New Dashboard Confessional is out now. I’ve been obsessed with it for a while and now you can find out why. I think it’s an instant classic that reflects “us,” those that grew up in this scene, here, now, at this age and time. Highly recommended.

What I wrote a few weeks back: It has all the emotional and cathartic elements we know and love, but it’s wrapped in the stories of a man in his mid-forties. If his first few albums were walking us through heartbreak and young adulthood, these are the songs of coming to terms with and trying to figure out this next stage of life. Of marriage, family, and children, and where does one fit in after they’ve grown up? The songs vary from primarily acoustic to some full-band tracks, and I find it an incredibly refreshing return to form after being let down by the last album. From the ‘Alter the Ending’ echos in “The Better of Me” to the song that is going to absolutely wreck every emo parent, “Me and Mine,” to the begging to be sung along with “Southbound and Sinking,” this is Dashboard at his best. In college (deep breath ’cause I’m about to age myself), I used to listen to ‘The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most’ on repeat in my Discman while laying on my bottom bunk. I’d stare at the wood paneling and get lost between the songs and my thoughts. It was the perfect album to become enveloped in and the kind of songs that made you think about picking up a guitar and singing your heart out. I spent the other night laying on the couch, staring at the ceiling, with this album coming through my headphones. Some twenty years later, much has changed, but some of my favorite things have stayed just the same. And that moment in the dark, a Dashboard album making me contemplate life and my place within it, is one of those great moments where memory and the present collapse upon each other like a twisted aging mirror. Younger me thinking of what I’ll be like when I’m older, older me chuckling at the naivety of youth. Both happily lost in song. #vinyl #dashboardconfessional

I felt half in a funk for a good portion of this week. Something was gnawing at me, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Feeling stuck, a lack of forward progress, and unable to get out of my head. Around Wednesday, I tossed on The Dangerous Summer’s ‘Reach for the Sun’ and all of a sudden, I could feel the fog start to clear. It’s an album of catharsis, of reinvention, of moving beyond the past. Or maybe I’m just projecting. But it is exactly what I needed, when I needed it.

#vinyl #thedangeroussummer

This one turns 27 today (feeling old yet?) so I figured I’d take it out for a spin. My copy is pretty worn around the edges, but I do love having one of the “red eye” versions.

I discovered this album after ‘Dude Ranch’ when a friend told me his brother had “their first album” and I didn’t believe him. Oh, the days before the internet. I was sure and certain they didn’t have more than one album. He came to school the next day with a copy of ‘Cheshire’ and my mind was blown. And thus, my first copy was a tape made from that CD — which I promptly wore out. And then the following Christmas my mom found me a copy of the CD, blowing young-and-unable-to-drive Jason’s mind that she could find such a thing.

After all these years, “Wasting Time” remains my favorite from this album.

#vinyl #blink182

One of my very first (and only) jobs was working at Borders and selling books and CDs. Mostly that meant sitting behind the counter and reading Calvin and Hobbes comics between checking out customers. The store was maybe a ten minute drive, at most, from my parents’ house. But, I’d always take the long way home so I could get a little extra time, alone, just listening to music. This EP must have been played at least a thousand times on those drives. I sure as hell tried to blow out that little Jetta’s speakers.

While not as immediately accessible or “big” sounding as the band’s hits. It still showcases their unique spin on pop-punk and has the hints of where they were headed. I’ve been revisiting it quite a bit this week and it’s funny how quickly the specific memory of driving to Borders to lazily sell overpriced CDs came to mind when I hear these songs.

#vinyl #yellowcard

Ok, one more post of nostalgia filled memories before returning to your regularly scheduled feed of records, cats, and beer. Here’s a few other things I found from the AbsolutePunk years.

Slide 1: Ryan, Sean, and Pete of Yellowcard hanging at my friend Kelsey’s house jamming on the piano one night after a concert.

Slide 2: They really loved that piano.

Slide 3: Over It’s ‘Silverstrand’ insert, second photo at the bottom on the left has me and the band goofing around. (Can someone press this on vinyl?)

Slide 4: The ad to promote Cartel’s stream on the website. The first “full album stream” I remember ever doing. Still unsure why the black text.

Slide 5: Random band thank you cards from over the years. Usually around album release times or Christmas.

Slide 6: a Drive Thru Records Christmas card.

Slide 7: Nick from The Spill Canvas after a night sleeping in my parent’s basement after a show. (Why do I ever shave my head?!)

Slide 8: I have lots of art from The Matches, including a painting somewhere. Here’s a fun drawing on some mail.

Slide 9: A FenixTx coloring book.

Don’t forget to check out the @thiswasthescene podcast if you haven’t already with me talking all about the AP.net days.

A few years back I tried to document the history of AbsolutePunk the best I could, with screenshots and commentary, and since there’s a whole podcast over at @thiswasthescene talking about the history of the website up today, figured I’d share some of what I could recreate/find. Link in stories, and check out the podcast, it’s been a while since I’ve been behind a mic, but it was fun to reminisce.

Tomorrow you’ll find me on the @thiswasthescene podcast talking about my career and the years running AbsolutePunk. For fun I found some deep cuts from the scrapbook over the years. Check out the podcast when it airs if you don’t mind me probably swearing far too often wherever it is you like to listen to podcasts.

It’s simply not possible to talk about the albums that shaped my life without including this one. This and ‘Dude Ranch’ were why I started a little MxPx/Blink-182 fan page called “AbsolutePunk” all those years ago. And I still get a shot of adrenaline the moment I hit play with one of my all time favorite “Track 1’s.”

I literally wore out my CD copy, so I’m trying to be much more gentle with this one.

“Tomorrow is another day
Another chance to make things right
A chance to fully live your life…”

#vinyl #mxpx

I’ve been on a massive Green Day kick to start this week. They’re great for just about any occasion, and this album pulls me right back to 2004 and watching the band blow up, again, into the mainstream.

Still a classic.

“Remember
Whatever
It seems like forever ago…”

#vinyl #greenday

I’ve been listening to this tonight while working and it really does fit the late cold night mood just about perfectly. It expands on the ‘Futures’ vibe without feeling like a collection of b-sides. One of my favorite EPs by one of my favorite bands.

#vinyl #jimmyeatworld

I tossed this on at the gym tonight and came home to finish it on the better speakers. I still think it’s my favorite @sum41 album and holds up as a perfect example of their aggressive and yet dastardly catchy brand of pop-punk. (I’m also a huge fan of this green variant.)

#vinyl #sum41 #sum41vinyl

Sometimes an album grows on you. Sometimes you hear it and just don’t think it quite gets there. This was not one of those albums. I remember hearing the original demos and being impressed, I remember hearing the album and knowing this band was about to take over the world. Ridiculously catchy is an understatement, and to this day I can’t think of a band that won me over faster. It was within the first thirty seconds of the first song that I was like, “yep, this is going to be massive.”

“Well, we’re just a wet dream for the webzine. Make us it, make us hip, make us scene…”

#vinyl #panicatthedisco

This week had me reaching way back to an old blue classic. I think there’s an old photo of this record somewhere on my feed, but it needs that high-quality camera glam up. What can I say about this record that I haven’t already said probably a thousand times? I think it redefined the genre almost over night and set the stage for an era of music I look back on quite fondly (an era also apparently very lucrative to the current festival industry).

Sophomore year of college had some all-timers released during that stretch, and this one’s near the top. And, the band’s rocket ship success practically propelled my little website right along with it.

“Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can’t say…”

#vinyl #falloutboy

I saw this re-press go up for sale and I just had to pick it up. I love the gold foil and my biggest memory of this album is it being the first album I put on when I left college to make the (very long) drive home a few weeks after graduating. A great road album that also felt like a rebirth and the start of new beginnings.

“Pulse stays strong
I’m pushing on the pedal til I break dawn
So I’m gone, go find another shoulder you can cry on…”

#vinyl #allamericanrejects #theallamericanrejects

I’ve been on a Motion City Soundtrack kick over the past few weeks. I remember playing the first two albums all the time in college and when people would ask what I was listening to, I’d tell them, and then they’d be like, “oh I’ve never heard of that movie.” I have a huge soft spot for ‘I Am the Movie’ but CTTM really combines everything the band does great into one tight package. It’s one of the rare albums I can put on at anytime and it’ll immediately put me in a better mood.

“From the falsest smile to the fear of death is why the pain reminds us that we’re still alive…”

#vinyl #motioncitysoundtrack