Randy Garcia (QRO interview), founder of Atlanta's NoPhi Records (and Nophest - QRO recap) & The Nerd Parade has always worked a bit ‘behind the scenes’, whether running a label & festival (the latter of which actually didn't feature any artists from the former), to employing female vocals to lead Nerd Parade.  But as ‘R. Garcia’, he steps a bit more into the spotlight, albeit letting his instruments do the talking on the nearly all instrumental I Used To Write On Walls & Other New York City Stories.

Whereas the last Nerd Parade release, The Span of a Life (QRO review) had a bit of a party atmosphere (with tracks like "Yay, Yeah, Uh-huh!"), Write On Walls is much spookier, including echo effects on "The Inquisition", airy-meets-tech in the following "Nowhere Song", and the post-rock-ish rises & falls of "Dumb, Ugly & Horny".  However, the record also starts with the twangy instrumental "The Second Floor", and has some relaxed, removed, sweet alt-country in another early piece, "Every Trip Around the Sun".  It also finishes with the cheery ‘sunshine after the rain’, "Lady Cop".

But the heart of I Used To Write On Walls is the un-beating one of the undead, in "Vampire Girl".  A recording from an old vampire movie starts the piece off, but the epic instrumental practically tells a story all on its own, without words.  Like any near-completely instrumental piece, one does at times wish for some sort of vocals, but that lack of just makes the whole thing more haunting.

MP3 Stream: "Vampire Girl"