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