Yo, Get Into It

I was going to post a blog about the stuff I did over Easter weekend, but I decided that would be boring so instead I'm going to let the music portion of this blog expand by putting together a list of my favorite songwriters. This is a list I've been mulling about in my head for a while and I'd like to put it down in blog post form. I've divided the list into two categories: essential, established songwriters and up and coming songwriters/more unconventional choices. I'm leaving out huge names like Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel because they're already on enough lists (that doesn't mean I don't love them). Here it goes!

The Essentials
Blake Schwarzenbach - I'm starting the first list off with a kind of strange choice but I think he belongs here. Blake was the lead singer and guitarist for the bands Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil and, in my opinion, is the great storyteller of punk music. He can weave a very intricate tale within the blistering speed and noise of a punk song. His ability to get to the essence of certain emotions within such a simple framework amazes me and his voice, which ranges from grating scream to intimate whisper is very impressive.
Selected recordings: Want, Kiss The Bottle, Fireman all by Jawbreaker

Paul Westerberg - Paul Westerberg is a true triumph for midwestern creativity and proof that the cold, harsh world of Minneapolis breeds true genius (see also: Prince). For those not in the know, Paul was (is?) the lead singer and main songwriter of the Replacements. He also has a prolific solo career under his own name and as his country/blues alter ego, Grandpaboy. His music hits the ranges of blisteringly fast and emotionally charged hardcore to acoustic ballads. He is the bastard love child of all-ages punk shows and top 40 radio. I really don't know what else to say.
Selected recordings: Color Me Impressed, Bastards of Young, Little Mascara all by The Replacements. Dyslexic Heart by Paul Westerberg

Guy Picciotto - Guy is best known as the man who invented emocore with the help of his band Rites of Spring and as the second principle songwriter of Fugazi. Between those two bands, which both earn Guy a place on this list on their own merits, Guy was in a lesser known band named One Last Wish. This band, in my opinion, is where Guy earned his chops. He was able to boil down the existential, sometimes psychedelic, sound of Rites of Spring into its most basic rock and roll form. This prepared him for the songwriting necessary to turn Fugazi into the legend that they are.
Selected recordings: End on End by Rites of Spring, My Better Half by One Last Wish, Full Disclosure by Fugazi.

Lifetime - I debated putting this band on the other list, but I think they're influential enough to be put on the essentials list. Lifetime, as a whole, embody the spirit of punk songwriting. Their ability to write as a collective and not just as individuals provides a sort of single mentality within their recordings that has been present since their breakout album, Hello Bastards. No one on this list, with the possible exception of Blake Schwarzenbach, is as influential in contemporary pop-rock as Lifetime. Go pick up their new album, I'm listening to it almost constantly.
Selected recordings: Their last three albums, Hello Bastards, Jersey's Best Dancers, and Lifetime.

David Bazan - The creative force behind Pedro the Lion, David Bazan is dark and brooding as he writes songs that are more like theses, statements that cover everything from personal issues, politics, faith and his critics. Part of the allure of David Bazan is that he writes songs like he's conducting train wrecks. They're heavy and can't be ignored. In fact, you'll have trouble looking away as he explores every idea that is in his head.
Selected recordings: Options by Pedro The Lion, Selling Advertising by David Bazan.

Craig Finn - The lead singer of Lifter Puller and now The Hold Steady, Craig Finn is the great songwriter to emerge onto the world stage last year with the album Boys and Girls in America. He juxtaposes his bands heavy, bar band rock aesthetic with lyrics written in paragraph form, filled with ponderous thoughts and detailed stories of teenage debauchery. His music is also very fun.
Selected recordings: Your Little Hoodrat Friend, You Can Make Him Like You, Stuck Between Stations all by The Hold Steady.

The Others
Paul Baribeau - Paul Baribeau is an unassuming man who hails from Grand Rapids, MI. He usually sports a large beard and writes songs that pierce your heart. On his self-titled debut full-length, which he recorded over the course of one night in his apartment, he is accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. The album comes off like a journal of his feelings and you feel bad for listening but you can't stop, it's like sitting in on his therapy. In the words of Chris Claven of Plan-It-X Records, "This album will destroy you, if you're human." I don't think there are many musicians who can do that.
Selected recordings: Strawberry, I Miss That Band, Never Get To Know

Alex Kern - The drummer and creative force behind the Buffalo, New York band Lemuria. Alex combines a college vocabulary with the sentiments and audio aesthetic of a working class romantic. I've never heard the word fuck used better than in Lemuria songs and it's no wonder Alex writes the word so much because the band's lead singer, Sheena Ozella, says the profanity like a great artist uses a brush. Alex Kern also runs the Art of The Underground Records, which has been nothing but a blessing for independent alternative music, releasing music by such artists as Kind of Like Spitting and Robert Sarazin Blake
Selected recordings: The Origamist, In A World of Ghosts..., Bristles and Whiskers

Ryan Eilbeck - This is probably the choice I debated the most, since Ryan's band, Delay, is really still a local band from Columbus but I'm just so into his songs right now. Delay, in true punk fashion, write their songs as a collective and I don't mean to bring down the efforts of bandmates Austin Eilbeck and Jesse Withers, but Ryan's lyrics embody the spirit of the college-age artist. His voice warbles across songs about house shows, girls, and growing up and it just drives me nuts in a good way. Their new album, Don't Laugh, encompasses the confusion found in the space between being a teenager and being an adult. I think any college student can find some sentiment to connect to on this album.
Selected recordings: Photo Album, Formula For Success, Married

Adam Goren - The man behind Atom and His Package and contributing songwriter of the band Armalite. I didn't really think too much of Adam when he was doing Atom and His Package. I liked it but it never blew my mind, but his abilities have really shown their true form within Armalite. He has a talent for combining high energy rock music with some of the catchiest guitar and synth hooks I've ever heard. Looking back on Atom and His Package, it was always there, I just didn't notice it. He can also put full, thought-out ideas into pop songs like no one I've ever heard.
Selected recordings: If You Own The Washington Redskins You're A Cock by Atom and His Package, I Am Pancreas (I Seek To Understand Me...) by Armalite.

Mike Erg - Lead singer and drummer of the Ergs! (the exclamation point is part of the name). Mike Erg's notable talent is his ability to become a sponge for any number of different influences and just layer them, one on top of the other, within songs that appear to be simple, straight ahead pop punk songs on first listen. Ergs songs will go from fast punk to country to free jazz without batting an eye. The Ergs!, I think, will end up being one of those bands that never makes it into the big time but become a principle influence for many bands who do catapult to a larger stage. I could be totally wrong though. Either way, check them out.
Selected recordings: August 19th, Rod Argent, It's Never Going To Be The Same Again

That's it.