#236 with Todd Taylor: Razorcake Podcast 11/02/12
I’m self-analyzing myself. I think I’m going through a reverse mid-life crisis. I’ve done everything backwards. I went to college directly after high school. I took summer school every year, and graduated with a master’s in literature at twenty-three. Then, through a series of what Bob Ross would call “happy accidents,” I started working on zines and clawed inside of DIY punk full time. Often by having other jobs. Often by just flat-out hustling side work and working sixty hour weeks to not be a shitbag loafer, yet pushing time aside to full-time create and contribute. Now I’m forty and I’ve been doing what I really want to do for the past seventeen years without lapse. It’s the opposite of the dillhole who suddenly realizes that their life’s half over and they attempt to fill that void with the illusion of security and glistening merchandise.
Regrets, I’ve got tons. But none of them revolve around making the wrong life choice. It’s still a tremendous daily struggle, but, fuck, the soundtrack is great.
With this collection of songs—many, but not all—reflect a clutch of bands and musicians that have made long-term decisions to pay back into a living culture that is far-too-often invisible, far-too-frequently taken advantage of, and rarely given its due in real time.
–Todd Taylor
Tracklisting:
Toys That Kill, “Stye” (Recess)
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RVIVR, “Seethin’” (Rumbletowne)
Vånna Inget, “Våra Drömmars Död” (Erste Theke Tonträger)
Cholita, “Chinga Tu Madre” (Artifix)
Joint D≠, “Depth Charge” (Sorry State)
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Mind Spiders, “Wait for Us” (Dirtnap)
Low Culture, “Travel Song” (Rad Girlfriend / Drunken Sailor / Dead Broke)
Tenement, “Perverse Universe” (Lets Pretend / No Brakes)
Treasure Fleet, “High on a Bicycle” (Recess)
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Big Eyes, “Back from the Moon” (Grave Mistake)
Taxpayers, “Who the Hell Are You?” (Asian Man / Really)
Sick Sick Birds, “Olive” (Toxic Pop)
Wild Assumptions, “Roots” (Plan-It-X / Lost Cat / Sweethearts With Slingshots)
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Rocket From The Crypt, “California Lights” (Swami)
Mean Jeans, “Don’t Stop Partying” (Dirtnap)