In MKE Music Rewind we revisit notable Milwaukee music that was released before Milwaukee Record became a thing in April 2014. In this installment: Absolutely’s 2011 debut Learns To Love Mistakes.
Isn’t it weird when an album you could’ve sworn came out six or seven years ago turns out to be not 10, but 15 years old? And isn’t it weird when you search for that same album on your website and you only come up with two hits? Yep, it’s weird!
Such is the case with Learns To Love Mistakes, the debut album from Milwaukee post-punk trio Absolutely. It was released in March 2011, which is indeed 15 years ago.
As for the two hits on this website, well, they’re both doozies. In our very first week of existence, in April 2014, we ran an ambitious three-part “50 best Milwaukee albums of the 2010s (so far)” list. Learns To Love Mistakes, then only three years old, came in at number 35:
Summoning the ghosts of ’90s Midwest emo and hardcore, Absolutely’s winningly sloppy Learns To Love Mistakes succeeds as both a history lesson and a map of things to come. All the retro-emo signifiers are there—angular guitars, heart-on-sleeve vocals—but there’s something thrillingly new when singer Gosha Ananchev howls “Do I have to repeat myself?” on “Yosemite.” Happily, Learns To Love Mistakes is less repeat, and more refresh.
Absolutely followed up Mistakes with several more releases, culminating in 2018’s Plays Pillory Crown Shyness. And wouldn’t you know it, that record found its way to our “25 best Milwaukee albums” list of that year. It landed at number 12:
It seems like a lifetime since the release of 2011’s Learns To Love Mistakes, the jaw-dropping debut from Absolutely. That record summoned the ghosts of ’90s Midwest emo and hardcore; its follow-up, 2014’s Cannot Find, staked out more introspective territory. Now, four years later, comes Plays Pillory Crown Shyness, an altogether knottier, moodier, and more instrumental collection of math-y post-punk that demands your attention—and repeat listens. Everything sounds incredible (dig the glowering roller coaster that is “Stone”) and unexpected instrumental flourishes appear throughout: a lovely piano outro here (“Son”), a haunting melodica stab there (“Pipeline Lament”). There’s even time for a gorgeous wash of sound (“Crown Shyness”) before a five-minute descent into musical madness (“Deep Web Noir”). Even if Absolutely takes another four years to release a record, there’s plenty to chew on here.
And why not, here’s Absolutely playing at the old East Side Exclusive Company (now Lilliput Records) on Record Store Day, six or seven years ago. Oh, wait…this was 13 years ago? Sigh.
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