April 2019: Three Weeks, Four Records
Three weeks into April 2019 and the month’s yielded a staggering amount of good material and a small handful that’s genuinely great. Today, this site will feature the last of what has been a series of quartets: songs, music videos, and full streams. A wide range of genres and styles is on display and everything’s more than worthy of some serious listening and/or watching investment. Art this strong should always be featured in some capacity, as many times over as possible. Scroll down and enjoy the riches.
Patio – Essentials
Patio‘s potential has been evident since the evening they made their public debut at Palisades (RIP). Essentials, the band’s first full-length and second release following their excellent Luxury EP, finds the trio paying off that promise with the conviction that’s always been present beneath their icy exterior. Detachment and post-punk tend to go hand in hand, which is why Essentials‘ willingness to embrace a no-frills directness feels exhilarating. Every move throughout the record feels considered, resulting in a level of precise articulation that many bands spend entire careers trying to match. There’s an exacting nature to both the narratives and the instrumentation Patio wields throughout the record, which finds the trio weaponizing their own restraint. Measured, deadly, and teeming with confidence, Essentials lives up to its name.
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Supermilk – Rare Delusions
Jake Popyura‘s made a few of the present decade’s best records as a member of Doe and adds to that winning streak with Supermilk‘s second EP, Rare Delusions. Popyura’s solo project had an enticing debut EP in Hello? Yes this is Supermilk… but Rare Delusions betters it in every aspect. Doe’s recent run has seen Popyura take a considerable artistic leap as a songwriter and that comes through in full on all four of Rare Delusions‘ tracks. Each track detonates and effectively captures a youthful energy that hits like an adrenaline rush. Angst, ennui, and clarification are leveraged into a surging momentum but Popyura never lets Rare Delusions fall apart after it flies off the rails, ensuring its place as one of 2019’s most galvanizing listens.
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Nightwatchers – La Paix Ou Le Sable
La Paix Ou Le Sable, Nightwatchers’ latest, is a snarling behemoth. Modern, pop-informed basement punk at its most vicious and unforgiving, La Paix Ou Le Sable is an unrelenting tidal wave of unchecked aggression funneled into some of the year’s hardest-hitting songs. An into track provides a moment of peace before the storm’s unleashed and the band really never lets up after that opening minute. Everything hits with a high degree of impact but, impressively, the cumulative effect never becomes desensitizing. A breathless declaration of intent from a band that seems hell-bent on making its presence count.
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Bleary – Gates
The members of Bleary have been fixtures in Nashville’s local punk scene for some time, which helps explain how Gates sounds so monumentally assured. The band’s still a relatively new act, with only a three-track demo to their name. Gates, the band’s debut EP, is a head-spinning affair that announces the quartet’s arrival with the same clear-eyed determination that elevates the band’s music. Front to back, Gates is pure catharsis. Classic shoegaze gifted some contemporary twists, pitched in all the right keys, Bleary has crafted something that feels genuinely definitive. An extraordinary accomplishment that should find Bleary successfully searing their name into many new converts’ memories.
Heartbreaking Bravery 