Vinyl Vednesday 9/22/2010

[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it usually turns out that way. This week’s entry celebrates Blake Schwarzenbach’s return to music with PUNS. IT’S SCHWARZENBACH SCHEVEN-INCHES DAYYYYYYY.

…e-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds...]

Records: forgetters’ forgetters double seven-inch (2010) on black, the Jawbreaker/Samiam split (1992) on clear red, and Surprise Your Pig: A Tribute to R.E.M. (1993) on black 12-inch with a clear yellow seven-inch, featuring Jawbreaker, Jawbox, and a lot of bands who butcher R.E.M.

Place of Purchase: forgetters was pre-ordered through Interpunk.com. No Idea “found” a box of Jawbreaker/Samiam splits earlier this year and sold for half the price they go for on eBay, which is funny to me since this seven-inch was originally included for free with a copy of No Idea Magazine. No Vinyl Vednesday feature would be complete without a reference to Siren Records in Doylestown, which just so happens to be where I found Surprise Your Pig.

Thoughts: I have listened to forgetters about 40 or 50 times since I got it in the mail on Monday. That means I’ve dedicated about 11 hours to listening to four songs. I really, really like this EP, and it means so much to me that Schwarzenbach is still making music. “Too Small to Fail” has been stuck in my head; it was one of the two songs that stood out for me during their set at the Barbary last year, along with “Vampire Lessons.” That bit at the end when he screams “Someone’s gonna love me someday” is quite cathartic. I had a lot of trouble trying to focus my feelings into a review, and I’m not entirely happy with what came out, but Schwarzenbach is just one of those writers that has shaped my life for so many years that it’s hard for me to find new ways to explain how much he means to me. I’ve been a fan since I heard Four-Cornered Night in 2001. I guess the best way I can put this is, “Too Small to Fail” and “Vampire Lessons” mean as much to me as “Accident Prone” or “You’re the One I Want.”

I bought the other two records featured today simply because they were available to me. I generally don’t pursue rarities like this, especially since in this case, Jawbreaker’s songs “Split” and “Pretty Persuasion” are both available on their rarities compilation Etc.. Stilll, when No Idea offered me a rare Jawbreaker seven-inch, I couldn’t help myself. And hey, it turned me on to Samiam, a punk band that blends a lot of different styles into their sound. I guess my short description would be that people who like NOFX’s snot and Sunny Day Real Estate’s guitars could both enjoy this band. Overall, a good purchase.

Surprise Your Pig, however, was a bad idea. It’s telling that the liner notes for Etc. say “Our first and last tribute record. It seemed like a bad idea at the time. And it was.” Most of the compilation consists of terrible indie rock and punk. Of the 17 bands featured three come out looking OK. Jawbreaker and Jawbox, who covered “Low,” went on to include their renditions on their respective rarities comps, Etc. and My Scrapbook of Fatal Accidents. That leaves The Mr. T Experience. Poor, poor MTX. I like their version of “Can’t Get There From Here,”, but not enough to try to find its groove for the needle. The only thing keeping me from selling this back is the bonus colored seven-inch with Jawbreaker on it. When I inevitably start scaling down my vinyl collection, this’ll be one of the first records to go. Argh.

I LOVES YOU BLAKE SCHWARZENBACH.

forgetters - 'forgetters'

forgetters can at times come off as willfully difficult. The limited touring. The all-lower case name. And after a year of waiting for recorded material, they finally dropped a double seven-inch with a single song on each side, maximizing the number of times I, an entitled American, have to get up and flip the wax. They make me work for it. Yet when the songs are playing, it pays off.

If forgetters weren’t crammed with ringers, I wouldn’t mind their low key approach. But the band consists of Blake Schwarzenbach, Kevin Mahon and Caroline Paquita. These people have done time in Jawbreaker, Jets to Brazil, Against Me! and Bitchin’, respectively. If you enjoy any punk music from the last 20 years, you might be interested in their collective discography.

Let’s this out of the way: forgetters kind of sounds like Schwarzenbach’s other bands They’re more like Jawbreaker than Jets to Brazil – punk power trio with distorted guitar, powerful bass and one heck of a drummer. The lyrics are less scene-oriented than Jawbreaker’s but not as opaque as JtB’s could get. Songs are crammed with emotion and longing, but not in any visceral emo sense. “Vampire Lessons” is erotic. “Too Small to Fail” tries to find a glimmer of self-respect while dealing with lousy lovers. “Not Funny” is about an Afghani girl torn between her love for a soldier and her father. In trying to find a place between two cultures, the narrator concludes “Between the sand and moon there is no place for me.”

For those who have followed Schwarzenbach’s music over the years and just enjoy the way he writes, forgetters is rewarding. Folks looking for a good punk seven-inch can check this out too. The first half hits a little harder. “Vampire Lessons” is a little quasi-goth – it’s about late night sexy times – and it’s all the more fun for it. “Too Small to Fail” is the physical and lyrical flipside to that, then. “Vampire Lessons” could be read as the sexual fun that greets a new relationship; “Too Small to Fail” is the fallout near the end. They’re also super catchy. The second seven-inch is pretty good too. “Not Funny” furiously pounds eardrums as it sets it tale, while “The Night Accelerates” gently takes the listener out. The production is a little dry, but it suits the style.

It took nearly a year for forgetters to go from a studio to the open market, so I’m not sure if this is a teaser for an album or a placeholder for another year of gradual building. But it’s been eight years since Jets to Brazil’s Perfecting Loneliness, and I’ll take four songs over none.

forgetters at the Barbary

“When the measure of your work is the measure of your worth / Then you better make it work,” Jets to Brazil – “The Frequency”

forgetters, the majuscule-challenging new band from vocalist/guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach (ex-Jawbreaker/Jets to Brazil, in case you forgot), drummer Kevin Mahon (ex-Against Me!) and bassist Caroline Paquita (ex-Bitchin’), played their fourth show ever Fri., Sept. 25, at Philadelphia’s the Barbary, with support from Onion Flavored Rings and Amateur Party. It was amazing.

Amateur Party opened the night quite well. Frontman Mike McKee (Armalite/ex-Kill the Man Who Questions) spouted leftist anthems like “Let Youth Be Your Drug,” “Public Utility Complaint,” and “Gun Fever.” The music was similar to McKee’s other bands – socially conscious punk with a D.C. hardcore bent, yet so catchy that this guy could be truly dangerous if he ever got his hands on the infernal youths of America – with a healthy injection of folk a la Ted Leo. Drummer Steve Roche and bassist Scott Mercer formed a tight trio with McKee, although the band still provided loose, fun, angry tunes about got-damn corporations and gun violence in Philly. Lyrics tend to get buried at punk shows, so it was cool of McKee to explain the meanings behind his songs (i.e. – “Public Utility Complaint” is about legislation Pennsylvania energy companies pushed through to make it easier to shut off peoples’ heat during the winter). The band has a seven-inch out now; go buy it.

Onion Flavored Rings, by contrast, seemed a little outclassed. The band went for a straighter bubblegum pop-punk sound – think Ramones mixed with Dead Milkmen. These guys had a bit of legacy on their side too, as bassist Paul Curran did time in Crimpshrine. But given how sloppily the band played in between fits of awkward stage banter (or lack thereof), it’s probably best not to think about that. While OFR weren’t exactly bad, they were easily the weak link in an otherwise stellar evening.

But you didn’t click this review to read about OFR. forgetters were the main draw. While the Barbary was a little empty during the first two bands (I blame the early start time. 6:30 p.m. on a Friday in a city whose streets seem to be perpetually under construction probably wasn’t convenient for a lot of people), the place was packed by the time forgetters went on. Which is good, because they are a very good band. They play very good songs. They say very funny things in between the very good songs. And they just generally make me abuse words like “very” and “good.” And this isn’t just the superfan in me talking (Although, can we pause to reflect that is a Jawbreaker/Against Me! supergroup? Is that OK?). At least one new fan remarked that forgetters might be the best Schwarzen-band yet.

Aw, but describing the band’s sound is tricky. Well, OK, it’s easy: Rock and/or roll. But there are so many mines to avoid. Schwarzenbach’s guitar tone definitely recalls Jawbreaker circa Dear You – dark, ominous, raw. But this ain’t 24 Hour Retread Therapy. In a way – and I might be making it worse for all the post-Revenge haters out there – the group seems more like a logical extension of Jets to Brazil. Swan song Perfecting Loneliness had moments of danceable indie rock, like “You’re the One I Want” and “William Tell Override,” which plays a role in forgetters, though obviously without piano or strings or country inflections or pretty vocals. That’s right; Blake’s back to screaming, and it is glorious. Throw in a pinch of Siamese Dream’s guitar pyrotechnics and Pornography’s romanticism/depression too.

Being the first time I’ve heard Mahon drum since, uh, AM!’s 2001 EP Crime, it was a thorough revelation just how comfortable the guy seems going from rock to 16-note dance beats. The group joked about going goth (“Do you wanna get down?” asked Schwarzenbach, to which Mahon chimed in, “Like sober-down?”), though that self-deprecation bears a hint of truth. Obviously, I’m just going off of surface glances, but the band’s got a song called “Vampire Lessons.” At least one of the tunes is about trying to believe in love. But then, “Not Funny” is about an Afghani girl torn between her love for a soldier and her father, so I’m pretty sure Blake’s lyrics overall are going to seem more political once I actually get to read them.

There were some missteps. Blake flubbed “Not Funny,” but he played it off well, and the band pulled together to finish the song. Some kid whose parents didn’t acknowledge him enough kept shouting “Holla,” and his attention-seeking behavior killed the mood every time. But these are insignificant bumps on an otherwise perfect show. For the record, I hope forgetters stick around for a while. Each member is essential, both in terms of songwriting and live performance. Schwarzenbach is the charmer, Mahon is the wiseacre and Paquita is the quiet, awkward genius. They’re all funny, they all rock and they form a strong contender for “New Favorite Band.”

I have a set list for you, though I should mention that A) It probably means nothing to you since none of these songs have been recorded and B) At least one of the songs listed (“1982”), which I got from reading Paquita’s list upside down in the dark, is not the full title. There’s already at least one video from the night online, but honestly the quality is so bad that you’re better off waiting for a studio recording. Still, get stoked:

Set list:

1. Black Art
2. Helicopter vs. Rabbit
3. Deadly Death
4. Not Funny
5. Vampire Lessons
6. Not Immune
7. 1982
8. Too Small

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9. Track Bike Speed

Closing tidbits: Schwarzenbach recited most of Thomas Hardy’s “Drummer Hodge” for his mic check. I talked to him after the show, and it took every ounce of will power to hold my shit together. I shook the hand of the guy that wrote “Accident Prone.” During our brief conversation, he told me that studio time had been booked and that I could expect a seven-inch eventually. Also, I’ve been holding this pun in for the entire article: Schwarzenbach is Schwarzen-back. Good night!