DIEGO VALLE

16 Records That, In a Decade, Truly Changed My Life

December 27, 2009 at 10:16 pm | Posted in music | 7 Comments
Tags: 00's, bands, Friends, life, music, music industry

It’s been ten years since the time I hit Middle School for the first time, the world of teenagehood was shaping right in front of me in the form of dial-up Napster downloads and the rediscovery of a guitar once given by my grandpa.

A year after Woodstock ’99 I discovered Punk Rock as a life-shaping music genre; starting a decade full of rehearsals, giglife and stages. I can’t stress how much this shaped my current state of life, from ideals and believes to approaches and traditions even up to stress-relieving activities; most of my life has been inspired by music.

And then, there were 16 records that truely changed my life:

Thursday’s “Full Collapse”

We had recently started to play in a band with Chofo (currently from Malacates) after a while of skating together; I remember he handed me a copy of a homemade split of Thursday and Poison The Well. I think he never realized how much it dictated my future music taste.

I got home after school and put it in the stereo, it was hypnotyzing: the depth of Geoff’s voice, clean guitars that in no time turned into huge distorted choruses, the complementing screams. “How long is the night”, “Paris in flames”, “Understanding in a car crash”; those songs got to me, and made me dig deeper into bands that were alike.

Saves The Day’s “Stay What You Are”

There was a time when we were idealist college students, a very close group of future graphic designers that would hang out after classes. Sometimes we would play pool, sometimes we’d go get a beer; and there was that time when Alvin brought a CD case full of all-time punk / indie / ska favorites, he was selling those records. I bought a few.

“Stay What You Are” is a well thought record that sounds by perfectly. Well produced, well written; it showed me the metaphoric madness of Chris Conley. And also the raw spoken truth that I could completely identify with, “So here I am, don’t know how to say this. Only thing I know is awkward silence.”

Homegrown’s “Kings of Pop”

Alvin also sold me this gem. Still in my car as a traffic favorite, “Kings of Pop” reminds me of the early days of what would turn into Easycore. Dropped D, half-tone down guitars, breakdowns, and all that southern California attitude.

“You’re not alone”, “I’ll never fall in love again” or even “Give it up” are the kind of songs that you could sing along with forever, and after. This is a record that settled a genre, years before it was considered a genre. Maybe that’s why I like it that much.

New Found Glory’s “Sticks and Stones”

Now speaking of easycore, JP and I were still in high school and competed for who was the one that knew the most bands. We would stay up late until 120 Minutos, just to go the next day and talk about the bands we had discovered: The Distillers, Dashboard Confessional, Brand New; one of the firsts was New Found Glory, with “My friends over you”.

Somehow I got to take this record from him and then left it at a party at Zully’s. I still carry a copy though, “Sonny”, “Forget my name” and “Never give up” remind me of people that has been part of my life.

Also, Chad Gilbert is not only my favorite guitarist, but an influential / inspirational person with the way he sees bands, music, life and everything around it. I still remember the time he sent me tweet (lol).

Set Your Goals’ “Mutiny!”

And there we were in 2006, making a record. Spending all of Rafa’s money in gas and Burger King. Proving the world we could deal with the departure of a guitarist and still deliver a full lenght in no time. Except we didn’t. It took us almost (or maybe it did) the whole year.

While recording “This is how we’ve always been”, I was brought to this small bay-area band that was oddly reminecent of Linkin’ Park thanks to their dual vocals. I could write entire bibles of how “Mutiny!” changed my life.

From that video they released the day the doctors told us grandma had only a few days left to those days trying to two-step with Muller. Big fail. The strongly positive message of this record will always put a smile in my face, no matter what; proven and guaranteed.

Four Year Strong’s “Rise, or Die Trying”

I once wrote a review for this one. It was mid 2007 and 2007 was one of the strangest years I’ve had. I was unemployed, making near no money from freelancing design and usually assaulting my mom’s apartment kitchen, but I got free tickets to every single damn show I wanted. Why? Press passes. Natalia, David and I were running Under Music, an online magazine that we had to eventually bring down due to very unfortunate budget issues.

Today, I still can’t play half of the songs in this record. Not to mention singing while playing them. But I love the breakdowns and the multiple vocals, the synth and the sing-alongs. I think it is a matter of respect, anything the bearded guys of Four Year Strong release is something I respect. Just because I still can’t explain to myself how Dan and Alan get to play and sing at the same time.

Dashboard Confessional’s “Unplugged”

I’ve met many other Diegos in my life, from workaholics to skinheads. One of them was a hopeless romantic with a huge indie record collection. He showed me many bands, bands we would talk about at almost every show, how inspiring they were. Like a poetry club.

I’m pretty sure, somewhere, Rafa still has this DVD. And I wish he’d give it back, because it is touching to watch Chris Carrabba avoiding a nervous breakdown by compulsively tuning his guitar for a minute after every song. Is touching to hear the people sing along to literally every word of every song. And not just a regular sing along, but actually become protagonists. Is something only Carrabba can do, he’s a natural.

Taking Back Sunday’s “Tell All Your Friends”

There is one well documented relationship that I had during this decade. It was unhealthy, it was inmature, we were young and naive; but we sure had a blast. “Tell all your friends” was almost the soundtrack to it.

But that’s not the only reason this record changed my life. Along Thursday, Adam Lazarra and company brought me into digging deeper into music. Even as burnt out of a single as “Cute without the E (cut from the team)” can be, I still get the chills from listening to that first chord.

“Literate and stylish; kissable and quiet. That’s what girls’ dreams are made of. And that’s all you need to know, you have it or you don’t… you have it or you… don’t”

JamisonParker’s “Sleepwalker”

Jamison Covington was (is?) a pill-popper, and damn sure he could write good songs about it. Mainstreamed pseudo-shoegaze is cool to listen to when you want to relax a little, “Paper Rock Scissors” is as cute as a song can get and I still wonder how they figured out and kept ordered the many, many channels in that mixing console.

When Michelle and I were at the top of the world, she brought me this one as a Christmas present. But today, the best memory I have from it is recently in April 2009, driving back home in the traffic. I had just been hired to work as a Technical Writer for Capgemini, overcome one of the biggest regrets of my life and finally got out of freelance breadcrumbs; and I was listening to this record.

Fall Out Boy’s “Take This to Your Grave”

Break-ups aren’t fun. Break-ups make you dizz around emotional coktails from rage to sadness to existentialism right back to rage. And that break-up rage is what this record is about.

Pete Wentz was well known for his Q’s and A’s at the Fall Out Boy website back in the days. He made sure everybody in the world knew this record was about a girl in Chicago. And to me, this is the best record they’ve ever made. From both, technical and fanboy standpoint: Patrick’s voice is cool (not as good as it’d get in “Under the cork tree” though), guitars are fun (well written, well mixed and catchy as hell), and lyrics from scarily mean (“Stop burning bridges, and drive of off them”) to memory-reviving anthems (“Hey Chris, you were our only friend; and I know this is belated, but we love you back”).

Comeback Kid’s “Wake The Dead”

Raw music can be well produced / mixed. This record is proof. From “False idols fall” to “Final goodbye” this one goes by smoothly-transitioned (song connection is something I’m a big fan of) and well recorded. Scott Wade’s voice is incredibly raw, yet always in tune (even if it is a one-note tune), and Kyle Profeta’s drum mix is just way cool.

So how this record changed my life? The message in it, angry yet positive, is always a good listen in the worse days. It’s a must when things don’t work out and I need inspiration to find another way to make it happen. “This life will always be worth living.”

Less Than Jake’s “Borders and Boundaries”

San Jorge is a neighborhood on this side of town. Even when it isn’t that big, it has been home of many, many of my friends. There was a time when I pretty much lived there, except I just wouldn’t sleep there. San Jorge is where I first listened to this record, and also, a couple of years later, where I lost it (left it with “Sticks and Stones” at Zully’s)

Now, I know this is not the purest ska record out there, but you know I don’t care about elitism and purists. I like catchy music that manages to turn their genres into easy-to-listen records. When listening to “Look what happened” I sigh. I sigh hit by memories of touring, of rehearsing, of entering metal battles of bands as a pop-punk act. I remember that time when Jacobo (Malacates) told us we had potential. When Mako (Domestic Fool) brought us to the radio with Andrea Taracena. Way before geeking myself out to web design and user interfaces, I was a musician. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Blink-182′s “Take Off Your Pants and Jack It”

It was 2001 and I was still illegal at driving and listening to radio music. “Take Off Your Pants and Jack It” had just came out and I had to have it. I got it at a near-by, now dead, record store. I still identify with “Story of a lonely guy”. “Reckless abandon” was an ideal that never really came true, although we did live some days very close to that back in middle and high school.

These are some of my favorite drums, Travis’ best from my point of view. Here Blink was still fun but with a very mature sound. The kind of sound that inspired and influenced a lot of my song writing. The kind of sound that introduced me to geometric concepts applied to everything, stuff that I still use at the things I do today in the world of design.

Brand New’s “The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me”

Brand New lyrics have been with me for a long time. In late 2006, I lost, unfortunatelly and intentionally, a job, a band, a girl and most of my friends due to a streak of mistaken decitions. Confused and barely knowing what was up to happen in life while struggling with illness and ocassionally the death of the most important person I’ve had in my life, “The Devil and God…” was the soundtrack of that year.

Today the way I listen to it has changed. I named my solo project on their opening song, “Sowing season” because of this verse: “I was losing friends, I was losing them to drinking and to driving. I was losing friends… But I got them back, yeah.” Because today, my life is back in track, and those mistakes, are lessons learned. And my true friends, they are by my side.

Osker’s “Idle Will Kill”

Devon Williams inspired me in the early days of making a band. I mean, in the “Treatment 5″ era he was 18, signed to Epitaph and had an irreverent attitude to be jelous about. Yet, it changed in his second release, I speak only about him because even when Dave Benitez’ basslines are remarkable, Devon was the band himself.

This one was a download in probablly late 2004, far after released. The song “Strangled” holds a close personal meaning to me. Then “Anchor” was the detonator of my first tattoo. The whole deep atmosphere of this record reminds me of teenage hard times and learning to make it through. Always, when a hard time comes, I can look back and know for sure that I will make it through.

The Ataris’ “So Long, Astoria”

My favorite record of all itme for several reasons, from the lyrical content to how it introduced me to multi-guitar producing and mixing. I believe this one came out at an interesting time in Punk Rock, when a lot of bands were exploring new sounds yet sticking to traditional song structure. A path that I followed for years after.

I got this one from Blanca, I don’t really remember how. I just remember we were young and in high school. I didn’t understand the record the first couple of times, it has taken me years to identify. But still today, there are lines in these songs where I can absolutely relate with Chris Roe and what he has to say about being young, growing up, looking back in time and loving life.

“Life is only as good as the memories we make.”