Bing & Ruth | Heartbreaking Bravery

May 7, 2018

Ex-Vöid – Boyfriend (Music Video)

Last week there were exceptional songs from Bing & Ruth, LIFE, Drahla, Active Bird Community, Remember Sports, Oddnesse, Animal House, Therese Lithner, Lilith, Natalie Prass, Proud Parents, The Goon Sax, RVG, Beach Skulls, Winston Vista, and Co Sonn. There was also the re-introduction of two former members of site favorites Joanna Gruesome, one of which — Alanna McArdle — being the vocalist that played a pivotal role in their rise to prominence.

That reintroduction comes with the arrival of Ex-Vöid, a power trio that falls neatly in line with where McArdle and Owen Williams left off with their old project, bringing the exact same kind of kinetic energy back to the table. Twee indie pop sensibilities once again infiltrating a noisy post-punk lens in “Boyfriend”, the band’s irresistible new single. Taking cues from a perfectly curated list of sources, from Sarah Records to Flying Nun, Ex-Vöid rekindle a spark that was seemingly extinguished when they departed Joanna Gruesome.

“Boyfriend” is short but it’s sharp, sinking its hooks in deep enough to leave the kind of marks that lead to fondly-recognized scars. The into is a cavalcade of noise but that disintegrates into sunny melodies in an instant, the band launching into that familiar but distinct sound, bridging their influences to their own singular identity. It’s a thrilling listen that offers up a few more surprises as it goes, offering up enough grace notes to portend a bright future for a voice that we should all be glad has rejoined the table.

Listen to “Boyfriend” below and pre-0rder Ex-Vöid from Don Giovanni.

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December 1, 2016

Nothing Stops In November: The Month’s Music Videos

November was a hectic month for a lot of reasons, politically and personally. Barely any posts ran over the past 30 days but, as always, the new releases were accounted for as they were unveiled. As December presses towards 2017, there will be a slew of new posts covering the best material to be released in November as well as the releases that appear throughout the month. Before those run, though, there’ll be extended recaps of some of the most exceptional releases in the three major categories (streams, music videos, and full streams). This post will cover the visual end of that spectrum and offers up a wide array of styles. Go exploring.

Weyes Blood, Methyl Ethel, Ultimate Painting, Small Feet, Silver Rose, Adam & Elvis, The Franklys, Willie J Healey, LA BÊTE BLOOMS, Communions, Rick Rude, Slowcoaches, Landing, ROYA, NE-HI, Lost Under Heaven, Soft Lions, Shellshag, Littler, Mutts, No Nets, The Evaporators, Drive-By Truckers, Bing & Ruth, Leggy, Quilt, Lydia Loveless, Dizzyride, Bash & Pop, Kissing Party, Jamie T, Jeff Rosenstock, Martin Courtney, Thom Hell, Cass McCombs, Lou Barlow, Drugdealer (ft. Weyes Blood), Aathens.

Sammus (ft. Izzy True), July Talk, Howardian, Invisible Boy, The Empty Page, Ricky Eat Acid, Haybaby, Mikey Erg, Hodgy, Rogov, Marchildon!, Streets of Laredo, Pill Friends, Hello Shark, Owen, Bichkraft, Roosevelt, Margaret Glaspy, Clipping., The So So Glos, Joan of Arc, Jesca Hoop, Luke Temple, Lost in the Cosmos, Cut Off Your Hands, Dear Boy, The Molochs, ANOHNI, Monogold, Young Pioneers, Cherry Glazerr, Terra Lightfoot, The Smith Street Band, Waxlimbs, Hero Fisher (ft. Carol Batton), Delicate Steve.

Yael Naim, NONA, BADBADNOTGOOD (ft. Kaytranada), Uni Ika Ai, Vandaveer, Jarrod Milton, Mount Moriah, Jade Imagine, Brodka, Priests, Wolf People, The Severed Limb, and a trio of clips from Chastity.

December 13, 2015

Dusk – Too Sweet (Music Video)

dusk

Capping off tonight’s run of the best music videos of the past few months is Dusk— one of the year’s best new bands– with 2015 highlight “Too Sweet“. Over the course of the past 10 years of my life, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet most of Dusk’s members and share bills with their bands. The most notable of these directly affiliated bands is Tenement, a band I’ve written about on this site in great detail thanks to their key role in my artistic and personal development. As a kid who was just figuring out how to play guitar, I remember stepping foot into The BFG (a DIY punk house venue that the band used to run) and being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of records that the house had amassed, each showing the residents’ eclectic tastes.

I’d later come to find that a bulk of these belonged to Tenement guitarist/vocalist (and Dusk bassist) Amos Pitsch, who had a penchant for old soul and country records from the likes of artists like Sam Cooke and The Louvin Brothers. Those influences would gradually present themselves in subtle ways on Tenement songs (which have been erring closer to the band’s jazz influences) but they’d never featured as prominently as they do with Dusk, who also seem to share a very serious kinship with acts like The Band. After coming out of the gate with “(Do the) Bored Recluse“, the band followed up with “Too Sweet” arriving perfectly at a marriage between classic country and classic soul without ever sounding remotely inauthentic.

That sense of authenticity, the complete rejection of cheap revivalism, is evidenced again in the song’s Finn Bjornerud-directed music video, which simply features the band playing the song in an average living room (like their affiliates, Dusk has a tendency to find the beauty in the everyday rather than try to capture grandeur or bombast). A few striking compositions are spliced in here and there– including an absolutely gorgeous silhouette shot of a soft-lit Ryley Crowe playing pedal steel and a beautiful final group shot cleverly framed by an archway– but more often than not, the clip opts to celebrate the communal act of playing music surrounded by people you love.

Led by Julia Blair’s attention-ensuring crooning, a cavalcade of impressive backing vocal harmonies, and committed performances from all the featured players, “Too Sweet” feels like more than just a music video, it skews closer to a mission statement; celebrate the things you have and strive to elevate the people around you. Defiantly honorable to the end, “Too Sweet” is the most perfect encapsulation of Dusk to date and suggests that the band, thankfully, is only just getting started.

Watch “Too Sweet” below, pick up a copy of the 7″ here, and explore a list of some of the best music videos of the past few months underneath the embed.