Heartbreaking Bravery

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Tag: Goldmund

Milk Crimes – Milk Crimes (EP Review, Stream)

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[EDITOR’S NOTE: With the site now entering emergency year-end catch-up mode thanks to the cruel, mocking nature of time, tonight’s trio of posts will simply be short reviews of the album(s) in the headline(s) and an accompanying list of records that deserve to be heard.]

Every so often, a band explodes onto my radar by virtue of a simple email message and thoroughly captures my attention. Milk Crimes are one of these bands and their explosive self-titled EP, which recalls a number of acts from the impeccable Reeks of Effort roster at their most manic (while still clinging to the frantic pop sensibility that serves as one of their more defining elements).

Milk Crimes is comprised of five vicious punk-tinged basement pop numbers, each one barreling headfirst towards some unplanned destination. The trio trades vocals at will and are unified in their determinedly scrappy approach as individual musicians, conjuring up something that feels exhilarating because of the constant looming threat that it’ll all fall apart at any minute (yet never does). Wildly energetic and abrasively confrontational, it’s one of 2015’s finest hidden gems and deserves a lot more discussion than it’s getting. Get on board.

Listen to Milk Crimes below and pick it up here. Below the embed, explore a collection of some of the best full streams to surface over the past several months.

Sevdaliza – Children of Silk
Rubber Bang Gun – Making A Fool of Myself
Fórn + Yautja – Split 7″
Nervous Trend – Shattered
Val Hollie – Val Hollie
Total Abuse – Excluded
Ashland – Ashland
Bethlehem Steel – Docking
Lysol – Demo
Correatown – Embrace the Fuzzy Unknown
Jacobus – Jacobus
Goldmund – Sometimes
100% – Incantation
The Empty Gestures – Total Collapse
Z Tapes’ Christmas Benefit Compilation
Emily Yacina – Soft Stuff
The Just Luckies – Same Kids, Same Things
PC Worship – Basement Hysteria
Petal – Raspberry Cough
Skaters – Advent Calendar
Marvelous Mark – Crushin’

Idle Bloom – Pride Line (Stream, Live Video)

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It’s been a while since there’s been a standalone post on this site so it seemed appropriate to have that spell broken by a recent favorite: Idle Bloom. Before diving too far into that, though, it’s worth noting that since it’s been such a long time since the last standard post, each of the forthcoming posts will be equipped with a list of the outstanding tracks, videos, or full streams that have come out in that time. While the attention will be returned to Idle Bloom and their latest, some attention should also be given to some excellent new songs from Eluvium, Tracks, Laika’s Orbit, Big Hush, The Foetals, Ripper, Flowers, Kevin Devine, Sioux Falls, Patsy’s Rats, Big Ups, Goldmund, and Midwives. All of those songs are worth several listens but it’s time to get back to this post’s focal point: Idle Bloom and their towering “Pride Line”.

Driven by a gripping lead guitar line that froze me when the band pulled this song out for their knockout set at Alpahville, “Pride Line” is one of the band’s most definitive entries to date. While psychedelic flourishes permeate throughout the track, it’s even more heavily informed by shoegaze without ever coming across as revivalist. As the main riff slashes its way through the song, frequently augmented by wordless falsettos, everything supporting it steadily builds towards a climactic outro figure that does away with any perceived lightness and comes crashing down with bruising force. A dynamic powerhouse from a band that feels like they’re just getting started, “Pride Line” is an electrifying masterclass in atmospherics without ever relinquishing its sense of purpose. Get on board or get the hell out of the way because this will take you to the ground.

Listen to “Pride Line” and watch a video of the band performing the song live below. Pre-order Some Paranoia here before its Friday release.