Day Fifty: Cursive - Burst and Bloom

Saddle Creek ■ LBJ-35

Released July 24, 2001

Produced by Mike Mogis and Cursive

Recorded by Mike Mogis

Mastered by Doug Van Sloun

Side One:	Side Two:
Sink to the Beat The Great Decay Tall Tales, Telltales	Mothership, Mothership, Do You Hear Me? Fairy Tales Tell Tales

If one checks back, one finds that I actually stated my next item on the block would be Cursive's Happy Hollow. However, as I sat for a moment and considered that I had a Record Store Day exclusive on coloured vinyl (marbled yellow) and that release was one that was singled out by a friend (the words "so good" in a few incarnations came up, occasionally with profane emphases) as quality in the career of the band...I considered that perhaps I could once again write about an EP released by a band from whom I also own a full-length LP. Most pertinently, I guess, my good friend Brian--one of my most reliable folks for discussing music, which can be difficult for many in light of my erratic listening habits--is the person I most strongly associated the band with.

Day Thirty-One: Burning Airlines - Identikit

Arctic Rodeo Recordings ■ ARR044

Released May 8, 2001¹

Recorded by John Agnello with Jake Mossman; J. Robbins and Burning airlines

Mixed by John Agnello with J. Robbins, Mike Harbin, and Peter Moffett

Mastered by Alan douches

¹This expanded vinyl released 11/16/2012

Side One:	Side Two:
Outside the Aviary Morricone Dancehall A Lexicon The Deluxe War Baby A Song with No Words All Sincerity The Surgeon's House Everything Here Is New	Paper Crowns Blind Trial Identikit Tastykake Earthbound Election-Night Special Dear Hilary Action

Track listing note: many of the tracks are shuffled from their listed order, but the above is the order in which they actually play. "The Deluxe War Baby" is shifted to its place above from being listed between "The Surgeon's House" and "Everything Here Is New". "Election-Night Special" is listed between "Identikit" and "Tastykake". The lyrics are also printed in this written order, not the order in which they play.

Out of all the polls I've run, I had a feeling (much like I suspected March on Electric Children would be the least acknowledged entry so far) Burning Airlines would be the most "difficult" vote to squeeze out. I pushed pretty hard on the Boomtown Rats, but I sort of gave up with Burning Airlines. Most people I know are in the wrong music generation (regardless of their actual age) and/or scene to know Burning Airlines, and I know that is the one thing that really makes people reluctant to throw out a vote. I decided to get around this in a sneaky and vaguely ridiculous way: I actually asked J. Robbins (check those credits up top) and Peter Moffett if there was an album they'd prefer me to write on. Mr. Robbins's been nothing but kind with my intermittent fawning and questions, and said very nice things about my writing on his previous band, Jawbox. On this he suggested I flip a coin to pick the album, and that he'd be happy I was writing about either, which I can understand and respect--there's going to be plenty tied up in these for someone involved. I asked Mr. Moffett a bit more privately, and didn't even catch the first notification that he'd actually answered. The response was just a single word: Identikit. It was a relief, in a way; a singular vote from another fan that wandered into my question to J. and voted for Mission: Control! which would have stuck me with another tie and, well, another coin toss, actually. I wanted to have something fresh and different to break this one up, though, and so Mr. Moffett gets a gracious thanks for taking the time to answer me and break the tie--even if it was before there was a tie!

Day Twenty-Five: The Blood Brothers - March on Electric Children

Erika Records¹ ■ ER2005

Released February 25, 2002

Produced by Matt B[ayles] and the Blood Brothers

Engineered by Matt B[ayles] (with assistance from Troy T.)

Mastered by Ed B.

¹Licensed from Three-One-G Records

Side One:	Side Two:
Birth Skin/Death Leather Meet Me at the Water Front after the Social March on Electric Children! New York Slave	Kiss of the Octopus Siamese Gun Mr. Electric Ocean Junkyard J. Vs. the Skin Army Girlz/High Fives/LA Hives American Vultures

While I know people who frustratingly cannot seem to get a handle on entire genres like rap or metal, and, like me listening when I was younger, often take that almost as an out-of-hand, automatic cancellation of any interest in listening, there's another barrier that's more extreme and more difficult to deal with. There are some artists out there who get the words "difficult" and "uncompromising" thrown at them in an effort to appeal to those who see those as alluring, and sometimes as a means of quiet warning. Anyone who doesn't already know this band, but knows me is probably filled with dread already. But the object here isn't to scare people off--certainly, the idea of warning is one I am working with, but I own all the records I own out of interest, and most out of appreciation (and interest is generally just the predecessor of appreciation). I can't go out blaring records at anyone and everyone, and records in particular are kind of inherently a home-listening format these days. I obviously have friends with turntables, but not many, and not many I visit and hang around the homes of. So, with all that in mind: this wasn't an album I picked up because it means people will think or hear X, Y, or Z. I picked it up (three times now: the remastered CD from Epitaph, the original CD release from Three One G, and this picture disc) because I like the band and I like their sound--even if, yes, it's going to be (extremely) grating to some people.

Day Eleven: At the Drive-In - Vaya

Fearless Records ■  F040-1

Released July 13, 1999

Recorded and mixed by Mike Major [1,5,7], Alex Newport [2,4], and Justin Leah & Bobby Torres [6]. Tracks 3,6 produced by Sean Cummings

Side One:	Side Two:
Rascuache Proxima Centauri Ursa Minor Heliotrope	Metronome Arthritis 300 MHz 198d

I originally decided, because I was starting with an artist that had the same split of releases in my collection, that I would leave EPs by the wayside for artists for whom I owned a full length LP. I decided to skip that "rule" on this occasion simply because I know a number of people who are big fans of this band--other than me, I mean. It also tends to come with a love that drives adamant opinions, and occasionally divides. When At the Drive-In broke up in 2001, it was the only time I really noticed or felt the loss of a band--I'd never seen them live (to be honest, even when they reunited ten years later, I did not rush out for the very distant and often festival-based events, either). It also led to the rise of two groups--they'd just released their Nevermind in popularity terms, or maybe just the hint toward it, and that was that--Sparta and the Mars Volta. When I last wrote about them, I was disinclined to make my rather well-known, passionate opinion on that split known. I'm still disinclined: too many times, I've seen expressed opinions on this front devolve rapidly into swearing, shouting matches, and insults. It has left me with a bad taste in my mouth a lot of the time as regards all three bands, which does not make me very happy. As a result, I tend to avoid discussing that as much as I can, even if I still occasionally feel the desire to talk about it.