spunk Medallion was the last track and served as a funky outlier to all that preceded it with a closing line of "mmm, smells like peanut butter, I can smell the sex, word up..."

I never saw Liquid Three live, but still daydream about what a show must have been like: Rick's Place in Denton, three grundgers on stage, fifteen of their friends at the show and an impossibly unavoidable smile that would creep through everyone at the scene with each halfway headbanging number. I am not good at describing music, so I will stop trying, but it was a quality rock record that was ahead of its time and went largely unnoticed. This is exactly the kind of record I wanted to revisit when I dreamed up The Textbook Committee blog as it went from the back, dusty corner of my cd rack to front and center of my memory.

"On a lonely twisted day/When your friend are all so bored/You don't have to feel this way/Look your screams are not ignored." - Plastic Cross

Frank Black - Frank Black (4AD, 1993)

I credit buying Frank Black's Frank Black in the mall to slightly digging the single, Los Angeles, I had heard on the radio (Dallas' 94.5 the Edge). I was 14 years old, still shifting from my Whitesnake, Motley Crue, RATT phase into a coming of age with New Order, Peter Gabriel, and Sugar. This is one of the first albums I remember not liking most of it until the third or fourth listen. I have always been surprised how some of the greatest records slowly grow on me and eventually break through my thick skull. This album did exactly that.

Los Angeles went from the song that made me buy the record to my least enjoyed track on the album. I still like to mumble along during the spoken word part where he mis-pronounces Los Angeles with the hard "G" in the middle. The rest of the album felt like it was in a cooler and more elevated space - I think it was because the radio might have ruined LA for me and the rest of the record felt like I secretly owned it.

I Heard Ramona Sing, Czar, Every Time I Go Around Here and Don't Ya Rile 'Em (linked) all had everything I wanted in a rich guitar rock song. I always think about the great guitar that more than filled the spaces on this record - something I would come to love about Frank Black records.

"I've been working my way back to sane/It's coming back to me again." - Don't Ya Rile 'Em

Guided By Voices - Mag Earwig! (Matador, 1997)

This is the first of many Guided By Voices records I will rant about. I expect to get carried away with this one. Most albums have stories. GbV albums have history. Mag Earwig! was the first GbV album that my friend Andy and I bought at the same time after High School. We each had just about all the other albums as our love of this band shot to the moon, but this was the first time we were "caught up," ready, and waiting to be the first in line to have the next installment from Robert Pollard and the golden boys in our hands.

Mag Earwig! marked a stark shift in GbVs lineup with Bob Pollard stepping away from the tried and true rotation of players, namely the most influential to the established sound - Mitch Mitchell and Tobin Sprout. Although Mitchell and Sprout were still minimally involved on this record, the major driving sound was replaced by members of, fellow Dayton-ers, Cobra Verde and specifically Doug Gillard who liked his guitar hooks loud and large. Apparently this was an attempt at moving from the warm 4-track feel to the well-produced crisp sounding ready-for-radio-rock-record that Pollard always wanted. 

Andy and I initially noted the difference as a bad thing, until digging further in and sifting through the obvious changes in sound, as in Bulldog Skin and I am a Tree, finding true-to-form, and actually bigger and better, Pollard gems like Not Behind the Fighter Jet, Portable Men's Society, Jane of the Waking Universe and I am Produced, whose irony wasn't lost on us. As I am listing these, I am finding hints of each track on this record that I love - like the warmth of Sad if I Lost it (linked) and the strummed down version of Now to War (a rock-a-thon of power when played live). It was building into our newest and favorite-est GbV record because it was fresh and, well, it rocked and still does.

The liner notes kept with true GbV tradition leaving little surprises at every corner. Most songs had a parenthetical note after the lyrics like "Re-zoom/Busy signals from the home front," "Scarred but tougher,"The logical nod," "Repeat forever if necessary" as if they were alternate titles or extra instructions to get the full Mag Earwig! experience. Credits included a nod to an apparently fictitious inspiration for one song (Portable Men's Society) named Buffalo Beerwax and thanking The Small Faces (Extras in the Film) which was a 1996 Scottish film about gangs (thanks wikipedia). It's like Pollard was offering us the first step in any band starter kit - the best band name you've ever heard.

Another nugget of uniqueness to Mag Earwig! is that its one of the few short-named GbV releases, up that point, that couldn't be abbreviated with the first letter of each word. ME! didn't make sense to me in the GbV mailing list postings, aka Postal Blowfish, like SIAN (Self Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia), VoT (Vampire-on-Titus), SPTFGS (Same Place the Fly Got Smashed) or B1000 (Bee Thousand)... actually now that I think about it, there were many others that were short in the discography, like Propeller, Sandbox, Alien Lanes and ME! might have been the only with punctuation... proving my theory bunk, but at least interesting to me. It was like a secret society language talking about GbV records like they were MLB future stars.

"But I'll keep a light for 'em/Hold down the fort for 'em/And wear my maroon blazer, all the time" - Sad if I Lost it.

Introducing The Textbook Committee

A few years ago, I made the shift from buying cds and records to downloading music, mainly via iTunes, directly to my iPod. While I do like the instant access to new music, I am finding that I miss the album-in-my-hands feel, not to mention an appreciation for inspiring liner notes and the look of an overflowing cd rack. I have also found some significant downfalls to how my simple brain has little self control when keeping an even rotation through my favorite albums on my iPod. I found myself scrolling through artists with little ability to actually decide on something, eventually landing on a new album I wanted to absorb again more regularly than the old standards and practices that influenced me to no end. I needed a change and wanted to truly revisit some of the albums and artists that defined me. So I decided to dig back into my cd collection, which after a few relocations and transfers from larger to smaller storage pieces was in complete disarray (ie, in almost perfect random order).

I've set a few ground rules for cycling through the rotation (I dont deny my weirdness):

1 - Grab 5 adjacent cds from my collection, starting from top to bottom, left to right.
2 - No turn backs or rejections - the 5 I grab are the ones I'll listen to.
3 - Listen to every track, in order. No track skipping, fastforwarding or muting. Rewinding allowed on special occasions. Waivers only allowed for scratched cds that skip.
4 - After listening to the 5, pick a few to write about here at TTC.

More of a creative outlet for me and a way to archive some of my favorite albums, the nostalgia they invoke and the lyrics and hooks that transport me somewhere else, I will write about it here at The Textbook Committee. I dont claim to be a music critic or a talented writer. But do claim to be a music snob, filled with admiration for some of the most talented songwriters, crafted albums and overlooked stories told through song hidden in the back of my cd rack. Comment if you like.