r/Pinback • u/HelpfulEchidna6551 • 3d ago
Where to start?
Hello,
I just discovered Pinback through the song Tripoli, which I like alot.
What's a good place to start to explore the band further?
I purchased their self titled album and Blue Screen Life on Bandcamp to listen to them, as they're not on spotify.
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u/LoveStreams617 3d ago
well those are their best two albums in my opinion, but all their shit is good. their discography is not very big, just go chronologically since you already have the first two.
are you outside of the US? i have them on my Spotify
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u/captain_fucking_magi 3d ago
start there then go in chronological order. Then listen to Zach and Rob's solo work and other bands they're in like 3MP and Goblin Cock (all hail lord phallus).
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u/Gashley_666 3d ago
Omfg how did I forget about goblin cock? And Thingy?! I am disappointing myself lol
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u/amitabhawk 3d ago
In order! The first three albums are fantastic. Pinback is very much a grower not a shower. At least for me, I didn't like a lot of songs that much at first but they just grew and grew on me. Their fourth, Autumn of the Seraphs, took me a really long time to appreciate but it has a couple of my favorite Pinback songs on it and is pretty solid.
I never broke in too much to their other projects EXCEPT the album To The Innocent, by Rob's previous band, Thingy, which is one of the coolest albums of all time.
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u/Particular_Dingo_659 2d ago
I think Summer in Abbadon is the most accessible and it’s the one I would start with if introducing someone to the band.
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u/HereInTheRuin 3d ago
I also started with "Tripoli" back in 2001
great entry point
I would suggest just listening in chronological order the way all of us old school had to
you get to hear the natural progression of their work that way
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u/munchyslacks 3d ago
Yes, OP. Experience the transition to “From Nothing to Nowhere” like the rest of us.
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u/isaiahd1 2d ago
They’re master class songwriters. I really like their abstract songwriting style and their lines are so audible.
Check out the song “From Nothing to Nowhere” on Autumn of the Seraphs. They do something sonically with the vocal groove that seemingly dissipates into the instrumental and it tickles my brain everytime.
I like the somber musings from “Grey Machine” which is on their Offcells records. The song is a mammoth at around 11 minutes of audio. There’s something about the emotion they capture in all of their songs but if you haven’t heard Grey Machine. Maybe listen to it with a friend or alone. Theres a lot of space for reflection and a lot of the song is just inner monologue and I imagine a scene walking amongst an urban scape tall buildings gazing at my reflection as I walk along a sidewalk.
I’m much more Rob Crow pilled — I should give Zach’s stuff a spin but I’m always infinitely inspired by Pinback and a lot of Robs solo work.
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u/Lumpy_Strawberry_154 2d ago
Non Photo-Blue.
This song will be in my head the rest of the day now. Fuck Yeah!
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u/building_Fire 3d ago
Id go in this order:
Self titled, Blue Screen Life, Summer in Abandon,
Rob Crow: My room is a mess, Rob Crow: Living Well
Thingy: To the Innocent, Rob Crows Gloomy Place
Information Retrieved.
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u/CorporalClegg91 3d ago
Those are great to start with, but I like Summer in Abaddon quite a bit. Non-Photo Blue and Frotress were some of the first songs I ever heard by them so it is very special to me.
Autumn of the Seraphs has a few good songs on it, but I didn’t like it as much as their earlier stuff and kind of marks the point where they had a change in sound. Everything stills sounds “Pinbacky,” but.. well it’s hard to explain. It sounds more poppy I guess? Maybe another user can explain it better.
However, what’s super fun is that the guitar player and other lead singer, Rob Crow, is in like 1000 bands. Some are hard to find, but I like: Rob Crow, Thingy, Heavy Vegetable, Other Men, The Ladies, Rob Crow’s Gloomy Place, Team Sleep (though this is more of a side project from the lead singer of Deftones, but Rob makes some appearances), and Goblin Cock to name a few. He is incredibly prolific.
If you listen to his eponymously named band “Rob Crow,” or Thingy, or Heavy Vegetable, you get more of a feel for his style and his influence in Pinback. Other Men is a continuation of either Heavy Vegetable or Thingy but without the female lead singer and like a decade later. It’s got some really interesting time signatures and very different from Pinback, but Rob’s voice is unmistakable.
The Ladies is.. interesting, since Zach Hill is the drummer. The saying goes, if you need two drummers, hire Zach Hill. You may know him from Death Grips.
Team Sleep feels more like a Deftones album, but Rob’s voice is on a few of them and the album is very good overall.
Rob Crow’s Gloomy Place sounds like a more matured version of his eponymous work, with a mixture of Other Men.
Goblin Cock is a stoner doom metal project and it rocks. Many of the lyrics and themes are silly and ridiculous, but if you like metal - or even if you don’t - it’s worth a listen.
All this about Rob Crow’s, but let’s not forget Armistead Burwell Smith IV (Zach Smith), the bassist. He was in 3 Mile Pilot. Their song “One Step Ladder” is probably my favorite, and their sound changes quite a lot over the 30 years they made music. I don’t love all of it, and it’s quite different from Pinback, but you might really enjoy it. Their first album stands out for being just bass, drums, and vocals.
His solo project Systems Officer feels like a continuation of Pinback despite missing Rob Crow, but it is also very hard to find. Sometimes it’s on Spotify or Apple Music, then it’s gone the next day. You can find a bit on YouTube but most of them are live performances. Very frustrating.
Anyhow, hope that helps!
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u/ethihoff 3d ago
They only have a couple albums, and you have already bought two of them, so I'm not sure what kind of answer you're expecting
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u/chaanders 3d ago
Both of those are good, Blue Screen Life especially. I like their latest album -Information Retrieved- a lot too. They have great songs on every album and EP though.