Para Toda Vida

Para Toda Vida is the second studio album by The New Amsterdams, the side project of Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids. Recorded in 2001 at Z'gwonth Studios in Lawrence, Kansas, the album was tracked during the same period as The Get Up Kids' 'On a Wire.' While their debut featured a fuller, upright-bass-driven Americana sound, this record is a significant pivot toward extreme minimalism. It consists almost entirely of acoustic guitar and vocals, with very sparse accompaniment. The album includes covers of local Kansas artists, such as Kill Creek and The Tijuana Crime Scene, rooting it deeply in its regional scene. Critically, the album was polarizing; some praised its raw vulnerability, while others, including Pitchfork and Ox-Fanzine, found its lack of dynamic range and skeletal arrangements to be underwhelming compared to Pryor's more melodic work. It remains the most stark and isolated entry in the band's discography.