Acid Reflex | Heartbreaking Bravery

October 27, 2016

Watch This: Vol. 148

Continuing on with the two-part installment, The Let’s Go, Billy Bragg and Joe Henry, The Luyas, C Duncan, The Growlers, Warpaint, Faux Furs, Flesh Panthers, Ego, Courtney Marie Andrews, Adam Torres, Slow Club, Oh Pep!, Pity Sex, Northcote, Bec Sandridge, and Brooke Sharkey all put forth valiant efforts in last week’s crop of exceptional live videos. With the strength of those acting as an indicator, the merit of the five featured clips shouldn’t be questioned. A handful of series staples, a gorgeous and inventive new clip, and an excellent video from a series that’s quickly emerged as a new favorite constitute the spotlighted entries for the 148th installment of Watch This. So, as always, lean in, block out all the distractions, get studios, and Watch This.

1. Margaret Glaspy – You & I + Emotions and Math (Skype)

A biting wit, a commanding performance style, and tremendous songwriting have made Margaret Glaspy one of the most featured artists on this series over the past few months. While the selections here — “You & I” and “Emotions and Math” may be familiar, they’re still at the root of powerful performances. Week in and week out, Glaspy has proven to be a formidable talent. This abbreviated session’s no exception.

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2. Lucy Dacus (La Blogotheque)

Lucy Dacus, another artist who made a habit of appearing on this series over the past several months, gets the La Blogotheque treatment in this characteristically gorgeous clip. Performing a trio of songs — including 2015 standout “I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore” — Dacus is never anything less than mesmerizing. Framed by a series of lived-in Manhattan locations, the entire affair breathes effortlessly and casts a tantalizing spell all of its own.

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3. Rhea – 3am (Boxfish Sessions)

As Cuttlefish Collective’s Boxfish Sessions project continues, their offerings seem to get more impressive. While their gold standard remains Long Neck‘s breathtaking showcase that was featured in Watch This: Vol. 143, this entry from Rhea’s not far behind. An entrancing performance of a brilliant song from an intriguing emerging artist, “3am” is comprised of a little bit of everything that this site was built to celebrate. Don’t let lack of familiarity prevent a look; this is exceptional work.

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4. Angel Olsen – Give It Up (BBC)

My Woman will likely be showing up a lot as year-end lists start rolling out but that level of excessive praise is deserved. Angel Olsen delivered one hell of an album just last month and has been riding a wave of critical and commercial success in the wake of that release. Instead of just coasting, the songwriter’s turning in incredibly committed performances that not only retain but elevate the impressive bite that informed Burn Your Fire For No Witness. BBC’s Radio 6 studio was recently lit up by a charged performance of one of My Woman‘s many highlights, “Give It Up”, and finds the band sounding locked in and ready for anything.

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5. Glen Hansard – Stay the Road (Nooks & Crannies)

Last year Glen Hansard delivered one of the most beautiful clips to ever be featured on this series in the painfully gorgeous “McCormack’s Wall” and has finally come through with what feels like a natural successor in “Stay the Road”. Shot in, around, and outside of the legendary Sydney Opera House, the tenderly-shot black-and-white clip tracks Hansard making the most of the venues architecture and delivering a heartfelt rendition of “Stay the Road”. A beautifully constructed clip, it’s a very capable demonstration of what can be accomplished while working within the confines of a very niche medium. It’s a masterful piece of multimedia artistry and it more than deserves a spot on this list.

October 12, 2014

Three Quarters Down (Mixtape)

[EDITOR’S NOTE: First off, to get this out of the way at the top, there will be no Watch This today. It’s absence will be made up with a unique 50th post next Sunday.]

We recently hit another quarter mark in the year and this site just hit another fifty posts. A digital mixtape- Three Quarters Down– has been curated to celebrate both of these occasions. All 25 songs on display have managed to become favorites in the span of their (admittedly short) existence. It didn’t matter where they came from- splits, records, singles, exclusives- if it was a great song that came out over the course of the past three months, it wound up on the list. However, there are a handful of others that were excluded by virtue of not appearing in Soundcloud’s public library- those will likely get their due in December both here and elsewhere. In the meantime, revisit some of the best songs that led us straight into fall by listening to the mix below.

Beneath the 8tracks player is the original listing of the songs in this collection. Enjoy.

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1. Mitski – Townie
2. Two Inch Astronaut – Foulbrood
3. LVL UP – DBTS
4. Little Big League – Tropical Jinx
5. The History of Apple Pie – Jamais Vu
6. Menace Beach – Come On Give Up
7. Thalassocracy – Shimensoka
8. Cellphone – Human Rights
9. Ovlov – Ohmu Shell
10. Mumblr – Sober
11. Trust Fund – Reading The Wrappers
12. Girlpool – Jane
13. Night School – Casiotone
14. Happy Diving – Sad Planet
15. Dilly Dally – Green
16. Washer – Rot
17. Speedy Ortiz – Bigger Party
18. The Midwest Beat – Vortex Hole
19. Bass Drum of Death – For Blood
20. Mannequin Pussy – Sheet City
21. Pity Sex – Acid Reflex
22. Mogwai – Teenage Exorcists
23. Nothing – July The Fourth
24. Dark Blue – Here On My Street
25. Crimson Wave – Say

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September 12, 2014

Nano Kino – Eyes Before Words (Music Video)

Since the majority of the start of this week was spent on the road, it’s been difficult to be as vigilant about keeping up with the new music and videos that have been coming out. Today, that changed and the amount of great content is almost overwhelming. Every single one of the items that are going to be hyperlinked following this sentence are worthy of being the feature item. Those include full album streams from Mumblr and Sleepyhead (their first in 15 years), and a stream of Parquet Courts and Future Punx’s split 7″. There were excellent music videos from Death From Above 1979, Lace Curtains, and Brick Mower. Most of all, though, there were great new songs. Cut Teeth offered up a post-hardcore ripper, Ovlov provided a tantalizing glimpse at their upcoming 4-way split with Ex-Breathers, Woozy, and Gnarwhal. There was a smoky piece of folk-psych from Mail the Horse, a new Pity Sex song that ranks among the best of the year and teases an upcoming split with Adventures (it’s also their career-best), a new look at an upcoming EP from the increasingly popular Girlpool, a fiery Stereolab cover from Greys, another indicator that Dark Blue’s Pure Reality will be one of the year’s best records, another gentle piece of bliss from Eternal Summers, a snappy piece of riff-happy outsider pop from Little Big League that- like the Pity Sex song from just a few hyperlinks ago- ranks among the year’s best, another incendiary look at Meatbodies’ upcoming record on In the Red, and a brand-new career highlight for King Tuff. That’s one hell of a haul.

All of those are likely to get features elsewhere- if they haven’t already had them (and most have)- and Heartbreaking Bravery would be nothing if it wasn’t for the bands that are flying under the radar. Those are the kind of bands that this place strives to support- and Nano Kino (which translates to “very small cinema”) is one of them. And while the duo does include Duncan Lloyd of Maximo Park (and Decade in Exile), their profile’s currently surprisingly contained- which isn’t likely to last too long. There are chilly atmospheres that permeate throughout the duo’s music, using no-wave and post-punk as their major touchpoints while exuding an icy demeanor not too far removed from The xx. A lot of the band’s intrigue gets an extra push thanks to the mysterious vocal performances of Sarah Surl, the duo’s other member. While there’s still a considerable sense of mystery to be found in the textured guitar work that Lloyd provides, Surl gives it a strange sense of humanism that allows Nano Kino to eclipse so many similarly-minded acts.

Nano Kino currently have plans to release their debut record in the early parts of next year but have promised to tease pieces of the record in the lead-up campaign. One of the first pieces they’ve offered up is a visually stunning black-and-white clip that emphasizes the band’s penchant for noir-ish sensibilities. Bringing in other visual aesthetics to the fold (there’s a prominent French new wave influence running throughout this- as well as a lot of glances towards Spain’s golden-era of silent film), “Eyes Before Words” winds up being a quietly intense experience. Using grainy superimposed imagery (that’s occasionally stripped back to isolation) to maximum effect helps make this a video that stays with the viewer long after the final whispers of the fade-out. It’s unrelentingly poised and announces Nano Kino as a band that’s embraced a very particular vision- one that could wind up meriting critical and commercial success. Whatever the future does hold for Nano Kino, it’ll be a pleasure watching them fight their way forward- especially if the ensuing releases all manage to be as arresting as “Eyes Before Words”.

Watch “Eyes Before Words” below and keep an eye on this site for updates in the coming months.