When Matt Helgeson invited me on his CrossFade podcast, I realized in studying and discussing Erase Errata’s Nightlife for the show that this was a really dense and fascinating album that really commanded more time and attention than we could give it. I got the Bandcamp editors to let me write about it and had to acknowledge that 400 words is also not really enough space for an album this complex, but at least this concise argument for why this album is a significant moment in music history that has only become more relevant since its release got global circulation on the internet and brought it more attention and consideration. I appreciated the opportunity to talk about my generation!
While I did not intend to become a music journalist people pay attention to just in time for the twenty year rule revival of all of the bands I love the most from my youth, it has very fortunately turned out that way. It’s great to be born in 1987, because the universal gift basket I arrived in is absolutely jam-packed with many of the greatest bands and albums of all time, but it also results in a unique experience: coming of age exactly at the dawn of the new millennium. I turned 13 in 2000. This fucking war mongering asshole who did not get elected in the first place became the president anyway, and it was a big force behind me getting into punk music. Then he started a bunch of wars that continued for literally half of my life, resulting in the deaths of a horrific amount of people I will never know, and a few whom I loved very much.
It’s a joy to get to write about one of the greatest of the political dance punk bands from that era of my youth. For the record, the first article I ever had published was for the school newspaper and it presented the opinion that 9/11 was being used as a blank check for endless war. I guess I had to switch to music because it involves an audience who actually listens as a principal activity.
© COME AWAY WITH EMD 2022
COME AWAY WITH EMD 