Teeming with imagery that hosts a handful of connections to other iconic visuals, the band completely eschews any inhibitions of operating on anything other than a ridiculously grand scale. That grandeur pays dividends, ushering in a bold new era for a band that once seemed content to operate on nearly anarchic terms. In “The Day The Music Dies” they take their mission to the church, light some fires, present a united front, and preach from a pulpit.
All of the confrontational immediacy is escalated by the track itself, which is lent a surprising amount of heft by some incredibly effective horn charts. Fascinating at just about every turn, riddled with allusions to Gothic-tinged entertainment (Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood acting as a more recent reference point), “The Day The Music Dies” finds Iceage comfortable in continuing to expand their boundaries, making Boundless — the band’s forthcoming full-length — one of the more intriguing prospects on the release calendar. The ride to get to that release, should “The Day The Music Dies” be a solid indicator, will be worth taking.
Watch “The Day The Music Dies” below and pre-order Beyondless from Matador here.
The last time a regularly-scheduled, one-week-encapsulating Watch This ran, October was drawing to a close. A lot of things have happened in the interim and all of the videos that surfaced in that time were given their due through the massive recap project that ran just a short while ago. Finally, the series is back in earnest. Each of the highlighted videos (save for one notable exception) was released between the past Monday-Sunday full week run.
A fascinating emerging concert series, Hear Here, recently hosted site favorite — and Watch This staple — Lady Lamb for an intimate solo performance. When Lady Lamb is in full band mode, there’s no denying the project’s sheer power, which isn’t something that can always be matched with the solo presentation. When they can, though, as is the case here, the divide between good songwriters and great songwriters begins to emerge. Lady Lamb is a great songwriter.
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2. Lookapony (3voor12)
Every once in a while, 3voor12 will run a live session with enough power running through its veins to jolt a body upright and get their eyes glued to the screen. Lookapony recently joined that category with this scintillating run through a handful of basement pop gems, delivered with an energy and conviction that the genre can occasionally lack. Riding the perfect divide between technique and feeling, Lookapony deliver the type of performance that’s strong enough to permanently brand their name into a viewer/listener’s memory.
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3. Charly Bliss – Westermarck (Paste)
Anyone that’s been paying an iota of attention to this site knows that there are few currently-active bands Heartbreaking Bravery values more than Charly Bliss. As mentioned in the introduction, this one is a slight cheat as it’s a holdover from the massive recap that ran last week. The reason? “Westermarck”, a new song from the band’s forthcoming Guppy, deserves to be highlighted, as does this acoustic rendition. The band, as always, gives it their all and delivers a sterling take on what will likely hold up as one of 2017’s finest tracks. Deceptively sweet, surprisingly barbed, and verging on flawless, this is something worth celebrating.
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4. Rosie Carney – Awake Me
Utilizing a live video as a song’s official video’s always a risky prospect, especially for emerging talents (for artists like Nick Cave, it’s a different story entirely), which makes this gorgeous clip for Rosie Carney‘s “Awake Me” all the more surprising. With “Awake Me” already standing as an early 2017 highlight, as well as one of the year’s most elegant, haunting tracks, Carney still manages to find a way to suffuse the song with even more life. There’s a soft lyricism to the camera movements as well, perfectly rounding out an unforgettable video.
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5. clipping. (KEXP)
eDaveed Diggs, one of the primary driving forces behind clipping. could have taken it easy and rested on his laurels following his Tony-winning run in cultural phenomenon Hamilton. Instead, Diggs found a way to release an EP with clipping., Wriggle, immediately after leaving the show and then followed that up with a full-length only a few short months later. Diggs’ characteristic restlessness permeates through every last second of this session the band did for KEXP, showcasing an energetic, singular talent that, frankly, even with all of the deserved accolades, still seems deserving of more credit. Challenging, forward-thinking, and undeniably intelligent, this is a once-in-a-generation kind of talent. All we can do is sit back, watch, try to keep up, try to learn, and be wildly entertained.
As was discussed in the preceding two posts, there’s been a serious lull of inaction on this site as of late as far as posting is concerned. A large reason for that was the fact that the majority of that coverage gap was spent traveling thousands of miles to document sets from bands like Oops, Dilly Dally, Yowler, Eskimeaux, Frankie Cosmos, Beach Slang, Potty Mouth, Dyke Drama, PWR BTTM, and more.
The resulting documentation will be posted at some point in the near future but the hefty amount of visual content (not to mention the act of traveling itself) necessitated a publishing break. However, as usual, every new piece of incoming information was accounted for in the interim. Full streams and music videos have already been covered so it’s time that the attention was turned towards individual songs.
A list of some of the finest new tunes to have emerged over the past month can be found below. Since there are so many, it may be best to bookmark this page and explore its contents at a more leisurely pace to avoid being overwhelmed. Jump on in and go swimming.
For a while now, I’ve been teasing Heartbreaking Bravery’s brief transition to full-blown catch-up mode. And, well, that time has come. Each of the ensuing posts will contain so much more than just the song, video, or album in the headline. Single songs will each come equipped with a list of 75 other great tunes to have appeared in 2015. A new music video mixtape will be arriving shortly as well as several other mixtapes to re-ignite the Watch This series, which time dictated be temporarily relegated to the sidelines. A lot of things will be heading in a lot of directions in the coming months so coverage may be sporadic but I will be damned if I let this site out of my thoughts and intentions for even a second.
With all of that noted, it’s time to get back to what drives this site’s existence: legitimately great art propelled by a DIY ethos. A lot of incredible music has emerged over the past several weeks with gems arriving every day (extremely recent company includes Eskimeaux, Sharpless, Flagland, Flyying Colours, Mitski, Upset, and so many more) so selecting one to feature has become an unenviable task- but sometimes history makes it easy. I was fortunate enough to hear some roughs of a band called Downies towards the start of the year and it immediately became one of my favorite releases, something that came as no surprise considering the group’s pedigree (I’ve yet to come across a LVL UP-affiliated project that I dislike, which can also be said of Porches.). Pushing things over the edge was the fact that Downies came off like a version of Purple 7 that was even more pop-happy but sacrificed none of that band’s considerable punch.
That exhilarating dynamic is perhaps most present in “Widow”, the band’s recently-unveiled warning shot. On its surface, it’s a frantically paced gut-punch that’s forceful enough to stop just about anyone in their tracks. Live, it’s a firecracker that seems hell-bent on total destruction. Stripped back to its bare essentials, it’s a song driven by a troubled subtext that’s directly hinted at in the title. Even setting aside the dissections of its particulars, “Widow” is a staggering show of force from a band that deserves to be ushered in with a high level of excitement.
Listen to “Widow” below and keep an eye on this site for continuing coverage of the band and the upcoming EP that houses this song. Beneath that is a list of 75 incredible songs that I wish I could attribute more words to, as they truly deserve to be held in praise, but- at this point- there’s simply too many items that have amassed. Soon, the site will be caught up and current releases will be accounted for as they enter the fold. For now, enjoy “Widow” and a long list of treasures.
Over the past few days, there’s been a lot of great content to be unveiled. This is including, but certainly not limited to, a great new Dead Soft video “Everything”, a stream of a new Parlour track for an upcoming compilation from the always-outstanding Marshall Teller imprint, a look at the upcoming album from the deservedly legendary Blonde Redhead, and a new stream from Big Mess (courtesy of Allston Pudding). There was a great new self-titled EP released by Crossed Wires, a first look at Trust Fund‘s side of their impending split with Joanna Gruesome, a new song from Colleen Green, and an engaging music video from The History of Apple Pie.
Now, 2014’s already seen a treasure trove of genuinely great releases bearing the Double Double Whammy stamp and they’re adding to that already enviable streak with an impending split between Wishbone and Follies. The latter of those two bands has raised anticipation for this release considerably by offering a glimpse at their side by offering a stream of the damaged, feverish “I Make Sense”. It barely eclipses three minutes but packs so much raw lo-fi weirdness into them that it’s difficult to gauge the run time at all.
Changing at the drop of a dime, there’s a myriad of fascinating influences all gnawing at each other in the forefront of “I Make Sense”, rendering it a winsome mess that’s utterly entrancing. Whether it’s outsider pop through a psych lens or a new breed of shoegaze-influenced post-punk or just an unfiltered version of Phil Hartunian’s personality (he’s the driving voice behind the Follies project), “I Make Sense” still stands as a gripping piece of music that, like all of the best art, is impossible to completely define. There are very few songs that have been released in the past month to be this courageously weird- or this unrelentingly hypnotic.
Stream “I Make Sense” below and make sure to pre-order the split from Follies’ bandcamp.
Heartbreaking Bravery 