retroactive

The summer of 2002, graduating from high school, hanging out in the garage with my fellow Parmastani power chord enthusiasts, playing ping pong or drinking pop on the old couch with the first and that time only record by Rival Schools that finally came in from the public library on perpetual rotation in the boombox. The older hardcore kids at the community college still swore by the Gorilla Biscuits and Quicksand as superior Schreifels projects, but this has that extra something resembling sentimental value, a time when the future seemed much more open-ended.

I bought this at the Record Exchange with my library page paycheck, me and my sister used to crank this up when the parents weren't home, took it to college with me, put tracks on countless mix CDs and rediscovered it last year when going through all the drama.





So now there's a new album which I guess has been out for a couple months now but I just heard about it because I just assumed that those reunion shows were one-offs. It isn't quite what the first record was but maybe it'll grow on me.





Having never had a hipster card, I'll be the first to admit that my starting point for all things musical was 90's alternative rock, so I'm a sucker for hooky songs with loud guitars and when they come through Cleveland I am so there.