Vinyl Vednesday 11/24/2010

[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. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: Bridge and Tunnel’s East/West (2008) on white, Devo’s Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (1978) on black, and Nakatomi Plaza’s Unsettled (2007) on clear brown swirl.

Place of Purchase: B ‘n’ T was pre-ordered on vinyl AND disco compacto online through the mighty No Idea Records. Devo came from Hideaway Music in Chestnut Hill, Pa. Nakatomi Plaza was purchased at a show. You had to be there, man.

Thoughts: One of my greatest regrets in life is missing out on Latterman live. I was a huge fan after buying No Matter Where We Go… on a whim back in the year 2005, but I never managed to catch these fine Long Island punk rockers in concert. When Latterman broke up, I was devastated. When the former members started forming new bands, I was all up in them shits. Shorebirds was a must (Latterman/Jawbreaker supergroup? Fudge yeah!). Bridge and Tunnel, featuring ex-Lattermanner Pat Schramm on drums, hooked me right away after a couple of live shows in Doylestown. After a stunning seven-inch, the band dropped this tasty morsel. It’s 41 minutes of post-hardcore-ish social awareness rock. I like it a lot.

I bought the first Devo record because it’s generally acknowledged as a punk/post-punk classic. Alls I knew was I liked “Gates of Steel,” but that song wasn’t even on this album. What I got instead was a whole lotta of sassy, sarcastic, amazing jams, like “Jocko Homo” and a funky yet mechanical cover of The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction)” (akin to what David Bowie was doing at the time). Speaking of live shows I regret missing, Devo, The Hold Steady, and The Loved Ones once playing a show together in Philadelphia. I don’t remember why I missed it, but I’m sure my reason was pure baloney.

I miss Nakatomi Plaza. These Brooklyn punks played with heart no matter the size of the crowd. They actually cared about songwriting and technical wizardry, but their live show sounded identical to their recorded output. I got to see them a bunch of times, thankfully, and I made it a point to pick something up from the merch table each time. They hooked me up each time with early releases, like a rare split with Latterman, but my most treasured find is Unsettled, my favorite NP album, on vinyl. Recorded by my main man J. Robbins, it sounds epic and huge. As literate and political as these songs got, they’re still so dang anthemic. Rest in peace.

Nakatomi Plaza - 'Ghosts'

Goddammit.

I first heard about Nakatomi Plaza after a few friends saw them play with the now-defunct politipunks in Marathon. My roommate pegged them as a potential interest for me, and he was right. I picked up their then-current record, Private Property, and was blown away by its passion. It was a little spotty in places, but overall, still it holds up as a solid post-hardcore album. My fandom rose quite a few notches after the band’s next release, the J. Robbins-produced Unsettled. It was a huge leap forward artistically, cementing in my mind that maybe Nakatomi Plaza could be my Jawbox – punk work ethic combined with blistering musicianship. The fact that Robbins produced it made perfect sense to me.

The band played Pennsylvania (my homestate) a few times in support of Unsettled, and I caught their live show a few times out in Doylestown. D-town is about a half-hour away from me – maybe an hour with traffic – but I never really tapped into its punk/hardcore scene. When I found out NP were playing nearby, though, I make the trek. After a lengthy drive north on 202, I saw them perform at Siren Records with Jena Berlin. And man, they were tight despite being stripped down to a trio. Vocalist/guitarist Oscar Rodroguez could shred. It’s funny to me that it took a Brooklyn band to make me appreciate Pa. more, but there you go. Since that drive, I’ve been able to see Paint It Black, Fake Problems, O Pioneers!!!, Crime in Stereo, and plenty more in Doylestown record stores, bars, and church basements. And with ample parking!

What was crazy to me about Nakatomi Plaza was how normal and nice the trio was. Rodriguez and vocalist/bassist Al Fair were actually awkward and humbled to meet fans. I talked to drummer Lou Maiolica about his day job as a plumber. I think I pulled a muscle trying to sound normal in front of these folks. I’m not good with people I respect. But they were cool about it, and played D-town a couple more times, to my delight.

It turns out my Jawbox association with Nakatomi Plaza might have been a little too accurate for my liking. Like Jawbox, Nakatomi Plaza broke up after four records, all of which were criminally underappreciated. Their swan song, the 11 tracks that constitute Ghosts, has been available in one way or another for the last month or so. The band offered mp3s of the record online with a “pay what you feel” price tag in August, as well as physical copies on their farewell tour. A final physical version will be offered to the masses come Sept. 29, while online retailers like Amazon and iTunes are already carrying the digital version.

Ghosts makes me think two things: 1) This is awesome, and 2) Please don’t break up. In a way, it’s both a logical progression from Unsettled – guitar pyrotechnics abound, like on the solo for “4017” – and an overview of the band’s 10 years together. There are throwbacks to Private Property’s screams, and two of the tracks, “The Ghost Intrigue” and closer “The Finish Line,” are finished versions of demos from the Frog Octopus Wolf EP. Though the band’s angular post-hardcore will appeal to At the Drive-In fans, there are some indie inflections, like on the string-laden ballad “Words.” Of course, “Words” features another searing guitar solo at its conclusion, so maybe calling it a “ballad” is an exaggeration.

Musically, this is a great way to go out. Ali Hassan’s (Bouncing Souls, Loved Ones) production is a little dry – opener “Bomb Shelter” feels like it could use more power – but he still captures the band’s essence. This is a kickass rock record. Lyrically, though, this might be one of the saddest albums of 2009. While some of this material is pre-Unsettled, it’s hard not to take a lot of the lines about feeling weary and worn out as indicative of the band’s dissolution. Heck, one song is called “Requiem.” Some of it might be in my head, but lines like “We’re barely living but we’re hoping to go soon,” “‘Cause I don’t feel it / I don’t feel it coming in so I’m going down / I’ll find a way out,” etc., certainly carry that angle to them. And it’s hard not to think “The Finish Line” was purposefully set up as the closing track.

“You call yourself tired / I’m just as tired as you are” sing Rodriguez and Fair in unison. Then they hit the chorus – “Who cares if they fire us / We’ll just quit.” It’s ostensibly a song about touring and worrying about everything being OK back home. Here, as the last song of the last Nakatomi Plaza album, that feels inverted. When Rodriguez talks about being scared, it feels like he’s talking about his future after the band. He started the group, and now he’s breaking it up, uncompromised and still beautiful.

Which is exactly why I don’t want Nakatomi Plaza to end. This band has had plenty of bad luck, sure, but they still sound so good on their terms. I’m hoping for some sort of posthumous recognition, because Nakatomi Plaza got better with every release. And I keep thinking that, maybe if the economy wasn’t so poor and Unsettled hadn’t had all those distribution issues and more people would just listen, Omar, Al, and Lou would still be kicking out jams.

Goddammit.