Domino | Heartbreaking Bravery

April 1, 2016

March 2016: The Streams

In keeping with the past several recap posts, a lot of material will be listed below. I wish I could have granted each of these individual songs more words than just a generic introductory paragraph extolling their high quality of work but time can be extremely cruel and leave few desirable options. March was an extraordinary month for music, if you knew where to look and could spare the investment. Below is a list of the individual streams that surfaced during the month, each one worth several looks.

Once again, there’s simply too much material to consume in one sitting so this page is best experienced via a bookmark and return explorations. Following this post, the site will be running a premiere or two and then lists of the very best streams and live videos of 2016’s first quarter but until then, taking a trip through the below titles should be a rewarding experience that keeps everyone occupied. You may even find a new favorite band. Happy hunting.

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May 12, 2015

T. Hardy Morris – My Me (Stream)

Back in 2011 I saw Dead Confederate play an incendiary set at Summerfest in a baffling early afternoon slot to roughly 100 people. It was a surreal experience that validated a lot of my growing suspicions about the way the hype machine works (at the time, the band was in the midst of the tour for their critically acclaimed debut effort) but it also shed light on guitarist/vocalist’s T. Hardy Morris’ seemingly intrinsic talents and his impossibly engaging presence. Over the years following that performance, he’s cultivated that talent into something even sharper, cutting his teeth on a variety of projects (including, but not limited to, Diamond Rugs). He’s set to release another solo record, Hardy and the Hardknocks: Drownin’ On A Mountaintop, and is previewing it with “My Me”, one of the most electrifying songs of his already fairly vast discography.

Of course, “My Me” was only one highlight in a sea of great releases from the past week’s treasure trove of material, so before it gets dissected, a few other notable titles will get the mentions they deserve. The titles in that category (and in this collection) are as follows: Liza Anne’s wistful “Ocean“, Robert Pollard’s cheeky “Take Me To Yolita“, Maribou State and Pedestrian’s collaborative effort “The Clown“, The Bats Pajamas’ lightly menacing “Wrong House“, Walleater’s mesmerizing “Sin Eater“, Rosetta’s bombastic “Untitled V“, Ducktails’ shimmery “Headbanging in the Mirror“, Citizen’s murky “Cement“, and a stunning new demo entitled “Your Heart” that came courtesy of site favorites Girlpool. While all nine of those tracks deserve as many plays that they can get, it’s the latest from T. Hardy Morris that- somewhat unexpectedly- snagged this post’s headline.

“My Me” is another strong example of Morris’ grasp on how to combine genres that don’t seem like they would complement each other at all into something surprisingly immediate (and immediately accessible). Taking cues from country, shoegaze, sludge, and punk, “My Me” is a masterclass in eclecticism, sure, but it’s also an absurdly catchy song that revels in an endearingly youthful enthusiasm. Morris has been impressive since “The Rat” put him on the map but “My Me” is another piece of evidence that Morris is progressing steadily as a songwriter as he goes, making him one to continue watching. The rise/fall vocal dynamic is used like a weapon in “My Me” and the muddy guitars behind his howls (and pointed commentary on self-exploration) push the song to incredible heights. A sunny melody runs through everything, lending the whole affair a feeling of fun that’s become uncommon in today’s musical landscape (which is also why the whistle at approximately 1:24 makes me smile every time I hear it and will undoubtedly remain one of my favorite musical moments from this year as it barrels along). While “My Me” bodes well for Hardy and the Hardknocks: Drownin’ On A Mountaintop, it’ll be hard to care if anything tops “My Me” because we still get a song this perfect out of the deal.

Listen to “My Me” below and pre-order Hardy and the Hardknocks: Drownin’ On A Mountaintop ahead of its June 23 release from Dangerbird here.

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September 15, 2014

Medicine – Move Along – Down the Road (Stream)

Another day, another string of great releases to cover before moving on to the day’s main event. Among them: a full stream of the sublime split 12″ from Joanna Gruesome and Trust Fund, a full stream of Terry Malts’ hard-charging Insides EP, and a characteristically incendiary performance from White Lung that also doubles as the official video for Deep Fantasy highlight “I Believe You“. Even with all of those being more than worthy of their own individual features, there was one song that surfaced today which managed to make a surprisingly large impression: Medicine’s “Move Along – Down the Road”.

Ever since Medicine’s surprise comeback record last year, To the Happy Few, they’ve been forcing their audience to re-adjust their expectations. Not that this is a bad thing; they’ve blown nearly all of those expectations out of the water. That trend looks like it’ll continue with their upcoming record Home Everywhere. After the multi-color swirl of lead-off single “Turning” suggested the band might be indulging their more psychedelic impulses, their most recent look at Home Everywhere confirms that with an even greater authority. “Move Along – Down the Road” is a near-claustrophobic cacophony that plays like a pissed-off, alternate world version of Andorra-era Caribou. In short: it’s a thrilling, fascinating, whirlwind of a song that hints towards Home Everywhere becoming one of 2014’s most widely celebrated releases. Medicine seems to be emphasizing their more cinematic sensibilities this time around and it suits their left-field shoegaze to tailored perfection.

Listen to “Move Along – Down the Road” below and pre-order Home Everywhere from iTunes here (all pre-orders will including the accompanying soundtrack to shoegaze documentary “Beautiful Noise“).

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September 14, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 44

Welcome to a late-night installment of Watch This, the 44th in the weekly series that celebrates the best live performances to surface in the previous week. This time around, there’s a split between full sets, late night performances, and DIY presentations that all include bands that have previously earned themselves features (or extended mentions) on this site. Whether it’s another jaw-dropping full set from White Lung or a revitalized Death From Above 1979 diving headfirst into their single, these are all worth watching. Normally Watch This is posted much earlier on Sunday, so in the spirit of today’s delay, the featured videos get darker in atmosphere as they progress. Day turns to night and Volume 44 gets to lay claim to five great performances. So, sit back, relax, take a drink, ease up, and Watch This.

1. Death From Above 1979 – Trainwreck 1979 (The Late Show with David Letterman)

The Physical World, Death From Above 1979’s long-awaited follow-up to the classic You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine, may have disappointed a few people with absurd expectations. Most of them were hung up on their own projections of what they thought the band should be instead of letting them come out of hibernation to evolve naturally. It’s hard to think that any of them would be disappointed by a performance like this one, which winds up being part of a late surge of memorable talk show performances.

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2. Benny the Jet Rodriguez – Alley Cat (Razorcake)

Is the sound on this the greatest? No. Does it need to be? Same answer. Is this a great take on a great song from a great record? Absolutely. Does the combination of logos, titles, and credits make it difficult to definitively credit? Extremely. How are more people not talking about Benny the Jet Rodriguez and Home. Run? That’s impossible to say- but it needs to change. When should that change start? Right now. Does every city deserve a venue like VLHS? Definitely.

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3. Diarrhea Planet (KEXP)

Diarrhea Planet may have released a very good record the other year that holds up as a standalone piece but their reputation was almost entirely built by virtue of their excitable live shows. This KEXP session goes a long way in confirming any of the uninitiated’s suspicions that they have a penchant for the irreverent and wild- and that’s all that really needs to be said. Just watch the video.

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4. White Lung (unARTigNYC)

This isn’t the first full White Lung set to earn itself a feature on Watch This. Hell, it’s not even the first one that comes courtesy of unARTigNYC. All that said, the band keeps managing to get better, a feat of borderline absurdity considering they’re already one of the better live acts out there today. Easily the best-looking and best-sounding White Lung set to find its way onto Watch This, their recent set at Palisades found them in their fieriest form (especially after a very tense moment towards the start of the set that found vocalist Mish Way pushed to the point of physically accosting and ultimately ejecting an audience member)- absolutely laying waste to a selection of songs that leaned heavily on 2014 standout Deep Fantasy. Even if the whole set was emotionally charged thanks to the severely unfortunate circumstances, it provided a handful of thrilling moments and cemented White Lung’s status as one of today’s most exciting bands.

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5. Nothing (KEXP)

Nothing are notorious for eardrum-obliterating volume levels when they play live, which seems fitting for a band so prone to relentless heaviness. Here, they hold nothing back and give KEXP one of the station’s more memorable sessions- creating an entrancing sprawl that sides towards the heavily atmospheric. Guilty of Everything was a high point of mid-2014 and is well-represented here. Apart from a few fairly awkward interview exchanges (which is probably putting it mildly), the individual song performances are weirdly mesmerizing. All in all, it’s hard to ask for a better way to cap off another great week of documented live music.

August 24, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 41

The Watch This series, up to this point, has mostly placed the overall focus on videos that just feature a band performing. For the 41th installment, that rule gets slightly modified. With the exception of a typically astounding performance from Noun (Screaming Females’ Marissa Paternoster’s extraordinarily consistent solo project), every video to earn a feature spot in this volume features a brief interview with the band playing music. In the case of the videos that bookend this week’s Watch This, the result is incredibly endearing- while the rest manage to be moderately informative without stripping away a sense of playfulness. More importantly though, the performances included below are uniformly outstanding and deserved to be spotlighted. With that said, it was a very difficult class of videos to select from, thanks to the abundance of great performances that surfaced from artists like Unicycle Loves You, Cousins, Bahamas, Jenny Lewis, Hollow Boys, Cheap Girls, and St. Vincent. So, as always, pour a drink, grab a seat, adjust the contrast, turn up the volume, and Watch This.

1. White Lung, ft. Katie Crutchfield – Dead Star (Noisey)

In what seems like a gift tailor-made for this series, White Lung’s Mish Way and Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield teamed up together for a pair of acoustic performances. Crutchfield holds down guitar and melody duty on this stripped-down take of White Lung’s excellent “Wrong Star”. Before the performance, the two share a few words and a palpable connection, subtly setting the stage for how complementary their musical abilities wind up being. Unsurprisingly, this is a gem of a performance that reaffirms both artist’s deserved status.

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2. White Reaper (Consequence of Sound)

Delivering a fiercely committed performance, White Reaper gives Consequence of Sound (and everyone else) a startling reminder of the strength of their debut EP. Here, they hold nothing back and just go full-throttle, emphasizing the kind of spastic energy that’s frequently a hallmark of the most entertaining live bands. In the short-form interview, the band discusses the meaning behind both “Half Bad” and “Oh Yeah”, giving a direct line of insight for their work- an increasing rarity. Starting and ending with two memorable performances, this is a can’t-miss video.

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3. Noun – You and Mr. Rogers (Don Giovanni)

Screaming Females’ Marissa Paternoster’s solo project, Noun, should be every bit as prominent as her main vehicle. After releasing an incredible 7″ and what’s one of the decade’s finest LP’s, Holy Hell, Paternoster understandably refocused on Screaming Females. Lately, though, she’s been playing solo shows with greater frequency and quietly unveiling new material. Here, Don Giovanni captures Paternoster delivering a gripping take on a song called “You and Mr. Rogers” that showcases her raw talent. It’s genuinely stunning, offering up a more fully-formed portrait of Paternoster’s quieter side. All of the applause at the end of the clip is absolutely warranted.

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4. Mannequin Pussy (BreakThruRadio)

Mannequin Pussy’s Kiss Me Tender EP was a beast of a release that was highlighted by the unrelentingly fierce “Kiss“, which also headlines their recent session for BreakThruRadio’s excellent Serious Business series. In the video, there’s the standard irreverent interview portion that is intercut with some blistering live footage of one of today’s more exciting new on-the-rise bands (it’s worth noting their first demos were released back in 2011). “My Baby (Axe Nice)” and “Anything” also get featured here, cementing Mannequin Pussy as another live act that’s not worth missing.

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5. Waxahatchee, ft. Mish Way – Coast to Coast (Noisey)

Returning to the collaboration of Katie Crutchfield and Mish Way, the pair reverse the featured project- this time delivering an arresting performance of Waxahatchee’s “Coast to Coast”. Way’s melody lines float along effortlessly, providing a welcome layer to an all-acoustic take of what was easily one of last year’s finest songs. Even though Cerulean Salt only came out last year (as did Groovy Kind of Love), this performance alone is enough to reignite excitement for whatever Crutchfield has in store next.

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July 29, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 33

Today’s marathon of Watch This continues with the 33rd installment of the series, a unique spread that features full performances, solo acoustic takes outdoors, and one last video from NXNE. There’ll be several more of these features to run after this one’s posted so please forgive what will mostly likely be atypically brief introductions. There’s a lot of ground to cover and even more material to get to. So, for now, lean back, enjoy the ride, and Watch This.

1. Army Girls – Quarantine State (Chart Attack)

Army Girls’ appearance at Sonic Boom during NXNE was a very welcome surprise and, paired with Courtney Barnett, wound up being one of the best (and most under-attended) 1-2 punches of the festival. Chart Attack, who hosted the showcase, were also on hand to film the band run through an excellent new song called “Quarantine State”.

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2. Laura Stevenson – Journey to the Center of the Earth (Don Giovanni)

There are very few things more arresting than a great solo performance, which just happens to be one of Laura Stevenson’s specialties. Here, the mastermind behind Wheel (one of last year’s finest releases) is captured with unfaltering honesty by her label, Don Giovanni. It’s a quiet, mesmerizing performance by the side of the road- and it feels perfect.

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3. Listener – There Are Wrecking Balls Inside Us (Audiotree)

“There Are Wrecking Balls Inside Us” proved to be a fascinating anomaly that shed light on a gray area; this is a video that recently resurfaced on a channel that promoted it as a new release, despite dating back to mid-2012. This caused some debate over whether or not it’d warrant inclusion but the performance itself spoke too strongly. Listener’s always been an engaging, unique presence and this is one of the most fully-realized examples of their intriguing eccentricity and immediately arresting manic delivery and, ultimately, it proved impossible to ignore.

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4. Lemuria – Oahu, Hawaii (TCGS)

Lemuria’s “Oahu, Hawaii” was given an entrancing and serene music video earlier this year that paid testament to The Distance Is So Big‘s longevity. That record’s lost very little of its staying power and their performances, as proven by this example from The Chris Gethard Show, continue to impress. Don’t miss them whenever they come around.

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5. White Lung (unARTigNYC)

At this point, White Lung have more than proven themselves to be a serious force in music. There have been very few records that felt as impassioned, or as necessary, as their rightfully-acclaimed Deep Fantasy. Fortunately, unARTigNYC was on hand to film the band’s set to celebrate the release of that record at Brooklyn’s famed St. Vitus, where the band delivered one hell of a performance that does more than a little justice to what’s easily one of this year’s strongest records. It won’t be long before this band’s even more widely recognized as an impressively intimidating powerhouse.

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May 14, 2014

White Lung – Face Down (Music Video)

It may be just over a month away but Deep Fantasy, White Lung’s Domino debut, just keeps sounding better. While “Drown With the Monster” and “Snake Jaw” were both bits of shrapnel intent on finding impact, “Face Down” takes things a step further. There’s just something about it that’s difficult to pinpoint; whether it’s the arrangement or the presentation or something else entirely, it’s one of the band’s most refined outings to date and it absolutely slays. Easily one of their best songs, it was given a no-fi video not all that dissimilar from the Dead Stars one that was featured here earlier today. Not much more than the band in a car and engaging in random shenanigans, it’s vibe’s closer to that of throwaway clips for skate parts than an official music video, giving it a feel that fits White Lung’s damage just right.

Watch “Face Down” below and try not to get arrested this year.

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March 4, 2014

White Lung – Drown With the Monster (Music Video)

White lung have been beating their own path for a while now, fearlessly flying forward and leave in a trail of flames in their wake. In the most recent example of this, they’ve unleashed the video for “Drown With the Monster” off of their upcoming Domino debut 7″ of the same name. In the clip they take their brooding post-punk to a level of intensity that’s impressively become standard territory for the band. There’s no shortage of frustration in Mish Way’s impassioned yells or in the bands propulsive nature; everything here is short and precise, landing each blow with considerable weight. The video itself is a live performance clip that’s not flashy, just effective, mirroring the band’s MO. Watch “Drown With the Monster” below and hang on for dear life.

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