Jack Shirley | Heartbreaking Bravery

June 9, 2015

Happy Diving – So Bunted (Stream)

Once more, with feeling: I’ve been caught up in travel arrangements over the past week and a half but I haven’t let new music escape me during that time. I’ve kept a detailed record of everything that’s caught my attention and, unsurprisingly, the bulk of those materials were single tracks. As was the case in the previous two posts, a list of 15 of the strongest highlights to emerge throughout that time frame have been included below the embed of the song earning the feature spot. In this case, that song’s a blistering reminder of the myriad strengths of site favorites Happy Diving.

The band’s exhilarating debut for Father/Daughter Records (another site favorite), Big World, established the band’s identity as well as their reputation for crafting feedback-heavy downer pop. Taking just as many cues from 90’s alt. as shoegaze, the band have conjured up yet another sharp blast of reverb-laden melancholy with “So Bunted”, the title track from a forthcoming 7″ that also marks their first release for the increasingly impressive Topshelf Records (Happy Diving’s signing follows a series of impressive moves from the label and the acquisition of Happy Diving rates as one of their strongest). Effortlessly pairing melancholy with urgency has always been one of the band’s strongest draws and “So Bunted” is a masterclass in that particular dynamic, creating a compelling whirlwind of soaring guitars and bleak emotions. Not a single moment of the track’s 134 seconds are wasted and if this is indicative of what Happy Diving has in store for Topshelf, then we’re all in for one hell of a ride.

Listen to “So Bunted” below and pre-order the 7″ from Topshelf directly here. Beneath the embed are 15 more songs that deserve paragraphs worth of praise and to be added to just about any collection.

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Broen – Iris
Jessie Jones – Sugar Coated
FFS – Call Girl
Creepoid – Shaking
Weaves – Tick
Cyberbully Mom Club – No-Fun
Oscar – Stay
HEALTH – Stonefist
Ducktails – Surreal Exposure
Hibou – Dissolve
The Armed – Paradise Day
theweaselmartenfisher – Draw Back Your Bow
The Rashita Joneses – My Finger
Operation Simon – Innervation
Blacklisters – Cash Cow

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August 29, 2014

Night School – Birthday (Stream)

It’s very rare that a song comes along in the middle of the night and manages to be so good that it warrants an immediate write-up. There’s no accounting for what kind of material will emerge over the next 24 hours but if any of it manages to be better than Night School’s “Birthday”, rest assured, it will get a write-up at some point. That said, it’d be criminal not to feature “Birthday”, an explosive pop-indebted shoegaze tune that comes courtesy of Graveface Records.

Before going any further, some exposition should be noted: one of the three members of Night School, who will be releasing their debut EP Heart Beat on October 7, used to be in Whirr. While there are similarities between the two acts, they only run at surface level. Night School’s latched onto something that feels new; a welcome expansion in the increasingly accommodating field of shoegaze sub-genres. There are shades of Phil Spector interwoven with sounds that pull from all over both his catalog and the continuously evolving field of DIY punk. Thankfully, this doesn’t result in “Birthday” sounding like a complete and total mess- instead it gets presented as some kind of damaged dream that Alexandre Morte and the rest of her band are desperate to hold on to. Battered guitars create a wall of sound that’s as lush as it is intimidating, the rhythm section powers everything forward with gnashing teeth, and the vocals are practically floating as they create an introspective atmosphere that, impossibly, contrasts and complements the sonic chaos taking place beneath. It’s a gorgeous, towering piece of work that should turn a lot more heads in the days to come. If the rest of Heart Beat winds up being this good, Night School may just be on the verge of releasing something truly great.

Listen to “Birthday” below and take part in Graveface’s intriguing “glorified pre-order” kickstarter campaign here.

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August 14, 2014

Happy Diving – Weird Dream (Stream)

This week has had no shortage of great material to choose from thanks to great new songs from the likes of Glish (whose upcoming self-titled is among the year’s best releases), Miss Destiny, Straight Arrows, Colleen Green, Cozy, and VCR. There were also eye-catching music videos from the likes of site favorites Creepoid and Happyness to round things out on the visual end of the spectrum. One of the most arresting things to be introduced into the world, though, was Happy Diving’s lo-fi basement punk rager “Weird Dream”.

Bookending a song with sheets of feedback is a bold move that normally indicates a fair amount of aggression. It’s a trick that Dinosaur Jr. has used to great effect and a proclivity that Happy Diving seems to have picked up (among a few others that offer a strong connection between the two bands). From the scorching guitar work to the scuzzy production, “Happy Diving” isn’t content to drift by without landing a cavalcade of punches. As damaging as it is damaged, the song’s one hell of an introduction to a band on the verge of releasing their debut record, Big World, through a label as revered as Father/Daughter Records. If “Weird Dreams” does prove to be truly indicative of what Big World has in store, October 21 can’t get here fast enough.

Listen to “Weird Dream” below and make sure to pre-order Big World directly from Father/Daughter Records here.

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