Dear Friends,
Hope your Sunday is off to being whatever you want it to be. Sunday is often a day like that for me. It’s usually the one day I try not to schedule too much and just take care of the business at hand. Laundry, grocery shopping, dinner with the family…things like that.
Today, there is no agenda. I’m going to work on some stuff here at the Ergonomic headquarters and maybe even update the site a bit. I am long overdue on getting into The Bet, for example. I have work to do…or maybe not.
Yesterday was a nice day. Rhondi, Liam, and Teresa and I cruised around the area a bit, hit some garage sales, and just generally farted around. It was nice. As a dad you try not think about these things, but how many more times will we get to just have our two youngest with us kind of being kids. I soaked it up and will remember yesterday fondly.
Rhondi made an incredible dinner, too. Holy hell. I’m a lucky man. My stomach could take this whole day off and still be happy as the proverbial clam.
*****
Austerity Measures is a damn fine EP. It was made by a guy I consider a friend even though we have never met face to face. I hope that someday this will change, but either way, the record that Brit Jones made with some buddies in a band called Austerity Measures in 2011 impacted my life tremendously.
Brit used to be married to an old friend of mine, Emily, who told me about this boy she loved many years ago who I would really like. We were sitting in front of another friend’s parents’ house, and I could tell how proud of him she was at that moment. I figured I needed to meet this guy.
I never made it to Austin, though. I have yet to make that pilgrimage and am hesitant, now, to do so because it’s not the Austin I used to need. It’s something different, like everything in life, and the music that drew me to it is long, long gone. I’m pretty sure Brit moved away, too, so there’s that.
I thought Austerity Measures was long gone, too, as my CD is missing from its case, but thanks to Spotify (I know many of you hate it, but I use it), I have it again. Since I discovered it there, it has been in regular rotation again. Hopefully I can find that CD. It’s probably in the wrong case, sitting on the shelf, waiting to be found.
Brit and I traded some music and used to chat pretty often on ol’ Facebook. It’s been way too long since I checked in with him but I’m guessing he’s doing all right. I hope he’s making music again.
I hope this mainly because Brit is one of the best lyricists out there for my money. Emily was right and me liking him, too. I feel like I got to know Brit through the excellent lyrics on Austerity Measures.
He also crafted some tunes that just got me going in all the good ways. They are catchy as hell, just enough fuzz to satisfy the cravings I like to engage, and recorded in a way that sounds fucking great to my ears. I know Brit and I have a lot of common likes in the music world, but it is also super refreshing to hear these songs brought to life in a way that I would never have thought of doing.
When I first heard Austerity Measures, I wanted to go to Austin and jam with Brit so badly. I figured he could show me the way to craft a song that had the blend of punk/cow-punk/fuzz that I love so much. The EP has a taste of Americana to it, as well, that gives it a vibe I would never be able to create on my own, but love.
“Captain Ahab’s Trips Festival” is a driver that takes you on a great journey through how life actually feels most of the time. “God might take away all of your sins, but the house always wins” is a line that gets me every fucking time. There is a killer guitar line in the bridge part of the song, too, that is spectacular. If I had the CD in front of me, I could give proper credit, I’m sure…but it is Phoenix, and I am in Maine.
There is a poetry to these songs that doesn’t seem or feel forced. The words are given the room to just be a compliment to the music. “The Firemen Are In The Pipes” is so damn good. “I’m not the hero kind and it drives me out of my mind” is another amazing line.
The songs are all on the shorter side, but they leave you wanting more. I remember thinking, “Is that it?” when I first played the EP. I wanted more. I still want more now. “Queen of Roses,” for example, is nice and short but packs a total punch.
“We rub mud on our eyes/Desolation in disguise.”
I’m just going to leave that one right there. I can’t recommend this EP enough. Austerity Measures is one of those records that people need to hear. I may be blinded because of this feeling of friendship that I feel, but even thirteen years later, I still love this music.
“You don’t talk to strangers for a damn good reason around here.”
Poet. A motherfucking poet.
*****
See you tomorrow.
That last lyric is a good one, according to AI.
My god, that Austerity Measures release is tasty. I wish they released more!