Over the past few days Outer Spaces, Audreytina, Huh, Beach Skulls, Space Raft, and Frameworks all released exceptional music videos that are well worth seeing. Since the songs of the past few days were covered in the preceding post (and full streams will be covered in the post immediately following this one), the attention will be returned once more to an outstanding song: Gorgeous Bully’s “Just Like Before”.
Building off a breathtaking introduction, “Just Like Before” never loses hold of its vast scope. Instrumentally, the song straddles a near-impossible divide between being completely controlled and surging forward, threatening to break away from its confines at any moment. In that relative chaos, they weave a heartbreaking narrative that manages to embolden both the song’s restraint as well as its chaotic, brooding unwieldiness.
“Just Like Before”, against some odds, never finds itself toppling over; this is a masterfully executed piece of basement pop that thrives off its meticulous pacing and stormy atmospherics. It’s an astonishing track that ably demonstrates Gorgeous Bully’s continuing growth as an outfit. Every little subtlety and nuance the band packs into “Just Like Before” serves itself as much as it serves its surrounding components. From the start to the end, it’s a staggering triumph that proves Gorgeous Bully doesn’t intend on going away anytime soon.
Listen to “Just Like Before” below and pre-order their forthcoming 7″here.
The past few days saw a small handful of great songs find release from the likes of Night School, Yung, Gothic Tropic, Walter Schriefels, and Silent Pictures. Naked Hour confidently added themselves to those ranks with the dynamic “Always on the Weekend”, from their forthcoming record of the same name. Always on the Weekend is Good Cheer’s first release following Mo Troper’s astonishing Belovedand the label’s set to continue their winning streak.
“Always on the Weekend” starts off at a gentle clip, nearly resembling a lullaby at several points through its first 40 seconds. Just as it seems “Always on the Weekend” will maintain the serene nature of its introduction the song veers left into a sharp explosion of noisy, subversive pop-punk. For just under a minute Naked Hour thrives off the explosive energy of the main section of “Always on the Weekend” before quietly settling back into the subdued cadences of the intro section. It’s an effectively haunting whisper that elevates “Always on the Weekend” from a good song to a great one. Don’t let it go unheard.
Listen to “Always on the Weekend” below and pre-order the upcoming tape here.
As was mentioned in the last post to run on this site, Watch This — the (usually) weekly series celebrating the very best in newly-released live video presentation — experienced an extended hiatus in the wake of incessant traveling and the frantic catch-up mode that traveling necessitated. Over the course of the next week, there’ll be a small handful of collections to get the series back on track.
The collection below contains 25 of the best full sessions released over the past month and a half. KEXP, Audiotree, and NPR (understandably) dominate the selections as they’re all operating at a gold standard level for full session presentation. The final result is a compilation that features an arsenal of site favorites and nears the 11 hour mark in running time. To that end, it’s likely best viewed in small bursts so a page bookmark is recommended. Everything, in true Watch This fashion, is worth seeing (and hearing). So, as always, sit up straight, adjust the settings to your preference, and Watch This.
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1. Lucy Dacus (Audiotree) 2. Palehound (NPR) 3. Eleanor Friedberger (KEXP) 4. Seratones (NPR) 5. And the Kids (Audiotree) 6. Florist (NPR) 7. Sunflower Bean (KEXP) 8. Mall Walk (KEXP) 9. PWR BTTM (TCGS) 10. Hockey Dad (3voor12) 11. Diarrhea Planet (KEXP) 12. Blue Crime (3voor12) 13. Bob Mould (KEXP) 14. Yuck (KEXP) 15. Car Seat Headrest (KEXP) 16. Quilt (KEXP) 17. Deep Sea Diver (KEXP) 18. Acid Dad (Audiotree) 19. The Ergs! (TCGS) 20. Pinegrove (Audiotree) 21. Operators (KEXP) 22. Strand of Oaks (KEXP) 23. Julien Baker (Amoeba) 24. Benjamin Clementine (NPR) 25. Jason Isbell (Front Row)
It’s been approximately a month and a half since the last volume of Watch This ran on this site. During the interim, there was a lull in coverage due to show coverage (the results of which will be appearing in the very near future) and then a spree to get the three main release categories — single streams, full streams, and music videos — caught back up to the current release cycle.
Now that everything’s back on pace, the Watch This series will be revived in a continuing series of posts that are spread out over the next week. During all of the time the series maintained radio silence, the material that was emerging was being taken into account on a near-daily basis. An intimidating amount of great live performance videos have surfaced in that time and will be split up into groups as those clips are recapped. Below is a list of strong candidates that have a lot to offer, either in the filmmaking department, through the band’s performances, or a mixture of both. So, as always, sit up, scroll down, and Watch This.
All of those titles are worthy of healthy investment but it was a single release from last week that slipped through the coverage cracks to earn today’s feature spot. Occasionally those gaps in coverage are caused by a clerical error, occasionally they’re caused by the wait for an announcement, sometimes (like in the case of this post), it’s a little bit of both. Last week Young Jesus released their latest single, Void As Lob, which pairs live staple “Baked Goods” with the more stream-of-conscious “Hinges”. Earlier today, they announced their Wisconsin date for their tour with fellow site favorites POPE, providing a perfect opportunity to bring up their latest release.
Void As Lob is the band’s first single since last year’s Grow/Decompose, which rightfully earned a place in this site’s Best Albums of 2015 list. The new single continues an astonishing winning streak that started with their breakout effort, Home (which remains a very real Album of the Decade candidate) , and has spanned four years, a cross-country move, a lineup shift, several tours, and an unpredictable rollercoaster of other peaks and valleys. “Baked Goods” and “Hinges”, in that respect, could have easily served as a victory lap but opt for a more challenging approach that makes it abundantly clear that Young Jesus is committed to perpetual growth.
The band’s guitarist/vocalist and principal songwriter (and A Year’s Worth of Memories contributor) John Rossiter revealed that both “Baked Goods” and “Hinges” were the most personal he’s allowed himself to be in his songwriting in some time and that honesty’s evidenced and enhanced by his impassioned delivery, which cuts a touch more sharply than usual.
“Baked Goods” opens up the two-song collection with a narrative that invokes characters from the band’s past as it looks to the future, flashing a renewed emphasis on obtuse storytelling that’s punctuated by acute detail. Musically, it’s a sprawling odyssey that complements the song’s thematic structure to a tee, playing perfectly into Young Jesus’ penchant to defy genres with an instrumental tapestry that pulls from enough sources to sound legitimately singular.
“Hinges” sees the band continuing on in that function, only this time opting to scale back Rossiter’s songwriting flourishes in favor of something more unflinchingly immediate and bravely direct. After a somber piano figure opens the song, “Hinges” evolves into one of the band’s most impressive songs to date. Quiet and heartbreaking, “Hinges” hits its culmination with one simple line: I am ashamed to believe in myself. It’s a line that hits with enough blunt force to knock the wind out of just about anyone, all at once amplifying a host of darkly intimate moments.
As Void As Lob dies out in “Hinges” final moments, which exclusively focus on personal disintegration, the entire release feels like its much more than just two songs. In just over nine minutes, Young Jesus issue a searing statement of intent. Now that they’re firmly settled into their current iteration in their current home, they’re ready to look forward to the future, even if that requires tearing themselves apart. It’s a bold gambit but they’re talented enough to exercise total control and that control pays off beautifully. Void As Lob may only be comprised of two songs but it confidently stands as one of the most exquisite releases of 2016.
Listen to Void As Lob below and pick it up from the band here. Below the bandcamp embed, watch a live clip of the band performing “Baked Goods” last fall.
After gifting the world with the chill-inducing “Low Hymnal” — still a very strong candidate for 2016’s best song — and the warm “Tsunami”, the Felix Walworth-led project has returned to provided another glimpse at their forthcoming Going By. Of the two songs that have been released, “High Dirge” falls more in line with the somber nature of “Low Hymnal” than the more celebratory sensibilities of “Tsunami”, embracing an otherworldly melancholy that goes a long way in making the song feel endearingly human.
From the startlingly realized scene that opens the track, “High Dirge” never once veers away from the small, every day moments that confirm we’re alive. Whether it’s freshening up in the bathroom or prying yourself open, there’s enough time for a host of questions to emerge. Some of them get tackled, some get ignored, pushed to the wayside out of either fear or despondence.
Walworth addresses, confronts, and reassures those moments with the simple refrain of “It’s a long life, it’s hard to get it right” towards the song’s close, a surprisingly hopeful upgrade from “It’s a long life, I can’t get it right.” “High Dirge” is the third song from Going By to thrive on Walworth’s naked openness, bravely laying everything bare for a clinical dissection that’s as unforgiving as it is insightful.
Yet, the song never nears a feeling of total loss or hopelessness, offering just enough positivity to keep “High Dirge” courageously stretching forward towards something better. While there’s an inherent heartbreak to that glimmer of hope, that same lightness also allows the song to stay grounded and painfully relatable. As usual, the stakes of the narrative are heightened by incredibly tasteful and deeply intuitive instrumental work (the banjo figures of Going By have been nothing short of perfect) that provides “High Dirge” with an impressive dramatic flair.
Ultimately, “High Dirge” feels representative for Told Slant’s current era and marks a high point for Walworth’s songwriting, which may very well be why it also claims the line that gives Going By its title: High dirge for the way that I am going by. That line arrives in the song’s gentle outro section, which underlines the steady uncertainty that serves as the crux of “High Dirge”.
It’s a beautiful tactic that strengthens one of the song’s most important unifying threads before everything fades into silence. One last moment of transcendence in a song that’s destined to be remembered.
Listen to “High Dirge” below and pre-order Going By from Double Double Whammyhere.
From the onset of Put the Kid on the Sleepy Horse it’s clear that Mock Orange have expanded their ambition, tightened their grasp on dynamics, and honed the most compelling aspects of their craft. The record opens with the slow crescendo of the intro section of “I’m Leaving”, essentially providing a microcosm of the band’s intelligence (and penchant for subtle, tongue-in-cheek humor) right off the bat.
What follows is a cavalcade of riff-laden, punk-leaning, left field basement pop. Ultra-melodic and unflinchingly weird, Put the Kid on the Sleepy Horse draws an incredible amount of strength from it’s self-assuredness in its own singular nature. Mock Orange have all but perfected a sound that’s indebted to a strain of ’90s alt. bands that have remained relatively unmined in the crowded field of emergent bands taking cues from that decade.
Bright tones and a propulsive energy define Put the Kid on the Sleepy Horse even in its darkest moments, like on the bruising “Window”, imbuing the whole affair with a lively feeling that’s difficult to shake. The record rarely dips below mid-tempo, contenting itself with an operative mode that attacks far more frequently than it withdraws. “Some Say”, which arrives around the record’s halfway point, is as close to a ballad that Put the Kid on the Sleepy Horse has to offer but still comes across as more outwardly aggressive than vulnerable.
“Intake” and “Tell Me Your Story” constitute the explosive 1-2 punch that closes Put the Kid on the Sleepy Horse and betray the band’s debt of influence to Dinosaur Jr more than any of the eight preceding tracks. They’re gruff, bruised, gnarled slices of basement pop (in the case of the former) and basement punk (in the case of the latter) that show the band’s breadth of range in a dizzying sequence that puts the final punctuation mark on a great chapter in the band’s history. Put the Kid on the Sleepy Horse is the best the band’s ever been and promises great things for their future. I, for one, look forward to the ride.
Listen to Put the Kid on the Sleepy Horse below and pick it up from the band here.
Birth (Defects), Sean Gray‘s continuously evolving noise/hardcore project, have been consistently impressive ever since they made their introductory rounds. Now, fresh off the addition of Roomrunner guitarist Jeff Byers, the band’s striking their way back out into the world with the vicious “Hanshin”. Inspired by the love that Gray (who also heads Is This Venue Accessible) has for Japanese baseball team the Hanshin Tigers, the song hits harder than anything Birth (Defects) has released in their still-young career.
More importantly, “Hanshin” shows Birth (Defects) have latched onto a distinct identity that’s firmly rooted in their own convictions. Elevating “Hanshin” even further is the grime-coated production of Perfect Pussy‘s Shaun Sutkus (who also has a noise project of his own, Pretengineer), who’s perfectly suited to Birth (Defects)’s brand of noise-damage. Everything that the band’s thrown into “Hanshin” clicks effortlessly, each part complementing and elevating all of its surrounding elements. Brash, unapologetic, and ferocious, “Hanshin” is the best Birth (Defects) have ever sounded and sets the band up nicely for an exhilarating run. Keep up or get left in the dust.
Listen to “Hanshin” below and keep an eye on Reptilian Records for the release of the forthcoming 7″.
Following the unforgettable “Your Best American Girl” clip would’ve been a daunting task for any artist (or filmmaker) but “Happy” accomplishes it with astonishing ease. Directed by the inimitable Maegan Houang — whose work has been praised on this site before and likely will again — “Happy” creates a challenging narrative that touches on everything from personal intimacy to self-doubt to self-loathing to gender politics and race relations (among others).
Exquisitely shot and paced, the story unfolds delicately, revealing a growing wound between a woman and her military husband. Suspicions are confirmed and the wound grows deeper, creating a tightly-wound level of tension that’s only drawn tighter as the clip progresses. Fueling the atmosphere is Houang’s assured direction, giving nods to legendary filmmakers like Wong Kar-wai and Alfred Hitchcock along the way, layering on the cues to subtly underscore the passage of time.
Everything in “Happy” feels like it’s heading towards some climactic moment, a confrontation that exists on a purely personal basis. While that climactic moment does arrive, “Happy” manages to successfully subvert those expectations while remaining true to the heart of the video. At first blush, the final sequence may not seem overtly personal but dig deep enough and it becomes heartbreaking in its symbolism.
Those final moments are full of untold tragedy, harsh reality, and keen awareness. It’s terrifying and confrontational all at once, full of a well-placed rage that imbues the entire affair with a passion that retroactively alters every one of the clip’s preceding vignettes. One of the most satisfying narrative presentations the format’s had in recent memory, “Happy” winds up being more than masterful; it’s legitimately memorable. Easily one of 2016’s finest clips, “Happy” demonstrates Mitski’s taste and convictions in equal measure, ultimately culminating in one of the artist’s finest offerings to date.
There were very few songs released over the past year that hit as hard as Oceanator’s breathtaking “Nowhere Nothing“, which not only served as an extremely formidable introductory piece for the project but bludgeoned its way into this site’s 50 Best Songs of 2016’s First Quarter list. Now, the project — masterminded by Vagabon drummer Elise Okusami — is following up that first glimpse with another meaningful look.
“Sunrise” is the latest Oceanator track and it trades out the relentlessly dark brooding of “Nowhere Nothing” for a warmth that feels true to its title. That warmth isn’t just present in the tones of the driving bass, surf guitar, or synths that define the song’s carefree approach, its also evidenced by the lyric set. In one song, Oceanator veers sharply away from the introspective damage that made “Nowhere Nothing” such a hair-raising experience to focus on something a little less miserable; romantic yearning.
Framed by a simple desire to have someone to share in some warm weather experiences, “Sunrise” succeeds as a narrative by managing to get its point across in broad strokes while putting an acute point on personal tendencies. The bouncy, breezy instrumental approach distracts from the inherent loneliness that drives the subtext of “Sunrise” and keeps the song in a place that’s much more immediate, allowing it to breathe and enhancing the carefree nature of its surface.
In two songs, Oceanator proves to be a project with a surprising amount of range, depth, understanding, and versatility. Equally successful on two very opposite side of the spectrum, “Nowhere Nothing” and “Sunrise” offer up a very clear indication that this project could very well bloom into a serious vehicle that attains an impressive level of name recognition and praise.
“Sunrise” isn’t just ancillary, though, it’s also an impressive song in its own right and its an essential addition to any summer soundtrack. Any way it’s spun, it’s a song that demands to be heard and refuses to live by any rules other than its own. Keep an eye on Oceanator, with a track record this strong at such an early stage, whatever’s waiting around the corner is worthy of a tremendous level of anxious anticipation. “Sunrise” will be more-than-welcome company as Oceanator constructs its next step.
Heartbreaking Bravery 