Album Reviews

Schadenfreude is a German word that doesn’t have a real English equivalent. It means that you take pleasure in other people’s misfortune. Listening to Textbook’s new album, I’m experiencing some schadenfreude because if these guys need to be all messed up in order to write songs that sound like this then hey, I’m all for it!

These Chicago dudes owe as much to Descendents and Naked Raygun as they do to the Lemonheads and Buffalo Tom, finding that sweet little spot between punk and 90ies alternative with plenty of sweet hooks and melodies all over the place. They kick things off with opening track “Everything I’m Not” and then keep going from there with songs like “Looking After Me” and “Missed You First”, always upbeat, energetic and catchy. It’s a throwback sound but when it’s this well done, who cares? Seriously.

The vocals do start to sound a bit same-y after a while though and I would have probably gone with a different album cover (this one doesn’t say much about the music), but other than that “All Messed Up” is a fun album to spend some time with.