The Hump

It's a weird time of year. Winter break just ended and classes for the Spring are starting up again. My midlife-college-crisis brain is applying nostalgia to everything. Three more semesters and I'm no longer a student. But hey, as the great MrChiCity3* says, "Fuck that shit, fuck that shit." I have to concentrate on the now. As Kevin Devine sings in "Less Yesterday, More Today," well... "Less yesterday, more today. I've got to start living that way." So that's it. I can find all my answers in songs. Can you?


Lyrics


Kevin Devine's Put Your Ghost To Rest came out in October of my freshman year. On the day of its release I walked in the cold to the Purevolume loft on Broadway, close to or in Chinatown, to sit with 10 people on beanbag chairs and watch Kevin play a few songs. It was special.


WHATEVER. Rediscovering music that I haven't listened to in a while is always a great experience. Thanks to Stereogum I found out that The Wrens recorded a new song live at Abbey Road Studios called "Pulled Fences." It's a reworked, somewhat spontaneously created version of a demo that was released a while back called "In Turkish Waters." It's great. Right after I listened to the song, I listened to The Meadowlands in its entirety. The album is so perfect that it doesn't make sense. It's rough in parts but it's entirely beautiful. I'm going to write an essay about it soon. I had an amazing experience being introduced to The Wrens at the CMJ show NYU hosted in October of my freshman year. The Walkmen, The Wrens and Friday Hyvonen. In my opinion, Frida and The Wrens blew The Walkmen out of the water, even though lead singer Hamilton brought out a buzz saw to cut into the band's piano (TOTAL GIMMICK, ass) and they smashed a guitar (possibly a Telecaster). I had heard of The Wrens as they were "signed" to Drive-Thru Records, my favorite label when I was younger, for a brief period. Why I chose to listen to Midtown and New Found Glory instead of The Wrens is something I will attempt to answer FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.



Here you go guys. You ever really want to be able to cry to something (but you can't... or don't want to...)? Carmen used the word transcendent. Do it.

Stream "Ex-Girl Collection"(Lyrics)
Stream "Hopeless"(Lyrics)
Download The Meadowlands

*Ignore this entire post and just watch this video: