Just a handful of weeks ago, this site was singing the praises of Mike Krol‘s latest effort while dissecting the enigmatic songwriter’s curious history of rotating backing bands. A little over a week ago, he brought himself and his latest group of misfits to Baby’s All Right. Before they took the stage, Dead Painters delivered a set built momentum as it went along, hitting several sweet spots along the way and converting more than a few uninitiated audience members (myself included). Before too long, Krol and everyone with him on this tour, started frantically setting up an impressive assortment of props around the perimeter of the stage.
After a brief recess and with an array of barbed wire, flood lights, strobe lights, police lights, and pedals meticulously fixed to the stage, Krol and four other members (three of which came from the sorely missed Sleeping in the Aviary) suddenly appeared in near-blackness. One foot stomp on a pedal that triggered all of the lights going off simultaneously revealed each member in full police officer attire (true to the image that Turkey‘s album art boldly presented). From that point forward, the band were a blur, careening through a discography-encompassing set with reckless abandon. Suddenly, it was a surreal cops vs. prisoners scenario where the dividing lines were continuously blurred as artist and audience fed off of each other’s incessant, insistent level(s) of energy.
Songs came at a rapid-fire pace and nearly everything in Krol’s impressive collection found representation. Everyone in the band seemed like they were trying to tear their way out of their own skin, never showing any signs of fatigue, skewing closer to a startlingly pure state of delirium. A little past the set’s mid-way point, Baby’s lights person decided to get in on the action, triggering flashes of the venue’s iconic LED backdrop, much to Krol’s excitement. By the evening’s frenzied conclusion, both the band’s lights and the venue’s lights were firing on all cylinders while Krol and his band lost themselves to their own maelstrom of limbs.
As “Less Than Together” gave way to a clever guitar-driven reprise that echoed Turkey‘s closing number, the audience was already clamoring for an encore. On the whole, it was one of the mot well-received sets I’ve ever seen at the venue; on it’s own, it was the single most memorable standalone set I’ve seen take place on that stage. Anyone that has the chance to see this band play a date on this tour should immediately make it a priority or resign themselves to kicking themselves for years to come. This was one for the books.
Watch a collection of live videos from the show below and explore a photo gallery of the evening here.
It’s not even close to a secret that this site has harbored an excessive amount of love for Exploding In Sound, a DIY label that focuses on forward-thinking acts that have roots that run deep in late 80’s and early 90’s alternative punk scenes. Over the years, they’ve amassed a deeply impressive roster of acts that consistently garner critical acclaim, effectively rendering the label one of today’s leading taste-makers in music that frequently aims for left-of-center and connects with conviction. If anyone’s earned an extended weekend celebration that serves a dual purpose as a showcase, it’s Exploding In Sound- and that’s exactly what they’ve just done.
Over five days in Brooklyn and Boston, the cities where the vast majority of the label’s acts are based, the label hosted five packed shows. While I wish I could have caught all of them, I only managed to take in the first two- both of which reaffirmed my adoration for the work the label- selflessly run by Dan Goldin- is doing. The run of shows started on June 20th at Baby’s All Right with a characteristically stacked lineup that included a variety of site favorites: Washer, Two Inch Astronaut, Grass Is Green, Pile, and Porches.
Every single band that took the stage at Baby’s laid their hearts on the line, playing with an unusual vigor that suggested they were doing all they could to make the label proud. That commitment wasn’t the only recurring thread either; nearly every single band played a new song or a song that hadn’t found official release (a trend that would continue to the next night’s showcase at Palisades). Washer got things started with a ferocious set that leaned heavily on new/unreleased material but still allowed “Joe“, one of 2015’s strongest highlight, to close their time out. Two Inch Astronaut followed in a similar manner, almost exclusively playing songs from their forthcoming record (which is being recorded right now) and locking into off-kilter grooves so tightly that their precision was nearly unsettling.
Grass Is Green re-emerged after a long dormant period, likely due to guitarist Devin McKnight’s commitment to two other acts affiliated with Exploding In Sound (Philadelphia Collins and Speedy Ortiz) and started slow but worked themselves into a fervor. After finding their strengths in the barbed dynamics and unrelenting guitar attack, the songs went from sounding placated to downright vicious and it was a thrilling transformation to watch unfold. It also set the stage for what was arguably the evening’s main draw: Pile. Last fall, I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Pile in Chicago while they toured on the 7″ that wound up topping this site’s list for the format and, as a result, knew exactly what the band were capable of delivering. Or at least I thought I did, until Pile went ahead and exceeded those expectations.
Over the course of what felt like a headlining set, Pile managed to whip the previously gentle crowd into a mad frenzy, with several people in the front having to brace themselves by pushing back on the stage to create a supportive balance. As the band had before- and as it always does on record anyway- “Special Snowflakes” (an easy contender for song of the decade) sent chills running down my spine on more than a few occasions, as did You’re Better Than This highlight “Mr. Fish“. By the time the band was signaled offstage, the majority of the crowd was in a state of rapture. Porches. brought the first night to a graceful close in a hail of light effects, their signature brand of pop (light and sensual), and conviction. All of the songs they teased from their forthcoming record easily ranked among their best work and as they were packing up, the entire room seemed more than a little satisfied.
The second night, held at Palisades, felt a little truer to the label’s grimier sensibilities and a DIY ethos was on full display throughout the night. To kick things off, Exploding In Sound presented one of their better coups: Palm. After Palm’s revelatory set at DBTS a few months back, anything less than spectacular would have been a disappointment but the band seemed even more masterful this time around, immediately eliminating any doubts. A live band through and through, they navigated every hairpin shift with an uncanny togetherness that bordered the telepathic. Unsurprisingly, it was a crowd-pleasing start and things only got more intense going forward.
Stove, a band born out of the ashes of Ovlov, took the stage next. While the current iteration of Stove features Washer as their rhythm section, the sound (understandably) veers closer to where Ovlov left off. With Steve Hartlett in command once again, the quarter offered up enough riches to constitute a treasure, from the micropop of “Stupider” to the sprawling track contained in the video embed beneath this post’s photo gallery. With several plans for a release (or a handful of releases) in the works, the band played like it was fighting for its life, providing for more than a few moments of genuine exhilaration. Towards the end of the set, Hartlett also ceded the spotlight to Washer, who played one of their songs with the benefit of a dual-guitar attack surrounding them in bass/vocals/drums mode. The set wound up being one of the strongest highlights of either night and all but guaranteed Stove as a name that will be appearing with an alarming regularity in the near future.
Hot off of a US tour with Basement in support of an extraordinary 7″, LVL UP took to the stage with an unparalleled hunger and seemed extremely intent on proving their worth. Opening with the live debut of a monstrous behemoth of a new song (again, included in the video embed below the photo gallery) that segued straight into “Ski Vacation” left most of Palisades sold out audience breathless- and likely more than a little speechless. Keeping up a pace that was dangerously close to reckless provided a handful of reminders of why the quartet’s become one of this site’s most celebrated bands. Even putting aside the top ranking that Hoodwink’dearned last year, the band continues to occupy a very niche space in an already niche pocket that directly correlates with what this site was designed to support. All of their best qualities were brought to the forefront on the Palisades stage and by the time everyone’s clothes had grown a shade or two darker in the sweltering heat of the venue, LVL UP had managed the impossible and endeared themselves even further to an already adoring crowd.
After a set that felt genuinely huge despite a mid-bill placing, it would be tough for most acts to follow up with anything worth remembering- but most acts aren’t Big Ups (a band whose shirts were being proudly worn by a few members of the bands playing the show). Of the 10 bands that played the first two nights, this was the one I was most excited to see, having never previously caught a set in person despite praising their live show a number of times via Watch This. Animalistic in nature and deeply impassioned in the throes of execution, Big Ups’ live show is nothing short of incendiary. Pair it with an obscenely strong discography that includes Eighteen Hours of Static, one of 2014’s finest releases, and the band’s a veritable Molotov cocktail. Tension and release, whisper and explosion, the band balances volatile dichotomies with ease and constantly hits their mark. A magnetic live presence carries them to the pantheon of today’s greatest live acts with ease and their set was a perfect example of how much they’re able to coax out of decidedly minimal trappings. By the time the quartet was letting their final bursts of feedback draw back to silence, they’d comfortably delivered another powerhouse set that would put most other bands to shame.
With all four bands racketing up the evening’s consistency level, a lot of pressure can fall on a headlining act. Then again, Exploding In Sound’s resources are surprisingly vast and its talent pool runs extraordinarily deep. Those resources and that talent pool also include Krill, who have steadily amassed a cult following and are enjoying a period of heightened interest and universal acclaim following their excellent A Distant Fist Unclenching. The trio had been in excellent form on both occasions I was fortunate enough to catch one of their shows earlier on in the year but something about this particular set felt different. The band’s been slowly working on new material as some of the members move from Boston to NYC and they used the occasion to showcase some of what they’ve been shaping while making sure to make enough space for recent career highlights like “Torturer” (their opener), “Brain Problem“, and “Tiger” (their closer). At one point, for a brief run of song, bassist/vocalist Jonah Furman swapped out his bass for a guitar (one that was immediately put through a rigorous effects setup) to add a new depth and several more layers of dimension to the band’s already impressive dynamic approach. In all, the set played like a greatest hits victory lap, with the band playing in a manner that felt deeply impassioned and incredibly alive. A triumph from start to finish, the band went above and beyond exceedingly high expectations to guarantee everyone that their headliner placement was the correct call.
Ten great bands, two great venues, and one incredible label all came together over the course of two days to create and support something that felt inherently special, something bigger than any one of its individual parts. A sense of camaraderie was constantly present, musicians from other internationally acclaimed bands drove several hours to see some of these shows and all of the most uplifting, prevalent themes seem to have carried all the way through the five-day weekend. While I can’t definitively speak to the final three nights, the first two reinforced every aspect of what makes Exploding In Sound such an incredible cultural institution. On top of all that, these first two nights felt like so much more than a night out with good friends listening to great music; this was something that had historical value. As is always the case with any of Exploding In Sound’s projects, it was an honor and a privilege to watch it in motion.
View a photo gallery of the show here and a video containing performances from each of the bands that played at Palisades. Enjoy.
Four bands that have been featured on this site before filed into Baby’s All Right last Thursday and saw the Brooklyn venue nearing capacity once again. Site favorites Jawbreaker Reunion got things off to a strong start with a set that leaned heavily on some genuinely great unreleased material but still made room for a few cuts off of Lutheran Sisterhood Gun Club (one of this site’s picks for the best albums of 2014 list). Every song in the band’s set was played with an unwavering passion (a recurring theme throughout the night) that makes them one of the more exciting live prospects currently playing out.
Sitcom, the solo project of Jake Lazovick, was playing without the full band that had previously accompanied him leading up to his stop at Baby’s- the last show of the band’s tour with Bellows- but gained another musician for the evening. Sitcom’s songs are acutely observed tales of existence that gained a sharp edge when presented in the decidedly minimal trappings. Lazovick’s stray-dog vocals and genuine pathos (something balanced out by Lazovick’s sharp-witted banter) made the performance feel utterly human on top of an already strong sense of intimacy. Captivating in it’s own right, it also wound up being the perfect lead-in to Bellows.
The Oliver Kalb-led project’s been a staple of The Epoch for years (something Kalb wrote about in great detail for our A Year’s Worth of Memories series) and has recently started coming into its own. As evidenced by the band’s excellent Tiny Desk session, there’s a fiercer connection at the crux of the group than usual, probably thanks in part to their involvement with each other’s other bands (a congratulations is due to Bellows’ keyboardist/vocalist Gabrielle Smith, whose Eskimeaux project was recognized by Rolling Stone earlier today). This was my first trip to see Bellows and while I’d been lightly familiarized with the band’s live show, nothing could have prepared me for the grounded ferocity of the band’s set.
From the first song onward, the band frequently dipped into a startling heaviness that the recorded work never really even lightly touches. Eliciting more than a few chills as their set progressed, the band also had to deal with a faulty amp that would occasionally cut out- something that somehow rendered their bursts of heaviness even sharper and more damaged. It was a deeply-felt, exhilarating performance that wound up stealing the night and subsequently guaranteeing that this won’t be the last time a live Bellows set is featured on this site.
Still riding high on the unexpected success of their first official full-band release, Quarterbacks took to the stage in front of an attentive audience with close to nothing to prove.
After putting out one of the best records of 2015’s first half in their extraordinary self-titled effort, the band have been tirelessly promoting the new material with an intimidating road schedule. All of their touring’s paid off as the band’s been able to cultivate and refine their live show, which still manages to come off as both compelling and as a delightful mess. Harnessing all the momentum of a runaway train, guitarist/vocalist Dean Engle and his band tear into these songs with a vicious force, never bothering to cast a look back once they’ve started sprinting.
Towards the end of their set, Engle announced it’d be the band’s last appearance for a while so they could take a break to focus on their lives but when they left the stage, it was abundantly clear that they were leaving things on a very strong note (or maybe it was some feedback). More importantly, they were leaving the door wide open for the possibility of future work and an exciting return. All things considered, it was a near-perfect closing to another extraordinary show.
View a full gallery of the show here and a video embed containing a handful of the evening’s performances.
Before I left Wisconsin for Brooklyn, I made sure to see one last show: Saintseneca and Murder By Death. The latter had been the band headlining the first major show I’d seen on my own accord and the former had been one of my favorite bands for years and I had yet to see them live. While Murder By Death were undoubtedly impressive, Saintseneca’s live show blew me away. As soon as I heard the band would be headlining a show at Baby’s All Right, I made sure my schedule for the evening was cleared. Once again, the band delivered an extraordinary performance- but not before two opening sets.
Jess Williamson was the first to take the stage and immediately grabbed the audience’s attention with a haunting solo song before inviting her band to join her onstage. While Williamson’s first song had been fairly atmospheric, the addition of the band quickly catapulted that dynamic of her music into territory that felt downright cinematic. Playing nothing but new songs, Williamson and her band made their way through a haunting set of bruised folk songs with a Southern Gothic influence. Impressive, intricate, understated, and incredibly dynamic, it was a spellbinding performance from an artist deserving of a great deal of attention.
Following Williamson’s set was the decidedly more straightforward swing-for-the-rafters anthemic pop of Multimagic. While the band did tend to feel fairly by-the-numbers, they offered enough moments of subversion to both keep things interesting and guarantee an explosion in popularity should they be fortunate enough to find their music placed in the right television (or film) environment. Multimagic played with a great deal of finesse and had some similar structural approaches to their songwriting as the night’s headliners so their spot felt like a perfect lede for Saintseneca.
Currently preparing the release of the follow-up to 2014’s rightfully adored Dark Arc, the band wasted no time in diving into their incredible new material. From the live previews alone, I’d be shocked if their forthcoming record didn’t wind up being one of my favorites of 2015, as the bulk of them managed to expand and refine some of the elements that rendered Dark Arc one of my favorites of last year. Baby’s All Right was the band’s last show of their current tour, so they came to the stage with a considerable amount of practice and it reflected in both the new songs and the old material, which continued to sound remarkable. “Fed Up With Hunger” is one of the only songs to have managed to strike me as spine-tingling on record and that feeling multiplied tenfold.
“Fed Up With Hunger” wasn’t the only song to elicit chills, either, they came in waves as the band progressed through a set that saw them navigating hairpin turns and striking dynamic shifts with ease. Whether they opted for the quiet, acoustic route or the raucous, fuzzed-out intensity that seems to be a welcome hallmark of their newest material, the band fell into a focus that practically disallowed any false moves. Crowd favorites like the excellent “Happy Alone” radiated with life and that vibrancy was reflected by an appreciative audience (one that, unfortunately, did contain a small faction of people that felt inclined to talk over some of the set’s more gentle moments). Saintseneca ended their main set with the same song they’d ended their opening set in Milwaukee with just a few months before- a blistering, feedback-happy number that’s far and away the most intense song in the band’s discography- before being cheered back for an encore.
After a few false starts and a surprising amount of conversation, the band decided to go out with “James”, the incredible closing song from their first album, Last. It felt like an appropriately communal moment to cap off a set that included some incredible banter, sparked more than a few spirited singalongs, and a generally positive atmosphere. Also, if there’s a better way to signify that you’re entering a new era than playing the last song on the first record (one titled Last, no less) as the last song of the last tour before your next record comes out, i’m not sure what it is- but “James” did feel like the perfect selection regardless of trivial extenuating circumstance. While the evening may have had its ups and downs, “James” made sure that it went out in perfect harmony.
Click over to the full photo gallery of the show here and watch some of the evening’s performances in the video below.
At the end of July, just a day after the great Girlpool show, Baby’s All Right once again played host to a band I’ve loved for more than a year. This time around, the headlining slot fell to Radioactivity (whose self-titled effort was reviewed in one of this site’s first 10 posts)With two strong openers in tow, the night quickly turned into a frenzy of hard-hitting punk from a variety of corners. Honey Radar kicked things off with a relentlessly shambolic set of incredibly scrappy punk songs that constantly bled into each other and managed to frequently fall short of the 60 second mark. Played with vigor and an odd sense of somewhat detached joy, their set managed to be the perfect set-up for the evening’s remainder.
Flesh World followed with their own distinct brand of punishing post-punk, not bothering to give the audience much of a reprieve with a volume and intensity level that far exceeded the preceding set. The quartet followed their darkest, noisiest impulses and seemed to temporarily lose themselves in their performance, one that was greatly aided by Baby’s iconic backdrop setup, which managed to match Flesh World’s steeliest sensibilities to a frightening perfection. All the pieces fell in place and the band’s set came across as oddly triumphant before ceding the spotlight to the night’s headlining act.
After a brief tuning session- and with literally no warning- Radioactivity took a sudden headfirst dive into a marathon set that wound up equaling (and possibly exceeding) both Honey Radar’s recklessness and Flesh World’s intensity. Utilizing a myriad of seamless transitions and incorporating the strongest tracks from their latest effort, Silent Kill, the band brought just about everything they had to the stage. Old songs bled seamlessly into new songs (and vice versa), there was an astonishing determination on display, and a dynamic that saw both band and audience feeding off each other’s careening levels or energy.
By the end of the set, the bulk of the band’s still-building discography had been covered and everyone in the building looked deliriously happy and entirely exhausted. Impressively sharp and extremely high-impact, it was the exact kind of set that guarantees return visits, just as it was the exact kind of set that functions as the perfect reminder that Radioactivity’s earned- and fully deserves- their status as one of the best bands in punk.
Click over to the full photo gallery of the show here and watch some of the evening’s performances in the video below.
Heartbreaking Bravery has never been an overtly traditional blog. Yes, some commonplace elements and recurring themes keep it from falling apart but its essentially come to operate as a living journal of the things that have piqued my interest. It’s allowed me a place to provide documentation of recent events that blend recap aesthetics with critical analysis while simultaneously operating as a platform to showcase lesser-known bands. When it was initially devised, its sole purpose was to grant me an outlet to be able to keep writing but- over time- it grew into something that eventually had a heavy impact on my life. Whether through enabling visits to Toronto or being one of the biggest root causes of the recent relocation to Brooklyn, it’s played an enormously active role in shaping some of the biggest decisions I’ve ever made- and it’s been directly responsible for linking me to a handful of genuinely invaluable people that I’d be twice as lost without.
Now on its 600th post- and with the blue moon just barely behind us- it felt appropriate to allow the rarest of overtly personal posts. Over the near-two months I’ve been residing in Brooklyn, I’ve had the privilege of both witnessing and playing a part in some genuinely unforgettable moments. For a large handful of them, I was fortunate enough to have the camera on and rolling. The 25 clips that are all contained in this sequence are videos I’ve shot personally since landing in New York. From a breathtaking acoustic rooftop performance overlooking the city’s industry-driven sprawl to an inexplicably perfect moment at a secret wedding to secret headliners to a slew of site favorites, there’s a lot of content here- all of which made me feel like I was in the exact right place. It’s an offering that acts both as a celebration of a small accomplishment in terms of longevity and as a sincere thanks to a part of the world that has so readily accepted- and celebrated- both myself and this site. I’m genuinely unsure of what the future holds but if it’s anything as exciting as the past few months have proven to be, I’ll consider myself fortunate to share it with both my friends and anyone kind enough to lend any attention to this site.
Below the video, you can find a tracklist of the sequencing and- as this is another 100 posts- there will be links to the preceding 100 posts. Click play and browse at will. Enjoy.
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1. Girlpool – Crowded Stranger (Live at Baby’s all Right) 2. Diet Cig – Dinner Date (Live at Shea Stadium) 3. Frankie Cosmos – On the Lips (Live at DBTS) 4. Radioactivity – World of Pleasure (Live at Baby’s All Right) 5. Dogs On Acid – Make It Easy (Live at DBTS) 6. PWR BTTM – Projection (Live at Palisades) 7. Slothrust – Crockpot (Live at Suburbia) 8. Charly Bliss – Dairy Queen (Live at Shea Stadium) 9. Told Slant – I Am Not (Live at Silent Barn) 10. Montana and the Marvelles – Stand By Me (Live at DBTS) 11. Lost Boy ? (ft. Patrick Stickles) – Big Business Monkey (Live at Shea Stadium) 12. Idle Bloom – Dust (Live at Alphaville) 13. Swirlies – Wait Forever (Live at Silent Barn) 14. Tenement – Crop Circle Nation + Dull Joy (Live at The Acheron) 15. Bully – Brainfreeze (Live at Rough Trade) 16. Rebecca Ryskalczyk – Other Otters (Live at DBTS) 17. Attic Abasement – Sorry About Your Dick (Live at Shea Stadium) 18. Eskimeaux – Folly (Live at Palisades) 19. Krill – Turd (Live at Silent Barn) 20. Littlefoot – Worrydoll (Live at DBTS) 21. Florist – 1914 (Live at Baby’s All Right) 22. Mitski – I Will (Live at Palisades) 22. Adir L.C. – Inside Out (Live at DBTS) 24. Johanna Warren – Survive (Live) 25. Benny The Jet Rodriguez – Alley Cat (Live at The Acheron)
Yesterday evening, one of Brooklyn’s finest venues- Baby’s All Right- opened its doors and ushered in an eclectic mix of people that tended to skew younger than older but still boasted a handful of patrons who could have grandchildren. It was a nice sight that was likely due to the wide-reaching appeal of both bands playing the early show: Florist and Girlpool.
Both acts have built up a quiet notoriety over the past few years, with the former being a staple of the revered arts collective The Epoch and the latter being one of 2014’s great word-of-mouth successes. The show had sold out before Baby’s opened its doors and the packed room left both bands unfazed. Florist started things off with a set of gentle songs that incorporated subtle, folk-inflected influences into devastating indie pop songs.
Each song kept the audience at a silenced hush as the room swelled to capacity. For the entirety of their set, Florist played in front of a static drumkit (one that would have otherwise been used by Felix Walworth, who’s currently on tour) in what seemed to be a gesture of heartfelt solidarity. By the time their set was drawing to a close, the audience was completely at their mercy, hanging onto every soft word and ambient flourish; it was almost as if Florist was the headlining act, a notion that was supported by the waves of applause following their final notes.
Ultimately, Florist’s set was a perfect lead-in to Girlpool, who wasted no time in launching into their set once they took the stage. Now, Girlpool’s been written about enough times here that it’d be easy to collect all of those pieces and fashion a small bible- but it still felt like they had something to prove an in-person live setting. The notion that they couldn’t was dismissed completely as soon as the duo (comprised of Cleo Tucker on guitar/vocals and Harmony Lebel-Tividad on bass/vocals) launched into their first harmony sequence.
Throughout their set, both Tucker and Lebel-Tividad were in high spirits, casually joking with each other while dealing with a guitar that kept stubbornly falling out of tune. Families, couples, and musicians all watched intently as Girlpool played cuts from their outstanding self-titled EP (one of 2014’s best) and this year’s superb Before The World Was Big, while making room for at least two new tunes.
No matter what the band did, there was a pervading sense of easy camaraderie that bled into a seemingly telepathic connection between the duo. As many others have noted, at times their voices adopt each others affections and become virtually indistinguishable. While that aspect of their music can certainly be heard on record (and in several performance captures), hearing it in person is spine-tingling.
Before anyone knew what was happening, the band had seemingly everyone held at rapt attention, suspended in a moment where time was irrelevant. A brief “this is our last song” brought reality crashing back down on the proceedings and the band finished their main set exhibiting the same flair and charisma that earned them their headliner status in the first place. The encore call was immediate and overwhelming.
After a brief attempt to lead a venue wide singalong of “Happy Birthday” for the girl who cried out that it was hers, the band sheepishly launched into the first song of their encore: “Plants and Worms“. Even in a still-young discography packed with incredible material, “Plants and Worms” stands out in their catalog- and not just because it was gifted one of the best music videos of 2014. It was one of the first glimpses at the band’s maturation level and the songwriting remains some of the most staggering they’ve committed to a recording.
Decidedly darker in tone than the rest of their material, “Plants and Worms” is immediately arresting and the audience was dead quiet throughout (with the exception of a delighted reaction to the Tucker aside about the attempted birthday song), completely engrossed in the performance at hand. The evening ended with a gripping rendition of “Dear Nora”, one of Before The World Was Big‘s most quiet, affecting, and personal songs. When it drew to its silent finish, the audience gave one last enthusiastic applause and got one last glimpse of the band, smiling and waving, in front of an iconic backdrop, left with one last reminder that even though they were making their stage exit, Girlpool aren’t anywhere close to calling it quits.
A photo gallery of the show can be seen below. Underneath the gallery, watch video captures of parts of both Florist’s and Girlpool’s set below. Each video set includes two new songs per artist. Florist’s also includes “1914” while Girlpool’s includes “Chinatown”, “Crowded Stranger”, “Pretty”, and “Plants and Worms”. Enjoy.
The past handful of days have been keeping 2015’s embarrassment of riches trend alive via outstanding releases in all of this site’s regularly covered categories: single streams, full streams, and music videos. For the sake of brevity, these streams (and the following items) will be listed solely by the artists involved- though all of these links are well worth clicking and reflect strongly on the state of contemporary music.
The entire affair, as noted above, is extremely minimal and the premise is incredibly simplistic: Radioactivity plays three songs in a garage warehouse. How its executed is what gives this clip its life; each song brings the cameras progressively closer to the band as they perform before finally drawing in so close that the frame starts incorporating the technicolor exterior tubes to divide the shot in a barebones special effect trick that provides a surprising amount of visual punch. Of course, this being Radioactivity, the songs don’t need a lot of visual finesse to carry through or offer some sort of elevation; they’re already just about perfect. A compact blast teeming with the band’s characteristically snarling energy, this is a video that embraces their no-frills attitude and emphasizes what makes the band truly great.
Watch “Intro/Battered/Slipped Away” below and order the band’s excellent Silent Kill from Dirtnap here. For those of you in the Brooklyn area, you can catch the band at Baby’s All Right on July 30. Tickets for the show can be ordered here.
Now, onto part two of today’s recap of the past week in great live footage. From one of the most exciting new acts to an intricately assembled performance clip from one of the most fearlessly creative bands in music, nothing on display here is worth missing. As the previous five videos should have already indicated, the past week for great live footage was absolutely massive. To top this run off, there’s a devastating performance that proves minimal trappings can provide maximum impact as well as delightful CMJ sets from two site favorites. If nothing else, let this serve as a reminder that it’s an incredible time for music operating within the DIY confines. So, as always, sit back, wind down, focus up, adjust the volume to properly excessive levels, and Watch This.
1. MOURN – Otitis (Captured Tracks)
The most recently acquired Captured Tracks artist, MOURN, have been the (very deserving) center of a lot of celebrations lately. A case of youth driven by an independently motivated spirit and gifted with enviable composition skills, they’re a welcome source of new blood. “Otitis” is a fierce example of the band’s craftsmanship and singular identity.
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2. Girlpool (unARTigNYC)
Another band embodying a staunchly independent spirit at a young age is the fiercely beloved Girlpool. The duo took this year’s CMJ by storm and played as many sets as they possibly could and subsequently wound up on nearly every publication’s “Best Of: CMJ 2014” lists. Here, unARTigNYC lends a typically artful eye to a stunning, confident set from one of music’s best emerging hopes.
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3. Liars – Mask Maker (La Blogotheque)
La Blogotheque has provided some of the most compelling live footage for the past several years; each session managed to produce a complementary merging of artistic aesthetics, suffusing it with their own identity while allowing the featured band to be portrayed as honestly as possible. For their Empty Space series, they’ve teamed up with Converse and the collaborative effort has allowed a much greater range of technical abilities. Liars are a band that’s been perfectly suited to the forward-thinking mode that the series embodies since before Empty Space even existed. Unsurprisingly, this take of Liars tearing into “Mask Maker” is defined by precision and uniquely unconventional fearlessness.
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4. Gem Club – Twins (WNYC)
Gem Club’s Breakerswas one of 2011’s most emotionally crippling records. Gentle, lush, and deeply felt, it became an unofficial soundtrack to that winter and every winter that followed. Everything was built around delicate vocals and two of the most well-suited instruments to producing a melancholic atmosphere: piano and cello. For many who heard it, Breakers felt like a once-in-a-career kind of record. Their recently WNYC session featured a few performances of songs from that record, with “Twins” casting a particularly mesmerizing spell.
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5. Cayetana (NPR)
Bringing today’s abundance of treasures to a close is a memorable set from NPR’s CMJ showcase by site favorites- and authors of one of this year’s best songs– Cayetana. As is to be expected from a band with Cayetana’s reputation, they blaze through a 10 song set with a certain joie de vivre and leave absolutely no doubt that they’ve earned their current position. Expect to hear their name with increasing regularity over the next year- and don’t miss this performance.
Heartbreaking Bravery 