I never cared that much about this band. I even had an album on my computer that I had no memory of. Any time I ran across it I never remembered anything about it. 

Topshelf, a label that is currently killing it, is releasing the band’s first full-length and has a track from it on their website. I loved it.

I went back and gave their older material a real chance, and turns out I love that too. 

You can get three of the band’s four eps for free on their Bandcamp page. Real physical copies of those releases, as well as the new one, can be purchased at the Topshelf website, and a bunch of other great stuff.  

I’m in love with the piano in this song, and I’m not above listening to it 5 or 6 times in a row. 

There is a line in the song Stay Positive by the Hold Steady that goes “There’s gonna come a time when the true scene leaders forget where they differ and get big picture ‘cause the kids at the shows, they’ll have kids of their own and the sing-along songs will be our scriptures.”

I’m old enough that this is happening now.

In light of that, I’m going to spend the rest of the year highlighting our scriptures.

Ugh, Mustard Plug. 

I’ve never really liked this band, even during the ska years or living in Grand Rapids, it couldn’t make a dent in that distaste. But this damn song,  goddamn this song. So catching and upbeat. It's perfect. Listen to it and not get it stuck in your head. 

There is a line in the song Stay Positive by the Hold Steady that goes “There’s gonna come a time when the true scene leaders forget where they differ and get big picture ‘cause the kids at the shows, they’ll have kids of their own and the sing-along songs will be our scriptures.”

I’m old enough that this is happening now.

In light of that, I’m going to spend the rest of the year highlighting our scriptures.

There are about 5 Andrew Jackson songs that should be on this list, and there might be by the end of it, but we’re starting here.

Yelling the opening line of this song feels so very good. Doing it with a room full of people feels even better.

It probably says a lot about me how often the chorus of this song enters my head and how often it gets played in the car while driving home from work..

There is a line in the song Stay Positive by the Hold Steady that goes “There’s gonna come a time when the true scene leaders forget where they differ and get big picture ‘cause the kids at the shows, they’ll have kids of their own and the sing-along songs will be our scriptures.”

I’m old enough that this is happening now. 

In light of that, I’m going to spend the rest of the year highlighting our scriptures.

Early New Testament. If you’ve never shouted along with this song, I have nothing for you. 

There is a line in the song Stay Positive by the Hold Steady that goes “There’s gonna come a time when the true scene leaders forget where they differ and get big picture ‘cause the kids at the shows, they’ll have kids of their own and the sing-along songs will be our scriptures.”

I’m old enough that this is happening now. 

In light of that, I’m going to spend the rest of the year highlighting our scriptures.

New Testament.

Not all of these are going to be super fun jams, but that doesn’t mean they are not sing-along songs. I love this song, and depending on my mood, it can get to me pretty hard.

I’ll admit that “This Year” is probably the more obvious choice, but if I’m making this whole thing pseudo-religious, This Year is a Sunday School song.

There will probably be more Mountain Goats in this series. 

There is a line in the song Stay Positive by the Hold Steady that goes “There’s gonna come a time when the true scene leaders forget where they differ and get big picture ‘cause the kids at the shows, they’ll have kids of their own and the sing-along songs will be our scriptures.”  I’m old enough that this is happening now. 

In light of that, I’m going to spend the rest of the year highlighting our scriptures.  

Old Testament.

For me, Slapstick is right up there with OPIV, a complete classic that I overplayed during “the ska years.” Every song from 25 songs is a sing-along classic, but the intro to “There is a Metalhead in the Parking Lot” just makes me feel good.

There is a line in the song Stay Positive by the Hold Steady that goes “There’s gonna come a time when the true scene leaders forget where they differ and get big picture ‘cause the kids at the shows, they’ll have kids of their own and the sing-along songs will be our scriptures.”  I’m old enough that this is happening now. 

In light of that, I’m going to spend the rest of the year highlighting our scriptures.  

Old Testament. Every song Operation Ivy ever released could easily be on this list and probably should. But spending 27 days posting the entirety of OPIV’s discography seems pretty ridiculous. If you want more than this song, just pull out the cd you bought when you were 15 and listen to everything. 

Originally posted by zanimal

There is a line in the song Stay Positive by the Hold Steady that goes “There’s gonna come a time when the true scene leaders forget where they differ and get big picture ‘cause the kids at the shows, they’ll have kids of their own and the sing-along songs will be our scriptures.”  I’m old enough that this is happening now. 

In light of that, I’m going to spend the rest of the year highlighting our scriptures.  

Judy is a Punk by the Ramones is some Genesis 1:1 stuff. 

There is a line in this song that goes “There’s gonna come a time when the true scene leaders forget where they differ and get big picture ‘cause the kids at the shows, they’ll have kids of their own and the sing-along songs will be our scriptures.”  I’m old enough that this is happening now. 

In light of that, I’m going to spend the rest of the year highlighting our scriptures. 

The first Jodis album did nothing for me at all. Nothing. Not many of Hydrahead’s 2009 releases did. But I guess if you put out 20 releases in a single year (according to wikipedia), they’re probably not going to all be gold. Turns out I actually only bought one thing Hydrahead released that year, an Oxbow 7".

Aside from some old HH stand-bys like Cave-In, Torche and Big Business, most of the labels 2009 output would fall under what Label head Aaron Turner refered to as “challenging (i.e. unmarketable)” in his going out of business statement. The Jodis album released that year, at least for me, fit squarely in that camp.

Or maybe I just never gave it (or 18 other releases that year) a fair shake. I’m sure thats the attitude that helped drive Hydrahead out of business. My bad dudes. I love your label, even when I didn’t buy things from it. I always respected that you put out exactly what you wanted to, even if I hated it (Xasther, Gridlink) or thought it was way to expensive ($25 for a single 12").

With all that said, I love this track. I slept on Jodis, hard. I also gave the first album another go. Damnit, that thing is great too. 

Buy both album. 

There is nothing groundbreaking here. Just solid “pretty” post-rock. 

You can get the album for free from their label’s Bandcamp page.