Hardscrabble 🍫

By Max Jacobson

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this is my suitcase

November 30, 2013

We are not “breaking up”, because we all still love each other. Mary Lynn writes great music. I still write music all over. We all still exist and we all still create. We are simply putting a lid on This Is My Suitcase to capture everything we’ve done; We are merely writing a really good ending to our own wild story.

Joseph Anthony Camerlengo

I don’t remember where I first heard of This Is My Suitcase, but I think it was on the absolute punk forums, probably in some thread for links to zips of weird albums from bands no one has heard of, many of which I downloaded and sifted through and deleted. One of them was “Missent to Thailand”. I have a vague memory of listening to it in an airport and being shocked by how much I liked this weird out of tune pop about being in love. I subscribed to the RSS feed of their Myspace blog (!?) and watched their careers as they almost went mainstream (I think Fall Out Boy were fans and tried to help them out, but it didn’t go anywhere) but they never quite left Ohio, where I think they’re local hometown hero types.

But of course, this is the internet, so this weirdo in New York got to become quite a fan of theirs. I had a few other bands or filmmakers or artists whose careers I casually followed through various feeds, who I never would have known about without the internet. Some I forgot about, and some I lost the bead on1, others. And I’m really grateful for all of that, because it’s got some of that magic of what I imagine earlier generations found in digging through crates of records or whatever.

I’m bummed I never saw them live, but they kind of only existed on the internet anyway? To me.

When I made my short film “I’m So Happy I’m Ecstatic” I knew I needed to include one of their songs. I’m really glad it’s in there.

I don’t remember exactly when I started, but I guess I’ve been listening to them a while. (myspace rears again in that tweet)

Their last album, “In The Wake Of Atrophy: a poignant album for heartsick humans”, came out yesterday. It’s available to stream or buy on bandcamp. The first music video for My Organs Are Our Organs just came out too.

If you’re a heartsick human (and you are) then you know what to do.

  1. the memory of one myspace band called “isa” continues to haunt / elude me 

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