Heartbreaking Bravery

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Tag: Basement Punk

March 5, 2014

Creepoid – Baptism (Music Video)

As Noisey has already attested Philadelphia is absolutely killing it right now. One small part of what makes Philadelphia such an intriguing spot can certainly be attributed to Creepoid, a weirdo psych-punk quartet. Their just-released self-titled (out on No Idea Records) is already one of 2014’s highlights and the band just released the video for standout cut “Baptism”. Impressively, the video more than lives up to the track; it’s an impossibly perfect complement.

Mixing Super 8 footage with a controlled loop and overlay technique, director Wade Vanover has said the approach was meant to examine the inevitable disintegration of memory. It’s a powerful subtext that provides “Baptism” itself with a few extra layers of emotion, tinging it with an all-too-real sadness. It’s something that sinks in despite the visual assault that’s expertly designed to disorient the viewer. That the track is called “Baptism” only lends itself further to what ultimately ends up being an all-encompassing narrative. Birth, movement, and decay are all represented in some way or another, making this one of 2014’s most stunning achievements.

“Baptism” can be watched below and Creepoid can (and really should) be streamed in full here.

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February 7, 2014

Great Cynics – Whatever You Want (Music Video)

Youth is an evasive object. It’s impermanence is something that many struggle with in a myriad of ways; how to utilize it, how to escape it, and how to recapture it. That being said, there are images and objects that feel helplessly, intrinsically connected to youth. One such staple has always been swimming pools, perpetually present throughout the growing process and brimming with ceaseless appeal. From swimming lessons to sexual awakenings to blackout-drunk parties, they always seem to be present. It doesn’t matter whether they’ve been drained and turned into skating havens or kept full of chlorinated water, they’ve always seemed to attract young life. Great Cynics and director/editor Andrew Johnson, whether they’ve realized it or not, have just presented a fully-realized sense of youth with their video for “Whatever You Want”, a song from their upcoming split 12″ with Muncie Girls.

A series of black-and-white performance clips are intercut with footage of the band on the street to begin the video, establishing a sense of progress early on. Before long, though, the band’s kicked “Whatever You Want” into high gear while the footage finds itself unable to move past where the band was headed all along; the swimming pool. Throw in the fact that Great Cynics seem to derive most of their influences from 90’s alt. bands, in a manner very similar to Cheap Girls, and suddenly nostalgia and youth are thrown together as unwitting dancing partners. This sudden culmination hits a peak near the video’s mid-section and the clip becomes vibrantly alive, a perfect reflection of living for the sake of living. In the end, “Whatever You Want” stands up as both easily digestible entertainment on its surface and a gorgeous ode to youth in its subtext.  Watch “Whatever You Want” below and go swimming sometime soon.

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December 14, 2013

On the Up: Nervosas

Nervosas have had a whirlwind year since releasing their self-titled 2xLP debut album via Let’s Pretend Records. They went from a tucked-away secret to a band whose name seemingly dominated year-end conversations in more than a few specialty circles for the latter half of the year. Nearly every distro that Nervosas or any of their previous releases were available in are currently out of stock. After word got out about how good Nervosas really was, there was a grassroots word-of-mouth brushfire that propelled the band towards the upper echelons of punk.

Their trajectory has been one of the most impressive for any band this year and there’s reason to believe that their profile may eventually spill out towards even greater recognition. Nervosas’ sound skews towards Savages, who have experienced their fair share of success this year, only their take is less deliberate and quite a bit more fiery than their UK counterparts. Obvious no-wave influences are present but Nervosas are toying with them in ways that feel both new and unexpected. Nervosas itself is blinding and relentless but has an undeniable powerpop hue to it, not too dissimilar to how The Clash and The Replacements worked the genre into their music.

While Let’s Pretend (who have had an incredible past few years and emerged as one of basement punk’s leading taste-makers) have temporarily sold out of Nervosas material, the demo tape can still be purchased via Cowabunga! and the self-titled can be picked up over at No Breaks. Both tapes deserve to be secured immediately not just because of their quality but because of their scarcity; they’re great additions to any serious music collection and will undoubtedly be gone before long. These Ohio punk are showing no signs of slowing down and have positioned themselves nicely for a huge breakthrough.

Nervosas will be touring throughout 2014, including a March 1st double-header in Milwaukee that will find them playing with Appleseeds, Strange Matter, Crowdpleaser, Slut River, and two Heartbreaking Bravery favorites; Technicolor Teeth and Midwives. The early show (with Appleseeds, Strange Matter, and Crowdpleaser) will be at Center Street Free Space while the late show will take place at Quarter’s Rock N’ Roll Palace. Both are can’t-miss activities.

Listen to Nervosas self-titled full-length below.

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November 8, 2013

A Look at Burger Records and the Longevity of the Cassette Tape

Over time musical formats, like all things, evolve in one way or the other. We currently live in an age where it’s occasionally necessary to specify whether your release is a physical object. Album sales through the first nine months of the year were down 6.1% from 2012’s sales. Digital sales are also down. Vinyl is continuing a curious re-emergence, up 100% in sale volume over in the UK. Then there’s the perpetually-overlooked cassette tape charting its own unique path.

Considered painfully outdated by many, the truth is that the cassette never really disappeared. A perennial staple of the DIY music communities due to its cost-effectiveness, it’s been virtually impossible to get an accurate sales projection on as the majority of its sales seem to take place independetly. However, with some of the cultural focus shifting back over to the musical regions that most heavily embrace tape culture along with the balls-out risk of Cassette Store Day they’re back to being a common point of debate.

There are those that will endlessly champion the cassette and its merits, this very publication being one, and those who are completely baffled by anyone who’s interested in the format. Cassettes haven’t been as easily accessible as they are today since the peak of their popularity in the 90’s. When the mass consumption ebb switched to favoring the much sleeker CD, the cassette seemed all but buried. Cassette walkmans went from trend pieces to lost artifacts that seemed hopelessly out of touch. This cultural shift propelled the cassette to an outsider status that lent it a new context.

Unsurprisingly, the basement punk scene continued to latch onto the format and while the numbers of mass sales decreased, the independent business model for it held strong. Punk and hardcore bands as well as outsider pop, folk, and psych bands often only dealt in cassette releases simply because they became the most affordable option. A deep bond was formed between format and genre, each proving beneficial to the others aesthetics. Then, while the mp3 started to overtake the CD and vinyl began a surprising but entirely welcome comeback, tapes were left almost completely out of the cultural conversation.

In 1993 a Guitar Wolf demo tape convinced Eric Friedl to start a label to release the bands first record Wolf Rock!, that label, Goner, became one of punk’s most seminal since the ugly decline of SST. Friedl likely never paid the trajectory of tapes’ popularity any attention, continuing to release his artists music on the formats he/they saw fit. Even as the cassette turned into a surprisingly contentious topic, Goner consistently released them and anchored itself as one of the cornerstones in the formats strange history. As admirable as Goner’s works with cassettes were, at the start of the new millennium there was somethingt brewing on the west coast that would take the tape even further.

Two members of the much-beloved Fullerton, CA basement pop outfit Thee Makeout Party!, Sean Bohrman and Lee Rickard, founded an independent record store and label in 2007, launching it officially two years later. Less than five years later their label, Burger Records, has become nearly synonymous with the word cassette. This year has proved to be one of Burger’s most prolific stretches, aided by an unexpected spike in interest for cassettes and the various basement punk sub-genres. While their collaborations with punk wunderkind Ty Segall may have lent some momentum to this, the label also experienced a greater amount of national coverage in 2013. Cassette Store Day certainly influenced some of the coverage but consistent reporting from scribes like Pitchfork’s Jenn Pelly, Noisey’s Zachary Lipez as well as a handful of articles from Stereogum’s Miles Bowe expanded Burger from a portion of the MRR set to the more indie-inclined crowds.

That crossover is where Burger has managed its biggest coup; for over four years the label has been releasing consistently impressive material that has equal appeal to both parties. Another coup; psych and surf influence litter the labels catalog, giving it a distinct west coast flavor, while also nicely syncing up with a growing demand for music that features either. All of these manage to intersect to provide the label with a legitimate identity apart from its near-refusal to release anything apart from cassettes (the label does occasionally release some vinyl, makes a select few of its releases available digitally, and even fewer available on CD). Burger’s ability to sustain a breakneck pace has been astounding and they’ve proven themselves as taste-makers in an impossibly short amount of time.

Looking at the amount of titles Burger has sold out is staggering, even considering their ace-in-the-hole model of release. Nearly everything the label presses to cassette is available once as a limited-run release, so if you missed out on Tenement’s Napalm Dream + Demos double-cassette, then you’ll likely have to keep both eyes peeled to a secondhand service like ebay. While some of their more popular releases do manage to get multiple re-pressings, it’s somewhat of a rarity. Burger’s also proved to be efficient at capitalizing on bands that seemed to be geared towards greater success, as they did with Tenement and as their currently doing with Seattle’s Big Eyes, having just recently provided a tape release for a record that’s already been out for months.

While cassettes still exist in abundance as several bands preferred mode of independent release, Burger seems keenly aware of the urgency created by a ‘get ’em before they’re gone’ kind of model. Their claims of starting their own movement don’t feel too far off base. Demand for their products were high enough to warrant Burgerama, the labels own self-curated music festival, Wiener Records- a subsidiary label, and the Burger Caravan of Stars tour that takes the central idea of Burgerama and condenses it into a smaller-scale nationwide version. They’ve created something far bigger than themselves and it’s paying off. Burger’s responsible for over 500 notable releases and more than half of those are currently no longer available.

Cassette Store Day brought a lot of issues to light and several people were left aghast, while it inspired local artists the world over to make their small contributions. Austin, TX troubadours Okkervil River took advantage of the nostalgic aspect of the cassette, releasing The Silver Gymnasium on the format. Burger Records understands the format and what it stands for. They’re the ones that know how many miles in a van a cassette can represent, how much cheap spilled beer went into making and celebrating one, how the slightly compressed sound quality can actually prove beneficial to the sound of particular artists, and the skip-resistant longevity of a cassette. They’re the ones that have been part of post-show basement cassette trades between local and touring acts. Burger Records knows who will fit and who will respond to the format most strongly.

Burger Records knows the cassette’s not dead and they’re going to keep it that way. Whether that’s a triumph, a statement, or a disgrace is anyone’s prerogative.  For a generation that’s involved in their movement, it exceeds simpler classifications and becomes a way of life. To Heartbreaking Bravery, it’s a life well worth living.

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November 6, 2013

Radioactivity – Radioactivity (Album Review)

Radioactivity - s/t cover art

The Marked Men’s 2006 masterpiece Fix My Brain was one of the decade’s only indisputable basement pop classics. While their unexpected follow-up Ghosts was good, it failed to reach the heights of its predecessor. Afterwards, The Marked Men slowly disappeared, playing only a scant few dates a year, if that. Earlier this year the Denton, TX band headlined Dirtnap Records’ massive 14 year anniversary shows in Seattle and Portland, reminding everyone that they were still on the top of their respective games. Which brings us to the here and now; Marked Men members Jeff Burke and Mark Ryan’s new band, Radioactivity.

Radioactivity have just released their self-titled debut record and it more than lives up to the promise of their involvement. While Ghosts was an admirably slight misstep, Radioactivity feels like the more natural successor to Fix My Brain. Even though Radioactivity isn’t a Marked Men release, it has all of that band’s vintage staples in tact. Vocal melodies are crisp and catchy while the guitar-riff heavy arrangements offer up plenty of memorable hooks. All of this is anchored by a propulsive rhythm section that props up Radioactivity‘s most thrilling moments.

Generally when a band manages to put out a release that’s more than a dozen tracks deep there’s bound to be a weak track or two. Radioactivity avoids this trap in thrilling fashion, offering up 13 standout tracks that don’t deserve to be skipped over. From opening track “Sickness” to their final moment on “Trusted You”, Radioactivity pilots their way through an absurd amount of peaks and ultimately wind up with a new classic on their hands. It will be a legitimately stunning development if this record isn’t featured on several year-end lists, especially when taking into account some of the more specialized publications.

Trying to pinpoint all of the highlights on Radioactivity would be an exercise in gross futility because they’re peppered all over every manic track. Radioactivity’s energy throughout this, while not unexpected, is worth marveling over. All 13 tracks are emphasized by perfect sequencing and elevated by the record’s masterful pacing. Moment after moment is full of a rejuvenated sense of purpose, displaying a sense of uninhibited joy. This is a whirlwind masterclass in a certain style of songwriting and deserves to be in as many collections as possible.

Fix My Brain defined a genre for more than a few people and stood in a class of its own. After a seven year wait for something as worthy, Radioactivity’s self-titled debut has finally proved there can be something that joins its ranks. While it’s still Mark Ryan and Jeff Burke, the band do qualify as a new project despite all the similarities to its predecessor. Whether or not Radioactivity can improve on their astounding start is anyone’s best guess but a lot of people will be anxious to find out. After all, Ryan and Burke have proved they can duplicate their successes. If anyone’s capable of pulling off the miraculous twice, it’d be them.

Radioactivity can be purchased from the always reliable Dirtnap and can be streamed below.

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