So recently I’ve thought about starting something new on this nearly dead blog. Well, I guess I should say I’ve thought about starting something OLD on this nearly dead blog (if you’re offended that I call TLE nearly dead, then let’s be honest—out of the many possible contributors, about 4 or 5 people are carrying the majority of the weight right now…and that weight is just barely being carried).
Other, bigger blogs do it, but I think we can as well. I was thinking about friends and such, and I realized that there are various albums from the past handful of years that we all secretly (or not so secretly) revisit over and over again. These are the albums that one or two of us loved from 1999, 2005, 2007, 2000, etc. They are often albums that—when released—were received with little-to-no critical acclaim. For some reason, though, we go back to them. It’s like walking into Cheesecake Factory – we both hate it and love it at the same time (the portions are so big!!! – it’s like three meals for the rest of the week!!!). We all have them, and we all listen to them. It’s time for them to come out of the woodwork, and for them to show off all of their dirty glory in the soft, warm glow of Thom’s Lazy Eye.
Because I am the one who introduced this idea, I’ll start.
My dirty laundry album is Snowden’s Anti-Anti from 2006, and I am prepared to defend it.
Snowden knows how to look cool. Their lyrics and appearance project a “we-soooo-don’t-(but do)care-about-everything-you-don’t-(but really do)care-about” attitude. The tone, sound, and feeling of the album position the band as either super cool or super ridiculous. I’m not really sure which one is the truth.
Their lyrics, ranging from the “I don’t care” anthem of “Anti-Anti” to the silly and crafty wordplay of “Innocent Heathen,” speak to the 20 or 30 something’s contrasting feelings of apathy and desire. By this I mean a feeling of apathy toward modern society in general, but a genuine desire for something more, even when that desire is horribly misguided and/or banal. And sometimes—and I’ve come to realize this even more recently—the desire to feel something is important. I don’t necessarily struggle with this very often, but I know others do. Snowden captures this apathetic sentiment, and turns it into something bigger, grander. Does that sound so ridiculous?
I think the most important and defining characteristic of Snowden is that they have a sound. It’s clear and pronounced, and because of that, I am willing to forgive many of their faults. Enjoy.
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Also, download the new free ep off Snowden's website: http://www.snowden.info/
First of all, I am listening to Snowden right now (the songs that you added to your post) and I really like what I hear thus far.
But, furthermore, let me just say, “YES! YES! YES!!!” to the idea of posting about older music… I have had the itch to do that a few times on this blog but I didn’t know if that would be a party-foul. Now that you have done it, I can say that it is DEFINITELY a party-foul (a huge one), and I’m glad that you did it instead of me. But, now that you have done it, I would love to get some random posts every now and then from people about those albums that they just can’t get away from (whether those albums are four years old or 24 years old, or whatever). I would personally love to see more posts about bands like Snowden (which is a band that I completely missed when this album was out) so that I can go back and enjoy some great tunes that I might have missed.
All of that to say, I agree with everything you said… everything expect the part about Cheesecake Factory giving you three leftover meals for the rest of the week… whenever I go there I clean my plate and then finish all of Emily’s food… but that’s just me.
cheesecake factory sucks. stop bringing this blog down with your shameless consumerism.
Yes, I'm that asshole.
I love this idea. There are a lot of bands I can't put down. Some fall into the cheesecake factory, others are legitimately amazing. I plan on posting both. Good idea.
Also, thanks for bringing snowden back up. they're a good listen. Do you think they pulled the name from catch-22, because that would make them waaaay cooler....
Cheesecake factory really does suck. I will never be able to eat their after working next to it at Davis Kidd. We shared the same dumpster, and the things I saw go into that thing still haunt me to this day. Also, I had to deal with the smell from Cheescake Factory's kitchens when I worked in the operations part of the Kidd, and it was ripe. It smelled like burnt garlic mixed with cilantro, tomatoes, and various baked goods.
My guess is that the name definitely came from Cath-22, but I'm not completely certain.
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