Chris Keene | Heartbreaking Bravery

May 11, 2015

Mean Creek – Forgotten Streets (Stream)

Eulogizing someone or something you love is always a difficult task that’s fraught with intensely personal emotions, whether it be a friend, a pet, a show, or a band. In this case: site favorites Mean Creek. While the quartet certainly had their reasons to disband, it’s still a difficult loss because they filled part of an important void by maintaining genuine authenticity. Before they unplug their amps and tear down the kit one last time at a show next month with Meat Puppets and Soul Asylum, they’re providing one last gift: “Forgotten Streets”. It’s a song that encapsulates what made the band such an invigorating act from the outset and an impassioned, rousing death rattle. Before diving too far into its details, though, it’s worth taking a step back to appreciate another round of standout tracks.

Among the bands responsible for those tracks: Mean Creek member Mikey Holland’s solo project, The Dazies, providing some light in the twilight phase of his main vehicle’s career. That particular track, “Piece of My Love“, is a fiery jolt of basement pop with a healthy dose of punk attitude. Joining that song were an onslaught of other purchase-worth numbers: Martha’s jumpy “The Historian“, Moaning’s emotive “Misheard“, 100 Watt Horse’s tender “Julie“, Pet Symmetry’s kinetic “Gone, Gone, Gone (Even Further Gone)“, Dog Party’s thrashing “Peanut Butter Dream“, Pavo Pavo’s kaleidoscopic “Ran Ran Run“, and Froth’s strangely cinematic mid-tempo basement punk highlight “Turn It Off“. All of those songs are worthy of a great deal of attention and will likely wind up on similarly strong records. However, to bring them into sharper focus here would likely function as a disservice to the heart of this post: Mean Creek’s departure.

When this site first started covering Mean Creek more than a year ago, a lot of words were spent trying to deconstruct the band’s sound into individual elements because they occupied a unique platform. While their may have been bands that have succeeded in combining decades’ worth of musical cornerstones unique to popular American culture. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers are just as likely to be brought up as a potential influence as Hüsker Dü or Gram Parsons. In “Forgotten Streets”, they bring their distinct blend of those genres back to the forefront at a pace that suggests they were already taking advantage of the freedom that comes with evading the chains of industry expectation. Guitarist/vocalist Chris Keene has never sounded as enlivened as he does in the half-screamed raw-throated vocals on display here; all searing intensity and total fearlessness. Similarly, the band behind him deliver a collectively jaw-dropping performance that suggested the band still had a lot to say, making their departure even rougher.

There is some comfort to be found, though, in knowing that the band went out on top. 2014’s extraordinary Local Losers was easily the band’s most celebrated record to date and it earned that level of recognition through the band’s own conviction. Mean Creek are leaving behind an incredible body of work and “Forgotten Streets” comes off as an exhilarating victory lap. Right down to the very last words that Mean Creek will ever commit to a studio recording (a pointed plea for continuation, however brief, followed by the most intense moment of musicality the band’s ever recorded), this is a band that gave me- and so many others- something to feel good about celebrating. They’ll be missed but, hopefully, their musical legacy will last long enough to serve as inspiration to emerging bands decades down the line.

Listen to “Forgotten Streets” below and revisit the band’s enviable discography here.

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September 30, 2014

Iceage – Against the Moon (Stream)

There are days where it can be difficult to scrounge up enough great new releases to warrant an introductory paragraph round-up and there are days that are so generously overflowing with great material it’s nearly impossible to figure out what to feature. Today fell squarely to the latter. There were no less than four outstanding releases in each of the major categories: single stream, music video, and full stream. Cool Ghouls’ psych-laced basement pop rager “And It Grows” gave some new promise to the upcoming record. Mean Creek‘s Chris Keene unveiled the most recent look at his Dream Generation project with the sparse “The Four of Us” and September Girls teased their upcoming EP with the snarling “Veneer“. Veronica Falls‘ James Hoare and Mazes‘ Jack Cooper started a new project called Ultimate Painting, who instantly turned some heads with the carefree open-road ramblings of “Ten Street“.

Over in the realms of the music video, Grubs, Frankie Teardrop (warning: heavy strobes), and Cloud Nothings all released clips defined by lo-fi experementalism while Snævar Njáll Albertsson’s Dad Rocks! project dipped its toes into a gorgeously-lensed narrative involving a heavy existentialist crisis with “In the Seine”. In the space occupied by full streams, Dark Blue offered up their heavy-hitting Album of the Year contender Pure Reality and Tomorrows Tulips did the same for their career-best effort, When. Ex-Breathers made all 12 tracks (and 11 minutes) of their vicious upcoming 7″, ExBx, available for the world to hear, while Zola Jesus occupied similarly dark but incrementally softer territory with her upcoming effort, Taiga. A Winged Victory For The Sullen rounded out the full streams with another ambient near-masterpiece titled Atomos. Of course, there was one another full stream- but the link is being withheld until it’s accompanied by a forthcoming review. In the meantime, today’s focus will be on the song that defines that record: “Against the Moon”.

In an effort not to mince words, one thing should be noted before going any further- namely that Plowing Into The Field of Love is a masterpiece. No record this year has seen a more stunning creative growth or felt more important than Iceage’s new behemoth. Only three records into their still-young career and they’ve already emerged with a full-length that not only operates as a radical left turn but one that rivals anything from the creative rebirth of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (or, the Let Love In era). Iceage’s first two records, New Brigade and You’re Nothing, were menacing works that a few people chalked up to exhilarating exercises in intimidation. On Plowing Into The Field Of Love the band relents from that approach and serves a hyper-literate Southern Gothic-indebted masterwork that sees them flexing boldly experimental muscle and an untapped well of what now appears to be endless ambition. No song on Plowing Into The Field of Love illustrates this more than the slow-burning “Against the Moon”, a song that’s well out of the confines of anything the band’s ever done but still feels wholly suited to their identity.

Opening with the quasi-mournful strains of a brass section, it quickly undercuts its brief introduction with shuffling drums and the sustained hums of a chord organ. In those opening 15 seconds, the band manages to establish an astounding grasp on a style that was previously completely foreign to them. By the time the string and piano arrangements kick “Against the Moon” up a few levels into the breathtakingly sublime, it’s one of the bravest things any band this year’s committed to a studio recording. As instrumentally thrilling as “Against the Moon” is, it’s the startling emergence of vocalist Elias Bender Rønnenfelt’s vulnerability that shifts the song from the sublime to the transcendental. For the first time, Rønnenfelt’s lyrics and vocals are given a platform that demands the listener’s unwavering attention and that level of investment is paid off in full. From the song’s arresting opening stanza, enhanced by Rønnenfelt’s world-weary drawl, it’s clear that his personal transition directly correlates with what the band’s accomplished in terms of musicality. “On a pedestal, shining bright. Justify me. Make me right. I can fight it; make it roam- but a fugitive has a tendency to return home.” is the kind of opening line that suggests a genuinely great writer- that the rest of Iceage seems to have embraced and experienced the same level of maturity and rapid artistic growth as Rønnenfelt in the short year that’s followed You’re Nothing is nothing short of mind-bending.

A song that literally arrives with horns, “Against the Moon” stands as Iceage’s definitive entry into the band’s sudden new era, the strongest representation of Plowing Into The Field Of Love‘s myriad of sudden changes, and one of the most immediately striking songs to emerge from the past 4 years. Stripped back far enough to be completely exposed, Iceage shows the world all of its scars, all of its imperfections, and all of its entire being- and it’s a tremendous thing to experience. Even considering all of their previous sonic aggression, nothing they’ve ever produced has hit with a fiercer impact. For a band that’s aim has always been to wound, it’s a devastating reverse that leaves them sounding wounded- but bravely resilient. It’s extraordinarily effective and unflinchingly courageous. Most importantly, “Against the Moon” is the crown jewel of what deserves be regarded as one of this decade’s most important records. Make sure to give this the attention it deserves.

Listen to “Against the Moon” below, pre-order Plowing Into The Field Of Love from Matador here, and keep an eye on this site for a full review at some point in the coming week.

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September 10, 2014

LVL UP – Ski Vacation (Stream)

It’s been an insane past few days. Full streams, videos, and songs worth writing about have been emerging at a breakneck pace and making deciding what to feature a near-herculean task of decisiveness. There was a monumentally important music video from Mean Creek‘s Chris Keene for his upcoming solo record as Dream Generation, an interactive piece of unbridled fun from Ty Segall for the title track off of Manipulator, characteristically cinematic videos from both Beverly and Fucked Up– who have each been doing wonders with the visual medium, a video that practically defines Bob Mould’s workmanlike nature, and a Jane Forsyth & Ian Pollard-helmed video for Parquet Courts’ “Bodies Made Of“- which proved to be an astoundingly sensible creative pairing. There were full streams of the gently gnarled She Keeps Bees full-length, the psych-trip of the White Fence and Jack Name split, and a new Greylag song, “Yours to Shake“, that showed some serious teeth. Picking between all of those seemed as if it might be impossible until, once again, LVL UP made the decision fairly easy.

At this point, noting that LVL UP’s upcoming Hoodwink’d is this site’s front-runner for Album of the Year seems redundant. It’s a 15-song masterpiece that sees the band perfecting their best aspects and surpassing an arsenal of lofty expectations in the process. This is something that this site’s touched on in reviews for the first three songs to be teased from the record: “Soft Power“, “I Feel Ok“, and “DBTS“. Now, the band’s released the fourth look at the now-imminent Hoodwink’d with “Ski Vacation” which shows the band expanding their sonic palette yet again. Boasting a tranquil atmosphere and no shortage of jangly guitar tones, the song integrates some subtle-yet-effective surf tendencies into the band’s outsider pop aesthetic- and the end result is spectacular. What jumps out about all of the songs that the band’s been previewing is that they stand on their own extraordinarily well and would warrant serious consideration for pushes as Hoodwink’d singles- but as a collective piece they’re extraordinary and complement each other better than just about anything that even bothers to casually flirt with genre-hopping tendencies. In that respect, Hoodwink’d might be the first record 2014 produces that would be deserving of a title no smaller than masterpiece. “Ski Vacation” is just the fourth of 15 dimensions.

For some essential reading on Hoodwink’d, please go to Sasha Geffen’s Interview piece– where the track premiered- to scroll through a can’t-miss interview that sheds some light on what went into making the record.

Stream “Ski Vacation” below and pre-order Hoodwink’d from Double Double Whammy (which has played host to several of 2014’s best releases and is in the midst of an absurd winning streak)- who will be co-releasing it with Exploding in Sound (see: last parenthesis)- here.

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June 6, 2014

Mean Creek – Anxiety Girl (Music Video)

There are literally not enough nice things to be said about Mean Creek. Their fourth record, Local Losers, is their strongest yet. Touching on key points of emphasis from all the right genres, they’ve managed to create a very clear highlight in an increasingly competitive year. One of that record’s strongest selling points was “Anxiety Girl”, which saw the Boston quartet indulging their most aggressive sides and winding up with a vicious stunner. Now, that blissful fuzzed-out beast of a track has an appropriately frenetic music video to accompany it.

“Anxiety Girl” as a video is as direct and to the point as the song itself. There’s a lo-fi feel that permeates throughout the clip, which features little more than the band tearing their way through the song in a seemingly abandoned house that has an army of static-displaying televisions as an interior backdrop. Beer’s chugged and spit out, instruments are beaten half to death, and everyone walks away delighted. The final stinger puts the whole thing over the top and makes a fairly compelling case for 2014 being Mean Creek’s year.

Watch “Anxiety Girl” below and host a living room show this summer.

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