Chinese Fountain | Heartbreaking Bravery

October 27, 2016

Watch This: Vol. 148

Continuing on with the two-part installment, The Let’s Go, Billy Bragg and Joe Henry, The Luyas, C Duncan, The Growlers, Warpaint, Faux Furs, Flesh Panthers, Ego, Courtney Marie Andrews, Adam Torres, Slow Club, Oh Pep!, Pity Sex, Northcote, Bec Sandridge, and Brooke Sharkey all put forth valiant efforts in last week’s crop of exceptional live videos. With the strength of those acting as an indicator, the merit of the five featured clips shouldn’t be questioned. A handful of series staples, a gorgeous and inventive new clip, and an excellent video from a series that’s quickly emerged as a new favorite constitute the spotlighted entries for the 148th installment of Watch This. So, as always, lean in, block out all the distractions, get studios, and Watch This.

1. Margaret Glaspy – You & I + Emotions and Math (Skype)

A biting wit, a commanding performance style, and tremendous songwriting have made Margaret Glaspy one of the most featured artists on this series over the past few months. While the selections here — “You & I” and “Emotions and Math” may be familiar, they’re still at the root of powerful performances. Week in and week out, Glaspy has proven to be a formidable talent. This abbreviated session’s no exception.

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2. Lucy Dacus (La Blogotheque)

Lucy Dacus, another artist who made a habit of appearing on this series over the past several months, gets the La Blogotheque treatment in this characteristically gorgeous clip. Performing a trio of songs — including 2015 standout “I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore” — Dacus is never anything less than mesmerizing. Framed by a series of lived-in Manhattan locations, the entire affair breathes effortlessly and casts a tantalizing spell all of its own.

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3. Rhea – 3am (Boxfish Sessions)

As Cuttlefish Collective’s Boxfish Sessions project continues, their offerings seem to get more impressive. While their gold standard remains Long Neck‘s breathtaking showcase that was featured in Watch This: Vol. 143, this entry from Rhea’s not far behind. An entrancing performance of a brilliant song from an intriguing emerging artist, “3am” is comprised of a little bit of everything that this site was built to celebrate. Don’t let lack of familiarity prevent a look; this is exceptional work.

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4. Angel Olsen – Give It Up (BBC)

My Woman will likely be showing up a lot as year-end lists start rolling out but that level of excessive praise is deserved. Angel Olsen delivered one hell of an album just last month and has been riding a wave of critical and commercial success in the wake of that release. Instead of just coasting, the songwriter’s turning in incredibly committed performances that not only retain but elevate the impressive bite that informed Burn Your Fire For No Witness. BBC’s Radio 6 studio was recently lit up by a charged performance of one of My Woman‘s many highlights, “Give It Up”, and finds the band sounding locked in and ready for anything.

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5. Glen Hansard – Stay the Road (Nooks & Crannies)

Last year Glen Hansard delivered one of the most beautiful clips to ever be featured on this series in the painfully gorgeous “McCormack’s Wall” and has finally come through with what feels like a natural successor in “Stay the Road”. Shot in, around, and outside of the legendary Sydney Opera House, the tenderly-shot black-and-white clip tracks Hansard making the most of the venues architecture and delivering a heartfelt rendition of “Stay the Road”. A beautifully constructed clip, it’s a very capable demonstration of what can be accomplished while working within the confines of a very niche medium. It’s a masterful piece of multimedia artistry and it more than deserves a spot on this list.

October 30, 2014

Nobunny – Nightmare Night (Short Film)

Even by the ridiculous standards of the past few weeks, today was absolutely loaded with worthwhile content. Antarctigo Vespucci streamed their second outstandning EP of the year- I’m So Tethered- over at The AV Club and Field Division unveiled their mesmerizing Reverie State EP, rounding out today’s full streams. The full songs department was a bit more plentiful, with new offerings ranging from the most recent look at Big Ups‘ side of their split with Washer (via the ravaged and ravaging “Not Today“) to the gentle acoustic pull of Soft Fangs’ “Dog Park“. Continuing things in the quieter realms were the lightly damaged pscyh-folk of Ready Astronaut’s “Lost In Space” and the quietly lilting sounds of Elephant Micah’s “By the Canal“. Fleshing out the DIY punk side of things was another sideways glance at Nots’ hotly-tipped We Are Nots, courtesy of “Reactor“, and an exhilarating career-best from Crying called “War of Attrition“. Really, though, today absolutely belonged to music videos. Nearly every single one of these would seem like an obvious feature choice on literally any other day but as it stands, today will be going to the most thematically appropriate.

Before jumping into Nobunny‘s most recent hellscape, it’s worth touching on everything else that made up today’s embarrassment of riches in the visual medium field. Cool Runnings skated their way through a desert oblivion in “Blister“, Foul Tip indulged a lo-fi lunacy in “Madness“, and Platinum Boys exuded a rock n’ roll ethos in “Candy“. Sweet Apple teamed up with Guided By Voices’ Robert Pollard to soundtrack a memorable Halloween outing in “Reunion“, former Speedy Ortiz guitarist Matt Robidux’s new project- Curse Purse- embraced the heavily discordant in “Message CP“, and Willis Earl Beal drifted off into darkly ambient territories with “I AM.” The Growlers used a bevvy of classically filmic composition tricks in the black-and-white clip for “Good Advice“, Team Spirit dealt with an insane producer in their absurdly entertaining clip for “Satisfaction“, and MONO released an absolute gift of a video in the gorgeous, jaw-dropping, Mitsuyo Miyazaki-directed clip for “Where We Begin“, which may very well be one of that medium’s most compelling pieces this year. Even with the strength of that MONO video, it just felt too appropriate to give today’s spot to the deranged gore of Nobunny’s short film, Nightmare Night– just in time for the holiday.

First thing’s first: this is a severely NSFW clip (although that should just automatically be assumed with anything related to Nobunny), so be sure to avoid that mistake. Blood, gore, B-movie tropes, and a DIY resonance abound in Nightmare Night, a spirited homage to the maniacal tendencies that come attached to the Halloween season. From its introductory sequence that introduces a burnt out cast of misfits to the unbridled bloodshed, Nobunny’s aims are even less restrained than usual. If there’s a mandatory genre beat to be hit, it’s not just touched on- it’s downright obliterated. Taking the bloodlust to sadistic levels that’d make even Tarantino blush, everyone’s favorite masked rodent stars as the centerpiece of this nightmarish fever dream. Picking off the would-be partiers one by one until the final climactic battle, Nobunny runs through a cast of fellow musicians while “Lizard Liars” from last year’s excellent Secret Songs: Reflections From The Ear Mirror propels everything towards its conclusion. Blackly comedic, entirely unrestrained, and ridiculously bombastic, Nightmare Night is the perfect way to kick off a weekend of veiled debauchery.

Watch Nightmare Night below and order Secret Songs: Reflections From The Ear Mirror here.

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September 17, 2014

Allah-Las – Follow You Down (Music Video)

Another day down, another great batch of streams and videos to show for it. First off: a full record stream from The Growlers, who have a career-best on their hands with Chinese Fountain. Representing the music video side of things, there was YAWN’s fascinating video for “Flytrap” and then a whole host of great single song streams. New Orleans duo Caddywhompus started to gain some attention on the back of “Stuck“, Glish made a deep impression with their towering “Pretty Car“, and Radical Dads carved out a place for themselves with the jumpy “In the Water“. Sonic Avenues’ second exclusive track for the deluxe version of their classic self-titled surfaced, as did great brand-new songs from FF, Doe, and Allo Darlin‘. However, despite all those great candidates for a feature, there was one thing that kept creeping back up; Allah-Las music video for “Follow You Down”.

From the immediate outset, it becomes apparent that “Follow You Down” isn’t going to be overtly conventional. Mixing the band’s trademark 60’s garage-grit revivalism with a quasi-Western, the video coaxes as much intrigue out of that contrast as possible. With both mediums emphasizing the lo-fi (and the low-key) aspects of the band’s presentation, things in the Sasha Eisenman-directed clip get fairly ridiculous pretty quickly- but that doesn’t stop it from being compelling or losing any momentum. The actual story in the video’s a fairly straightforward narrative that plays out, in full accordance with their chosen style, like a great Western- right down to the quietly tragic/humorous ending. “Follow You Down” on its own was a fun rock n’ soul-tinged throwback but the video manages to give it new life. All in all, it’s an absolute blast and goes quite a ways in proving that sometimes the best videos come out of a band letting their guard down and allowing themselves to have fun.

Watch “Follow You Down” below and order the just-released Worship the Sun (which “Follow You Down” is taken off of) over at Allah-Las’ bandcamp.