Textbook Traitors- You Pull The Strings That Make Us Dance (2002)

Listening to Guidelines (see post below) got me all hot and bothered for some more chaotic screamo. I mentioned Textbook Traitors when I posted the Guidelines EP and immediately realized Textbook Traitors is one of the reasons I started this blog. Not them in particular, but bands of their ilk. Bands who in their time were completely overlooked. Granted, when this EP came out the screamo wave was just about to crest and when that wave broke it spilled out a slew of shitty bands, so Textbook Traitors were mostly lost in the wash, drown out by the pounding of the shitty surf. OK, I think that's enough water and poo allusions for one post.

Textbook Traitors were a screamo band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who released a grand total of 33 minutes of music in their all too brief career. The drummer went on to join Get Rad (had I known this when I saw Get Rad at Gilead Media Fest I would have gotten all fanboy on that guy). Other than that, I can't seem to find any info on the band's previous or more current endeavors. However, all you really need to know is that if you have even a passing interest in the genre, this EP contains 15 of the finest minutes of screamo you will ever hear. Unlike many of their peers, Textbook Traitors eschewed the quiet/loud dynamic for the most part in favor of an all out aural assault unlike anything I'd heard before or I've heard since. Eardrum shredding shrieks, grindcore pacing, blast beats and frenetic, dissonant, shrill guitar caterwauling make this one of the most grating listens ever and nearly a decade after my initial listen, I still can't get enough of it. This is a masterpiece of the genre, up there with Chaos Is Me by Orchid and Document # 5 and Document #7 by Pg. 99. Absolutely essential.

Punk rock will never die.

Buy it:

Digital
Physical (CD)
Unfortunately, this hot mess was never released on vinyl. Start talking about it incessantly and maybe we can get Magic Bullet to give this thing the vinyl treatment it deserves.