#jrobbins

Pressing Stats

Pressing #: 1st

Color:  Black

Qty Pressed: ???

Additional Info:  N/A

Track Listing

Salamander

Lorelei

Harden Your Heart

Ambitious Wrists

The Loyal Opposition

Your Several Selves

Abandon

You’re Not Alone

The Beautiful Barricades

Fema Coffins

Dumb it Down

Riddle Me This

(from 2014)

A good amount of press has gone to the so-called "emo revival" the last two or three years. Instead of going straight to common emo references like Weezer or Mineral, I will cover an overlooked touchstone for the genre: Texas is the Reason's album, Do You Know Who You Are?.

Texas is the Reason was a rock band from New York City comprising of drummer Chris Daly, bassist Scott Winegard, guitarist Norman Brannon (formerly known as Norm Arenas), and guitarist and vocalist Garret Klahn. Their history was brief like most influential emo groups at the time, forming in 1994, recording a handful of EPs and split singles, releasing Do You Know Who You Are? in 1996, and disbanding the following year. Although Texas held reunions in 2006 and later from 2012-2013, they have not recorded another long-player since. Around the time of the second reunion, their record label Revelation Records reissued and expanded their LP into a complete collection of their back catalog under the same name. In this review, I will only be focusing on the tracklist from the original release.

Do You Know Who You Are? opens with the track "Johnny On the Spot". It's kind of an odd song to open with. The song has the opening riff, sung verse, repeat opening riff without vocals. The first third of the song just continues with the same thing sung around with more awkward vocal pauses. The song slows down in tempo, chords just become a few spars notes within the same key, and drums and lots of space between the vocals. While staying in the same tempo, Daly hits the drums harder and Brannon and Klahn's guitars get louder, and Klahn's vocals grow more passionate and desperate.

From then on the record carries a healthy balance of melancholy ("There's No Way", "The Day's Refrain") and catharsis ("Magic Bullet Theory"). Some have more of one thing than another, but each one has a good mix and they each line up perfectly with each other in the tracklist. There's even an almost power-pop feel to "Something To Forget". Much like the band name, some of the songs hint to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy ("Nickel Wound", "Back and to the Left", "Magic Bullet Theory"), but none of them are politically motivated in any way. 

What makes Texas is the Reason stand out from all the rest is an incredible sense of balance. No other group with that tag sounds like them. In a three-act bill you could have a standard hardcore act, Texas in the middle, and a wimpy indie rock group last and it would work out. The album features a very well-rounded batch of songs and styles that would encompass the world of you-know-what that is only surpassed in diversity by another record. That could apply to a multitude of other bands, but Texas was demonstrably more than a Sunny Day Real Estate or a Rites of Spring copycat.  

You can hear the influence of Dischord bands (Minor Threat, Fugazi, and Jawbox) like many of their contemporaries at the time. They also brought in some more influences from NYC hardcore bands like Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand, and Helmet in utilizing the Drop-D tuning. Some of the chord changes can be heard over in post-hardcore and emo over and over. For instance the F power chord, root on the A string, 8th fret,. The bottom D string is played on the 8th fret as well. The bottom D and the A string are then played open while playing that same F power chord inverted just two strings above it.

 Of note are the tracks "Do You Know Who You Are?" and "A Jack with One Eye". "Do You Know" is just a proto-American Football instrumental that sort of encompasses a balance of emotion or lack thereof. It really only has two parts to it: a melodic piece that repeats itself throughout and harmonic feedback that just comes and goes. "A Jack With One Eye" is one of the best examples of the loud-quiet-loud dynamic. It builds slowly and quietly until the end of the verse. Guitars and drums suddenly burst out during the chorus. The process cycles until the end where the last loud segment churns out, then gracefully goes out, thus ending the record.

One of the more interesting things about the band was lead Garret Klahn's vocal style. Klan matched his rough, but melodic style with word-phrasing that mimicked those found in Britpop music (the Smiths, Pulp, Blur, Oasis).

 A lot of the lyrics are less self-reflexive, using "you" more than "I" or “me”, singing more to the listener than to themselves. There isn't a whole lot of wordplay like you would find in a Braid or Promise Ring song. They aren't lofty or poetic like Sunny Day Real Estate, or as glum and teenaged as Mineral. Still, they give some insight into the normal things that may plague a person from adolescence onward such as substance abuse, management of time, insecurity in one's self, and contention in loving relationships. Sometimes what's expressed speaks volumes more than their peers or their followers.

Another notable highlight of this album is the production work masterfully done by none other than J. Robbins of Jawbox fame. Despite production being warm and dry, the music is stripped-down enough to make feel like there is enough space for the songs to breathe. It's like a piece of art that has one of the painted figures reaching its hand almost out the canvas in front of you.