Vinyl Vednesday 5/5/2010

[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 edition celebrates Cinco de Mustache, that one day of the year when having a mustache is not creepy. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: Joe Jackson’s I’m the Man (1979) on black, The Lawrence Arms’ The Greatest Story Ever Told (2003) on black, and O Pioneers!!!/By the End of Tonight’s split (2007) on black.

Place of Purchase: Jackson came from Disc World (R.I.P.). TLA was an impromptu purchase from Hot Topic’s clearance bin. I bought the split when is saw O Pioneers!!! play at the Main Street Baptist Church in Doylestown. Good show.

Thoughts: A mustache can make or break one’s social standing. If it’s too patchy, one risks looking like a pedophile. Ah, but if it’s just right, BAM you’re Burt Reynolds and you are the coolest guy in all the dang world.

Also sometimes mustaches are just funny-lookin’.

Such is the case with Joe Jackson on the cover of his second album, I’m the Man. It’s meant to be funny, as the ’stache complements the grafter pose he strikes. While his later output got increasingly spotty, Joe Jackson’s first two albums are got-damn unimpeachable. Considering they came out the same year, it’s easy to think of them as one really awesome power pop double album. I’m the Man takes the nervous energy of Look Sharp! and keeps on rocking, although Jackson’s love of piano begins to creep into his songwriting, as tunes like “Kinda Kute” reveals. Still, though, songs like “On Your Radio” and “I’m the Man” rock hard.

The mustaches on the cover of The Greatest Story Ever Told (one of the best albums of the new millennium) are much more serious. Gordon Shumway, Ivan Nikolayevich, and Ferdinand Magellan adorn the cover with a variety of ’stachetude. Shumway’s looks a bit shaggy, while Nikolayevich clearly waxes. Magellan doesn’t shave at all, hence the beard. Truly majestic. And hey, the songs contained within are good too! The Lawrence Arms remain one of my favorite punk bands, and The Greatest Story Ever Told remains my favorite album by them. The way Brendan Kelly and Chris McCaughan intertwine songs about drankin’ and screaming into telephones still does it for me. And as we can see, the trio supports ’staches. Now excuse me while I listen to “The Disaster March” 30 times in a row…

…

…and I’m back! On the O Pioneers!!!/By the End of Tonight split, we a close-up of a pretty gross pedo-stache. I really do cringe every time I see this seven-inch. The tunes are good though. BTEOT delivers a nice post-rock tune, while OP!!! is still into the whole folk-punk thang. “Sweet Junk” is another ramshackle rabble rouser, and while it’s a wee bit sloppy, it’s sure got spirit.

So yeah… this one’s for you, people with hairy upper lips. Today… is your… INDEPENDENCE DAY!

O Pioneers!!! - 'Neon Creeps'

Some punk bands’ albums don’t have release dates so much as release periods. First the record leaks online, then the band starts selling advance copies at shows. Then a few indie stores and Web merchants start carrying it. Finally, somewhere, somehow, some way, an official release date (heh, neon) creeps in for all the mom-n-pop corporate giants to hop on.

Such is the case for Neon Creeps, the latest and greatest from Texan trio O Pioneers!!!. The record’s release has been delayed a few times, so much so that by the time the official release date passes by, I’ll have been sitting this legally purchased folk-punk gem for close to two months, thanks to the magic of online commercialism.

So, will Punknews be stoked? Yes sir and/or madam, Punknews will be totally stoked on Neon Creeps. Guitarist/vocalist Eric Solomon’s voice keeps getting better. Here, he comes off like Chuck Ragan, meaning his pipes are strong and gruff, with a dash of the sexies. Dude twists and shouts like a chain-smoking coal miner. I hope he grows a sweet beard. The other members, Aaron Ervin (drums) and Zak Klaine (bass), give their best performances with O Pioneers!!! yet, which doesn’t actually mean anything since they’re both new. But they’re still good, sleek and assured. Old drummer Chris Ryan is out, which will please fans of steady time-keeping. This new version of the band also boasts 100 percent more bass.

Thankfully, this solid band of merry gentlemen has some great tunes to serve up. “Chris Ryan Added Me on Facebook” harshes on the ex-member’s mellow, but if you ignore the title, you have a relatable, deliciously biting kiss-off to a former friend. It’s bitter like a Morrissey song (or at least a Jesse Lacey one). Which is fitting, since another standout is “My Life as a Morrissey Song,” a 57-second blast of self-doubt in which Solomon tries to analyze the emptiness within his soul before opting to just get the eff over himself. It makes a logical jumping point to the next track, “Stressing the Fuck Out.” With frantic repetition of the phrase “Everything will be alright,” “Stressing the Fuck Out” is in the running for Positive Jam 2009.

Of course, sometimes the songs could stand to have a little more lyrical variety. Opening number “Saved By the Bell was a Super Good Show” tries to get a little too much mileage out of the word “drama” (42x), running on fumes by the time its three minutes are up. I’d love to see him work “disagreement,” “quarrel,” and “existential dread” into the song. Actually, “quarrels” would work syllabically. So would “squabbles.” And “baubles,” but that’s not really relevant.

The repetition trick does work to some songs’ advantage, though. Solomon taunts Ryan on “Facebook” by ending almost every sarcastic line with “just like in high school,” liberally spritzing the song with disdain and condescension. The same goes for the closing track “Cool Kid City,” in which Solomon cleanses himself of scene politics, hipster douchebaggery, and that all-encompassing drama from the first track. Neon Creeps, in that sense, is like a loose concept album about growing up but still loving the music. Learning to let go, earning independence, and such. If you dig Hot Water Music’s vocals, Against Me!’s early tunes, and Dillinger Four’s song titles, then just might be able to mildly tolerate Neon Creeps.