Cave People | Heartbreaking Bravery

October 18, 2016

Okkervil River – Call Yourself Renee (Music Video)

okkervil

Monday issued a series of notable streams from acts as varied as The Men, Very Fresh, Dark Blue, Lou Barlow, Lindsey Mills, Cave People, Fruit & Flowers, Beautiful Dudes, and Squirrel Flower. Additionally, there was a small list of impressive music videos that came courtesy of Slow Pulp, The Blow, Moby & The Void Pacific Choir, Louise Burns, and Black Kids. Finally, some exceptional full streams that arrived via Joyride!, Hillary Susz, Title Tracks, and Sun Angle rounded out the day in memorable fashion. Okkervil River found themselves snagging the feature spot on the back of yet another impressive music video from Away.

Following in the visually arresting footsteps of its Away counterparts, “Call Yourself Renee” sees the band delivering their most vivid — and undeniably modern — presentation to date. Centering around two protagonists, the Bret Curry-directed (and shot) clip opts out of a literal interpretation of the lyrics and presents a slice-of-life look at the characters. It’s a decision that pays massive dividends, imbuing “Call Yourself Renee” with a subdued sense of mystery, which keeps the viewer guessing at the clip’s final destination.

Only Away, the band’s most gentle work, doesn’t deal in tidy resolutions and understands that the journey can be far more important. “Call Yourself Renee” holds true to this belief, letting its characters find a way to an ambiguous, open-ended exit point. While the two principle actors — Tyler Bates and Joy Curry — give committed performances that are difficult to shake, the band does manage to make a few appearances, grounding “Call Yourself Renee” with a sense of place that tethers everything together.

By the calmly assured ending, the clip’s firmly established a spell of its own, creating a realistic world that’s practically impossible to want to leave. Even with the visual asides that find Bates and Curry posturing for the camera, there’s a soft empathy that slowly drives “Call Yourself Renee” towards an unassuming transcendence. It’s a remarkably tender clip and a comprehensive visual realization of Away, serving as a perfect complement to the band’s most relaxed tendencies. There’s genuine moments of humanism, beauty, and confidence in every frame, leaving “Call Yourself Renee” as one of the most unexpectedly mesmerizing clips of the year.

Watch “Call Yourself Renee” below and pick up Away here.

January 7, 2015

14 of ’14: The Best EP’s of 2014

Once again, at the top: “best” is year-end shorthand terminology for “most admired” and used to designate personal taste without attempting to be an objective statement. For the purpose of emphasizing subjectivity, I’ll also be abandoning this site’s normally held restrictions on the use of first person. Now, with that out of the way, on to what matters: 2014 was a monumental year for 7″ and EP releases. A few are certainly interchangeable but I did my best to spread them around as best as possible. Unsurprisingly, the EP list still wound up with a wealth of material that dwarfs the 7″ list in comparison. All 14 of these releases meant a great deal to me throughout 2014 and became parts of my life, collectively fighting their way into my memory and subconscious. As always, there was a murderer’s row of titles that couldn’t make such a small list so an extensive auxiliary list has been provided below the top selections. So, enough with the introductory nonsense, here are the best EP’s of 2014.

14. Attendant – Freaking Out

Jon Rybicki (bassist of Radiator Hospital) branched out to create his own project- Attendant- in 2014. Enlisting the help of his bandmates and friends, Rybicki created something unflaggingly powerful in Freaking Out, the project’s seven song debut EP. Rawer and more barbed than any of the associated counterparts, Freaking Out is an unexpected left hook to the jaw for anyone familiar with the pedigrees involved. It’s an extremely impressive solo outing for Rybicki and another strong reminder of the talents residing in Philadelphia.

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13. Silence Dogood – Master of Puppets, The Rest Is Silence, Sacred and Profane

Silence Dogood are a band I first became aware of after catching a live set that had me completely enthralled. Ever since then, they’re a band I’ve been keeping tabs on for a myriad of reasons. Blown-out lo-fi EP’s fly out of their camp at a startling pace, loaded with cynical poetry that comes across as deceptively apathetic. They’re prone to veering in unexpected directions and delivering sly turns of phrases at the exact right moment. In 2014 they released three masterfully executed EP’s highlighted by Master of Puppets‘ “Chairman of the Bored“. Don’t make the mistake of passing any of them up.

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12. Eugene Quell – A Great Uselessness, Eugene Otto Quell

A name that showed up a few times on this site over the course of 2014 was Eugene Quell, a London-based songwriter who unleashed two of the year’s hardest hitting EP’s. Both Eugene Otto Quell and A Great Uselessness mined an alternative 90’s influence and presented it through Quell’s distinctly unique lens. Neither skimp on fuzz or a well-informed pop sensibility and the cumulative result is stunning. Eight songs in total, each managed to pull me in while unloading an arsenal of blows, each one becoming more appealing than its direct precedent.

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11. Lost Boy ? – Wasted

Canned is a release that’s going to prove divisive for list-makers. Released on cassette by the increasingly great Double Double Whammy, it won’t see an official release in any other format until a little further into 2015. Less confusing is the fact that Wasted, the extraordinary EP that led into Canned‘s tape release, is eligible for this year’s lists (and has- rightfully- already made a few). Laced with bandleader Davey Jones’ biting humor and characteristically spiky songwriting, Wasted is another laudable entry in one of contemporary music’s finest catalogs.

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10. Green Dreams – Rich Man/Poor Man

Ever since my first listen of Rich Man/Poor Man, I’ve had it kicking around in some spot or another on this list (the year-end process is a continuously recurring project for me). Led by Jesse Amesmith’s willfully unrestrained vocal assault, the band dives into some incredibly vicious territory throughout the EP’s four song run. Best of all is the fact that the flipside of the 7″ copy manages to outstrip an absurdly strong A-side, with “Country Mouse” and “Eye Contact” dipping into a ferocious hybrid of hardcore and noise-punk. Easily one of 2014’s most overlooked releases, Rich Man/Poor Man deserved to be just about everywhere.

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9. Kal Marks – Just A Lonely Fart

Was there was a more bleakly arresting EP in 2014 than Kal Marks’ powerful Just A Lonely Fart? If there was, it’s not one I managed to hear. Tackling difficult (and strangely time-sensitive) topics with verve, Kal Marks conjured up a breathtaking career highlight with this release and extended Exploding in Sound’s absurdly continuous winning streak in the process. Every song on Just A Lonely Fart felt deeply personal and suggested that Kal Marks were expanding their identity into something even more raw than what they’d already cultivated with Life Is Murder. All three songs deserved to be considered for “Song of the Year” lists, ensuring Just A Lonely Fart a status as one of 2014’s most extraordinary efforts.

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8. Cyberbully Mom Club – Life Long Bad Mood, Hair Piles, Muck, Milo the Dog Sees Color, Amy Locust Whatever, Outdoor Activities

No one had a more staggering run of EP’s in 2014 than Shari Heck, whose Cyberbully Mom Club project managed to somehow release six equally strong collections. Between Life Long Bad Mood, Hair Piles, Muck, Milo the Dog Sees Color, Amy Locust Whatever, and Outdoor Activities, Heck solidified a position as one of 2014’s strongest emerging voices. Unflinchingly honest and unreasonably catchy, Cyberbully Mom Club’s brand of punk-influenced, folk-leaning songwriting makes a strong first impression and only manages to sink deeper with time. Sentimental and gripping, this is one act worth keeping both eyes on all throughout 2015.

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7. Priests – Bodies and Control and Money and Power

Brash, bold, and fiercely unapologetic, Priests’ Bodies and Control and Money and Power became one of the most celebrated punk releases of recent memory. Katie Alice Greer’s almost feral presence injects this Don Giovanni-stamped EP with enough adrenaline to revive the legally dead. Scrappy and determined, Priests crafted something that managed to bring some subtly bracing humor to some very serious subjects. Wild-eyed and well informed, Bodies and Control and Money and Power was one of 2014’s best statement releases, refusing to back down from any of its well-placed stances. Add a palpable sense of violence to the whole affair and this EP becomes an outright achievement that’s impossible to ignore.

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6. Roomrunner – Separate

One of Baltimore’s more traditionally aggressive bands, Roomrunner, decided to scale things back and introduce a newfound restraint for Separate. Instead of the transition coming off as forced or insincere, the band wound up with a career-best effort (and put another formidable notch in Accidental Guests‘ belt). Like Green Dreams’ Rich Man/Poor Man, Separate managed to find a unique way to burn the bridges between hardcore and noise-punk, throwing in a tantalizingly off-kilter curve that’s somewhat reminiscent of Two Inch Astronaut. Six songs total, Separate never loses sight of its pacing, constantly clawing its way through the minefields of its own design. Explosively memorable, it’s a warning shot from a great band determined to challenge themselves at every turn.

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5. Night School – Heart Beat

A supergroup of sorts, it probably shouldn’t be too surprising that Night School’s Heart Beat wound up being one of 2014’s most towering and immersive listening experiences. Taking the majority of its cues from classic shoegaze and the current post-rock landscape, Heart Beat feels massive in scope. Alternately delicate, haunting, and intimidating, Night School have latched onto something immensely appealing and perfected a peculiar dynamic right out of the gate. One of the year’s most pleasant surprises, it was mostly relegated to lingering in the shadows, providing it an oddly fitting home.

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4. It Must Be Love – It Must Be Love

One of 2014’s best-kept secrets was this unbelievably great self-titled EP from It Must Be Love, which came across as effortlessly powerful. Unpredictable, strangely graceful, unrelentingly intense, and undeniably gripping, It Must Be Love is the kind of EP most bands can only dream of making. Dynamic, challenging, and- most importantly- ridiculously fun, It Must Be Love have created something that rewards investment and inspires creativity. A complete anomaly among the other titles on this list thanks to its willingness to fearlessly embrace weird experimentalism, the band’s already begun carving out- and perfecting- its own niche. Pavement’s influence echoes throughout It Must Be Love (never more strongly than on the excellent “Mariana) but this territory is all It Must Be Love’s own. Join up or miss out on one hell of a party.

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3. Speedy Ortiz – Real Hair

Speedy Ortiz’s “Doomsday” was good enough to land them on the best songs and best splits lists but that wasn’t the only reason that 2014 practically belong to them; Real Hair, the band’s most recent EP, nodded towards a growing confidence that paid sizable dividends. Real Hair‘s also a big reason for why Speedy Ortiz appeared on this site so frequently throughout 2014, as it existed in a very exact space containing enormous coverage appeal. “American Horror”, “Oxygal”, “Everything Bigger”, and “Shine Theory” all would have ranked as individual highlights in respect to the band’s already impressive discography, cementing Real Hair as one of the year’s best releases- and as a bracing reminder that Speedy Ortiz are far from done.

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2. Girlpool – Girlpool

In 2014’s last quarter, Girlpool (a young duo made up of Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad) became an increasingly large part of my life and subsequently earned a lot of kind words on this site, cracking both the music videos and splits year-end lists in the past week. Originally self-released on their bandcamp in 2014’s first quarter, it was re-released by Wichita in November after Girlpool earned a staggering amount of support and recognition from their surrounding environment. It’s not difficult to understand why everyone rallied behind Girlpool as they’re perfect representatives for an innumerable amount of things that are important to support. Putting aside those politics, it’s still plainly evident that Girlpool is an outstanding release. All anyone needs to do for proof is look to the jaw-dropping 1-2 combination of the absurdly powerful “Plants and Worms” and the nearly antagonistic free association of “Jane”.

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1. Charly Bliss – Soft Serve

No EP became a more deeply ingrained part of my regular routine in 2014 than Charly Bliss’ absurdly strong Soft Serve. Editing sessions, menial tasks, and a seemingly never-ending assortment of functions were soundtracked by this trio of songs for months after I discovered the release (hell, they’re playing in the background now). Since I already covered the exhilaration of “Love Me” in yesterday’s best songs of 2014 post, I’ll be focusing on the ensuing tracks: “Urge to Purge” and “Strings”. “Urge to Purge” nearly dethroned “Love Me” for the position in yesterday’s list because it’s every bit as fiery, every bit as dynamic, and every bit as memorable as Soft Serve‘s incendiary opener. With another heart-stopping vocal turn from Eva Hendricks leading the band’s hyper-charged sugar rush, it’s provided a gripping counterbalance by a compellingly understated vocal turn from guitarist/vocalist Spencer Fox. “Strings” flips the script and allows Fox to showcase his casual charisma as a vocalist, joined by Hendricks’ equally impressive layered backing vocals before too long. It’s a song that proves its worth as it goes, settling in with an explosive back half that seems to suggest Charly Bliss have fireworks to spare. All three songs wield a subtle 50’s pop influence that’s brought into a modern- and borderline post-modern- setting. As a whole, Soft Serve is impossibly easy to love (even the album art’s easily among the year’s best) and demands to be heard. Give into its charms and walk away with an EP worth treasuring.

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December 20, 2014

Male Bonding – A Kick to the Face (Stream)

In the last batch of posts, there were recaps built around some of last week’s finest musical moments. There was a brief delay in regularly-scheduled content that necessitated an outpouring of material to keep this site’s regular coverage humming along. Similarly, this post will concentrate on the music moments worth celebrating to have emerged from the Monday-Thursday range. Following this post will be two more entries dedicated to some of the stronger musical content that emerged on Friday. With all of that out of the way, it’s time to dive on into the three major categories: single streams, full streams, and music videos.

As is wont to happen over a period of time, there were some fairly extraordinary songs that surfaced in this week’s first stretch. Some of the more favorable ones included the following: Gal Pals’ zippy throwback basement pop stomper “Ex-Marionette“, Evans The Death’s absolutely monumental “Don’t Laugh At My Angry Face” (a legitimate song of the year candidate), Los Angeles Police Dept.’s severely bummed out holiday tune “Oh Lonely Night“, Menace Beach‘s latest stunning Ratworld teaser “Tastes Like Medicine“, No Monster Club’s defiantly vibrant (and tantalizingly weird) bedroom pop earworm “Arms Across America“, The Julie Ruin’s mesmerizing “Blueberry Island“, Kind of Like Spitting’s revitalizing “Bullied By A Bee“, the best remix from Perfect Pussy’s Shaun Sutkus to date (this time of Rubblebucket’s “Carousel Ride”), and an absolute monster cover of Wipers’ “Mystery” from site favorites Meat Wave.

Music videos fared just as well, with a few very resonant clips. There was Small Houses’ engaging visual journey for “Staggers and Rise“, Cave People’s wearily homespun “Brace“, and Literature’s woozily kaleidoscopic “New Jacket“. Additionally, there was Anti Pony’s seductively colorful “I Go Places“, WRAY’s effortlessly propulsive “Bad Heart“, Laura Marling’s autumnal and slow-galloping “Short Movie“. Rounding things out were Breakfast In Fur’s jaunty graphics experiment “Shape“, Erase Errata’s near-static stunner “My Life In Shadows“, and a resoundingly powerful reminder that TV On the Radio got where they were by virtue of making excellent decisions; “Lazerray” is yet another towering culmination of several wise moves.

Full streams were, comparatively, a little shorter in supply- but there were still a few gems that were unearthed and brought to life. Lazy threw caution and fear out of the window with their Soft Sheets 7″, Trauma Harness unveiled a severely damaged basement punk triumph with their discography-spanning Advent Calendar, and TIT (a collaborative effort between Digital Leather and The Hussy) offered up a stream of their psych-drenched self-titled 12″. Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle provided a quietly intense and arresting live recording of one of his extremely intimate house shows (and appropriately titled the recording House Show). There was also a very personal release from Jarad Charles Lee Francis Olson that tethers a wide-reaching array of genre influences into something unwaveringly hypnotic and, ultimately, tragic (while still managing to subtly incorporate a devious streak of dark humor) in the My Cats Are My Dogs EP.

Even with all of that to consider, today’s feature fell to an anomaly of a track- Male Bonding’s standalone single, “A Kick to the Face”. The title’s an immediate eyebrow-raiser and the accompanying title track lives up to its promise. All scorched-earth and fury, it’s an exploration of an abusive relationship that simultaneously rails against the fact that they’re a common occurrence and empathizes with the abused. Structurally, it’s constantly shifting and punctuated by brief bursts of searing intensity before sharply settling back into its normal pace, providing a near-perfect reflection of the song’s central topic. It’s a brave track that suggests Male Bonding’s ambitions may be higher than they initially let on- and it’s one hell of an appetizer for whatever the band’s cooking up next.

Listen to “A Kick to the Face” below and keep an eye on this site for any notable future items from the band.

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December 5, 2014

Beliefs – Tidal Wave (Music Video)

Now, despite all the content that’s already gone up tonight, there’s still a lot that went down over the past week and a half while the site was dealing with technical complications. To that end, the approach in coverage is going to be slightly different this time around. Full streams, single streams, and music videos will all be covered- but they’ll be branched off into categories. Each entry will get a line or two and then when everything’s been accounted for, there’ll be a feature spot granted to Beliefs’ ridiculously entertaining clip for “Tidal Wave”. So, without further ado…

SINGLE STREAMS

Pet Cemetery – Giants: The newest near-perfect post-punk entry into Art Is Hard’s perfect Pizza Club series. | Deer Tick – White Havoc: A fuzzed-out Holiday stomper courtesy of one of today’s more intriguing acts. | Sun Hotel – Tropic of Cancer: An incredibly compelling and slightly damaged folk-leaning exploration. | Abi Reimold – Workshop: A folksy DIY pop masterpiece that doubles as a perfect contribution to a great compilation series. | The Soft Moon – Black: Nightmarishly menacing ambient music that tilts into industrial territory. | Sleater-Kinney – Surface Envy: Video game guitar lines. Corin Tucker’s vocals. Total madness. Sleater-Kinney is back. | Victoria+Jean – Holly: Seductive art-pop that flirts with expectations and capitalizes on tension. | Menace Beach – Blue Eye: An ambient noise exercise that only gains intrigue as it quietly builds towards its finish. | Deerhoof – Exit Only (Perfect Pussy Remix): A terrifying reimagining of an already terrifying song, courtesy of Shaun Sutkus. | Moon Duo – Animal: Menacing and minimal psych-punk that isn’t afraid to bare its fangs. | Grand Vapids – Aubade: Indie pop that isn’t afraid to subvert or challenge aesthetic expectations. | Howlin’ Rain – Wild Bush: A pastoral folk throwback jam that wears its influences proudly on its sleeve. | California X – Red Planet: Another triumphant, scorched-earth preview of what looks to be a career-best effort. | The Sidekicks – Jesus Christ Supermalls: Subtle, stunning, and lovely. The Sidekicks‘ finest work to date. | Seagulls – Swimmin’: Unbelievably winsome and completely enchanting folk-centric indie pop. | Elephant Micah – Slow Time Vultures: Gently gorgeous and effortlessly arresting ambient folk reminiscent of Vic Chesnutt. | Future of What – Daydream 99: Boldly stylish indie pop that crafts its own brand of magic. |

FULL STREAMS

The Goodbye Party – Silver Blues: The latest DIY punk-pop gem to grace the impossibly reliable Salinas roster. | Littler – Get A Life: Relentlessly propulsive weirdo punk. | Bonny Doon – Fred’s House Demo: An impossibly overlooked (and impossibly great) folk-tinted basement pop masterpiece. | School ’94 – Like You: Graceful indie pop with gargantuan scope that still manages to come across as refreshingly breezy. | Forth Wanderers – Tough Love: Defiant and subtly venomous basement pop with an unbelievable amount of inherent charm. | SUSAN – Just Call It: Surf-indebted basement pop with enough punk bite to please a purist. | Githead – Waiting For A Sign: Leftifeld post-punk and new wave from a quasi-supergroup that features members of Wire, Compact, and Scanner. | Furnsss – Silent Gold: Deranged slacker punk and basement pop for the actively lethargic. | Thelma & The Sleaze – Heart Like A Fist: Incendiary basement punk with a heaping of 80’s hardcore influence. | Cave People – Older: Treble-heavy basement pop that leans towards sentiment and presents a genuinely memorable vision. | Terrorista – Purple Tape: Hard-charging basement punk that thrives on the notion that everything could fall apart at any second.

MUSIC VIDEOS

Young Statues – Run The River Dry: Visually stunning and endlessly intriguing, “Run The River Dry” shines a bright light on Young Statues’ promising future in the visual format. | Christian Lee Hutson – Late November: A simple concept that becomes a wrenching experience as it transforms into something inexplicably moving. | Flashlight O – TV Time: Staunchly DIY and weirdly hypnotic in its collage-heavy presentation. | Highway Cross – Open Eyes: Furiously paced and brilliantly edited, this is a perfect example of how emphasizing details can pay off in unexpectedly huge ways. | Luluc – Tangled Heart: Beautifully arranged and enhanced with simple, creative effects, “Tangled Heart” winds up feeling like something worth treasuring. | Johnny Marr – Dynamo: The iconic guitarist has always had a visual flair but those tendencies reach new, modern heights with this clip. | Run The Jewels – Oh My Darling (Don’t Cry): Like the group, this is a video driven by outsize personality- it’s unabashedly weird and it’s absolutely glorious. | Bass Drum of Death – For Blood: Bikers and gangs collide in deliriously entertaining fashion throughout this brilliantly executed tracking shot clip. | Blonde Redhead – Dripping: A sensual and highly stylized video that wields atmospherics and soft touches to stunning effect. | Communions – Love Stands Still: Classically composed and unwaveringly endearing; a perfect reflection of Communions’ indie pop. | A Place To Bury Strangers – Straight: A hallucinatory collage of striking imagery backed by one of the band’s most insistent songs to date. | Liars – Mask Maker (Extended Version): Characteristically bizarre and replete with a whole mess of yarn. | Tinkerbelles – When Puppies Cry: Extraordinarily damaged basement punk made weirder by one of the most insanely warped clips of 2014.

TIDAL WAVE

Okay, so the bold font probably wasn’t necessary but it’s late- and this is a really great video. Beliefs first gained an uptick in notoriety when they paired with the similarly-minded Greys for one of 2013’s best splits. Since then, they’ve been on a tear, steadily building a name for themselves on the strength of their powerful new material and formidable live show. If “Tidal Wave” is any indication, they may be able to add great music videos to that list as well. While it mostly finds inspiration in the trends of classic clips from the 80’s and 90’s there’s a certain playfulness here that’s missing from a lot of homage-style videos. That playfulness comes to a head nearly halfway through when they manage to seamlessly work in something genuinely unexpected and ridiculously perfect. It’s too good of a moment to spoil completely but it’s also one of the more endearingly appreciative moments of recent memory. By the time all the effects have worn down and “Tidal Wave” reaches its tongue-in-cheek epilogue, it becomes abundantly clear that this band has big things in mind for Leaper (the forthcoming album “Tidal Wave” is taken from) and for themselves. Beliefs aren’t a band intent to keep quiet and if they keep going at the pace they are, we’re all in for one hell of a ride.

Watch “Tidal Wave” below and pick up Leaper from Hand Drawn Dracula as soon as it’s available.

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November 26, 2014

Trust Fund – Cut Me Out (Stream)

Monday and Tuesday offered up a handful of newly released gems, so tonight’s being dedicated to recapping the best of the best. Mogwai crafted a stunning, effects-heavy video for their jaw-dropping “Teenage Exorcists“, which was more than enough to fill the featured music videos slot. Grooms, fresh off of their performance on Death By Audio’s final night, released the punchy, shape-shifting “Doctor M”. Cave People added to their growing momentum- and Older‘s growing expectations- with the rousing “Brace“. Then Trust Fund went ahead and added another great piece to their already ridiculously impressive year (their split with Joanna Gruesome remains one of 2014’s best releases) by teasing their debut record with “Cut Me Out”, one of their sharpest songs to date.

No One’s Coming For Us is the name of Trust Fund‘s upcoming record and the title continues the band’s bizarrely winsome streak of self-deprecation. Coming hot off the heels of their compilation-best contribution to the stacked Jam Kids and one of the more fascinating music video projects in recent memory, Trust Fund had already seemed primed to see their recognition skyrocket. “Cut Me Out” advances that possibility with an easy grace, sounding both refined and revitalized. Harmonies, as always, seem to come effortlessly to the quartet and their grasp on dynamics remains absurdly compelling. Primal drumming collides with guitar work that’s simultaneously sugary and vicious, acting as a perfect complement to the band’s compelling stylistic aesthetic. It’s explosive, it’s spiky, and it’s tantalizingly sweet, all adding up to a perfect first look at a record worth salivating over in anticipation. Trust Fund hasn’t missed the mark yet and it’ll come as a genuine surprise if No One’s Coming For Us doesn’t wind up as one of 2015’s very best- “Cut Me Out” already has them greeting it at full sprint. Try to keep up as they go.

Listen to “Cut Me Out” below and pre-order No One’s Coming For Us from Turnstile.

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November 17, 2014

Girlpool – Blah Blah Blah (Music Video)

Another traditionally stacked Monday is just about in the books and it had a pool of treasures to offer. Single streams wound up being surprisingly scant but still had two small triumphs in the form of Cave People’s surprisingly gentle “Cluster” and Slaves’ weirdly menacing “The Hunter“. Full streams fared slightly better and included JOYA‘s delightful sophomore effort 2nd, Native America’s wild-eyed Grown Up Wrong, Warm Soda bandleader Matthew Melton’s similarly-minded (and similarly excellent) Outside of Paradise, and Two Inch Astronaut‘s extraordinary Album of the Year contender Foulbrood.

Music videos wound up being the most stacked category and that was thanks to the varying strengths of their collective efforts. Nots crafted a visually striking clip for We Are Nots highlight “Decadence“, The Cush committed to steady transitions for “Summer’s Gone“, and Sonny & the Sunsets went with a constantly-evolving deceptively crude comic look in “Cheap Extensions“. Guerilla Toss continued to be willfully chaotic with their video for “367 Equalizer“, The Bandicoots dreamt up an absurdly charming and well-executed concept for “Just After Dark“, Nothing staged a robbery-turned-kidnapping-turned-torture sequence for “Chloroform” (which was a highlight from their recent split with Whirr), and The Vaselines combined French new wave, film noir, and silent film hallmarks in their impossibly light and deeply engaging clip for “Crazy Lady“. Site favorites Girlpool wind up earning today’s feature with their second great video of the year- one that sees them teaming up with The Punk Singer director Sini Anderson.

Girlpool have been having themselves one hell of a year. From stunning seemingly every critic at CMJ, to high-profile publications giving them coveted distinctions, to critical acclaim, they’ve set themselves up in an enviable position- one that will likely entail an uncomfortable amount of scrutiny. That they’re rapidly exceeding with as much poise and grace as they are is astounding; they’re incredibly young and their career together’s only just beginning. All of this bodes well for their future. An exponentially growing faction of people have chosen this band to rally behind because they embody so many things all at once; the unfairly marginalized, a decidedly DIY ethos, an unerring sense of conviction, and commendable bravery in their relentless pursuit of choosing to do the thing they clearly love.

A nightmare for ageists and a dream for those looking to celebrate and encourage the talent of youth, the duo’s already released one of the best videos of the year via their devastating “Plants and Worms” clip. This time around the formidable team of Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad eschewed the arresting animation styles of Catleya Sherbow and went the live action route with Sini Anderson. “Blah Blah Blah” starts out on a shot in front of LA’s famed The Smell (the venue where the duo met) and is split into thirds through a clever natural framing device, with Tucker and Tividad pushed off to the far sides. It’s an arresting image that immediately establishes the duo’s stylistic aesthetic, ensuring the viewers rapt attention to their movements. Before long, they’re inside and striding their way through a crowd of friends and admirers who eventually surround them as they play through the scathing, pointed “Blah Blah Blah”. It’s all beautifully lensed and impeccably edited, climaxing with a strobe-lit confetti-strewn hanging-telephone singalong to drive home an emphasis on the band’s communal aspects.

Ending with a rapid pullback that suggests the party kept going after the cameras stopped rolling, “Blah Blah Blah” becomes a cinematic testament to personal resolve and an unforgettable reminder of Girlpool’s strength. We’re lucky to have this band and should facilitate their rising profile at any given chance, if only because they’re exactly the kind of band that deserves to serve as inspiration for aspiring musicians or people who need something to believe in. Don’t let that opportunity go to waste; make sure Girlpool gets the kind of platform they deserve.

Watch “Blah Blah Blah” below and pre-order Girlpool from Wichita Recordings here.

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