The Loop : Centro-Matic - Love You Just the Same

Centro-Matic - Love You Just the Same (2003)

Senior year of high school, my friend Beth and I bought tickets to see Mr. Ben Kweller at Marquee Theatre in Tempe. We were both huge Sha Sha fans, and in typical high school fashion, we showed up when the doors opened to catch him. However, there was an opening band called Centro-Matic from Denton, TX (friends with Ben, of course). At the risk of falling into some bad cliche, it was one of those rare moments where you are immediately drawn to something on the first time hearing it. It was incredible. After seeing them and Ben, we decided we were fully satisfied with our evening and left before the headliner that we hadn't really heard of. Did I mention the headliner was Death Cab For Cutie? Yeah, I suck sometimes.

On our way out, we pooled together whatever cash we had leftover after paying for parking (even then! ugh, Marquee) and were able to purchase exactly one copy of their latest record, Love You just the Same. At that point, MP3 players were fairly rare (and we were fairly poor) so we decided to have joint custody of the album. The first week, Beth made a burn of the CD, but got to keep the artwork and look at it while I had the actual album copy. Then we switched. Nowadays, I can only hope to get that excited to take a night, listen to a record and flip through the album art.

Aside from that nerd story, this is an absolutely fantastic record. I ended up buying a couple more of their albums, but this has the best production quality and cohesiveness out of all of them. Will Johnson's raspy voice and singing with clinched teeth reminds me a lot of the singer from Great Lake Swimmers,but set to some heavier rock tunes and beautiful harmonies. I found out later that they had put out a staggering seven other albums before Love You Just the Same, and four since. They are very lyrically fantastic and avoid the folk-rock habit of hippy blues/rock jamming by keeping the songs short and strong. And as far as the album artwork is concerned, I still get chills and just as excited when I see it flash across across my iPod.

Note: The video says Will Johnson, who is essentially the brainchild of this operation, but this is "Flashes and Cables" from the album, just acoustic:

The Loop: Midtown - Save the World, Lose the Girl

Midtown - Save the World, Lose the Girl (2000)

After giving my speech about well-rounded music labels and how it's hard to trust EVERYTHING a label puts out, in the case of Midtown, I decided to listen to them because I trusted their label, Drive-Thru Records so much.

This record was a nice change of pace from the sugary s/t New Found Glory record that I had recently worn to shreads ; a little darker, a lot scream-ier and clearly more punk rock influenced. But by all intents and purposes, it was your a-typical, early 00's pop-punk record. The tracks were smart . . . almost too smart. . . well rounded pop songs with flawlessly cohesive lyrics. However, it was one of the first records that I had to listen to in order, or else it wouldn't feel right. That was due largely in part to having one of the best album opening tracks with "Just Rock and Roll" (touting the first, instrumentless chant of "God I wish I could hate you for the rest of my life!!!") and a simple, melodic closer of "Frayed Ends."

The irony in all of this is that Midtown ended up having a fairly bad, and fairly public, break up with Drive-Thru Records (see: message board flame war. . . remember those?), then releasing on a major before disbanding all together. The lead singer now heads up the pop punk characture, Cobra Starship, while drummer Rob Hitt opened up his own label and DJ's miscellaneous clubs around New York City. It's one of those "oh hey, remember when ______ was in __________?" kind of bands, but I hope the neon glow and MTV VMA nominations for Cobra don't drown out some really smart musicianship on this record.

The Loop : Limbeck - Hi, Everything's Great

Limbeck - Hi, Everything's Great (2003)

This falls into the category of "albums that were around when I was in high school, but I actually discovered in college". Limbeck had already well lived up to its full name of "The Travelin' Limbeck Band" at the point when I heard about them. They had undoubtedly come up on flyers of various shows I did or did not attend as they frequented the southwest, hailing from Orange County themselves. It was only until I met my friend Si during freshman year of college, and after batting around a few similar artists, we had one of those truly High Fidelity moments of:

"Don't tell anyone you don't own Hi, Everything's Great. It's gonna be okay."

There are so many tracks on this album that not only work me up into a nostalgic frenzy, but calm me down with a sense of home. It's ironic, since it follows several transient themes : honking and waving to someone on the 8 . . or the 22, in rush hour traffic . . . meeting at Albatross and Ivy . . . . girls who say they're from Ohio . . . or California . . . or whatever. This is definitely an "endless summer" sort of record, with some incredible pop songs down the road. Not to mention after seeing them play at least two dozen times, they're the most genuinely happy live band I've ever seen. This band and this album are unapologetically optimistic about whatever lies ahead, which I can only hope to be.

The Loop : Rocky Votolato - Suicide Medicine

Rocky Votolato - Suicide Medicine (2003)

And so begins the "I discovered this record because of a boy" portion of our journey. It's really quite anti-climactic though. I started dating a boy my Senior year of high school, and we went on all but about two dates before we realized we had very little in common except mutual friends and ska. While he eventually became one of my good friends, my 17-year-old, emo-listening heart was angsty. I had exhausted my Elliott Smith records, so my friend Mara lent me a record of this guy named Rocky Votolato. I don't remember her exact wording, but it was something to the effect of, "The song Every Red Cent is the perfect break-up song."

Not only is the song in fact perfect for a break-up (touting lyrics such as "I've been shut out, I've been cheated. How could you send me to this place? I have every right to feel the way I've been feeling", but also lyrics that represented several aspects of the human condition, not just love. The title track, although featuring the word Suicide, has one of the most sincere lines of "Oh God I love you, I mean forever. I left my body behind to break the news. Looks like it's over, please remember all of the things I never got a chance to say." Rocky was far less dark than his lyrics suggested, and not so much the victim of love, but rathter a man grappling with the idea of settling down to a real 9 to 5 life. "While you're searching for your paycheck death." His punk rock ideals were set to blues/americana-infused guitar tunes, laced with harmonica and a southern soul in a Northwestern man.

All in all, I might say that his album Makers is my favorite of all of his work, but I can't deny what this record meant to me and how infinite a song like, "The Light and the Sound" can make someone feel. Seriously. Try it.

The Loop : Another Year on The Streets Vol 2. - Vagrant Records Compilation

Another Year on the Streets Vol. 2 - Vagrant Records Compilation (2001)

This record was definitely a Zia Records (40th and Thunderbird) find during one of our many trips there. As I recall, it only cost about $5, which is probably as much as I had (although I made serious bank babysitting) I was thinking about this last night, how it seems sort of self serving to want to brand your record label all over your artists, when if anything, we should be the silent wizards of our Oz in these cases. There are very few labels that I can say I'd trust by their roster alone, which isn't really a bad thing. So many labels are great about having a diverse and comprehensive list of artists, so there's no way to assume that I would love Columbia record's Avett Brothers just because I love Bob Dylan (although I do). There is something about a certain built in legacy, but I feel the goal of a label is to adapt and try new things.

However, as I was growing up, there were definitely the labels I always trusted. Lookout!, Drive Thru, Sub Pop and the subject of the next album, Vagrant Records. This was a 22-track disc that had everything from Dashboard Confessional to Alkaline Trio to Saves the Day. At the time, i was really into Saves the Day, but I honestly can't remember if I already knew Dashboard, etc.

At any rate, the tracklisting out of all of the Vagrant comps is SO impressive, and doesn't fall victim to the curse of mish mashing different artists. It feels like they really took the effort in sequencing the record to keep you active and interested in some of the other bands inbetween the ones you already loved.

The standout tracks for me were Sweet Marie by The Anniversary, Ups and Downs by Saves the Day, the original acoustic version of Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional, Alone by Rocket from the Crypt and Hell Yes by Alkalkine Trio. I feel like the comp reflects sort of the last gasp of the late 90's, early 00's straight up punk rock bands with some Face to Face and Viva Death curve balls. You started to feel the shift to either really melodic punk or straight up girly emo (I'm looking at you, Chris Carraba)

I ended up buying the other Vagrant comps, but none of them held up to this one (although Saves the Day "Sell My Old Clothes, I'm Off to Heaven" is on Vol 1, and probably my favorite of all their songs) I think there's something to be said that the Audio Learning Center song "Favorite" is featured, and sets the tone for me discovering some of my favorite bands.

Track Listing :

1	Hot Rod Circuit - The Pharmacist
2	Audio Learning Center - Favorite
3	Saves the Day - Ups & Downs
4	Dashboard Confessional - Hands Down
5	The New Amsterdams - Picture in the Paper
6	The Anniversary - Sweet Marie
7	Hey Mercedes - Weekend Starts on Wednesday
8	Alkaline Trio - Hell Yes
9	Face to Face - Bill of Goods
10	No Motiv - Give Me Strength
11	The Get Up Kids - Central Standard Time
12	Rocket From the Crypt - Alone
13	Viva Death - Trust Me
14	Hot Rod Circuit - Radiation Suit
15	Audio Learning Center - The Shell
16	Hey Mercedes - Everybody's Working for the Weak
17	Dashboard Confessional - Screaming Infidelities
18	Saves the Day - Nightengale
19	No Motiv - New Beginnings
20	Face to Face - A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
21	Alkaline Trio - Metro
22	The Get Up Kids - New Found Mass (2000)

MUST listen to track [Sweet Marie - The Anniversary]:

The Loop : Saves the Day - Stay What You Are

Saves the Day - Stay What You Are (2001)

This was one of many bands I discovered through my older brother. Before I had the money or the means to get my own music, my days were spent sneaking into his room and taking his records. I don't really even know what the process was of him introducing these bands to me, maybe just hearing him play it or him deliberately making me sit down to listen to them. I remember distinctly a pop quiz he gave me once before I could take a CD, mostly about Dave Grohl's rotating musician status or which Rage Against the Machine album was featured in the poster on his wall. At any rate, I'm forever indebted to him for my hobby/job/obsession with music.

This album meant a lot to me because of how real it was. Up to this point, my music choices were either Christian ska bands or bands that mostly talked about girls. I realize that if you read through the lyrics of Stay What You Are, you'll find illusions or direct references to girls/relationships, but my fifteen year old self had very little understanding of love. I understood things like loneliness, friendships, figuring out my identity, assuming the role of being a grown up in a few short years, etc., and I feel like this album followed those themes on a more personal, selfish level than others I was listening to. I also appreciated that it didn't isolate it's female listeners, as many emo bands tend to do in this boy's club. They even had a song that was from the point of view, more or less, of a girl struggling with societies standards ("Cars and Calories") .

Aside from it's deeper meanings, this is one smart and catchy record. Songs like "At Your Funeral" "Jukebox" and "Freak" became anthems at the shows and were much easier to sing along to than the more "punk" melodies of Through Being Cool or Can't Slow Down. I know that turned off a lot of fans, but Saves the Day were not only adapting, but setting a bar for a darker tone of emo. I read recently that they were just a few years too early with this record, which I agree with. A the time, fart bands like Blink 182 and Sum 41 were dominating the Warped scene, so for a band to come out with an unapologetically self-depricating record wasn't quite understood in masses. It still exists in a place for a lot of the fans who discovered it then and discovered it now and in my opinoin, despite my love for the completely underrated In Reverie, is still their best record.

The Loop : Disclaimers and Honorable Mentions

I spent the last four hours or so compiling lists for The Loop series, digging through my iTunes and dividing up all the albums I wanted to include into their respective categories (2000-2003, 2004-2006, 2007-2009) I searched through old journal entries and my old high school website that had a long list of what I was listening to back then. It was an exhaustive process. However, I think I have all of the albums I wanted. That being said, I started to over-think things (as I tend to do) finding records that missed the cut offs and wanting to include entire discographies that span over several cateogries, etc. It made me a nervous music nerd. However, I've come to terms with the boundaries I set for this and want to put a few things out upfront:


1) There are a lot of GREAT albums that are not included in these lists. Bands like songs:ohia, Chase Pagan, Aqueduct, White Stripes, etc. I also had certain songs that I loved, but not full records, as it goes. I consume more music than most humans should, so I made sure to cut it down to the albums that I can remember completely geeking out about. I'm talking multiple repeat plays during the day, saw the concert, bought the shirt, put it on various mixtapes, changed my views about music kind of albums. There were a lot of close calls, but the guidelines I've set will hopefully make for a pretty awesome and comprehensive list.

2) I was once a 16 year old girl: There are gonna be a lot of "really?" albums on here. But that's why I've called this series "10 years of Unapologetic Albums" . . . because I'm happy to admit them (mostly in this first month - high school) All of those pop punk and ska bands meant something at that time and opened up a lot of doors as far as discovering music and finding all the ways TO discover music. That and I probably thought the boys in them were, like, SO cute.

3) I might choose just one record from a band with an extensive catalog: For the most part, I was able to choose THAT album that got me into the band, even if I loved their previous or following work. A couple of them I might double up if the albums fell in the same time period, depending on the case. It may not be the Pinkerton of the collection, but it's the one that I connected with the most for whatever reason.

and finally . . .

4) There were a ton of albums that missed the cutoff: It killed me to have to cross certain albums off the list because they fell in the 90's, or even worse, 1999 (I'm looking at you, Clarity) I was musically raised by an older brother who discovered a lot of his stuff in the 90's, not to mention that I was a ska kid, so most of those albums were in and around 1996 (seriously). It broke my 14 year old heart to not include some of them that meant SO much to me, so I'm going to post a one-time only "honorable mention" list, for those records off the top of my head that came out when I didn't have a car or income:

• Weezer - The Blue Album ; Pinkerton
• Jimmy Eat World - Static Prevails, Clarity
• Wilco - Summerteeth
• Catch 22 - Keasby Nights
• Dance Hall Crashers - Honey, I'm Homely
• The Hippos - Heads are Gonna Roll
  
• Fenix TX - s/t
• Elliott Smith - XO, Figure 8, Roman Candle, Elliott Smith (basically everything)
• The Insyderz - Motor City Ska, Skallielujah
  
• The OC Supertones - The Adventures of the OC Supertones
• MXPX - Pokinatcha, Teenage Politics, Life in General, Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo
• The W's - The Trouble with X
• Reel Big Fish - Turn the Radio Off , Why Do They Rock So Hard?
• The Aquabats - The Fury of the Aquabats
• Less Than Jake - Pezcore, Hello Rockview
• Jefferie's Fan Club - Nothing to Prove
• Allister - Dead Ends and Girlfriends
• Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E. , Make Yourself
• Goldfinger - Hang-Ups
• Neutral Milk Hotel - In an Aeroplane Over the Sea
• No Doubt - Tragic Kingdown
• Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
• Pavement - Brighten the Corners
• Philmore - EP
• Noggin Toboggon - Snapcase
• Radiohead - The Bends
• The Ataris - Blue Skies, Broken Hearts , Next 12 Exits

That probably isn't everything and there are a few records I'm combining because the band meant that much (get ready for a whole geek out on Five Iron Frenzy) but I set these rules for myself and I'm going to keep them. I'm just hoping I don't die / hate music by the end of this process.

And here we go . . .

The Loop : 10 Years of Unapologetic Albums

I think most people in their mid-twenties eventually run into their "quarter life crisis". You spend your first 20 years reaching milestone after milestone only to fall into the post-college slump of agelessness and the realization of just how long life is. This is not always a bad thing, of course, but as you get older and look retrospectively, there are so many of years of experience and things yet to experience that it gets overwhelming.

As I was getting ready this morning, I started to think about reaching the end of this first decade of the new millenium. I remember what New Years 2000 was like, drinking soda until WAYYY too late with my two best friends, then running outside to the back yard screaming "Happy New Year!" to blanket suburban Arizona. While imagining how we were ever so young, it occured to me that 2000 was when I started high school and more or less crossed over into shaping my adulthood. In thinking of the vastness of life, ten years of time from then until now is a lot when you've only lived 23 1/2.

By all intents and purposes, these may have been the most defining 10 years of my life. I went from awkward . . . to more awkward. I completed my schooling and (apparently) became a grown up. There were a lot of milestones in a short period of time, many of which had a soundtrack. So much has changed not only in my life, but in music the last 10 years, and it's amazing to think of how much music I've consumed in a decade, and how much consuming music has changed in that same period of time.

So where is this going? Everyone loves a good retrospective. I'm sure music mags are already compiling their lists, and blogs are digging through Wikipedia pages to find the early 00's b-side collection that is their top album. For me, it's a desire to revisit some of the records that placed a musical timestamp on these years. Music means a lot to me now, but I want to get that gut feeling I got when I put on a CD that I had to sneak in and steal from my brothers room. To feel the rush of picking out a mix of albums and one by one recording them to a mixtape. In an age where music is so accessible and sometimes saturated, I want to work for my memories again.

That's where "The Loop" comes from. There are certain things that remind me of when I first started investing into music. Cigarette smoke, sweat, feedback and handstamps. And in those things, I tend to circle back frequently to The Nile Theatre in Mesa, AZ. While it has been closed since 2004(ish), this venue still sparks some serious geeking out amoungst my AZ friends when mentioned. I already named my old radio show on The Blaze 1260 AM "The Basement" for The Nile's smaller room that often featured local bands. I still feel though that The Nile needs to be a part of this, so I've named this series, "The Loop" because of the Loop 202. My brother (or whoever was driving me) would take the Loop 202 East to get to Mesa from Scottsdale. Everytime we'd merge and we'd go from heading South and curve into East, my heart would explode in excitement. I could see the city and feel the rush of how close I was to seeing one of my favorite bands. No matter where I had been, everything circled back to not just that building, but what it represented in music, culture and forming my identity. It's a crossroads, it's a direction, it's whatever you want it to be.

So there you go. Over the next three months I'm going to take a section of this decade, then circle back and talk about albums that meant a lot to me during that bracket of time. Here's how it will work:

October : Albums from 2000-2004

November: Albums from 2004-2007

December: Albums from 2007-2010 and eventually my top 10 of 2009.

It won't be chronological ( I don't have THAT much time on my hands) , but it will fall between those time periods. After failing miserably at my "Sounds from The Basement" series, I hope that "The Loop" series keepts momentum. I feel like it will. These won't always be albums that are critically acclaimed, and some I'm usually too embarassed to admit to, but this music meant a lot to me in the time it did and much of it still does today. I have no apologies. That's what music is about, after all.

Cheers to 10 great years. Ready, set, go.

-Smashley