I remember the day this album came out (November 6th), I was sitting around lamenting the fact that my son will probably never experience or enjoy music stores the way I did as a child. Even bigger stores like CD Plus, Music World, and Sam the Record Man appealed to me. There was always something good kicking around the store. I added many cds to my collection that I found in these types of stores on sale for 2 for 20 dollars or something like that. I remember when Music World was shutting down, I actually found Pennywise’s About Time and The Fuse for a deal like that. At the time I was so excited, it had been over ten years since I had first heard About Time but I had never owned it. One thing that also sticks out in my mind is that Tuesdays were new music day. If something came out that I wanted I usually made sure I had it on release day.
Now, I walk into an HMV (a very rare occurrence) and I usually leave and feel ashamed because I didn’t knock over the shelves or perform some other type of vandalism. I can list a billion things that I feel are responsible for the downfall of music stores, but I will only name one, the internet and downloading music.
Until the release date of this particular album, I never realized the benefits of dowloading music. That is the ability to circumvent new music Tuesday’s and release music anytime you want. That I am thankful for. Recently, Minneapolis’ resident hardcore punks Triple Crossed released a 5 track EP titled Raised on Ice, and it was done on a non-Tuesday, and it was done late at night.
That isn’t even the best part, the music is. With this album you get 5 hard hitting hardcore tracks that all come in at under 2 minutes in length. I’m not much of fan of the hardcore genre, but I do like these guys. I think it is because that everytime I listen to them I feel like there is a guy holding a camcorder and another bunch of kids riding around on skateboards nearby. When I hear music like it, it makes me feel like there is still hope out there for music, and that although I have a billion reasons to blame for the fall of music stores, there a few good reasons to like the direction it is taking.