''En Garde'' is the debut album of

indie-rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produce ...

band, Criteria. Formed by one of the founding members of

Cursive Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...

, Steve Pedersen came back to his hometown of

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

after graduating from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. He recruited the help of old friends,

Aaron Druery Criteria is an indie rock band from Omaha, Nebraska, formed in 2003 when ex-Cursive founding member Steve Pedersen returned to his hometown after graduating from the Duke University School of Law. He spent six months in a friend's basement wher ...

, A.J. Mogis, and

Mike Sweeney Michael John Sweeney (born July 22, 1973) is a former Major League Baseball designated hitter and first baseman. Sweeney played his first 13 seasons in the majors with the Kansas City Royals, first as a catcher, then at first base and designated ...

. Originally released by

Initial Records Initial Records was an independent record label in Louisville, Kentucky, that was founded in 1992. The label released music by Falling Forward, Boysetsfire and Ink & Dagger, and created the annual weekend long music festival, Krazy Fest. Hist ...

, it was re-released in 2005 when the band moved to

Saddle Creek Records Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...

. This album is the 80th release of

Track listing

(all songs written by Stephen Pedersen) # "The Coincidence" – 2:35 # "Mainline Life" – 2:36 # "Play on Words" – 4:48 # "Talk in a Crowded Room" - 1:43 # "The Life" – 2:45 # "Me On Your Front Porch" – 3:26 # "It Happens" – 2:33 # "The Slider" – 2:24 # "Thorn Sharp" - 3:24 # "Rescue Rescue" - 4:26

Musicians/Help

* Steve Pedersen - Guitar, Vocals, Engineering *

AJ Mogis A.J. Mogis is a musician from North Platte, Nebraska. He currently plays bass guitar in the indie-rock band Criteria. His brother is Mike Mogis. Together, they founded Presto! Recording Studios and have recorded almost all the albums released b ...

- Engineering, Mixing * Ian McElroy * Ryan Fox *

Conor Oberst Conor Mullen Oberst (born February 15, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos, the Faint (previously named Norman Bailer), Commander Venu ...

*Matt Baum *

Doug Van Sloun Doug is a male personal name (or, depending on which definition of "personal name" one uses, part of a personal name). It is sometimes a given name (or "first name"), but more often it is hypocorism (affectionate variation of a personal name) which ...

- Mastering

Trivia

*The CD contains a hidden track in zero time (go to track 1 and then rewind) and features a song by Team Rigge, the lyrics are response to The Show is the Rainbow's song, "Up a Creek without a Saddle," which disses

References

External links

Criteria official websiteCriteria on MySpaceSaddle Creek Records
{{Authority control 2003 debut albums Criteria (band) albums Saddle Creek Records albums