Steve Favorite #14: A Few Possible Selections for the Soundtrack of Your Life by Chomsky

Society seems to put a lot of emphasis on who was the first to do something. This person was first to do this, this person was first to do that. But it seems that a little too often, being the first means that someone else is going to steal your idea and make beaucoup bucks on it. Being the first is a bad thing, because now your idea is out there, and other people can make it more palatable for the general public.

For better or worse, I'm exposed to a lot of new music through videogames. When I picked up Burnout 3 back in 2004, I thought, "Damn, the 80s are back." Just listening to the soundtrack for that videogame, I could hear a ton of 80s influences in there. I think I'm starting to understand how my parents felt when I was in elementary school and Happy Days was cool, and the girls were wearing poodle skirts while the guys rolled small boxes up in their t-shirt sleeves so it looked like they had cigs. It's a nauseating mixture of amusement and "You just don't get it, kid." that makes nostalgia a surreal experience for those who lived it the first time... Don't get me wrong -- I like Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand and all these other bands that are mining the 80s sound. I think it's cool. But I also think that one of the originals got lost in the shuffle...

I'm not sure when I first heard Chomsky... It was somewhere in the range of 97-98, and they were becoming a well-regarded D/FW band. They played incessantly around the various clubs, and they always seemed to put on a high-energy show.

I don't know if I was just out of touch with that part of the music scene or what, but Chomsky was the first band I heard to bring back that XTC/Police, etc. angular, muscular sound, and this CD does a pretty good job of capturing the energy of Chomsky.

The first three tracks are good, but for me, this CD starts at track #4, Sigmund. The frantic guitar parts and great backing vocals eventually lead to a shouted "Sha! Sha!" over the chorus, and if you think it's fun on CD, you really need to experience bouncing up and down in a club and yelling it with the rest of the crowd while pumping your fists in the air. Next up is the conflicted Warm which seems to echo one of the central themes on the CD: control in a relationship and who has the power. At one point, Sean Halleck sings "Could you please just do what I say?" in a pleading tone. It's bittersweet, of course, but it's amazing how the power seems to shift back and forth in the space of a four minute song. Completing the trifecta for me is the energetic Road with the sing-along "a-woah-oh" part.

Disclaimer: the previous paragraph doesn't mean I dislike the rest of the CD... It's just that these are the 1-2-3 punch in the gut that I think are an astounding section. I mean, any album with the lyric "I'll shoot you with my gun" sung in a sugar-sweet pop melody to another song with "Oh you caught me, I'm a masturbator" deserves some attention, don't you think? The lyrics are amazing, and range from the semi-confessional (without being overly specific) to the non-sensical and clever.

And don't get me started on the musicianship... Glen Reynolds is a guitar god... Freaking amazing. Whenever I'd go see them at the Aardvark, I'd stand towards stage left so I could watch Glen twitch like a sheer maniac. If you've never seen Glen play, you owe it to yourself. He's got some amazing, laugh-out-loud moves, and he rarely misses a note. In fact, quite often, Sean would seem to avoid looking at Glen to avoid breaking out into laughter. James Driscoll and Matt Kellum are a great rhythm section and hold things down while Glen does his thing. And Don Cento pops some fun keyboard counter-melodies on top of everything...

Chomsky has put out two albums since this one, and while they're good, I don't think they carry the energy of this one... There are times where this feels like an old wooden roller coaster -- you wonder if it's going to hold together through the conclusion. The two later albums feel a little too polished to me...

I've heard that Chomsky is currently on hiatus, which makes me sad. I was sincerely hoping that Aezra Records would be able to make them superstars. Maybe it will happen, and I'm just being impatient. But it's just frustrating to me to see all these other bands drawing from the 80s and making it big, and Chomsky's not up there with them... It's tragic, and I hope it's rectified soon... These guys deserve it in a big way...

Favorite tracks: Sigmund, Warm, Road
Repeated listens: Hell yeah, learn the lyrics so you can sing along to the oldies when they play the AA Center someday... Plus, you can remind Sean of the lines he always forgets.