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LOST CLASSICS

Lost Classics: The Anniversary “Your Majesty”

tapem200bThey’re nobody’s buzz bands anymore. But since 1993, MAGNET has discovered and documented more great music than memory will allow. The groups may have broken up or the albums may be out of print, but this time, history is written by the losers. Here are some of the finest albums that time forgot but we remembered in issue #75, plus all-new additions to our list of Lost Classics.

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:: THE ANNIVERSARY
Your Majesty // Vagrant, 2002

This Lawrence, Kan., band attracted both new-wave knocks (due to keyboard-crazy 2000 debut Designing A Nervous Breakdown) and the libelous emo label (via its affiliation with the Get-Up Kids), but it was more a case of guilt-by-association than anything else. Sophomore LP Your Majesty showed the New Pornographers to be a more appropriate touchstone. Anniversary co-leaders Josh Berwanger and Justin Roelofs swapped power-pop pith like a split-personality Carl Newman, with Adrianne Verhoeven’s sweet counterpoint playing the Neko Case part on bleeding-heart bookends “Sweet Marie” and “Follow The Sun.”

Catching Up: After the band’s 2004 demise, Berwanger went on to form the Only Children, whose 2004 debut Change Of Living found him sounding like a Ryan Adams-esque Southern rocker. Roelofs’ solo White Flight issued a self-titled LP in 2007. Verhoeven joined Azure Ray’s Orenda Fink in the group Art In Manila for a 2007 album and released an electro/dance solo album under the name Dri the same year. Last June, Vagrant issued Devil On Our Side, a two-disc set of the Anniversary’s b-sides and rarities.

“Sweet Marie”: