BIRDS by Texas Textbooks
Texas Textbooks deliver a semester’s worth of state history and urban ornithology in their second EP, BIRDS. From the vinyl-clad tale of what-might-have-been between Borges and Joplin, to cosmic laments of parking minima and cultural ouroboroi, to meditations on distances historical, bioregional, and vexillological, the band continue their musical and cultural exploration of the I-35 corridor.
Working with friends around the country, Scott Boone and Matthew Chovanec recorded the album track-by-track over the course of 2020. The pair drew upon influences from midwestern emo to western swing to bring a little more time and (social) distance to the band-in-a-room slacker country of their first album, PECOS & MATAMOROS. Forged in pedal steel and quenched in reverb, BIRDS offers listeners a Texas-sized and -shaped charcuterie board of leftist twangcore.
Tracklist
| 1. | Dude Ranch | 0:35 |
| 2. | Hemisfair '68 | 3:41 |
| 3. | Jorge and Janis | 3:27 |
| 4. | Grackle | 4:58 |
| 5. | Sarcophagus | 3:17 |
| 6. | Oh! My Friends | 4:12 |
| 7. | Sweat City | 4:10 |
| 8. | Snake Farm | 3:16 |
| 9. | She Won't Stop | 2:39 |
| 10. | Dude Ranch (Reprise) | 1:11 |
| 11. | Age of Stagnation II | 5:04 |
| 12. | Historia Universal | 4:19 |
| 13. | All I Want is Revenge | 3:04 |
Credits
All songs written, recorded, and mixed by Texas Textbooks in Austin, TX
Additional performances:
Rachel Kiel, Vocals (5, 8, 13)
Jason Sonnenschein, Vocals (6, 11)
Donald Garrett, Guitar (10)
Pete Weiss, Accordion (11)
James Stratton, Fiddle (11)
Miller Nuttle, Upright Bass (11)
Additional engineering: Dylan Turner
Wil Halman
Additional design: Nora Chovanec
Mastered by Evan Bradford in Los Angeles, CA
© 2021 Clammy Tammy Records
License
CC BY-SA 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.
“Texas Textbooks deliver a semester’s worth of state history and urban ornithology in their second LP, BIRDS. From the vinyl-clad tale of what-might-have-been between Borges and Joplin, to cosmic laments of parking minima and cultural ouroboroi...BIRDS offers listeners a Texas-sized and -shaped charcuterie board of leftist twangcore.”