Double Double Whammy Records | Heartbreaking Bravery

August 11, 2014

LVL UP – I Feel Ok (Stream)

LVL UP are drawing closer to the release date of Hoodwink’d, an album that’s loaded with the band’s best material to date. To celebrate its impending release, and to tease just a little bit more of how insanely good this thing is, they’ve offered up another glimpse in the form of the rollicking outsider pop tune “I Feel Ok”. It’s a deceptively complex song that manages to underscore just how capable this band is of writing great songs to anyone willing to invest the time in deconstructing all of its individual elements.

There’s a feeling of ease and weightlessness to “I Feel Ok” that’s not uncommon for LVL UP but taken to new heights on this particular outing. From the song’s ornate percussive features to the twinkling guitar tones and floating vocal melody, it’s an outsider pop gem courtesy of a band that seems to have a ceaseless supply of them. “I Feel Okay” also stands out for stripping away a lot of the band’s gnarled fuzz (something they hit new heights with on “Soft Power“) without shedding any of LVL UP’s immediacy or innate charisma. Never over-reaching or overbearing, “I Feel Ok” is the sound of a band living up to increasingly heightened expectations with aplomb. What’s almost terrifying about the pairing of “Soft Power” and “I Feel Ok” is that between the two of them, they’ve barely scratched the surface of what LVL UP is capable of.

Listen to “I Feel Okay” below and make absolutely certain to pre-order Hoodwink’d from site favorites Double Double Whammy (a label run by two members of LVL UP) here.

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August 10, 2014

Liam Betson – Rapture in Heat (Stream)

Towards the end of last month, Liam Betson quietly released the absolutely stunning The Cover of Hunter on the increasingly impressive Double Double Whammy, who are now in the midst of one of 2014’s hottest release streaks (one that’s set to continue with LVL UP’s impending Hoodwink’d). It’s a record that’s continuing to strike a deep chord with a lot of people across a variety of scenes. Trading in his Liam the Younger moniker in favor of his given name proved to be an effective move when provided with the context of the album, Betson’s rawest and most honest work to date.

While the entire record is good enough to rank among the very best of the year, it’s the closing track that provides The Cover of Hunter with its most startling moment. Opening with the line “Bobby, coming out is scary and any advice doesn’t feel right” all but guarantees the full attention of the listener. On a record where coming to terms with a variety of things is a recurring motif, “Rapture in Heat” is the one that confronts it the most directly, to an absolutely devastating effect. A tragic melody plays out in both the instrumental and vocal composition, even when the song switches gears from the piano-assisted beginning and turns into a mid-tempo basement pop number, there’s still a sense of loss that permeates through the song.

One look at the lyrics of the last stanza only confirms how weighty the subject matter that closes The Cover of Hunter out is. Any song that ends along the lines of “You want to be loved but say that you don’t” is capable of rendering discerning listeners temporarily speechless- and any song that does it half as well as “Rapture in Heat” will always be worth listening to. Ultimately, it’s the subtle bravery that defines “Rapture in Heat” which also helps it become something more transcendental and lends a powerful sense of closure to one of 2014’s best records.

Listen to “Rapture in Heat” below and order The Cover of Hunter from Double Double Whammy here.

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August 6, 2014

Lost Boy ? – Hollywood (Stream)

As mentioned previously, this site’s month-long dedication to festival coverage meant missing a lot of great material during that interim. While a few have since been covered, there’s still a lot to catch up on- and one of the select few ranking among the very best, once again, belongs to a Double Double Whammy release (in conjunction with Old Flame Records, no less): Lost Boy ?’s “Hollywood”. The song’s the first single to be released from the band’s forthcoming full-length, Canned.

Brimming with an unfettered energy, “Hollywood” starts with a sprint and doesn’t concern itself with looking back. As much an exercise momentum as it is a cathartic release, the song’s sent the levels of anticipation for Canned skyrocketing to heights completely unprecedented for the band. If “Hollywood” and the recently unveiled Canned B-side, “Graves“, are any indication, this is a record that will have a lot of people talking- and willfully damaging their speakers. As a stylistic marriage, there are few things that work better than off-kilter basement pop and spiky post-punk- and Lost Boy ? already seems to have that blend perfected. Watch out for this band.

Listen to “Hollywood” below and pre-order Canned here.

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