Heartbreaking Bravery

stevenmps2@gmail.com | @steven_mps | @hbreakbravery

Tag: 100&

March 21, 2017

Full Streams of the First Quarter: The Honorable Mentions

Technical difficulties forced Heartbreaking Bravery into an effective hiatus at the start of the year but, even through the visible inaction, behind-the-scenes work continued in earnest. Various outlets depths were exhausted, the site’s inbox maintained its regular flood of releases, and everything else that emerged was meticulously examined. Over the course of 2017’s first quarter (minus a week or so), more than 100 great records were released. 10 will be spotlighted in the very near future and the rest of the releases that caused a positive reaction can be found below. Enjoy.

Cool American, Alexander F, The Courtneys, Single Player, Schlotman, Street Stains, Thurst, Teenage Wedding, oso oso, Sam Skinner, Thelma, Wild Pink, Toby Reif, Omni, Pissed Jeans, Baked, WHY?, Neutral Shirt, Hideout, SSWAMPZZ, Boosegumps, Maryn Jones, Luxury Death, UV-TV, Ron Gallo, Matty Ann, Communions, Hanni El Khatib, Vagabon, So Stressed, The Paranoyds, Middle Kids, David Bazan, Toner, minihorse, Fucked Up, Olive & The Pitz, Boreen, Two Moons, wayde, The Spirit of the Beehive

Lunch Ladies, Heavy Pockets, Layperson, Little Person, Laura Marling, Chick Quest, Tobin Spout, Tall Friend, Caitlin Pasko, The Molochs, Trust Fund, Pinegrove, 
 Radula, Sinai Vessel, CARE, Michael Chapman, Jamie Wyatt, The Modern Savage, Analog Candle, Louise Lemón, Heart Attack Man, Matthew Lee Cothran, Retail Space, The Cherry Wave, Frederick the Younger, No Thank You, Railings, Crushed Stars, Fragrance., ShitKid, Joan of Arc, Jim O’Rourke, Black Kids, Knife in the Water, bvdub

The Ocean Party, VICTIME, Career Suicide, Dead Man Winter, Lindenfield, Loess, Redshift Headlights, Balto, Angelus, Fufanu, French Vanilla, The Wild War, Turn to Crime, Souvenir Driver, Stinking Lizaveta, Matteo Vallicelli, Milk Music, Caroline Spence, NAVVI, Cody Crumps, Exasperation, Xiu Xiu, Damaged Bug, Winston Hightower, Kim Free, Kikagaku Moyo, Lilah Larson, Appalache, Eric Burnham, Party of One, Noveller, sir Was, R. Missing, Yawn Mower, Moral Panic, Auditorium, The Pantheon, The Obsessives

Dakota Blue, Skullflower, My Education, Lowlands, Half Waif, Trevor de Brauw, Strange Ranger, Once & Future Band, DONCAT, The Visis, Blank Range, Transona Five, 100%/Joyce Manor, and Dead Tenants/Drome.

A special mention should also be given to these five compilations, all supporting worthy causes: Our First 100 Days (at the time of this writing, this release is still being updated), Sad! A Barsuk Records Compilation for the ACLU, Is There Another Language?, Save the Smell, and Don’t Stop Now: A Collection of Covers.

Leave a comment
February 13, 2016

2015: A Year’s Worth of Memories (100%)

elaiza

The May 5-12 series served as my introduction to the music of 100%, a project intentionally cloaked in mystique. Ever since then, I’ve become increasingly absorbed in the frequently haunting worlds that 100% conjures into existence. The music the project creates tends to carry an undercurrent that not only begs but rewards return visits, even when it never fully answers some of the questions it presents. Deeply alluring and endlessly fascinating, it remains a project that feels inherently distinctive. With the guarded lengths the project’s gone to maintain some semblance of anonymity, it’s a privilege to get a glimpse into some of the more acute machinations that drive 100% via its influences. Find out what some of those influences are below.

++

Album: Sloppy Music to Feel Dreamy to (2003)
Artist: Wizard Apprentice
Track: Polyamory Anthem (Worthless) 

If you slow this down and change the pitch lower by a hair on QuickTime, you can open a portal into your own heart. untouched, it still sounds pretty devotional. What a cool sonic/visual artist with lyrics that get right to my gut.

Although i can’t be yooourss alone, that doooesnn’t maaaake it worthless.

Album: Small Wind Power (2015)
Artist: Fraternal Twin
Track: The Loud Word

I slept on this album, maybe out of a subconscious effort to save it for when i needed it most. And then a night came when I wanted to vanish and track two was all I could listen to on loop. Don’t mean to be corny or dramatic, but it’s true. Saved m’dang life!

Album: Official Waste (2013)
Artist: Ancestral Diet 
Track: Water Buries

Soundtrack to my eerie spring night bike rides home from the devilish depths of the library. Clare’s arrangements, subject matter, and overall demeanor were a huge influence on the music I made earlier in the year. Shrouds of mystery and images of water. Danger! I was looking for this album since winter of 2013(?) and it came back to me years later in the company of the person from whom i’d heard it the first time without getting a chance to ask who we were listening to then. I ended up telling her this story in person and it spooked us both. This stuff makes me tongue tied. approach with caution.

-Elaiza

2 Comments
January 14, 2016

The Honorable Mentions of the 2015 Music Categories

Saintseneca I

Before diving into the particulars of the forthcoming lists, it’s worth addressing the distinction made in the headline. Each of the categories that received a list in 2015 (music videos, songs, EP’s, albums, odds and ends) will be expanded upon in this post. However, there are still two forthcoming film lists but each of those will include the honorable mentions along with the featured rankings. An obscene amount of great material came out over the 12 months that comprised the past year so any attempts to cover everything would be futile. If anyone’s exhausted the below lists, a more comprehensive version can be found by exploring the following tags: stream, full stream, EP stream, and music video. Explore some of the top tier picks that didn’t make it onto the year-end lists via the tags below.

Music Videos

Screaming Females – Hopeless | Cayetana – Scott, Get the Van I’m Moving | Ephrata – Say A Prayer | ANAMIA – Lucia | Joanna Newsom – Sapokinakan | Battles – The Yabba | FIDLAR – 40 Oz. On Repeat | PINS – Young Girls | Doomtree – Final Boss | Hundred Waters – Innocent | Celestial Shore – Now I Know | Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment – Sunday Candy | Modest Mouse – Coyotes | Girlpool – Before The World Was Big | Laura Marling – Gurdijeff’s Daughter | Bay Uno – Wait For Your Love | The Staves – Black & White | Young Buffalo – No  Idea | Avid Dancer – All Your Words Are Gone | Avi Buffalo – Think It’s Gonna Happen Again | Adir L.C. – Buyer’s Instinct | Midnight Reruns – Canadian Summer | Daughter – Doing The Right Thing | John Grant – Disappointing | Waxahatchee – Under A Rock | Wimps – Dump | Potty Mouth – Cherry Picking | Froth – Nothing Baby | The Libertines – Heart of the Matter | Car Seat Headrest – Something Soon | Mike Krol – Neighborhood Watch | Savages – The Answer | Kurt Vile – Pretty Pimpin | Bully – Trying | Sheer – Uneasy  | Will Butler – Anna

EPs

Snail Mail – Sticki | Kindling – Galaxies | Eugene Quell – I Will Work The Land | Gumbus – Crimbus Rock | Rye Pines – Rye Pines | Feral Jenny – Greatest Hits | Slutever – Almost Famous | Gracie – Gracie | Nice Guys – Chips in the Moonlight | Anomie – Anomie | Kitner – Stay Sad | Animal Flag – EP 2 | Never Young – Never Young | Birches – Birches | Alimony Hustle – Gutter Gutter Strike Strike Gutter Gutter | The Lumes – Lust | Pretty Pretty – Talkin’ to the Walls | Vomitface – Another Bad Year | PALMAS – To the Valley | Greys – Repulsion | Wild Pink – Good Life | The Glow – Lose | Spirit of the Beehive – You Are Arrived (But You’ve Been Cheated) | Shady Hawkins – The Last Dance | Holy Esque – Submission | Ashland – Ashland | Isabel Rex – American Colliquialisms/Two Hexes | Pet Cemetery – Dietary Requirements | Milk Crimes – Milk Crimes | Rubber Band Gun – Making A Fool of Myself | Creative Adult – Ring Around the Room | Amber Edgar – Good Will Rise | La Casa al Mare – This Astro | Trophy Dad – Shirtless Algebra Fridays | Glueboy – Videorama | Birds in Row – Personal War | YVETTE – Time Management | Communions – Cobblestones | O-Face – Mint | Day Wave – Headcase | Granny – EGG | Van Dammes – Better Than Sex | Vallis Alps – Vallis Alps | Little Children – Traveling Through Darkness | Philadelphia Collins – Derp Swervin’ | The Tarantula Waltz – Lynx | Nicolas Jaar – Nymphs II | The Japanese House – Pools To Bathe In | Guerilla Toss – Flood Dosed | Los Planetas – Dobles Fatigas | See Through Dresses – End of Days | Earl Sweatshirt – Solace | Kississippi – We Have No Future, We’re All Doomed | Yumi Zouma – EP II | G.L.O.S.S. – Girls Living Outside of Society’s Shit | Fresh Snow – WON | Girl Band – The Early Years | XXIX – Wafia | together PANGEA – The Phage | Ty Segall – Mr. Face | Young Guv – Ripe 4 Luv

Songs

Yowler – The Offer | Meat Wave – Cosmic Zoo | Pleasure Leftists – Protection | Saintseneca – Sleeper Hold | Slight – Hate the Summer | Sports – The Washing Machine | Diet Cig – Sleep Talk | LVL UP – The Closing Door | Royal Headache – High | Tica Douglas – All Meanness Be Gone | Speedy Ortiz – Raising the Skate | Phooey! – Molly’s at the Laundromat | Adir L.C. – Buyer’s Instinct | Sweet John Bloom – Tell Me | Pile – Mr. Fish | Screaming Females – Hopeless | Ernie – Sweatpants | Bad Wig – Stargazer | Dusk – Too Sweet | Painted Zeros – Only You | Krill – Torturer | Young Jesus – Milo | Tenement – Ants + Flies | Midnight Reruns – Richie the Hammer | Melkbelly – Mt. Kool Kid | The Weasel, Marten Fisher – Empty Bucket List | Soul Low – Always Watchin’ Out | Eluvium – Neighboring In Telescopes | Algiers – Blood | Institute – Cheerlessness | Bruising – Think About Death | Vacation – Like Snow | Cende – Widow | Alex G – Brite Boy | Bully – Trying | Nicole Dollanganger – You’re So Cool | Sheer – Uneasy | Laura Stevenson – Claustrophobe | Kathryn Calder – New Millenium | The Foetals – Nothing | Lady Bones – Botch | Dogs On Acid – Let the Bombs Fall Off | Fraser A. Gorman – Shiny Gun | Bandit – The Drive Home | Mercury Girls – Golden | ThinLips – Nothing Weird | Wimps – Dump | S.M. Wolf – Help Me Out | Glueboy – Back to You | Mean Creek – Forgotten Streets | Ratboys – Tixis | PINS – Young Girls | Shilpa Ray – Johnny Thunders Fantasy Space Camp | White Reaper – Make Me Wanna Die | Lady Lamb – Spat Out Spit | Washer – Joe | Pupppy – Puking (Merry Christmas) | Midwives – Back in the Saddle Again | Torres – Strange Hellos | METZ – Spit You Out | Jeff Rosenstock – You In Weird Cities | Little Wings – Hollowed Log | Bent Denim – Good Night’s Sleep | Waxahatchee – Under A Rock

Albums

Girlpool – Before The World Was Big | Screaming Females – Rose Mountain | Yowler – The Offer | Saintseneca – Such Things | Bully – Feels Like | Tica Douglas – Joey | Evans the Death – Expect Delays | Torres – Sprinter | Waxahatchee – Ivy Tripp | Fred Thomas – All Are Saved | Krill – A Distant Fist Unclenching | Ratboys – AOID | Joanna Gruesome – Peanut Butter | METZ – II | Little Wings – Explains | Slanted – Forever | Bent Denim – Romances You | Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – The High Country | White Reaper – White Reaper Does It Again | The Armed – Untitled | Shilpa Ray – Last Year’s Savage | The Foetals – Meet the Foetals | Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Style | Wimps – Suitcase | Westkust – Last Forever | Girl Band – Holding Hands With Jamie | Cloakroom – Further Out | Stove – Is Stupider | Johanna Warren – numun | Speedy Ortiz – Foil Deer | Mikal Cronin – MCIII | Adir L.C. – Oceanside Cities | Negative Scanner – Negative Scanner | Pleasure Leftists – The Woods of Heaven | Haybaby – Sleepy Kids | Heather Woods Broderick – Glider | Lady Lamb – After | Pile – You’re Better Than This | Algiers – Algiers | Fraser A. Gorman – Slow Gum | POPE – Fiction | Petal Head – Raspberry Cough | Shannen Moser – You Shouldn’t Be Doing That

Odds and Ends

DBTS: BS2 | Spook the Herd – Freaks b/w Fermented | Kinjac – Possession b/w Possessed | Carbonleak – Waveland b/w Bearing | Vexx – Give and Take | Nervous Trend – Shattered | CCTV – 7″ | Puppy Problems – Practice Kissing | Flagland + Washer | MONO + The Ocean | Uh Huh + Jake McElvie & The Countertops | Alanna McArdle – Bedroom/Balloons | Chris Broom – Meade House Demos | Composite – Demos 2015 | The Library – 100% | Dark Thoughts – Two More Songs From… | Wendy Alembic – Collected Early Works | Toby Reif – 2015 Demos

1 Comment
December 23, 2015

Milk Crimes – Milk Crimes (EP Review, Stream)

mc

[EDITOR’S NOTE: With the site now entering emergency year-end catch-up mode thanks to the cruel, mocking nature of time, tonight’s trio of posts will simply be short reviews of the album(s) in the headline(s) and an accompanying list of records that deserve to be heard.]

Every so often, a band explodes onto my radar by virtue of a simple email message and thoroughly captures my attention. Milk Crimes are one of these bands and their explosive self-titled EP, which recalls a number of acts from the impeccable Reeks of Effort roster at their most manic (while still clinging to the frantic pop sensibility that serves as one of their more defining elements).

Milk Crimes is comprised of five vicious punk-tinged basement pop numbers, each one barreling headfirst towards some unplanned destination. The trio trades vocals at will and are unified in their determinedly scrappy approach as individual musicians, conjuring up something that feels exhilarating because of the constant looming threat that it’ll all fall apart at any minute (yet never does). Wildly energetic and abrasively confrontational, it’s one of 2015’s finest hidden gems and deserves a lot more discussion than it’s getting. Get on board.

Listen to Milk Crimes below and pick it up here. Below the embed, explore a collection of some of the best full streams to surface over the past several months.

–

Sevdaliza – Children of Silk
Rubber Bang Gun – Making A Fool of Myself
Fórn + Yautja – Split 7″
Nervous Trend – Shattered
Val Hollie – Val Hollie
Total Abuse – Excluded
Ashland – Ashland
Bethlehem Steel – Docking
Lysol – Demo
Correatown – Embrace the Fuzzy Unknown
Jacobus – Jacobus
Goldmund – Sometimes
100% – Incantation
The Empty Gestures – Total Collapse
Z Tapes’ Christmas Benefit Compilation
Emily Yacina – Soft Stuff
The Just Luckies – Same Kids, Same Things
PC Worship – Basement Hysteria
Petal – Raspberry Cough
Skaters – Advent Calendar
Marvelous Mark – Crushin’

2 Comments
March 16, 2015

Screaming Females (Documentary Review, Stream)

scrmls

Since this site resumed regular coverage, there’s been a few excellent music-focused documentaries that have earned coverage. Girlpool, Pops Staples, The Epoch, and Butch Walker were the central subjects of all the preceding 2015 docs but tonight’s film brings Screaming Females‘ more recent paths to light. It’s a definitive capture of one of this generation’s most exciting bands as they continue their unlikely ascension. Before focusing all of the attention on the Lance Bangs-directed portrait of the perennial site favorites, it’s worth bringing up a few other great items to have recently surfaced as well. For the full streams, there was 100%’s hauntingly minimalist It gets darker and, as always, the newest additions to NPR’s vaunted First Listen series (Laura Marling’s Short Movie and JEFF The Brotherhood’s Wasted On The Dream are particularly memorable). Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly was also just released a week ahead of schedule and it seems set to continue elevating his increasingly impressive career. All of those things are worth spending time getting to know but they’re not what this post’s about- that distinction, as stated, goes to Lance Bangs’ diaristic Screaming Females short.

One thing that Screaming Females brings into sharp focus over its two-part installment is guitarist/vocalist Marissa Paternoster’s battle with an illness that became so severe that it forced the band to cancel an array of tour dates in support of Ugly. Around the mid-point of the documentary, Paternoster is in visible pain when she recalls the events, all the while remaining admirably steadfast in her convictions, never wanting to let anyone down. Paternoster was eventually diagnosed with fibromyalgia in addition to her mononucleosis. Never has their commitment to a DIY ethos been delivered with more clarity than it is in those harrowing minutes. While Screaming Females finds its voice in the opening minutes, with bassist King Mike providing a short, impact-heavy, list for why the band plays as many shows as they do. As the film progress, the band’s natural rapport cuts through the group vignettes like a knife; this is a band that clearly enjoys each other’s company, which is endlessly important. Memories, both painful and entertaining, are recounted, while the future’s left wide open.

In approximately 20 minutes, Lance Bangs (who assembled everything masterfully, with a well-informed eye) manages to place the kind of spotlight on Screaming Females that they deserve, emphasizing the exact traits that cause me to continue to rally behind this band with no reservations. It’s a committed tale of a dedicated band- one who refuses to lose sight of the intangible elements that built their career in its earliest stages. There’s a genuine honesty present in Screaming Females that’s impossible to ignore, providing a crystallized account of how and why the band operates. Determination and passion are present in nearly every frame and, as each new piece of information is given, it’s abundantly clear that this trio of people are hell-bent on continuing to pursue the things they love most with no hesitation. In the end, the documentary doesn’t just wind up being heartfelt but it also succeeds in being legitimately inspirational. We could all learn a thing or two from this kind of passion.

Watch Screaming Females below and order Rose Mountain (the band’s finest work to date) from Don Giovanni here.

2 Comments