Walter Schreifels Arthur Lee's Lullaby

Everybody's musical tastes change over time; what once was your favorite band may repulse you now, and your former self may have pinched her nose at your currents self's selections. My tastes have always been rather eclectic, but my High School self had a strong predilection for hardcore. And no, not hardcore as in hardcore electronica, hardcore as in hardcore punk, thrash, or metal. As far as I was concerned, the louder and faster it was the better.

The Orange County, California hardcore scene was robust in the early 2000's, but the heavy punk pioneered by legends like Black Flag, The Germs, Circle Jerks, Adolescents, and TSOL had given way to polished guitar solos, intricately timed breakdowns, and constant concern over who was the best dancer or who had the edgiest haircut. The ridiculous XXX tattoos and died-black-flat-ironed hair didn't feel as sincere as the brutal thrashing I heard coming from older, working class Boston groups. But the most vicious of all the hardcore I heard came from bands that were a part of, what seemed to me, the most authentic of all scenes, New York City hardcore from the mid-to-late 80's. After Minor Threat broke up and Bad Brains moved to the Big Apple, New York became the new home base for the genre. Groups like Agnostic Front and Cro-Mags led the way, and other groups quickly formed or moved to New York to create a thriving and creative community.

One of the key members of the scene was Walter Schreifels, the chief songwriter for Gorilla Biscuits and sometime member of Youth of Today. Like me, I'm sure Schreifels' musical tastes have always been eclectic, but it's not often a musician seems to go in so many directions Schreifels has over the years. During my hardcore heydays I listened to Schreifels' post-hardcore (an appropriate genre switch coming out of NYHC, I suppose) super group, Rival Schools. Before that, Schreifels had fronted Quicksand, and would later form an indie rock group, Walking Concert. Most recently, Schreifels has stripped away the distortion, gotten rid of the band names, and gone singer-songwriter. After over twenty years writing and performing music he finally released his solo debut in April of this year. The album, An Open Letter to the Scene, is mostly him and his guitar singing poignantly about life, people, and the old days in New York.

Judging by the title, I was expecting some kind of attack on either the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of hardcore or the inanity and pretentiousness of hipster indie-folk. But in amazingly good taste and with tremendous restraint, Schreifels does not obviously deliver either. Instead of griping about others or spouting off about how things should be, Schreifels quietly delivers a fantastic folky indie-rock album. I'll be honest; I picked up this album for the novelty of it"”an old NYHC veteran going solo? That's a must listen. But I made it all the through the album and back through again because it's just damn good. But where's all the criticism, sass, and belittling you'd expect from an open letter?  I'll go ahead and say that releasing an amazing album is about as strong as a message you can send. Well done, Walter.