Heartbreaking Bravery

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Tag: Bright Lights

December 19, 2016

Six Weeks of Music Videos (Video Mixtape)

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Six weeks is a long time to go without posting an individual feature piece on a music video (discounting premieres). With the end of the year fast approaching, it’s not surprising that many of the clips that have come out in the time this site’s been on a relative hiatus, there have been a handful of the format’s best entries for the 2016 crop. PUP maintained their unrelenting stranglehold on an obscene level of excellence with the most emotionally affecting clip of a ridiculously impressive filmography, Vagabon emerged with a galvanizing sense of renewed purpose, Emilyn Brodsky continued to do wonders with stop motion, Tenement continued to further their own distinct identity in the visual arts department, The Seams offered up a double dose of refined hyper-editing, and everyone else found a way to rise above their contemporaries to create indelible pieces of art worth celebrating. So, below, dive in and get comfortable with the best 25 clips of the past six weeks.

Additional note: Trace Mountains’ excellent clip for “Bring the Mountain to Me” wasn’t available on YouTube and couldn’t be included in the below mix. Make sure to give that one a watch as well.

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1. PUP – Sleep in the Heat
2. Meat Wave – The Incessant
3. Stove – Blank
4. The Seams – Remembrance Day
5. Holy Tunics – Forget Your Love
6. Julia Jacklin – Don’t Let the Kids Win
7. Vagabon – The Embers
8. Hellrazor – Raise Your Rifle
9. Lazertits – Boss Bitch
10. Slothrust – Rotten Pumpkin
11. Vacation – Every Direction
12. The Raveonettes – Fast Food
13. Poppies – Told
14. WHOOP-Szo – Another Show
15. Bruising – I Don’t Mind
16. Sløtface – Bright Lights
17. Tim Darcy – Tall Glass of Water
18. Self Talk – Untitled 
19. Petal – Chandelier
20. Tenement – Hive of Hives
21. Stef Chura – Spotted Gold
22. Fred Thomas – Voiceover
23. Emilyn Brodsky – Hands Off the Stove
24. The Seams – Seeds
25. MOURN – Irrational Friend

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September 22, 2016

Tony Molina – Hung Up on the Dream (Stream)

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While Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday saw a period of relative inaction for this site, that didn’t prevent Real Numbers, Never Young, Luxury Death, The Dazies, Dark Mean, Active Bird Community, American Wrestlers, SLØTFACE, Hello Shark, House of Wolves, Peeling, Justin Peter Kinkel Schuster, Warpaint, Swampmeat, Jeff Rosenstock, The Nursery, Shamir, Mouse on the Keys, Tredici Bacci, The Tins, The Regrettes, Julia Ruzicka, Personal Space, Brain Tentacles, Birthday Club, White Laces, Primal Static, and Violence Creeps from releasing a small army of great songs that deserve as many attentive ears as possible. Another artist that added to the pile, Tony Molina, returns to the feature slot less than a week after the release of “See Me Fall“.

Like “See Me Fall”, “Hung Up on the Dream” — the second track to tease Molina’s forthcoming 7″, Confront the Truth — leans into an acoustic angle that grounds the songwriter in intriguing ways. Far removed from the exhilarating excess of Molina’s past work, “Hung Up on the Dream” manages to invoke and echo a formidable cast of influences. Traces of everyone from The Beatles to Cat Stevens to Weezer to Sparklehorse are evident throughout “Hung Up on the Dream”, without ever overwhelming Molina’s own identity.

Clocking in at under 90 seconds, Molina still manages to convey a frighteningly realistic sense of heartache and longing. The phrase that gives the title its track opens the set of lyrics, which eventually reveal themselves to be the most strikingly vivid of Molina’s storied songwriting career. There’s an unavoidable resignation that defines “Hung Up on the Dream” that winds up elevating the song to a quiet transcendence.

It’s another masterstroke from an engaging artist who may just be on the verge of releasing 2016’s best 7″. If the rest of the eight-song collection can live up to the precedent set by “See Me Fall” and “Hung Up on the Dream”, Molina’s name could be showing up in a lot more places in the year’s final stretch. No matter how things shake out, it’ll be a privilege to be present for the ride.

Listen to “Hung  Up on the Dream” below and order Confront the Truth from Slumberland here.

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