14 | November | 2014 | Heartbreaking Bravery

November 14, 2014

Screaming Females – Ripe (Stream)

To close out tonight’s posting spree, there’ll be a few more gems in this introductory paragraph and then another look at Screaming Females‘ upcoming Rose Mountain to bring this bout to a close. Darlings teased the casual sprawl of the noise pop that’ll undoubtedly be populating their upcoming Feel Better with “Mein the Sky“, a track that single-handedly ensure Feel Better‘s status as a record to be met with anticipation. A curious pair of videos surfaced in the just-now-released clip for Jawbreaker’s classic “Boxcar” and a shadowy night drive provided the visual template for Total Control’s future classic, “Flesh War“. On the full stream front, Kid Wave unleashed torrents of shoegaze-inspired noise-punk with their incredible Gloom EP, which deserves to be regarded as one of the year’s best. Then, to top everything off, Screaming Females dug their nails and teeth deep into the vicious “Ripe”- and in doing so, earned the last feature spot of the night.

“Ripe” accompanied the announcement of Rose Mountain (due out via Don Giovanni on February 24), the band’s follow-up to 2012’s career-best effort, Ugly. With “Wishing Well” having already provided a first look at the band’s upcoming record- and especially with “Ripe” augmenting it- the band’s trend of continuously topping themselves seems set to continue. Guitarist and vocalist Marissa Paternoster seems to be experimenting with a subtle restraint that’s paying massive dividends for the new batch of songs thus far, allowing the coursing energy of the music to be emphasized more fully than ever before. Unsurprisingly, Paternoster’s riffs remain as blistering as ever and her vocal delivery’s still incredibly impassioned and laced with a staggering amount of conviction.

Jarrett Dougherty’s drumming’s still as powerful as it is precise but the work King Mike lays down on bass is easily among the best of his career. Paternoster and Mike trade riffs with a deranged glee, building “Ripe” into an unshakable basement punk bruiser. At some point over the course of the song’s three minute and 17-second run time, it seems like “Ripe” lights a fire underneath itself, pushing everyone in the band to play like their lives depend on equally fiery performances. This eventually leads the trio straight into one of the best bridges they’ve concocted, aided by some brilliant production work that rivals what Albini managed to accomplish with Ugly. By the time “Ripe” comes to its severely punchy conclusion, Screaming Females have outrun another grenade blast of their own design. Should all of Rose Mountain live up to the promise of its first two tracks, 2015 will have a very early Album of the Year contender.

Stream “Ripe” via the somewhat disconcerting video below and make sure to pre-order Rose Mountain from Don Giovanni as soon as it’s a possibility.

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November 14, 2014

Slight – Run (EP Review, Stream)

Part 3 of tonight’s ongoing series of coverage for the great little bits and pieces of entertainment to have surfaced in the past two days operates like its precedents: four items worth looking into and one feature spot. That there is a feature spot to be granted shouldn’t demerit anything that gets mentioned in this space, though. Everything that earns a link on this site is put there for a reason; if it’s linked, don’t make the mistake of missing out on what it leads to- because it would be a massive mistake. Things like Bugs in the Dark‘s visceral gut-punch of a record, Cross My Heart Little Death, don’t come around often and neither do songs like The Chemistry Experiment’s delicate “Channel Light Vessel“, which pulls in aspects of several genres to create a soft-edged psych-pop tapestry. A pair of music videos worth several looks also fought their way out into the world; Medicine‘s aggressively warped kaleidoscopic head trip for “Move Along – Down the Road” and the breezy charms of Quilt’s clips video for “Mary Mountain“. Then, to complete everything, there was the sophomore effort of Brooklyn’s ragtag crew in Slight (for those keeping score at home, that’d be Painted Zeros and Trace Mountains member Jim Hill, LVL UP‘s Greg Rutkin, and Catalonia’s Alberto Casadevall).

Run, which follows the band’s excellent townie490, may take the the track total from five down to two but it certainly doesn’t skimp on the band’s key elements: hooks, melody, fuzz, crunch, personality, and left field basement pop. The title track kicks things off at a full sprint, with promises of remaining level-headed enveloped in the adrenaline rush of the music. Rutkin proves to be a force behind the kit, urging everything forward while Hill’s guitar and synth work seems intent on trying to outstrip everyone, leaving Casadevall to keep everything in check with workmanlike bass lines. There’s a clear 90’s influence culled from the band’s powerpop pull and slacker punk aesthetics but they’re supplied with a modern worldview and a sense of history that supports the contrast that always exists between brave modernity and the tried-and-true.

While “Run” may skew towards a weird, contained combination of Lost Boy ? and Superchunk, the track that follows it- “The News”- veers more towards Sloan with Slight’s fuzz-is-bliss identity starting to punch holes through their influences before too long. Synths serve as a warm bed for a track that darts, cuts, and charges just as fiercely as “Run”, only at a slightly slower clip. After everything clicks and sends it rocketing upward, it fades out in a bout of feedback (and one tastefully subtle synth interjection) leaving nothing but a trail of smoke in Slight’s wake. If the band’s next release is even half as good as this pair of tracks, Slight could be the next in line to break out and make a serious name for themselves.

Listen to Run below and snag the band’s young discography from their bandcamp.

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November 14, 2014

Big Lonely – Dirty Clocks (Music Video)

Continuing on with tonight’s round-up of some of the best material to have emerged over the course of the past two days, there’s another small handful of things to celebrate. Music videos were strongly represented by the surgical precision of Primitive Parts‘ post-punk party “TV Wheels” and Meatbodies‘ raw lo-fi visual experimentation in “Rotten“. Washer unleashed another blast of frenetic chaos with the jittery “Rinse & Spit” and Ex-Cult previewed their upcoming record with the relentless post-punk frenzy of “Cigarette Machine“. Rounding things out was the full stream of Curse Purse’s harsh and willfully destructive self-titled EP. All four are worth some investment but it was a clever video from Big Lonely that wound up standing out and snagging this particular feature spot.

Immediately setting itself up as a hockey video, “Dirty Clocks” opens on a line of people decked out in the Toronto Maple Leafs blue and white. Any ideas of this being a traditional team-worship type of video are immediately thrown out of the window with the first quick cut, which reveals a man taking money at the door of a fairly nondescript house. It doesn’t take too long for the premise to kick itself into motion, quickly establishing a battle royale in the world of underground table top hockey. According to the press copy, this is largely a piece about loss, which does come through- particularly in the video’s closing scene- but it does also have its celebratory elements. No matter the outcome, it’s a shared experience, one that reaches a fever pitch near the climactic moment. The character set up as the hero may lose to prove a very humanizing point but there’s still a dedication for the craft that comes through via some surprisingly beautiful cinematography. Alcohol is spilled, voices are lost, friends are hugged, and the powerpop song propelling everything forward even leans into a blistering section that nears post-hardcore. Everything is cleverly constructed and cued to perfection. It’s eloquently staged and delivered in earnest, rendering “Dirty Clocks” a fascinating piece of work from a band that seems hell-bent on making all of the right moves.

Watch “Dirty Clocks” below and keep an eye on Big Lonely, this kind of ambition usually yields great dividends.