Atonal Reflections: Vol. I
Splender - "Halfway Down the Sky"
I've been rummaging through my wall of CDs lately and I've decided to start pulling out some of the discs I haven't listened to in a long time to see how well they've held up over the years. This ongoing "Atonal Reflections" column will chronicle each of these rediscoveries - the good, the bad, and the scratched-beyond-playable. The good will stay and work their way back into a regular rotation. The bad will probably be sold for pennies on eBay to make room for some new material. So far, the whole process has been really weird. Most of these have been in my possession less than 10 years, but some of them call to mind thoughts or events that seem lifetimes away.
Take this album for instance. I have no idea what first lead to me to search for them on WinMX back in high school (WinMX! Seriously!), but I remember burning a CD-R with as many of their songs as I could fit on one disc. As it turned out, most of them were lifted from HDTS. Everybody remembers the radio-friendly single "I Think God Can Explain," but the band only had one other album before parting ways. Apparently there are rumors circulating about secret work on a third album this winter/next spring, but nothing has come from any credible sources.
So what does this remind me of? WinMX, obviously. THOSE were the days. Remember file sharing before porn and trojans? When it was actually something much closer to honest than it is now? That program was the shit, too. They fell a few years after Napster, although community members occasionally band together to release patches for the software. Ah, I knew thee well.
The album itself has aged extremely well. Hundreds of 90's-style rock bands have come and gone, most of them without leaving behind even as much as Splender. I can't help but think that this album would be a mind-blowing experience for Guitar Hero. It holds to its own sound while running the gamut from the crunchy, lyrical masterpiece that is "Yeah, Whatever" to the gentle acoustic closer "London." This variety thinned out when their second album came out, although the single "Save It For Later" was big on the radio over the summer of 2002, when I remember hearing it on the way to the Porter County Fair with Jeremy and Sarah in the back of a very tiny yellow car. But this album is 90's rock gold, and worth picking up at any local or online used/new music store.
Verdict: Keeper
Splender - "Halfway Down the Sky"
I've been rummaging through my wall of CDs lately and I've decided to start pulling out some of the discs I haven't listened to in a long time to see how well they've held up over the years. This ongoing "Atonal Reflections" column will chronicle each of these rediscoveries - the good, the bad, and the scratched-beyond-playable. The good will stay and work their way back into a regular rotation. The bad will probably be sold for pennies on eBay to make room for some new material. So far, the whole process has been really weird. Most of these have been in my possession less than 10 years, but some of them call to mind thoughts or events that seem lifetimes away.Take this album for instance. I have no idea what first lead to me to search for them on WinMX back in high school (WinMX! Seriously!), but I remember burning a CD-R with as many of their songs as I could fit on one disc. As it turned out, most of them were lifted from HDTS. Everybody remembers the radio-friendly single "I Think God Can Explain," but the band only had one other album before parting ways. Apparently there are rumors circulating about secret work on a third album this winter/next spring, but nothing has come from any credible sources.
So what does this remind me of? WinMX, obviously. THOSE were the days. Remember file sharing before porn and trojans? When it was actually something much closer to honest than it is now? That program was the shit, too. They fell a few years after Napster, although community members occasionally band together to release patches for the software. Ah, I knew thee well.
The album itself has aged extremely well. Hundreds of 90's-style rock bands have come and gone, most of them without leaving behind even as much as Splender. I can't help but think that this album would be a mind-blowing experience for Guitar Hero. It holds to its own sound while running the gamut from the crunchy, lyrical masterpiece that is "Yeah, Whatever" to the gentle acoustic closer "London." This variety thinned out when their second album came out, although the single "Save It For Later" was big on the radio over the summer of 2002, when I remember hearing it on the way to the Porter County Fair with Jeremy and Sarah in the back of a very tiny yellow car. But this album is 90's rock gold, and worth picking up at any local or online used/new music store.
Verdict: Keeper
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