01 | May | 2015 | Heartbreaking Bravery

May 1, 2015

Midnight Reruns – Ain’t Gonna Find (Stream)

2015 has kept the great material coming in at a breakneck pace on a daily basis. Over the past few days, a lot of attention-deserving content has come trickling into the fold. Few of them have been more exhilarating- or more unexpected- than site favorites Midnight Reruns’ latest EP, Get Me Out. Announced on their Facebook, it was a blink-and-miss-it type of prospect but acts as a full illustration of the band’s startling progression. For a while, guitarist/vocalist Graham Hunt was concerned that the band would be pegged as a niche powerpop act following the releases of a strong EP (Central Time) and an even stronger self-titled full-length. Having already established themselves as one of the more exciting emerging acts in the upper Midwest, the band’s hell-bent on taking things to the next level- and for good reason.

Get Me Out arrives in advance of the band’s forthcoming full-length, which was recorded and produced by longtime fan/supporter Tommy Stinson (yes, that Tommy Stinson- the one whose band Midnight Reruns will be opening for tomorrow in Milwaukee). As evidenced by the band’s incendiary live shows, their newest material has all been equipped with more challenging dynamics that are quickly revealing the band to be quite a bit more multi-dimensional than they may have appeared at first glance. With shows at The Fest coming up and a few more things in motion, they’re set to capitalize on their building momentum. It’s part of why Get Me Out is a crucial, if small, release. None of the songs on the EP- other than the one contained in this post’s headline- will be appearing on the band’s impending full-length, which effectively renders the collection as an extremely tantalizing teaser.

“Ain’t Gonna Find”, the collection’s lead-off, is one of the most monstrously poppy songs the band’s ever committed to a recording. From the surging guitar progression to the shamelessly catchy “na na na” chorus, it’s an intensely immediate and accessible work, definitively proving that they’ve mastered a niche genre pocket. Dig a little deeper and a few other things start to betray the band’s growing ambitions; the intuitive lead guitar part that appears in the back-half of the second verse, the shape-shifting bridge, and the cavalcade of seemingly non-stop hooks- the band’s not only mastered this genre, they’ve transcended it. Yet, it’s likely still the most straightforward song on the band’s upcoming release. As a standalone single, it’s every self-defeatist’s summer anthem; as a look ahead, it’s intriguing. As a piece of the band’s history, it’s a perfectly-timed, perfectly-executed shot that might just wind up hitting the exact right mark.

Listen to “Ain’t Gonna Find” below and let the fantastic Get Me Out stream through when it’s finished. Pick it up today and tomorrow for free on the band’s bandcamp and keep an eye on this site for further details.

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May 1, 2015

Titus Andronicus – Dimed Out (Lyric Video)

A small handful of great clips have managed to appear over the past few days. Those videos include Inheaven’s deeply unsettling “Slow“, Alabama Shakes’ gorgeous, 2001-indebted “Sound & Color“, TULA’s uncompromisingly stunning “River“, Toro Y Moi’s grocery store adventure “Lilly“, Lonnie in the Gardens’ stark, contrasting “Natasha“, Derider’s foreboding, effects-laden “Rusty Nail“, and The Teen Age’s grotesquely clever narrative experiment “Low Cunning“. All seven of those entries are fine examples of the format but today’s focus falls to an even more niche field: the lyric video. It’s difficult to make one that’s compelling enough to act as a standalone (the only two that immediately come to mind from last year are Lady Lamb’s “Billions of Eyes” and HDTV’s gloriously insane “Wrong Hole“) but Titus Andronicus prove to be more than up to the challenge with their clip for the characteristically frantic (and typically brilliant) “Dimed Out”.

Any band that creates a record on the level of The Monitor (i.e., an unimpeachable masterpiece) is going to have to deal with a career of heightened expectations. More than a few songwriters have buckled under that weight- but the ones that haven’t all share a similar quality: unerring ambition. Patrick Stickles belongs to that select group of perennially unsatisfied minds. And, yes, Local Business may have seemed diminutive in comparison to its immediate predecessor but it still held up as a complete, compelling work. For Stickles & co.’s forthcoming record, the stakes have been raised yet again- this time in the form of a double-album rock opera staged in five acts, The Most Lamentable Tragedy, that seems to hinge on a through-line that heavily reflects on identity and manic depression. The band’s assembled a murderer’s row of guests for the record, ranging from The So So Glos to Owen Pallett to Lost Boy ?, and just unveiled the surprisingly gripping Stickles-directed lyric video for lead-off single “Dimed Out”. Lyric clips are very rarely executed as well as Stickles manages here (the instruction manual section is particularly golden) and the whole thing’s teeming with the band’s uncontainable energy providing it with an extra jolt of headlong exhilaration.

Watch “Dimed Out” below and pre-order The Most Lamentable Tragedy from Merge here.

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May 1, 2015

Meat Wave – Erased (Stream, Live Video)

Since this site started, I’ve been fortunate enough to make some direct connections with bands I’ve had a genuine, long-standing love for. One of the acts that stands out most, especially in those respects, is the Chicago-based Meat Wave. Back in October, we were lucky enough to host Meat Wave as part of the first-ever Heartbreaking Bravery Presents and in the time that’s followed, the band’s (unsurprisingly) been generating quite a bit of noise. A sold-out show in Brooklyn with Perfect Pussy here, one of 2015’s best EP‘s there, headlining a VICE house party in London, dropping an endearingly scrappy slasher clip for a song… the band’s had a pretty good year. Now, with new material from a forthcoming record starting to surface, it’s only set to get better.

“Erased”, the band’s latest, is a glimpse at what the band’s got in store for the future. They’ve retained their Wipers-leaning bent but transformed it into something even more tenacious. Sounding more intensively focused and bold than ever, “Erased” gets taken up a few levels thanks to one of guitarist/vocalist’s Chris Sutter’s most snarling performances (and a characteristically powerhouse turn-in from the band’s rhythm section, made up of drummer Ryan Wizniak- who also played with Sutter in the excellent Truman & His Trophy– and bassist Joe Gac). Off-kilter and absolutely unhinged, “Erased” sounds downright feral while elevating all of the elements that have made Meat Wave one of the most formidable bands in the Midwest. It’s a tantalizing step forward for the band and it remains as powerful- and as deceptively catchy- as it was when the band used it to open their set back in October. Video of that performance can be found below the embedded stream. As for the album, keep an eye on this site for any further details- they’ll be posted as they’re received.

Listen to (and watch the live video of) “Erased” below.

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