Beech Creeps | Heartbreaking Bravery

May 30, 2016

Splitting at the Break: The Live Videos of 2016’s First Half

2016 is just about at its midway mark and there hasn’t been any live coverage on this site since before the year turned over. There have been a number of extenuating circumstances preventing the live documentation that has been captured this year from being posted (travel, time, other commitments, etc.) but that changes today. Below are ten video packets from ten shows that I was fortunate enough to catch — and shoot — this year.

Normally, as a general rule of thumb, I avoid posting anything from shows I play but am making an exception for the Jungles package because the band’s woefully under-represented in America for their undeniable strength as a live act. A few other packets may be missing an artist or two but what’s below is the vast majority of what I’ve seen over the past six months.

Whether it’s Meat Wave ripping through a crushing new song on a (freakishly sunny) winter day in Chicago, Beach Slang covering The Replacements two times over, or Torres making everyone’s hairs stand on end with an unforgettable one-song encore, these are worth a look and were a privilege to experience. A photo gallery will be coming within the next few days but for now, enjoy the footage.

American Wrestlers, Eternal Summers, Palehound, and Torres.

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Julien Baker and Charly Bliss.

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Muuy Biien, Meat Wave, The Spits, and Black Lips.

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Runners, Beech Creeps, and Heavy Times.

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Jungles.

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Mr. Martin & The Sensitive Guys, BAG-DAD, Haunter, Miserable Friend, and Heavycritters.

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Yoko and the Oh No’s and PWR BTTM.

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Micah Schnabel, Dyke Drama, Potty Mouth, and Beach Slang.

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Yowler, Eskimeaux, and Frankie Cosmos.

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Oops and Dilly Dally.

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March 14, 2015

First Quarter Clips, Pt. 2 (Video Mixtape)

We’re not even three months into 2015 and it’s already yielded a sprawling treasure trove of the kind of music-related items that are worth cherishing. It’s been a particularly strong year for music videos, with some titles from last year’s best releases getting their just treatment balanced out by some tantalizing clips sending expectations for the forthcoming releases that they’re attached to rocketing up to stratospheric heights. Animation, lyric videos, puppetry, seductively slow cinematography, static shots, dancing corpses, subtitled documentary footage, blood, more puppets (it’s been a great time for puppets in music videos), and self-shot footage are just some of the traits that define this two-part collection of 50 of the year’s most engaging clips. All of them, from the folk-leaning lilt of the second collection and the largely DIY punch of its predecessor, deserve praise. Don’t allow the fact they haven’t received any accompanying text beyond this introductory paragraph to do them a disservice; a few of theses videos rank as the best thing the attached band’s ever done and several others continue stunning individual stylistic penchants. More than anything, though, this is a collection that’s intended to represent the diversity and strength of 2015’s earliest offerings in the visual medium. Whether the video comes from an established act or a relatively unknown band, as always, is largely besides the point: this is art worth celebrating. Set aside an hour or two and dive into the madness- and keep an eye on this site for a continuation of this series that should be appearing in the coming days.

COLLECTION II

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1. Mitski – Townie
2. Hailey Wojcik – XO Skeleton
3. Doomtree – Final Boss
4. Hundred Waters – Innocent
5. Palma Violets – Danger in the Club
6. Girl Band – Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?
7. Jawbreaker Reunion – My Own
8. Screaming Females – Hopeless
9. Museum Mouth – Sacred
10. Celestial Shore – Now I Know
11. Chastity Belt – Time To Go Home
12. Cloakroom – Starchild Skull
13. Modest Mouse – Coyotes
14. Girlpool – Chinatown
15. Sweet John Bloom – Blood Moon
16. Bass Drum of Death – Better Days
17. Colleen Green – TV
18. Turbo Fruits – The Way I Want You
19. Young Widows – King Sol
20. Evans the Death – Enabler
21. Green Dreams – Rich Man/Poor Man
22. Japanese Breakfast – The Woman That Loves You
23. Michael Rault – Still Not Sad
24. A Place to Bury Strangers – We’ve Come So Far
25. Karen O – Day Go By

COLLECTION III

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1. Gothic Tropic – Underwater Games
2. Laura Marling – False Hope
3. Beech Creeps – Son of Sud
4. Ultimate Painting – Riverside
5. Elvis Perkins – Hogus Pogus
6. Trust Fund – Essay to Write
7. Mount Eerie – This
8. Kevin Morby – Dancer
9. Seagulls – You and Me
10. Bay Uno – Wait For Your Love
11. Jose Gonzalez – Leaf Off / The Cave
12. The Staves – Black & White
13. Big Noble – Ocean Picture
14. Inventions – Springworlds
15. S. Carey – Neverending Fountain
16. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Boundlessness
17. Ava Luna – Coat of Shellac
18. Novella – Land Gone
19. Young Buffalo – No Idea
20. Avi Buffalo – Think It’s Gonna Happen Again
21. HUMANS – Tell Me
22. Kathryn Calder – Take A Little Time
23. Sondre Lerche – Lucky Guy
24. Doe Paoro – Traveling
25. Asaf Avidan – Over My Head

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March 7, 2015

First Quarter Songs, Pt. 1 (Mixtape)

We’re a little more than three months into 2015 and the influx of great new material in the year’s first quarter has been astounding. It was a transitional time period for the site, with dozens of authors pitching in personal recollection pieces regarding the previous year. During that time, I also started a full-time position, disallowing a production rate as frequent as the one held throughout the entirety of 2014. However, during these opening months, I haven’t stopped listening, collecting, exploring, and thinking about every new release that I was fortunate enough to find. There are more than 250 songs, 90 full streams, and 115 music videos to cover, so- while a few will be given full features- it only made sense to bring everything up to speed via long lists of the things worth mentioning. To begin, here are 25 great songs from 2015 that deserve to be heard. Don’t let the fact that there are no accompanying descriptions short-change the value of these songs; this is the first batch of what already looks like the strongest crop of new music we’ve had in years. The track list, and embedded player, is below. Listen to these songs, pay attention to these artists, buy these records, and go to their shows. Don’t make the mistake of letting any of them pass by unnoticed.

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1. The Juliana Hatfield Three – Wood
2. Swerverdriver – Autodidact
3. Gal Pals – Here’s to the Gals
4. Chastity Belt – Time to Go Home
5. Beech Creeps – Times Be Short
6. Will Butler – Take My Side
7. Dick Diver – Tearing The Posters Down
8. Shadow Age – A Portrait of A Young Man Dying
9. The Zoltars – Sincere
10. Robot Princess – Action Park
11. Colleen Green – TV
12. Alex G – Sarah
13. Sam Cook-Parrott & Allison Crutchfield – Something About What Happens
14. Chris Weisman – Don’t Be Slow
15. Dorthia Cottrell – Oak Grove
16. Cloud Castle Lake – Glacier
17. Simon Joyner – You Got Under My Skin
18. Eaves – Spin
29. Steady Lean – Atkins
20. Shilpa Ray – Pop Song For Euthanasia
21. Rye Pines – Pessimist
22. Moon Duo – Slow Down Low
23. DOE – Basement
24. Weed – Stay in the Summer
25. LVL UP – Somebody Kill Me Please

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