Slacking

I've just noticed that 10 days have passed since I last mentioned an emo/post-hardcore band from the late-90's/early-2000's. I'm not sure anyone cares about that apart from myself, but here we go. Pay attention to Garrison.

Formed in 1996 in Boston, they are another one of those bands that no-one has ever heard of apart from those who tend to delve a little too deep into a scene, under the impression that that somehow makes them seem 'cool'. At least that's the perception, it's actually stereotypical geeky behaviour. That's why you'll never see 'cool' people listening to bands like Garrison, and typically why 90's 'Emo' as a whole was a genre populated entirely by geeks who can't even get laid. I could go on about this, but I think I'll save it for another time - there's far more to talk about there but this for now is all about Garrison. They signed to the legendary New York hardcore label Revelation (home to Gorilla Biscuits, Judge, Quicksand, many more) in the late 90's and released two albums plus a number of singles and EP's. The one to check out is Be a Criminal, released in 2001.

Ten songs of angular post-hardcore expertly produced by J. Robbins of Jawbox fame, this album is a perfectly executed body of work. The track listing reads like the description of a crime - 'Recognize an Opportunity', 'Know The Locale', 'Dump The Body', and the final track 'Accept What You've Done, Accept Who You Are' and makes for a concept album of sorts. Influences from a wide range of Rock/Indie history can be found here, from Drive Like Jehu style noise, shimmering Shoegaze to Smiths-y guitar jangle. This album contains pretty much everything I love about rock music, and I would even go as far as to include it in my list of the finest albums released in the last ten years. Unfortunately there is not much available online and it took me quite some time to track this album down, but it's worth searching out. Watch this video below