21 (Barely Legal: The Student Edition)
I am frequently asked how it is that I teach college students when I am not yet as mature as college students. This is a fair question and in an effort to deal with it honestly, I would like to shoot an Austin lawyer named Harry Whittington in the face with a shotgun.
Sorry. Wrong introduction.
What I would like to do is quote an unnamed coed, who was so inspired by my class as to offer the following testimonial on her teacher evaluation form:
If writing were a part of my body, I would cut it off with an exacto blade. I hate writing.
It would be cruel to observe that this, uh, snippet of prose was the finest she offered all term, so I won't. I will say that reading it makes me remember why I got into this teaching game in the first place: in the hopes of exploiting my students for material.
Last term, I made a dramatic leap from stealing their story ideas to stealing their music. I did this by offering them extra credit (in the form of a passing grade) if they made me a mixed CD.
This turns out to have been a very good idea.
Contrary to my initial concerns, they do not listen exclusively to Dave Matthews. In fact, most of them hate Dave Matthews, or pretend to anyway.
They listen to bands such as the Killers and the Redwalls and Pedro the Lion, bands which I had never heard of, and which I now listen to and which rocketh.
You can see where this is headed, of course.
I'm offering a few of my own faves this Tip, of course. But for the most part it's just the kiddles.
As an extra special bonus intermezzo thinger, I'll be including some additional excerpts from my Nasty Student Eval Hall of Shame, all of which are actual, bona-Freyed non-fiction.
- 1. Creeper Lagoon
- Take Back the Universe and Give Me Yesterday
- (Dreamworks, 2001)
- Tipped by: Emma "Lovechild" Komlos-Hrobsky
- Wesleyan University, Class of 2008
- Creeper Lagoon's Take Back the Universe and Give Me Yesterday is the kind of music that hipster Gila monsters almost certainly groove to at parties in their desert lairs. Lilting, mesmerizing instrumentals unwind on "Chance of a Lifetime," like the auditory equivalent of fractals. The best song of the album, "Under the Tracks," is oddly as reassuring as it is melancholy. And while you're waiting for Take Back... to be mysteriously imported from Germany, rock out with the lizards to I Become Small and Go, an album that's part mellow incarnation of Modest Mouse, part moody guitar rumblings, and (on track five) part National Geographic television special.
- 2. Supergrass
- Road to Rouen
- (EMI Records, 2005)
- Tipped by: Billy "Rockapella" Hurley
- Boston College, Class of 2006
- The neighbors have finally asked Supergrass if they could grow up and turn the music down a bit. With Road to Rouen, the group does a little bit of both, but still manages to make it a party. It's not the usual Supergrass loud and proud rock, but the frontman still goes by the name Gaz; we'll only have to start worrying if he shaves off his big sideburns and puts out a solo album under the name Gareth Michael Coombes.
- 3. Jenny Lewis
- Rabbit Fur Coat
- (Team Love, 2006)
- Tipped by: Margeux "Digs-strawberry-milkshakes-and-long-walks-on-the-beach" Wiseman
- Wesleyan, Class of 2009
- Rilo Kiley front-badasschick and former child star (you may remember her from The Wizard, the best movie ever), has released a solo album with the Watson twins. Lewis' ardent and vulnerable vocal stylings and the "I can rock! I really can!" sensation of her music create a haunting synergy of saccharine sweet and gritty dirty, reminiscent of a tea party where all the little girls have gotten mud on their hems and begun to cry. While she sports Omaha vintage with Angelino flair, Lewis is sexier and more retro than a silky teddy (or a rabbit fur coat?) and more fun than a box of Legos.
Intermezzo #1
Suggestions for Instructor Improvement
Where to start. Egomaniacal, always right, not open to students oppinion (i.e. "No, you're WRONG!") He's mean, makes sexual remarks at female students, thinks he's funny but isn't, harrasses international students, and is just generally an arrogant SOB.
- 4. Colossal
- Welcome the Problems
- (Asian Man Records, 2004)
- Tipped by: Tom "Punk Til I Die" Korp
- Loyola of Maryland, Class of 2006
- Equal parts jazz and pop-rock, this Chicago five-piece (made of members from Smoking Popes, Duvall, Slapstick, and the Lawrence Arms) crafts music that is as thematically dense as it is sonically provocative. Super-clean guitars mesh with staccato rhythms and the occasional trumpet accent, providing some magnificently mellow ear-candy for your introspective moments. Welcome these problems, and exploit their uncertainties.
- 5. The Hold Steady
- Separation Sunday
- (French Kiss Records, 2005)
- Tipped by: Michael "Dun" Dunn
- Boston College, Class of 2006
- Imagine that Bruce Springsteen was from the midwest rather than New Jersey, and that he was backed by members of Husker Du and the Replacements rather than the E-Street band, and just pretend that he constantly had a head cold. You now have an idea of what The Hold Steady's sound is all about. On Separation Sunday, frontman Craig Finn and the boys are still dropping pop culture bombs, but on this disc they also manage to shine a light on the concept of salvation. (Bonus points to Finn for being the coolest BC grad since Doug Flutie, unless you're a huge Chris O'Donnell fan.)
- 6. Spoon
- Gimme Fiction
- (Merge Records, 2005)
- Tipped by: Benjamin "All His Exes Live in Texas" Hayes
- University of Houston, Class of 1996
- Austin mainstay Spoon's latest foray in pop-rock greatness, Gimme Fiction, showcases Britt Daniel's increasingly confident songwriting: memorable hooks, sincere but subtle lyrics. Plus, the band finally perfects the incorporation of piano coloring to match the self-destructive guitar noise, making something both beautiful and violent. Standout tracks include the opener, "The Beast and Dragon, Adored," as well as the unspoken romanticism of "I Summon You."
Intermezzo #2
Instructor strengths
Steve takes the corse serious however, he doesn't take the students seriously
- 7. Doves
- Lost Souls
- (Astralwerks, 2000)
- Tipped by: Evan "Mouse Fuhrer" Rosen
- University of Michigan, Class of 1857
- First, a disclaimer. I'm a scientist. Given a choice between an eight channel multi-pipetter in my hand or a six-string guitar, I'll take the former. But I know what I like. Lost Souls meanders from electronica to more acoustic ballads, with instrumental bridges within and between songs. There's a phenomenon in biology called a positive feedback loop, whereby the initiation of some action induces the further expression of the same action. Listening to this album has that effect on people; you listen once, it's pretty good, you want to listen again. So you do, and you like it even more, forcing you to play it again, and so on, until your replay button burns out or you start hearing the melodies in your dreams. Whichever comes first.
- 8. The Killers
- Hot Fuss
- (Island/Def Jam 2004)
- Tipped by: Jess "Olive Oil" Colavita
- Boston College, Class of 2007
- Lush anthems for the metal synth crowd. Lead singer Brandon Flowers belts out lyrics such as, "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier" which would sound ridiculous if they weren't drenched in such an insanely catchy melody. Hot Fuss is the ultimate rock-out CD—just don't think too hard.
Intermezzo #3
Areas of instructor concern
Don't call us whores and goatf*ckers.
- 9. Bettye LaVette
- I've Got My Own Hell to Raise
- (Epitaph, 2005)
- LaVette sings like an angel with throat cancer. She covers a dozen other ladies here, and tears them all a new one. Working with producer Joe Henry, the veteran Detroit soul siren reinvents "How Am I Different" (Aimee Mann) as an electrifying R&B shuffle, goes acappella on Sinead, and turns "Joy" (Lucinda) into an epic butt-shaker. LeVette doesn't break a sweat. You will.
- 10. Eric Hutchinson
- That Could Have Gone Better/Before I Sold Out
- (Let's Break Records, 2005-2006)
- Caught Hutchinson as an opener and he nearly tore my head off. He does the white hipster troudabour thing, with luvly nods to the Beatles and Stevie Wonder. "Please" sounds like the hit single Squeeze never released, and "Rock N Roll" keeps skipping in my head. The guy just scored a major label deal with Maverick. No shock there. Grab these EPs before the money drones turn him into Jason Mraz.