Prowler

[Ohm]

((Sean Leibowitz pregame start))

It had not been great day for Sean so far. He was almost caught red handed by his mother taking out with his favorite shirt, a black shirt with the Iron maiden mascot, Eddie on it out of the wash. Then they had started arguing about his grades again and he stormed out. Words like "Why can't you be more like your brother?" and "I don't know what's gotten into you." were exchanged as usual, his mother was turning into a soundboard with each argument. He'd walked out midway through with no real destination in mind. To him it didn't matter, he just didn't want to be at home at home right now.

He knew in a way he was delaying the inevitable and he'd have to go back and argue with her again again and once his dad got home from work they'd argue again. Or rather his mother would argue with him again while his dad silently observed from his chair and piping up with agreements.

It was all so tiring.

He was walking around town thinking about all this.  Wasn't long before he decided to drown out these thoughts with music. With earbuds in and his phone in his hands, cycling through his collection songs to listen to. Maybe something energetic and fast like Transylvania? Or something slow and ominous like Black Sabbath? Or aggressive like Angel of Death? He went with painkiller by Judas Priest. Putting his phone in his pocket, he put his hands together in his hoodie as the pounding drums worked their magic. Soon to be followed by screeching guitars and Rob Halford's screaming voice entering his ears. The whole album was killer, but that song always lifted his spirits.

He nodded along to the music as he walked along the path. Soon a certain store came into his view. Off the record. He liked to browse it on his spare time to check what's current. Better than checking the radio that's for sure, nowadays it seems to mostly be pop. Sean and pop did not gel together. It all felt so manufactured to him, like it was all suposed to be the next big thing.

Not like metal, that's for sure.

Turning his music off, he made his way in giving the person at the til a wave before looking at different shelfs.

[MethodicalSlacker]

She followed the feeling into the city, got tired, and lost it. Noticing she was by the record store, she decided to dug inside. There was time left in the day for a diversion, she figured, and she had just about enough money for an EP or something.

Digging through the Sale Vinyl bin, she realized that the store had been what was calling her all along.

[Violet Schmidt continued from Ferris Wheel on Fire.]

Was this the entire Animal Collective discography? All for, at most, eight dollars an LP? With how much new vinyl cost nowadays, Violet knew that this was a steal. Record collectors often talk about crate digging through a store for hours searching for the holy grail: Violet felt like she had found something roughly comparable. She took out her phone and scrolled through their discography page on Wikipedia just to confirm that she was really seeing what she was seeing. Scroll, scroll, flick, flick, and there it was. They were missing a smattering of singles and they had eighty-sixed a couple of EP's, but the only full-length album they were missing was Campfire Songs, and that was one that Violet already had.

Digging around in her purse, she found a twenty dollar bill and grinned. That would be enough to get her at least two albums. She flipped through for Merriweather Post Pavilion and Feels, confirmed they were there, and put them under her arm.

But don't I have these already?

The thought struck her mind like a lightning bolt. How many of these records were already waiting at home for her, she had no idea. If she took advantage of a deal like this, only for it to turn out that she already had all of the records already—that would be nothing short of a tragedy. Plus, she figured that by the time she came back to return the records, the rest would probably be gone. Animal Collective were pretty popular, as far as indie bands went, and with the release of two EP's in the previous year she was sure that interest in their stuff would be pretty high. Springing for the obscure stuff wouldn't quite work either, since she knew that some of their early works were more abrasive than she could stomach.

Violet put the two albums back in the bin and stood there, staring at the albums, for a long while. Long enough to still be standing there when Sean walked in, and deliberating intensely enough to not notice when the door to the store opened and someone entered.

"Hmmm," she went, crossing her arms. She had left her yarrow stalks at home.

[Ohm]

Damn! They really did have a little bit of everything here.

He thought to himself as he plucked out different records to get a closer look. He couldn't wait til the day he had his own place and he could actually buy one of these and play them out loud. Sure, in a way it was fine with a headset and some earbuds, but he'd rather listen to music in a way that didn't feel restrictive, y'know?

At the same time he wanted to have it physically. Digital format's fine and all, but nothing beats having a physical copy of something. Specially when it came to music.

As he put them back in and started walking over to a different section, did he notice someone standing there. Off in their own world. Violet her name was, hard to miss considering her height and, in Sean's opinion, not that bad to look at either. She was one of the nice ones around school, though he's heard she's a bit...weird? it felt mean thinking that about her.

She was doing the same thing as him, except actually buying stuff. Which probably meant the people running the place liked her more than him. He could live with that.

As he walked by, he figured to himself, why not have a conversation? She liked music and seemed nice, so why not.

He stopped in his tracks and said out loud to her.

"Yo, Violet! What are you looking for?"

[MethodicalSlacker]

"Oh, Sean!" Violet exclaimed, snapping out of her stupor, "Sorry, I didn't see you over there." She hoped that he hadn't been standing there too long, and that he wasn't waiting for her to move out of the way. The last thing she wanted to do was inconvenience someone else, especially if they had their own holy grail stuck somewhere in the sale bin, or in the dirt cheap one dollar boxes underneath the main shelf.

Violet pulled out one of the records to show to Sean —the one that happened to be closest to her hand was Sung Tongs— and pointed at the price sticker on the album sleeve. Six dollars.

"Animal Collective's entire output is on sale," she said in a hushed voice, "but I don't have enough money for all of the records, and I have no idea how many of these I already have at home."

Wait, does Sean know Animal Collective? Violet wished the thought had crossed her mind before she had acted like the sale was from a higher plane of existence. He probably doesn't, does he? He wears those metal t-shirts all the time, and I don't think Animal Collective has much crossover into that side of things. He'd probably appreciate one of their live albums, where he can hear their intense stage energy, but I don't really think they're his cup of tea. It's probably safe to let him see the records, then; I don't think he'd want to buy any of them, probably.

"Am I blocking the sale section?" she asked, taking a step back to the other side of the aisle, "I mean, if they have this deal today, there's no telling what else'll be inside."

[Ohm]

Animal Collective? Sean wracked his brain trying to remember if he had ever listened to or read about this group, and nothing came to mind. Probably not the right genre then, by the name he guessed it was some indie rock band or alternative stuff? He wasn't that experienced with those.

"Entire output huh? That's a pretty big deal." He muttered to himself as he looked at the record she held. Sun Tongs? Definitely some alternative stuff with that name, they always went pretentious with those. Though, it could be good. Well, he knew he wouldn't like as much as like, say, Iron Maiden, but he could check it out.

He was taken out of his train of thought as Violet stepped back

"Huh? No, it's alright, just uh...." He reached up and scratched the back of his head under his hat. "...Looking through. Can't really buy anything y'know?" His hands back in their pockets as he peered over the bin to look down. "So this is the music you listen to? What genre is it?"

[MethodicalSlacker]

Relieved, Violet stepped back over to the sale bin and put the record back in. She figured there was at least a 50/50 chance that she had Sung Tongs at home, which made picking it a big risk. She was certain she didn't own Danse Mannatee, but that was because it made her particularly uncomfortable. How would she articulate that discomfort to Sean in a way that made the band sound interesting—or, at least, in a way that didn't make her sound like a huge nerd—was beyond her.

"Um," she started, fumbling for her words, "They're, uh, psychedelic kinda stuff. Sorta folky, sometimes, too. Vocals, really, eh, trippy, I guess you would say? Their early stuff has these abrasive, harsh noise kinds of sounds, and then they moved into more freak folk territory, and right now they're in a kind of art pop phase."

Brushing some of her hair out of her eyes, she continued to stumble through the conversation. "I, ah, tend to listen to indie rock, but I try to keep an open mind." Somewhere in the dark, there was a light switch waiting to be flicked, waiting to turn on some light-bulb epiphany in her head that would get her back on her feet.

"You're into metal, right?" Violet asked, glancing at his shirt. She didn't have to continue the conversation any further to know that the two weren't compatible when it came to music taste. She couldn't name a metal band she liked to save her life, let alone any metal songs she happened to listen to. The impulse she got was that Sean had the same outsider perspective of indie rock as she did of metal. Looking at him, she could picture him maybe putting on a Sufjan Stevens song to help him go to sleep, but that meant relatively nothing. Nobody really dislikes Sufjan Stevens, she thought.

Maybe the Carter brothers do, but I wouldn't trust either of them with music if my life depended on it.

[Ohm]

Psychedelic? Folky? Trippy vocals? Sounds like something Sean would listen while smoking, that'd be an experience. Maybe he should give that a try and freak out Axel at the same time. And art pop's a thing, apparantly. There were many genres in music he knew off, but the sub genres was what tended to flabbergast him at times. How'd you explain any of that to someone who don't listen to it?

And hey! He guessed right on the Indie rock. That'd explain it. Always weird stuff there.

Then again, s'not like metal don't have it's weird ass shit. He still has that pirate metal video on his recommended list on Youtube after all.

She asked him if he was into metal and of course, he had to answer. "Uh, yeah!" A quick look at his shirt and back at her, giving her a smile. "I kind of made that really obvious didn't I? And I guess you don't listen to it, do you?" Indie rock and metal were a bit far apart when it came to taste so he could make a reasonable guess on that.

[MethodicalSlacker]

"Well..."

"Black Sabbath still counts as metal, right?" she asked, "I, uh, have Paranoid on vinyl. Long story."

She had received it as a gag gift from Dana a couple of birthdays ago. Initially put off by the metal sound she imagined it having in her head, she was captivated by the band's name, and wondered if they had any connection to black magic. Violet looked into possible occult imagery of the album online and read about how the band had been harassed by people who thought they were occultists back in the seventies. Curious, she gave the record a spin. It wasn't all that bad. —She appreciated the songs "War Pigs" and "Planet Caravan," the latter finding its way into several playlists of hers.

Even if they were entry level by today's standards, she hoped that Sean would appreciate her trying to branch out a little. Maybe he'd give her some good recommendations to check out later, too? Something older and a little less screamy, that was for sure. She preferred what Sonic Youth considered abrasive to what, say, Skull Tombstone did.

She didn't know if Skull Tombstone was the name of a metal band—the name appeared in her mind out of nowhere—but it may as well have been. Sounded like one, at least.  

[Ohm]

"Black Sabbath?" His smile grew broad at the mention of them, one of his favorites. Most would consider them definitive heavy metal. The birthplace for sure. And they weren't that long to listen to either which was pretty great, Sean had burned through most of their 70's output day in a few days back in middle school.

And she had Paranoid on vinyl? Nice! Maybe he'd get the chance to listen to that.

Sean was in no way biased regarding Paranoid. No siree.

Either way, Black Sabbath was a good first choice. So many influences. Doom metal. Trash metal. Even death metal. Sure, there were people who argued that they were only good with the Ozzy albums and ignore the rest, or the countless arguments about different eras and singers. Sean wondered if they enjoyed the music or just compared them endlessly to seem superior.

Although.... the Ozzy albums are the most consistent.

"That's a pretty good choice! They have enough variation even if you just listen to the Ozzy stuff. Heck, I got into metal by listening to them."

He remembered the highest praise he'd heard for them was when a known metal figure said that every metal band today plays a riff that Black Sabbath has done. He knew it was a heavily bearded dude with cred, which didn't narrow it down at all. Probably Rob Zombie or Zakk Wylde, he guessed. Those were pretty close with Black Sabbath right?

[MethodicalSlacker]

Violet beamed. She shifted away from the near-perfect collection in the bin and turned her body more towards Sean, a move done unconsciously yet earnestly. She had not misspoken, as she had feared, but earned new favor. From her listen, they hadn't sounded all too bad.

"Let me text my sister," she said, taking her phone out of her purse, "maybe she's home, and she can send a picture of the record so you can see."

She opened up messages and started slowly tapping out a message before realizing that Dana would be more likely to answer immediately if she called her. Another few taps on the screen, and the phone was at her ear, buzzing dial tones into her head.

booooooooop.

But maybe she was on the phone with someone else, and she'd be talking with them for hours, and by the time she sent the picture Violet would already be home.

booooooooop.

The space between dial tone seemed like an eternity. She looked down at the floor, and started to shift back and forth.

booooooooop.

Anxiety. Maybe she wasn't at the phone after all.

booooooo-

"Hello?"

Elation. Violet spoke into her phone softly.

"Hey Dana! I was wondering if—"

"Haha, gotcha! I'm not actually at the phone right now, ell-oh-ell. Leave a message, and I'll get to you as soon as I can."

Violet sighed, and waited for the beep.

"Dana. It's Violet. If you hear this before I get home, I was wondering if you could text me a picture of the Black Sabbath record you got me a while ago. Thanks."

She was moving her finger to end the call when another idea crossed her mind. With renewed energy, she put the phone back to her ear.

"Oh, and one more thing! Could you maybe also possibly tell me which records I have by the band Animal Collective? There's a crazy good sale on at Off The Record and I don't wanna waste money on ones I already have. Thanks a million, love you, buh-bye."

Why hadn't she just thought of that earlier?

Violet pressed the end call button and put her phone back, looking back over at Sean. The polite, small-talky part of her wanted to ask him if he had any siblings himself, and the part of her that was still dealing with her sibling wanted to fall on the floor and sigh deeply into the carpet.

"Any relatively entry-level albums I should know about?" she asked instead.

[Ohm]

Alright, alright! It looked like he managed to get someone along with this, though with a wait for her to first text, then call her sister. Sean stood there inspecting the bin in the meanwhile as she made her call. Apparently not home, unlike his brother then...

Once she was done, she turned to him and asked him for entry level albums in heavy metal.

Entry level? Shit, now he really needed to remember. There was so much stuff just this decade could be enough, but yeah--no, the first thing that came to Sean's mind was the old stuff.

Let's see here, he already knew what the bands would be. Metallica, Judas Priest and, of course, Iron Maiden.

Always Iron Maiden.

For Metallica he was wondering. It couldn't be Justice for all, the song length alone made it one of those albums he listened to only once with a few tracks given replays and he didn't want to bore her. And the earlier ones were probably too fast. The Black Album he decided worked, it was mainstream as fuck compared to the four before it with a caveat of sounding far slower. But it works for its purpose. Helps the songs are good. Enter Sandman, Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters. Better than their later stuff anyway.

For Judas, there was a clear era distinction in their sound. Rocka Rolla was a blues record and none of the songs there are played anymore, nice to listen to, but barely Judas. Painkiller is a fantastic album, but too fast? Too Heavy? Probably. Sad Wings of Destiny, it has some great songs on there, Victim of Changes, The Ripper, Dreamer Deceiver & Deceiver. Great album.

Iron Maiden would be Number of the Beast for a bunch of reasons. First Bruce Dickinson album after getting rid of that Paul guy, their first truly great album, the one where they really get their great start in the 80's and sold themselves as one of the greatest heavy metal British bands.

And the songs! The Number of the beast, Run to the hills, Hallowed be thy Name, 22 Acacia Avenue, The Prisoner, Just a flat out fantastic record.

And the first of theirs he had heard. Sure the first two albums aren't bad, but they're not a good indicator of their later albums whatsoever.

"Alright! I got some in mind. Sad Wings of Destiny by Judas Priest. The Number of the beast by Iron Maiden and the Black album by Metallica." He lifted his hands up in the air in front of him and started making motions as he spoke. "Each one from a decade back then. Judas is 70's, Maiden is 80's and Metallica is 90's. They all show how the genre changed across the years and the different themes and ideas for it, you know?" He smiled as his hands moved back down once more and returned to their stations in his pockets. "I hope that's good. And if you got any entry level of your own, I would love to hear them."

[MethodicalSlacker]

Violet took her phone back out and flicked over to the notes app on her phone. She started taking down the names of the albums Sean mentioned, hoping that she didn't get any spelling wrong. His listing of one per decade seemed like a pretty good way to frame it, without going into specific sub-genres. If he decided to ask Violet to list of some essential indie rock albums, she'd have trouble limiting it to just one per decade like he could.

And then, of course, he had to ask. It didn't annoy her, of course, but it meant that she'd have to do a lot of thinking on her feet, which usually meant thinking aloud. She just hoped she wouldn't make a recommendation that would turn him off by being too soft, or anything like that. The fact that he asked her for her own favorites, and not for any recommendations for himself, didn't register in her mind.

"Well," Violet said, looking up at the ceiling, "It's hard for me to pick just a few, but there's this band called Sonic Youth that I think you might enjoy. They have this album called Daydream Nation, which is kind of like their masterpiece, I guess you'd say? They're a little old school, but they're a pretty good band, generally. You're into metal, so some of their more abrasive and heavier songs might be appealing for you."

She took a glance over at the sale bin, hoping that Dana would get back to her soon, then continued on with her soapbox speech.

"If you're willing to give something softer a chance, then you might like Radiohead's album The Bends, which is full of, like, more straight forward rock stuff. Catchy things, with tunes you can really whistle. Um, there's also Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear, which I really like, and A Deeper Understanding by The War On Drugs, which is really recent, but I totally think it'll go down as an essential once enough time has gone by. Then, there's this other band, called, ah, Swans, that I can't really get into, but they've got some heavy stuff too. I tried listening to this album Cop once, and it was a bit too loud for me, but, hey, different strokes?"

Her phone buzzed in her hand. She kept speaking.

"This band Car Seat Headrest just released a re-recording of their album Twin Fantasy, which is, like, holy shit, I want to put this on repeat for every single minute of my life for the next eight years! But then if I could, then I couldn't listen to Teens of Denial, which is also super cool, and that's just the worst dilemma I've ever faced down in my life."

Her phone buzzed again. This time, she noticed. A text from her sister awaited her once she unlocked the phone.

Dana came through with the picture, but had decided to turn it into a selfie for some reason? What was up with that? Violet felt more confused than anything, but shrugged it off; what was more important than Dana inserting herself into the picture with no discernible reason was that she could make out the Animal Collective records behind her on the couch. If she had put them all out, like Violet asked, then Violet's collection of Animal Collective records was fairly extensive. She had Spirit They've Gone, Sung Tongs, Feels, Strawberry Jam, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Centipede Hz, and Painting With as far as full length albums went, and Prospect Hummer, Fall Be Kind, and Meeting of the Waters for EPs. Though happy, Violet felt confused; if Animal Collective had taken up so much of her collection, she thought she'd have remembered more of what she had.

"Guess I had most of their stuff after all," she mumbled, looking back at the sale bin. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sean again, and remembered that she had been in the middle of talking.

I'm, like, the textbook pretentious indie nerd right now, aren't I?

"Sorry, I was rambling right there, wasn't I? I don't wanna talk your ear off, or be annoying, or anything like that."

[Ohm]

And once again, Sean stood there silently as Violet got her phone out once more after his question, and started to ramble in a way about the bands and albums. Sonic Youth. He'd heard of them, always mentioned whenever people brought noise rock or something along those lines, never listened to them though.

Radiohead on the other hand, he had an experience with. Years ago when he was younger, he'd seen this music video of a man wandering round a dilapidated forest walking real weirdly while events just happened around him. Finding clothing around and shit. It was unsettling to say the least, especially when it ended with him becoming a screaming tree with his face poking out. He had trouble sleeping after seeing that.

But a promise is a promise, or at least Sean thought of this as one and he figured their music couldn't be any creepier than their videos.

Unfortunately, the rest were a blank to him, which felt weird, but expected. Well, kind of? With vivid names like that you'd think he'd heard of them at least once in some context. Apparently not though, so it has turned into uncharted territory for him. In a way it was exciting, but at the same times fears inducing. Sort of. Albums didn't really scare him, unsettling was probably the better word when he thought about it. Anyway, it meant he didn't know what to think or feel when he would eventually listened to them.

Usually when he listened to music, it was stuff he'd heard about a ton of times through word of mouth or reddit. So this was pretty different, a cute girl telling him her favorite albums to listen to. Honestly, something he could get used to.

Suddenly Violet's attention was captured by her phone buzzing repeatedly. Probably her sister about those albums? He guessed as she was enraptured by it and his attention went elsewhere for a brief bit, awkwardly staring at the ceiling before she spoke up again.

"What? No, no. It's alright! It's pretty cool to see you're so into it." He said quickly, an attempt at assuaging her fear of being annoying. He couldn't really find her rambling annoying, just a part of who she is when it came to music. And frankly, he'd seen far worse behavior when it came to music sharing so mild rambling about your favorite albums barely registered with him.

"Anyways.... You have the albums you were looking for?" He looked down the bin as he said so, it was Animal Collective wasn't it? That's what she mentioned while on the phone. Never heard of that either, but maybe he'd check that out too while he was at this music binge...

[MethodicalSlacker]

"I have most of what's here," she said, folding her arms across her chest, "But there are still a couple that I don't. Have, that is."

Of all the albums in the bin, she liked Here Comes the Indian the most. It was chaotic and noisy, but it was a very rich and colorful album despite how strange and abrasive it could be at times. She picked it up out of the bin and put it under her arm. In that moment, she wondered how many people only bought records they had already heard before. It was too much of a risk, at current prices, to always take a gamble on something you had never heard of, especially if it was some kind of double LP or something. Still, half of the fun of crate digging was supposed to be finding something that changed you in some way, something that would have been lost to time and dust if you weren't there to find it. If Violet was missing out on that experience, what else was she missing out on when it came to music? She hadn't been to any live shows yet, but she was due to see Beach House and of Montreal in April. Were they somewhere in the bin, too?

Sean was missing out on the entire vinyl experience, though. He was broke, so maybe here was a chance to do a good deed for the day. Maybe this was where the calling had come from; not from the store, not from the sale, but from the Sean? And anyways, Here Comes the Indian only set her back six dollars, so...

"I've got some money left over," Violet remarked, "I could get you an album, if you wanted. Since you said you're out of money, and all."

She smiled at him as warmly as she could, and silently hoped that she wasn't being too strange or awkward or anything like that. All she saw was a music fan in a spot that she had been too many times to count, and the chance to pay it forward.

Maybe he'll ask to see if I can get him one of the albums I recommended to him.

It was selfish to do so, but she hoped all the same.

[Ohm]

She answered his question with an affirmative. So she did have most of those albums. He wasn't surprised in the least honestly. Not after her ramble earlier.

As she looked through the bin, he wondered what it was like having a bunch of albums physically. That'd be an awesome feeling. Just having it in your hands and in a special place at your home made it all feel better than having it in a library on your phone or PC. More satisfying at least.

In a way, he was jealous of her for that.

But then she turned it around and that brief jealousy evaporated when she offered to buy him an album for him, free of charge with a smile on her face. He stood there dumbstruck. He didn't have any intention of getting anything when he got here, broke as he is. And... could he really accept that from her? It's a nice gesture for sure and it'd be nice... but he would need to pay her back.

"Um..." he said as he snuck his right hand up the back of his cap and scratched his head while looking around the racks. What album, would they even be getting? One of the ones she mentioned? "... Sure. maybe something from that... Radiohead band you mentioned?" He tried to return her smile with one of his own, but he would admit it didn't look as good as hers.