Heartbreaking Bravery

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Tag: KEN Mode

2016: The First Two Months (Music Videos)

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Saintseneca

Now that both the songs and the full streams have received the massive overhaul treatment in an effort to get this site caught up to the current releases, it’s time to turn to music videos. A few key videos will be featured over the next few days but that shouldn’t take away from the merits of the clips listed below, which number near 200. Whether it was an outstanding song, concept, or visual presentation, something made the below videos stand out from the endless array of clips that I saw since the turn of the year. Like the previous two posts, there’s absolutely no way that these can be consumed in one sitting. The best course of action would be to simply bookmark this page and explore it at random. Go cra

Tacocat – I Hate the Weekend || The I Don’t Cares – Whole Lotta Nothin’ || Carroll – Bad Water || Dogs On Acid – No Trigger || Go!Zilla – Pollution || Saintseneca – Sleeper Hold || Saul Williams – The Noise Came From Here || Husky Loops – Dead || Ex Head – Slowcoahces || Holy Pinto – Matches || Summer Flake – Shoot And Score || Phooey! – Wurld || Teleman – Düsseldorf || The Foxymorons – Spinning On A Needle || Fake Laugh – Mind Tricks || La Sera – High Notes || Bob Mould – Voices In My Head || Car Seat Headrest – Vincent || Yak – Victorious (National Anthem) || Pookie & the Poodlez – New Policy || Fraternal Twin – Boil || Beliefs – Swooner || Cate Le Bon – Wonderful || Big Thief – Masterpiece || Protomartyr – Dope Cloud || Teen Suicide – Alex || theMind – Mercury Rising || Ulrika Spacek – Strawberry Glue || Suede – Pale Snow || The Staves – Horizons

Eleanor Friedberger – Because I Asked You || Charles Bradley – Change for the World || together PANGEA – My Head Is On Too Tight || All Dogs – Sunday Morning || Abi Reimold – Vessel || Cayetana – freedom 1313 || Free Cake For Every Creature – For You || Mothers – No Crying In Baseball || Parquet Courts – Dust || Sea Ghost – Dog 69 || Minor Victories – A Hundred Ropes || Peach Kelli Pop – Heart Eyes || Lush – Out of Control || Kevin Morby – I Have Been to the Mountain || Show Me the Body – Body War || Neko Case – Man || White Wine – Where Is My Line? || Oscar – Sometimes || Spookyland – God’s Eyes || Teen Suicide – Alex || Frankie Cosmos – Is It Possible / Sleep Song || METZ – Eraser || KEN Mode – Absolutely Not || Glint – While You Sleep || LUH – I&I || Marlon Williams – Dark Child || Try the Pie – Root to Branch || Frøkedal – The Sign || Loop Line – Parts Unknown

Frankie Cosmos – Outside With the Cuties || Molly Drag – Rabbits || Beliefs – Leave With You || Phylums – Cold Coffee || Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – Astonished Man || Andy Ferro – Hood || WALL – Cuban Cigars || Mogwai – Ether || C Duncan – Say || Eleanor Friedberger – Sweetest Girl || Skylar Spence – I Can’t Be Your Superman || High Waisted – Party in the Back || Emilie & Ogden – Ten Thousand || Cigarette – Housewife || Vukovar – The Blood Garden || Pill Friends – Bleed || Wussy – Dropping Houses || Kelsey Lu – Morning After Coffee || Beverly – Victoria || Kathryn Joseph – The Outtakes || Ty Segall – Emotional Mugger || Reuben Hollebon – Common Table || Francis – Turning A Hand || Youth Lagoon – Rotten Human || Bleached – Keep On Keepin’ On || The Besnard Lakes – The Plain Moon || Monogold – Orchard Beach || A Giant Dog – Sex & Drugs

Andy Ferr0 – Sugar and Milk || Whitney – No Woman || Cherry – Alligators || Witching Waves – The Threat || Matthew Logan Vasquez – Everything I Do Is Out || TEEN – Free Time || FIDLAR – Why Generation || The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Hell || Mount Moriah – Baby Blue || Death Index – FUP || Dan Rico – Soft Feeling || Red Pill – 90s Money || Sun Seeker – Georgia Dust || Mass Gothic – Every Night You’ve Got To Save Me || Steve Mason – Planet Sizes || Holy Fever – Find Your Fame || Nocando – Last Man Standing || Memory Rounds – Everywhere Near || Nicholas Krgovich – Sunset Tower || Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – When Thy Song Flows Through Me || Foals – Birch Tree || Moderat – Reminder || Computer Magic – Fuzz || South of France – Washed Up || Cavern of Anti Matter (ft. Bradford Cox) – Liquid Gate || Vandaveer – A Little Time Off Ahead || Hobosexual – Illegal Sensations

Andy Ferro – Crystal Tongue || Death Index – Little ‘N’ Pretty || Eddi Front – Prayer || Field Division – Modest Mountains || Sheer Mag – Nobody’s Baby || Aesop Rock – Rings || Childbirth – Breast Coast || Sparrows Gate – Ghost Blue || Roo Panes – Where I Want To Go || Rolling Blackouts C.F. – Wither With You || M. Ward – Girl From Conejo Valley || Beirut – Perth || Night Moves – Denise, Don’t Wanna See You Cry || Step Sisters – Dumb Love || O’Brother – Deconstruct || Museyroom – Ballad || Mind the Journey – Rose Colored Glasses || Giant Sand – Texting Feist || Mount Moriah – Precita || Wood Lake – Easy Love || Mossy – Electric Chair || River Tiber – No Talk || Let’s Eat Grandma – Deep Six Textbook || Automagik – Fucked Up || The Weather Station – Floodsplain || Hero Fisher – Breathe || Lionlimb – Domino || Girl Pants – Jupiter || The Range – Five Four

Fruit Bomb – Happy || Lushlife + CSLSX – The Waking World ft. I Break Horses || Candace – New Future || The Big Ship – Maybe I Don’t Know || Migrant Kids – Thread || Weezer – L.A. Girlz || Tim Woulfe – Riptide || Mercury Rev – Coming Up for Air || Spencer Radcliffe – Relief || Doe Paoro – The Wind || Photo Ops – Memories That Glow || Bill Eberle – When You’re Gone || Anya Marina – Gimme Resurrection || Kendrick Lamar – God Is Gangsta || The Manor – Don’t Like Going Places || Pale Dian – In A Day || Frightened Rabbit – Get Out || Shearwater – Quiet Americans || You Won’t – Ya Ya Ya || Muncie Girls – Respect || Otherwhile – Haunt You || Flying Lotus – FUCKKKYOUUU || Low Cut High Tops – Raise Hell || Ben Watt – Between Two Fires || Melaena Cadiz – At the Symphony || Mike Benecke – Astral Line

Froth – Nothing Baby (Music Video)

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While close to 50 of the past two weeks’ videos have been covered, there were still a few that managed to find an even more recent release or slip through the cracks entirely. The Garden made the most out of a brilliant concept and their two members for the endlessly entertaining “Gift“, Seahaven went the engaging live edit route for “Love to Burn“, Correatown produced a lovely low-budget gem with “Longshot“, KEN Mode kept things characteristically aggressive in “These Tight Jeans“, Silverbird offered up a weird strain of artistry in “Running“, and Boots crafted a compelling visual augmentation for the excellent “Bombs Away“. The most arresting clip of this small batch, though, was Froth‘s impressively honest video for “Nothing Baby”.

Shot on 16mm film, “Nothing Baby” is an exercise in a strange sort of artistic voyeurism that seems to share somewhat of a kinship with the Dogme 95 movement. The Riley Blakeway-directed clip centers on a day in the life of Cameron Allen, the band’s drummer, adding small injections of artistic license to an extraordinarily relatable everyday narrative. The visual aesthetic and leisurely pacing suit the band’s penchant for smoky atmospherics to perfection. There are more than a few shots that reach exquisite heights and the way Allen plays himself seems profoundly honest (which is a lot more difficult than most might imagine). Acting more as meditation than as commentary, “Nothing Baby” transfixes and stands as one of the more impressive clips in recent memory.

Watch “Nothing Baby” below and pick up a copy of Bleak here.

Sweet John Bloom – Weird Prayer (Album Review, Stream)

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As has been mentioned multiple times over, this site saw a recent shift from standard coverage to specialty coverage thanks to a move. In the few weeks that have passed in that time, a slew of exciting new releases made their way out into the world. One of the finest- and, frankly, most overlooked- was Sweet John Bloom’s fiery Weird Prayer. That record will be the focus of this piece, while a list of 50 excellent full streams to have recently appeared will be included beneath the embedded bandcamp player. Before immediately going there, though, let’s focus on the matter at hand: Sweet John Bloom’s full-length debut.

Formed out of the ashes of several other bands (including Four Eyes, who released one of the best 7″ records in recent memory with Towards the End of Cosmic Loneliness), Sweet John Bloom already had a fairly impressive pedigree out of the gate. It’s not surprising that the band managed to click as tightly as they have, especially considering their respective former bands had all established a familiarity by virtue of shared spaces (bills, scenes, etc.). Even with all of that taken into account, Weird Prayer‘s pure strength still manages to surpass expectations.

A collection of 15 dirtied up, punk-leaning basement pop songs, the record not only succeeds in effortlessly conveying the band’s identity but in coming off as a genuine record; something that’s meant to be heard in full. Naturally sequenced and expertly paced, it’s a considerable achievement for a first at-bat operating with this medium as a collective unit. Each section of Weird Prayer comes off as considered as it does impassioned, rendering the whole thing an invigorating shot of adrenaline. Vocal leads are traded with ease, there’s a killer melody buried in just about every passage, and the flawless production makes sure to include enough bursts of weirdness- like the absolutely stunning outro to “Night Thing”- to keep the whole thing zipping along at a startling clip.

For as willfully rough as Weird Prayer sounds, it’s also a record that’s partially defined by finesse. Deceptively elegant guitar figures play with the limits of restraint even as they’re pushed to the red. The rhythm section work always serves a purpose beyond just simply being a base and the lyricism, while occasionally buried with the vocals in the mix, is frequently poignant. Sweet John Bloom also manage to find as much success experimenting with their more gentle sensibilities as they do when they give in to their desire to be abrasive.

“Blood Moon” sees the band finding the perfect balance between the gentle/abrasive dichotomy and, in the context of the record, the song feels even livelier and massive than it did as a standalone single. It’s one of several songs on the record that go beyond anthemic to the realms of catharsis without ever succumbing to over-simplification. It’s part of why the record never loses an unfailing sense of urgency that goes well beyond most of the songs’ inherent immediacy, which sets up a tall order for Weird Prayer‘s final stretch.

In most cases where an album’s almost exclusively built on raucous barn-burners, the weight eventually builds and the load becomes unsustainable; there’s a reason why rollercoasters don’t extend for hours and why successful action films need exposition. Weird Prayer deals nicely with this by offering a gradual come-down by easing off the gas pedal and utilizing a tempo that creeps in a little under the established average for most of its closing numbers. Even then, Sweet John Bloom don’t cede their penchant for a confrontational aesthetic; the 1-2 punch of “Death; and Everything’s Paid For” and “Trust  Me” feels particularly vital and bristles with a world-conquering energy. Fittingly, “Aging In Place”- the first song to be shared from Weird Prayer– brings everything home in a finale that’s both familiar and intensely rousing; an exhilarating end-cap to one of the year’s finest records.

Pick up Weird Prayer from Tiny Engines here and listen to it by clicking play below. Underneath the bandcamp player, browse 50 other great recent full streams.

Radioactivity – Silent Kill
J Fernandez – Many Levels of Laughter
Fight Amp – Constantly Off
Yukon Blonde – On Blonde
Sissy – Gave Birth To A Mum
Expert Alterations – Expert Alterations
Spray Paint – Punters On A Barge
Ballroom – Ballroom
Bad Boys – Demo
Year of Glad – Year of Glad
Little Children – Travelling Through Darkness
The Fur Coats – Short-Brain
Magic Potion – Melt
Oscar – Beautiful Words
Sea Cycles – Ground & Air
Prinzhorn Dance School – Home Economics
Senpai – Hell In My Head b/w Mind Honey
Arm Candy – Arm Candy
Institue – Catharsis
Chris Weisman – Chaos Isn’t Single
Max Gowan – Big People
Falling Stacks – No Wives
Hints – No Regrets In Old English
No Joy – More Faithful
Pleistocene – Space Trap
Long Neck – Heights
No Friends – I’m Not Real
Marvelous Mark – Bite Me
HDSPNS – HDSPNS
KEN Mode – Success
Walleater – I/II
Sweatshop Boys – Always Polite, Never Happy
Wavves x Cloud Nothings – Wavves x Cloud Nothings
Tough Age – I Get The Feeling Central
Sea of Bees – Build A Boat To The Sun
C H R I S T – T O W E R
Alden Penner – Canada In Space
Teen Daze – Morning World
Fell To Low – Low In The Dust
Palm – Ostrich Vacation
Bully – Feels Like
Bruise – demos.
The Armed – Untitled
Cold Cave – Full Cold Moon
Self Defense Family – Heaven Is Earth
Wild Pink – Good Life
Nicolas Jaar – Nymphs III
Creepoid – Cemetery Highrise Slum
Gnarwhal – Shinerboy
Lady Bones – Dying

Tenement – Dull Joy (Stream)

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Predatory Highlights. June 2. Doon giovanni Records. We’ll get to all of this shortly but first, a recap, as it’s been some time since the last non-Watch This post ran on this site. Coming up over the next few days will be a run of songs and videos focusing on some of the best of what’s emerged since the start of this month. Each of the highlighted songs will come equipped with no less than 10 others worth hearing in the accompanying post(s). Up first: “Idiot“, an extraordinary laid-back basement pop tune from Dustin Lovelis’ upcoming Dimensions. There was also the The Go! Team’s revitalized, energetic “Ye Ye Yamaha“, Torres’ unpredictably frenetic “Cowboy Guilt” (furthering Sprinter‘s album of the year potential), PINS’ jaunty “Young Girls“, and Blonde Elvis’ fired up powerpop gem “Oh Mary“. To top everything off there was Fraternal Twins’ slow-burning “Skin Gets Hot“, The Japanese House’s hypnotic “Sister“, KEN Mode’s furious “These Tight Jeans“, No Joy’s hazy “Moon In My Mouth“, and The Lagoonas’ fiery basement punk gut-punch, “Color Spectrum“. While, as always, every single one of these tracks is worthy of a high investment level, the headline goes to a band that’s now intrinsically tied to this site: Tenement.

Before diving into the dissection of yesterday’s big news surrounding the band’s upcoming release, it’s worth noting (on a very personal level) that in my time writing, few things have meant more to me than being able to contribute a piece for the zine insert that came equipped with Bruised Music: Volume 1, the band’s collection of earlier material that came out last month. Tenement are a band that have meant varying degrees to various people but they’ve managed to affect my life for what’s nearing ten years through both their music and their continued kindness. I grew up alongside their progression and they’re directly responsible for introducing me to the greater DIY scene that this site was built to celebrate (which is a space that may not even exist without that influence). They’re the first band I can remember booking and they’re a band I’ve been referring to as “Wisconsin’s best band” since the first time I saw them live- so, naturally, their upcoming record’s been one I’ve been tracking closely. Yesterday, the trio blew the lid off of that record- which has been meticulously shaped over the course of the past three years- via a typically incredible AV Club premiere that came loaded with details.

Predatory Highlights will be released on June 2 via the band’s (relatively) new home, the increasingly vaunted Don Giovanni Records. It will be a double-album. It’s set to contain both the band’s towering pop sensibilities that Napalm Dream zeroed in on while also accentuating the curious experiments that provided Blind Wink with an immediate cult classic aesthetic. In short, Predatory Highlights will be the band’s most ambitious- and most visible- release to date. Kicking off its campaign with a track as immensely accessible as “Dull Joy” is a brilliant strategic move as it encapsulates the band’s most immediate elements while hinting at the stranger terrain they’re capable of covering. As much as ever, guitarist/vocalist Amos Pitsch is in fine form both lyrically and musically- the song structure’s bold, the chord progressions are thrillingly inventive, and the lyric copy still reads like classic, downtrodden Americana.

While most of it will strike listeners who are familiar with the band as vintage Tenement, they still find room for a curveball- and that moment provides “Dull Joy” it’s most exhilarating moment. After the band locks into its standard basement pop/hardcore/power punk groove, they launch into a bridge that goes into full-blown r&b/pop mode, complete with falsetto. For any other band, a moment that conventional would seem rote but here, it adds a new dimension to the band’s already staggering depth. Accentuating the impact of Pitsch’s characteristically brilliant turn-in is yet another formidable display of intuitive talent from the band’s rhythm section- bassist Jesse Ponkamo and drummer Eric Mayer- which remains one of the best currently operating. Everything comes together on “Dull Joy” to not only prove that Tenement’s continuously raising their own otherwise unreachable bar but that they’ve also still got plenty of tricks up their sleeves. It may still be early and this may be the very first glimpse of Predatory Highlight but I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that Tenement could have a future classic on their hands with what looks to be a monumental release. If it doesn’t wind up near the very top of this site’s Albums of the Year list when December rolls around, no one will be more surprised than me.

Listen to “Dull Joy” below and pre-order Predatory Highlights from Don Giovanni here.

Meat Wave – Sham King (Music Video)

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Now that the site’s all caught up on songs, it only seemed natural to overhaul the music videos as well. Here, the formatting will be slightly different than it has in the past for this format, with 35 excellent clips being linked beneath the main feature, Meat Wave’s slasher-indebted short that accompanies the bruising “Sham King” off their tremendous EP from this year, Brother. Before going any further, it’s worth noting that Meat Wave is one of the few bands that will always have a special place carved out in reference to this site, having played the first-ever Heartbreaking Bravery Presents to help this place celebrate its first anniversary (several months after they were featured as part of the site’s On the Up series). Their self-titled record is still one of the best things to have come out of this decade, so any time the band does anything of note, it’s probably a safe bet it’ll secure a feature spot here. Which leads us back to the focus of this piece: “Sham King”.

In the Andrew Robert Morrison-directed clip for “Sham King”, a lot of things are at stake. Most notably, the bands lives. A grim reaper figure, complete with a scythe atop a bicycle, mercilessly stalks the power trio through dead, snow-capped streets. During the opening chase, Morrison (who also edited the video) injects the clip with a serious sense of dissonance with furiously paced loop-back smash cuts, lending the affair an added sense of disquiet. Before long, death zeroes in on guitarist/vocalist Chris Sutter, who leads the masked figure on a chase through an abandoned warehouse. Vantage points switch and become a narrative function as the viewer’s occasionally allowed to take on the first-person viewpoint from behind the killer’s mask, effectively rocketing up the video’s sense of tension. When one side emerges victorious, a solo is mimed in front of a towering wall of various amps before giving way to the video’s final shot- which ranks among one of my favorite images from the year.

Watch the madness of “Sham King” unfold below and pick up the Brother EP here. Beneath the clip, watch 35 other great videos from the past few weeks. Expect regular coverage to resume throughout this new week and going into the future.

Day Creeper – Luxury Condominium
Ryan O’Reilly – Northern Lights
Little Death Machine – Pale
Hallelujah the Hills – Destroy This Poem
Algiers – Irony. Utility. Pretext
Dan Deacon – When I Was Done Dying
The Go! Team – What D’you Say?
King Tuff – Madness
Modest Mouse – Lampshades of Fire
Chastity Belt – Cool Slut
The Bandicoots – Mind Your Manors
Stella – Last Minute Boy
Hey Elbow – Ruth
Coliseum – Sunlight In A Snowstorm
Ceremony – The Separation + The Understanding
Built to Spill – Living Zoo
Pile – Rock And Roll Forever With The Customer In Mind
Albert DeMuth – Finally Found A Job
Gymshorts – Hey Parents
Oscar – Daffodil Days
Modern Vices – Smoke Rings
The Great Albatross – Righteous Man
Turnover – New Scream
Oh Land – Half Here (Live One Take)
KEN Mode – Blessed
A Place To Bury Strangers – What We Don’t See
The Smashing Pumpkins – Drum + Fife
Pinact – Anxiety
Laura Marling – Gurdjieff’s Daughter
Inheaven – Regeneration
Hot Chip – Need You Now
Great Cynics – Lost In You
Le Volume Courbe (ft. Kevin Shields) – The House
Algiers – Blood
Courtney Barnett – Depreston