Cayetana have been making a major push recently after developing a reputation for themselves based on the strength of their live show and incessant touring. Recently, the band went on tour with The Menzingers who also brought along site favorite Lemuria and PUP, raising their profile- and expectations for their new material- to staggering heights. If that pressure was weighing on the band, it doesn’t show- the first glimpse they’ve offered at new material, “Scott Get the Van, I’m Moving” is an exhilarating leap forward for a band that seems ready for national attention.
Boasting one of the catchiest vocal melodies of the year, the song’s a super-charged blast of basement pop that sounds both completely unhinged and gleefully effortless. Cayetana appear to be in full control of their craft, which bodes well for Nervous Like Me (due out September 9 on Tiny Engines), which “Scott Get the Van, I’m Moving” is taken from. Veering back and forth between an insanely fun sugar-rush during the verse and a decidedly more contemplative (and somber) passage offers up a contrast that keeps the listener on their toes and keeps the song fascinating. It’s an extremely tantalizing first look at Nervous Like Me and will be whipping audiences into a frenzy for as long as it’s played.
Listen to “Scott Get the Van, I’m Moving” below and keep both eyes peeled for Nervous Like Me.
In a quest to continue making up for the time lost to the month-long festival coverage dedication, several gems have been unearthed. Most of these songs have been in heavy rotation since first appearing and several even soundtracked the long festival editing process. Purling Hiss’ “Learning Slowly” earned its position as one of the most-heavily played while the NXNE and Pitchfork spots were being finalized. Jagged and hypnotic, “Learning Slowly” is a personal best for Purling Hiss and one hell of a tease for the band’s upcoming Weirdon.
Purling Hiss have made a career out of spiky lo-fi basement punk and “Learning Slowly” sees them continuing steadily on their quest to perfect the genre. Easily their most accessible- and catchiest- song to date, “Learning Slowly” could prove to be an effective warning shot for a (deservedly) broader audience. Fortunately, the band’s kept both their character and integrity in tact, which will likely take Weirdon a long way. Purling Hiss has a few things to say- and as “Learning Slowly” seems to indicate, they’re all worth listening to.
Listen to “Learning Slowly” below and keep an eye out for Weirdon‘s eventual release via Drag City.
Pop-punk is a maligned genre- and, disappointingly, it’s earned the majority of its scorn by virtue of being largely tepid and uninspired. Ideas are recycled to an alarming extent, the execution’s often overly-bombastic and instantly forgettable. That’s why bands like Lemuria, The Frankl Project, Sundials, Little Lungs, PUP, and the bands that exist (or existed) alongside them are embraced like breaths of fresh air; they’re bands that subvert the genre so completely it’s difficult to define them as part of the genre. Grit, humility, and a sense of empathy help separate them from an overcrowded field- and half the time, they come off as punk bands with an easily traceable love for powerpop anyway. All of the artists that occupy that position have created a niche that labels like Salinas frequently celebrate. Add Winnipeg’s Mulligrub to that list immediately.
Last month, the trio released the Canadian Classic single online, which is a two-song effort highlighted by the title track, in advance of their forthcoming full-length. “Canadian Classic” announced Mulligrub as a band who has remarkable control of their craft, navigating a variety of passages with a clear-eyed confidence that should serve them extraordinarily well. Musically, it’s closest spiritual kin is likely Radiator Hospital at their most unabashedly poppy, which is really just a slightly longer way of saying that it’s a song that should definitely be listened to. Additionally, there’s a prominent 90’s alternative influence that skews a little closer to Swearin’, solidifying it as a can’t-miss prospect. “Canadian Classic” is backed by “Chicken”, a subtle slow-builder that showcases the band’s range and cements their spot as an act to watch. So, start listening, start watching, just don’t make the mistake of glazing past this band or these songs.
Listen to Canadian Classic below and snag a copy of the band’s upcoming full-length at the first available opportunity.
As mentioned previously, this site’s month-long dedication to festival coverage meant missing a lot of great material during that interim. While a few have since been covered, there’s still a lot to catch up on- and one of the select few ranking among the very best, once again, belongs to a Double Double Whammy release (in conjunction with Old Flame Records, no less): Lost Boy ?’s “Hollywood”. The song’s the first single to be released from the band’s forthcoming full-length, Canned.
Brimming with an unfettered energy, “Hollywood” starts with a sprint and doesn’t concern itself with looking back. As much an exercise momentum as it is a cathartic release, the song’s sent the levels of anticipation for Canned skyrocketing to heights completely unprecedented for the band. If “Hollywood” and the recently unveiled Canned B-side, “Graves“, are any indication, this is a record that will have a lot of people talking- and willfully damaging their speakers. As a stylistic marriage, there are few things that work better than off-kilter basement pop and spiky post-punk- and Lost Boy ? already seems to have that blend perfected. Watch out for this band.
Listen to “Hollywood” below and pre-order Canned here.
Among the few who have heard (and loved) it, there aren’t very many records to have been released since the turn of the century that can come even close to touching Hot New Mexicans’ should-be-classic self-titled sophomore effort. Hot New Mexicanswas that band’s final release before their bandleader, Patrick Jennings, moved camp from Athens to Bloomington and joined up with Will Statler (of Defiance, Ohio and Landlord) and Chris Mott (also of Landlord) to form PURPLE 7. Following their excellent five-song effort, Volume Two, the band’s released Jewel Finger in a limited edition LP run, which marks their first full-length to receive a physical release.
Quietly self-released just a little under a month ago, Jewel Fingeris an absolute stunner and, from top to bottom, one of 2014’s very best. More than just a sum of the band member’s previous projects, they’ve already established an original voice of their very own. While the influences of their past work are still very clearly present, they’ve tapped into something else that feels entirely new, despite still trafficking in left field basement pop. From the attention-ensuring opening songs to the absolutely gorgeous title track and the arresting closer, this is a full-bodied work from a band confident enough to present themselves in a completely unguarded fashion. Most representative of all of this, though, is the raucous “Wise Up”.
“Wise Up” seems to stand out in a record literally full of highlights thanks to featuring an even more manic energy than the songs that surround it. From the stop/start rhythms to the buzzsaw riffs, menacing bass line, and impassioned vocal delivery, it’s the point where Jewel Finger shifts from truly great to completely transcendental. Continuously working in new ideas with verve and panache, “Wise Up” refuses to relent from being as gnarled, and as engaging, as possible. It’s the defining moment of a genuinely great record and deserves to be heard by anyone with even just a passing interest in the genre. This is a masterclass in songwriting and cements PURPLE 7’s growing importance- and reputation. Modern music doesn’t get much better than this.
Listen to “Wise Up” below and make sure to order a copy of Jewel Fingerbefore they’re gone- this is a record that needs to be in as many collections as possible.
Burger Records has been on an unflagging hot streak for longer than this site’s existed (hell, the first batch of Heartbreaking Bravery content was practically dominated by the label- from the very first post to a write-up dedicated specifically to the label). This year they’ve more than sustained their momentum, working on joint releases for recent releases from renowned artists as varied as Guided By Voices and Jenny Lewis. While those are, undoubtedly, high profiles, the label hasn’t lost sight of their roots. Dude York’s Dehumanize is full and cathartic proof of that fact.
Working alongside Help Yourself Records, Dehumanize is getting the full Burger treatment thanks to the fact it’s full of songs like “Believer”, a rollicking basement pop anthem. Characterized by a love of DIY punk and classic powerpop, “Believer” is a perfect introduction to a band that already seems ready to arrive. It’s brash, it’s catchy, and it earns the hell out of its nearly-five-minute running time, cruising by with an effortlessness and confidence that’s usually reserved for seasoned veterans. Every section’s monstrously enjoyable and illogically catchy, marking Dehumanize as an absolute must-buy from one song alone. Don’t get caught sleeping on this, it’s not worth missing- and it’s perfect for the height of summer.
Listen to “Believer” below and order the cassette from Burger here.
Over the past few years Milwaukee-via-Oshkosh act The Midwestern Charm have gone through their fair share of changes. Most immediately evident, though, is the fierceness that characterizes their just-released sophomore full-length, Growing Pains, that was almost entirely absent from their self-titled debut. Trading a prominent Ryan Adams influence in for a sound more indebted to The Lemonheads was a move that paid off, as Growing Pains is easily the band’s finest material to date. While the whole record’s worth several spins, it’s the lead-off track that really stands out.
“Bloodbath”, more than any other song on Growing Pains, is indicative of what the band’s like in a live setting; relatively unhinged, not afraid of feedback, and unashamedly ragged. All of it’s anchored by an emphatic vocal performance from bandleader Connor S. La Mue, whose frequently trenchant lyrics help elevate The Midwestern Charm past a lot of their would-be peers. While it did take La Mue years to settle on finalized lyrics for “Bloodbath”, there was never a bad version of the song. As the band evolved over time, so did “Bloodbath”, with special attention being paid to Ryan McCrary’s searing lead guitar work. Ultimately, the song wound up not just being a personal best for the band but one of the best songs to come out of WI this year (incidentally, a few members of The Midwestern Charm are also directly responsible for a few other truly great WI-based songs from this year thanks to their status as members of The Sleepwalkers). “Bloodbath” is basement pop at its finest.
Listen to “Bloodbath” below and make sure to catch The Midwestern Charm live as soon as humanly possible (a list of tour dates can be found here).
Vacation seem to have earned themselves a reputation as being an increasingly popular pick for “your favorite band’s favorite band” and it’s not difficult to figure out why. Each of their releases has been embraced by their respective community as nothing less than celebratory affairs. Add the fact that a few of the members of Vacation also spend time in Tweens, helping their wide-scale exposure out, and all of the pieces are already in place for new levels of success.
After Candy Wavestopped a slew of genre specialists “Best of 2012” lists, the trio had already carved out a name for themselves. Tweens’ unlikely (but entirely welcome) 2013 breakout raised questions of what the implications would be for Vacation. As of a few days ago, the band’s provided a definitive answer in rousing fashion with a demo for “Every Direction” and promises of a subsequent full-length and tour. Most surprisingly, however, is the shift from a trio to a quartet, and a switch at drums. Make no mistake, though, this is still very much Vacation, now just a little more fleshed-out. Hell, “Every Direction” just might even be their finest outing yet. All cutthroat riffs and irresistible melody, it’s an immensely effective tease for whatever they’ve got in store. Whatever it is, it’ll almost certainly be more than worth the now-stratospheric levels of anticipation.
Listen to “Every Direction” below and keep a keen eye (or two) on the band’s facebook page for any further updates.
A note: All night tonight Heartbreaking Bravery will be running photo galleries from the recent Toronto trip. All of these galleries will have full reviews to accompany them in the near future. The preceding galleries all came with additional notes out of necessity but this will be the short reminder that runs with the remainder. Enjoy the photographs below and keep an eye out for the upcoming reviews.
After Day 1 of NXNE got the festival off to a strong start, Day 2 is when the madness kicked into high gear. From late afternoon to well past midnight, there were sets from Caddywhompus, Speedy Ortiz, PS I Love You, Pissed Jeans, The Pizza Underground (although it’s still unclear if that could actually be called a set), Shannon & the Clams, Odonis Odonis, The Yips, and Sam Coffey & the Iron Lungs. These were spread out across four venues and, at the bottom of these writings, there’s visual documentation of all of them.
Day 2 started off at the gorgeous (and gorgeously lit) Mod Club Theatre, which boasted a stacked bill that was headlined by Pissed Jeans- who delivered what would be one of the most memorable single sets of the festival. Before that, there were several standout moments from each of the three bands preceding Pissed Jeans. Caddywhompus set the wheels in motion with their enticing combination of traditional math elements and post-punk. From their surprisingly sweet vocal melodies to the power drumming and guitar fireworks that drove the momentum of their set, it’s easy to see why people are starting to latch onto this band. Proving even more impressive was their use of noise-prone ambient transitions to seamlessly segue between many of their songs. Somewhere between their terrifyingly precise tempo shifts and their soaring choruses, they’ve carved out something even more impressive; a wide-open future.
Site favorites Speedy Ortiz were next to take the stage and delivered a set laced with great moments from Major Arcana as well as a song they’re currently prepping to release as a single for an Adult Swim series that’s entitled “Bigger Party”, which is the band at their most definitive. Grass is Green‘s Devin McKnight has taken up the space recently vacated by guitarist Matt Robidux and managed to come off as an integral (and more importantly, incredibly dynamic) part of the band. By the end of Speedy Ortiz’s set, they’d made the most of their penchant for irreverence by keeping the between-song moments lively with genuinely funny banter and a great rapport. There were no lulls or dull moments; the evening had hit its stride early with what would ultimately become one of the night’s most engaging sets.
Canadian favorites PS I Love You were the next ones up and have the benefit of a great new album on deck that they seemed eager to tease. Immediately apparent was their fondness for blistering volumes, which in lesser hands may have distracted from their musicality- not here. Add in a generous layer of fuzz and the jaw-dropping guitar heroics of Paul Saulnier (who also controlled blasts of bass-driven organ chords through wired presets on a pedalboard- and had sweat dripping off his fingers less than three songs into their set) and it wound up being a fairly staggering showcase for both Saulnier and the relentless drumming of Benjamin Nelson. While their set did drop its momentum after the ecstatic highs brought on by a genuinely impassioned performance of “Facelove“, things were restored by the very end of their set thanks to the strength of the songs on their outstanding upcoming full-length, For Those Who Stay.
After PS I Love You called it night, one thing suddenly became very clear: everything was about to become all about sludge-indebted hardcore titans Pissed Jeans. They didn’t disappoint. All but storming the stage, vocalist Matt Korvette started their set by immediately declaring that the band had a very important announcement to make: “We are no longer Pissed Jeans. We are now Virgin Mobile Pissed Jeans”- a possible dig at the festival’s increased incorporation of corporate sponsorship. Following that subtly-tinged bit of possible vitriol, their levels all quickly rocketed to seething. With Korvette absolutely owning the Mod Club Theatre stage (both Nick Cave and Iggy Pop frequently came to mind- and that’s saying quite a bit), his band exploded around him and consistently matched his energy level. Between songs, he would faux-berate the audience for not trying hard enough or for not being more into the performance- and at one point he even paused to conduct a music lecture on guitar composition (extended fives, sweeping fours, and triple sevens were all covered).
Never letting the energy levels drop even a fraction, Pissed Jeans annihilated just about every expectation and ended with what’s undoubtedly one of the strangest encores to ever be performed at NXNE. Here’s what happened: after a small but meaningful attempt from the audience to get the band back on stage for one more song, Korvette reappeared and took the reigns on bass and began playing a tribal-sounding bassline over and over, occasionally walking from the stage to the wings before disappearing completely (while still playing the bass). At one point, the guitarist became the drummer for a strange misdirect- and didn’t play a single note before getting off the throne and exiting the stage. Finally, after Korvette hadn’t appeared for about two minutes, he suddenly slid the bass out quite a ways onto the stage floor from his spot in the wings and the show was officially over. All of it caused one audience member to scream out “What did that even mean?!” which was shortly followed by his still-very-confused “…like, technically?!”. If only anyone knew.
Going from what was arguably the festival’s highlight to Lee’s Palace for what was inarguably the most uncomfortable set (courtesy of The Pizza Underground) was a little jarring. As mentioned up above, it’s difficult to know whether or not this could even be called a set- it was more of a comedy variety hour. At any rate, Maculay Culkin’s Velvet Underground-aping Pizza project had a hard time finding or developing any sort of noticeable rhythm and it kept tripping over itself to bring in new ideas or guests- among them: Plop Dylan (Bob Dylan songs with the lyrics altered so that they were about feces), a karaoke section from #PUSSYJOEL (Billy Joel songs about cats- the only thing the internet loves more than pizza), and a bizarre Tony Danza-impersonating stand-up comedian. The most clever of these wound up being the least tactful; Kurt Cobain’d- a man dressed up as Kurt Cobain (who was arguably the best musician to be featured throughout their set) doing Nirvana songs where all of the present tense verbs were switched to the past tense. By the end of their set, they were barely doing any of their original (a term used very loosely, all things considered) material. At least they bought Pizza for everyone.
An additional benefit of The Pizza Underground’s set? Culkin’s celebrity draw prompted one of the biggest non-Yonge Dundas Square turnouts and several of them stuck around- and were subsequently blown away- by an incendiary set from Shannon & the Clams. The band had previously caused a lot of people to fall pretty hard for them with an extraordinary track record of releases through Burger Records and Hardly Art. Live, the band more than lived up to the promise of their studio releases and quickly filled the spots in Lee’s Palace that had been abandoned after The Pizza Underground left a bad taste in much of the audience’s respective mouths. Not too long into their set, the entire standing section was full of people grinning widely and dancing their hearts out to Shannon & the Clams’ throwback rock n’ soul basement pop. All things considered, that lasting image was one of the best takeaway moments of NXNE.
After Shannon & the Clams had left everyone smiling, the plan was to go to Smiling Buddha to settle in for The Yips and Sam Coffey & the Iron Lungs- fortunately, after running into Speedy Ortiz- we were redirected to Odonis Odonis’ set at The Garrison. Arriving mid-set meant the audience was already packed. The members of Speedy Ortiz, looking a touch exhausted, snagged a spot at the adjacent bar and advised us to go in to catch the band. Already being anxious to catch Odonis Odonis (who appeared on Heartbreaking Bravery’s First Quarter Finish mixtape), caused no hesitation in a move for the venue doors. Only a few songs were caught but it didn’t take long for Odonis Odonis to establish their connection to METZ: both bands have the same intense careening-all-over-the-place stage presence and love of ear-shattering volume levels. Their spastic synth-driven noise-punk freakouts managed to re-establish a new energy precedent for the evening and wound up being the best surprise set of the festival.
The Garrison was then left behind for the second consecutive night at Smiling Buddha (which would be visited again on nights 4 and 5) for late shows from The Yips and Sam Coffey & the Iron Lungs. Both bands made the best use of a very small stage that they didn’t quite seem to fit on. All five members of The Yips kept grinning and bouncing off each other as if they were having the time of their lives- a trend that was continued by the six member lineup of Sam Coffey & the Iron Lungs. Where The Yips played surf-friendly basement pop that hinted at some art-friendly trappings, Sam Coffey & the Iron Lungs went the full blue-collar basement punk route. Both bands drew huge reactions from the crowd and there was more than one instance of crowd surfing. The Yips had people dancing. Sam Coffey & the Iron Lungs incited mass crowd sing-a-longs. There was clear-cut camaraderie between the bands and their audience in a small-scale environment- which is what all of the best festivals strive to achieve. It was a genuinely incredible end to an extraordinary day of sets and sent expectation skyrocketing for Day 3.
Watch videos from Caddywhompus, Pissed Jeans, Shannon & the Clams, The Yips, and Sam Coffey & the Iron Lungs below (apologies for the slightly blown-out audio)- beneath those, the photo gallery containing each band mentioned n the review. Enjoy.
Heartbreaking Bravery 