Kississippi | Heartbreaking Bravery

April 3, 2018

March’s Honorable Mentions

Only a few days into April (and a few posts away from resuming regular daily updates), it seems as good a time as any to look back at some of the outstanding tracks, clips, and records March had to offer. Since the first week of March was largely covered by the last big recap, the focus here is on the material to find release in the month’s subsequent three weeks. An incredible round of songs, some sterling music videos, and a few standout records managed to make their mark. Below is a compilation of items worth hearing and seeing, so don’t miss a beat and save this tab to explore to your heart’s content.

STREAMS

Mastersystem, Bad Breeding, Pllush, The Sidekicks, Tancred, Drens, Deeper, Hop Along, Iceage, Haley, Spielbergs, Wheelbarrel, Air Waves, Holy Now, Lawn, Yazan (x2), Sharaya Summers, Daniel Tanghal, Dose, Eureka California, Simeon Walker, John Parish, Sibille Attar, Moon Racer, Pre Nup, The Love-Birds, Oceanator, Archie and the Bunkers, Escondido, Death By Unga Bunga, Leisure Tank, The Magic Lantern, Coping Skills, Weller, Character Actor, Ruler, Emily Isherwood, Nice Try, Connections, Vlad Holida.

Lazy Legs, Cold Fronts, Craig Finn, Stimmerman (x2), Dear Nora, Kevin Devine, Brooke Annibale, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (x2), Frederick The Younger, Co Sonn, Swear Tapes, Fiddlehead, boerd, King Tuff, Bernice, Miya Folick, Forest Ray, Aisha Burns, Wye Oak, Tangents, INVSN, Dreamend, Sofia Härdig, No Thank You (x2), L.A. Girlfriend, John Prine, Paul De Jong, Mary Lattimore, Spritzer, Saba, Swell Spells, Erin Rae, Chakra Efendi, Greyhounds, Redolent, Ivan Moult, Neighbor Lady, Hiss Golden Messenger.

77:78, Deerest, Goat Girl, The Dead Tongues, currin (x2), Scratch, Ganser, Kathryn Joseph, Confuse-Ray, Slow Mass (x2), Pole Siblings, DMA’s, Adam Ackerman, Turtlenecked, Gold Connections, Sen Morimoto, War On Women, Kississippi, Belly, Dana Murray, Yolanda, The Cavemen, HAWK, Remission, Andy Cook, White China, LANKS, and A Deer A Horse.

MUSIC VIDEOS

Fenne Lily, Sulky Boy, Night Flowers, Bonny Doon, Oddnesse, Albert Hammond Jr, Tremends, Locate S, 1, Sun June, KNIFEY, Las Rosas, Mastersystem, Ought, Rozwell Kid, RF Shannon, Alex Lahey, Launder, Soccer Mommy, Speedy Ortiz, Wax Idols, Sleepy Zuhoski, Loma, Courtney Barnett, Francobollo, Flasher, Volage, Hinds, Porlolo, The By Gods, Frankie Cosmos, Okkervil River, Crooked Teeth, Laura Veirs, S. Carey, The Dazies, Sam Evian, Alice Bag, Jo Passed, Young Valley, Quiet As A Mouse, Canshaker Pi, Death By Unga Bunga, Sean McMahon, Vive la Void, Yuki Ame, Preoccupations, Moviestar, LICE, Tomma Intet, and Phosphenes.

FULL STREAMS

Daniel Klag, Gentle Heat, Queen of Jeans, The Bordellos, Swampmeat Family Band, Erika Wennerstrom, Rat Kid Cool, T.C. Crosser, and half of the upcoming Nicole Dollanganger record.

April 4, 2017

Watch This: The Honorable Mentions of 2017’s First Quarter

Over the course of 2017’s opening three months, a lot of great material was released. Naturally, the most abundantly rich category wasn’t simply songs, music videos, or full releases, it was live videos. It’s been quite some time since the last Watch This ran on this site, an oversight being amended tonight, and in that time scores of great clips have surfaced. Below is an extensive list of some of the finest to have emerged over that time and all of which are more than worth the their runtimes. Of course, it’d be impossible to watch all of these in one sitting, so feel free to bookmark the page and sift through the selections whenever the feeling takes

Mitski, Jay Som, The Walkmen, Kississippi, SUÐ, NE-HI, Kamasi Washington, Monica LaPlante, Tokyo Police Club, Money, Tank and the Bangas, Mary Lynn, Canshaker Pi, Allah-Las, Yeesh, Communions, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Andy Shauf, Blue Rodeo, MOON, Temples, Born Ruffians, Justin Vernon & Sean Carey, L.A. Salami (x2, 3), Bruno Bavota, Hórmónar, Mustard Gas and Roses, Pinegrove, Jean-Michael Blais & CFCF, Dude York (x2), Bash & Pop, Nail Polish, Ron Gallo, Lume, Slaughter Beach, Dog

Craig Finn (x2, 3), Honeyblood, Middle Kids (x2), No Parents, The Molochs, The Black Watch, Sløtface (x2), Looming, Lemuria, Campdogzz, Black Marble Selection, Clara Clara, ELLA, American Wrestlers (x2), The Coathangers, Outer Spaces, Sam Kogon (x2), Lilah Larson, Michal Pydo, Old 97s (x2, 3), Lizzo (x2), The Madcaps, Snail Mail, The Mysterons, Subcutanea, Holy Tunics, Hamilton Leithauser (x2, 3), Alex Lahey, Greyface, Axel Flóvent, Diarrhea Planet, Peter Silberman, Luxury Death, Suburban Living

Microwave, The Cigarette Bums, Roya, Carinea, The Orions, Secret Crush, Tyrone Cotton, Fast Romantics, Izzy True (x2), Hand Habits, Priests (x2), Reality Something, Frances Cone, Moss, White Mystery, Tennis, Louie Louie, Adna, Let’s Eat Grandma, Kite Base, Twin Limb, Ty Segall, Morus Alba, Odd Robot, Coals, The New Pornographers (x2), VANT, Shame, Sierra Hull, MOON, Rose Cousins (x2, 3), Food Court, Grace Joyner, Mrs., Michael Nau, Nikki Lane (x2, 3), FIDLAR (x2, 3), The Melvins, Skyway Man, Big Eyes

Cherry Glazerr (x2), BAB, Savoy Motel (x2, 3), Laura Marling (x2), Mikey Erg, Thumpers, Fishbach, Emma Ruth Rundle, Horse Thief (x2), Black Marble, The Album Leaf (x2), Wet Lips, Bev Rage and the Drinks, Her Again, Esme Patterson, Death and Memphis, Nancy Pants, Mirel Wagner, John Doe, The Two Tens, Avi Buffalo, Lisa Hannigan, Andy Shauf, Mark Eitzel (x2), Marching Church, Chris Farren, Ahem, Cloud Nothings, BABY, Sweet Crude, Chicano Batman, Rubblebucket, Looks Like Mountains, Ladywolf

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, Dead Man Winter (x2), Good Doom, TÖLVA, Monobody, The Shacks, Fleurie, Molotoy, Parlor Walls, YDIMITU, The Gotobeds, Peacock Affect, Austra (x2), Dave Brannigan, Papier Tigre, Elephant Stone, You Blew It, Grand Parc, PAVVLA, Alice Jemima, Dusk (x2), Jens Lekman, PWR BTTM, Melkbelly, Nail Polish, Leif Vollebek, Shull, Jennifer Niceley, House of Wolves, Chuck Prophet, Fair City Fire, The Reptilian, Lil Sluggers, Mint Green, Local Natives, Henry Jamison

The Sonics, Nocturnal Habits, Julia Lucille, Loamlands, Halldór Eldjárn, The Hill Country Devil, DakaBrakha, The Chinchees, Oddissee, Way Worse, BADBADNOTGOOD, Tenfold, The Staves, The Vaughns, Sunflower Bean, Flasher, Weyes Blood, Charlotte Cardin, Mammút, Benjaminto, Naked Giants (x2), Hippo Campus, Delicate Steve (x2), White Reaper, Gurr, Muncie Girls, Julien Doré, Birdtalker, Mario Batkovic, Seu Jorge, Ace Henderson, Nudity, High Waisted, John Craigie, Sammus (x2, 3), Beach Slang

45ACIDBABIES (x2), Fiona Silver, Calico, Viagra Boys, Fox and the Acres, The Veils, Anna McLukie, Iguana Death Cult, Sad13 (x2), DIA, Hospital Job, Katie Ellen, Albin de la Simone, Nick Hakim, Holy Pinto, Nessi Gomes, Radio Eliza, Michigan Rattlers, Wallacy Willians e os Besouros, Dæphne, The Mysterons, Cincin, Listener, Rykarda Parasol, Magic Bronson, (T-T)b, Tourists, Foxing, Eyukalpitus, Twin Lords, Dijon, Red Baraat, Dan Layus, Camp Claude, Solilians, Andy Svarthol, Octave Noire, Benoît Lizen

Bishop Nehru, No Win, Hits Like A Girl, Sauna Accident, Bullet Points, Golden Grands, Strand of Oaks (x2, 3), The Singing Butcher, Fishbone, See Gulls, Santoros, Burn Fetish, Wildwood Kin, Noam Pikelny, Alejandro y Maria Laura, Gang of Four, RLLBLL, Star Anna, Industrial Revelation, Lohai, And Also the Trees, Bror Gunnar Jansson, Jealous of the Birds, Star Parks, Shawn Fogel, Joel and Bill Plaskett, Ess See, Edna Vazquez, Plastic Picnic, Rodney Crowell, Mother Mother, Molly Burch (x2, 3), Blind Pilot

The Kraken Quartet, Fraea, Other Suns, Nina Diaz & Luz Elena Mendoza, Alexandra Savior, The Big Pink, From Indian Lakes, Mike Wexler, Nimrod, Tyte Jeff, Mega Bog, Big Star’s Third, Robyn Hitchcock, Strange Americans, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Community Daughter, Severin Bells, Talmud Beach, Timber Timbre, Tall Heights, Tim Kasher, Sundara Karma, Guantanamo Baywatch, STEVENSTEVEN, ZenSoFly, asdfhg., Olivensteins, Becca Stevens, Grandaddy, Bad Licks, Maren Morris, The Memories, Sloucher

Klangstof, Moses Hightower, Les Aventures de President Bongo, Kite Base, Barbagallo, Mike Doughty, The Pukes, Mothers, Tom Tukker, Modern English, American Football, Kristin Hersh, Christopher Paul Stelling, Yasmine Hamdan, Candy Ambulance, Amelia Curran, Dane Terry, Midijoyful, Drumbeat Red, Jesca Hoop, South City Revival, The Awful Truth, Ages and Ages, and The Spring Standards.

October 13, 2016

Watch This: Vol. 144

To ease Watch This back into its regularly scheduled rotation, the following will focus on the two weeks that occurred after the last installment was published. In that time, Acapulco Lips (x2), Wasted On You, Chain of Flowers, Pinegrove, Peter Bjorn and John, Sunbathe, Good Personalities, Bad Cop / Bad Cop, Claire Cottrill, The Brokedowns, Kississippi, Haley Bonar, Billie Marten, Bayonne (x2), Entrance, Lush (x2), The Blank Tapes, JFDR, The Frights, Teleman, The Districts, Doe, Marissa Nadler, Joshua Bell & Jeremy Denk, No Honeymoon, Aaron & Bryce Dessner with Ben Lanz and Boys Noize, BlackGlass, The Minders, Super Furry Animals, Kristin Kontrol, Tenement, Queen of Jeans, Michael Kiwanuka, Breanna Barbara, Corbu, All People, Boss Fight, Margo Price, Titus Andronicus, Brass Bed, Somos, Oliver John-Rodgers, Foxing, The Wombats, and PWR BTTM all found themselves at the center of outstanding performance clips. Competition that strong says more about the strength of the five featured clips that could be conveyed with mere words. All five bands have been featured on the site in the past and the performances range from genuinely exhilarating to utterly devastating. So, as always, sit up, lean in, adjust the volume, block out any excess noise, focus, take a deep breath, and Watch This.

1. Never Young – Soap (Prisma Guitars)

Immediately kicking things back into the highest gear possible is this Prisma Guitars session from site favorites Never Young. Easily one of the most explosive single-song performance clips to ever be featured throughout the 140+ installments of this series, the quartet careens through an adrenaline-inducing take on “Soap” that sees them giving the session their everything. Beautifully shot and presented with an enormous amount of conviction, this is exactly the type of clip that Watch This was built to celebrate.

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2. Greys (KEXP)

Greys have made several appearances throughout this series’ run and touring on their recently-released Outer Heaven‘s allowing them even more opportunities to be featured. The band recently stopped by the KEXP studios for a full session that features songs from their past three releases, including their most recent work, Warm Shadow. As always, the band plays with a barely-contained energy, an incredible amount of tenacity, and a deep-seated passion that makes this another vital document of one of today’s most exciting acts.

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3. Heliotropes – Primates (BreakThruRadio)

For a few years now, Heliotropes have been quietly carving out an impressive name for themselves, earning the respect of both critics and their peers. Creatively restless and endlessly intriguing, the band continues to impress with this BreakThruRadio performance of “Primates”. It’s a glimpse towards the future the band’s angling towards and it’s impossibly tantalizing. One of their finest songs to date, “Primates” keys in on the band’s wiriest post-punk tendencies and sporadically cuts them to shreds. If this is indicative of the rest of the band’s forthcoming material, start bracing for something genuinely explosive.

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4. The Coathangers (KEXP)

The second KEXP session of this installment features The Coathangers, who have been touring hard behind their excellent Nosebleed Weekend. Celebrating both that record and the 20th anniversary of the label that released the record, Suicide Squeeze, finds the band in exceptionally high spirits. All of that culminated in an unshakable, infectious joy that drives this session, making it both immediately accessible and surprisingly memorable. The trio remains in fine form throughout the session, playing with ramshackle glee while maintaining an impressively tight grasp on the songs, creating what could be considered a definitive portrait.

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5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Girl In Amber

After enduring unspeakable loss, Nick Cave allowed filmmaker Andrew Dominik into his creative process to create One More Time With Feeling, a documentary that follows both the creation of Skeleton Tree and Cave’s battle with grief in the wake of his youngest son’s tragic death. It’s excruciatingly heartrending from an outsider’s perspective and Dominik elegantly underscores how unthinkably difficult it’d be to be in that situation. In the third studio video to be released from the project, Cave continues to look completely lost and withdrawn, as if perpetually trying to wrestle his thoughts down.

“Girl In Amber” also expertly incorporates Dominik’s inspired direction and the technical wizardry that went into the 3D, black-and-white filming of One More Time With Feeling. The overall effect’s equal parts haunting and haunted, creating an unforgettable impression. This is a staggering work of bravery and artistry, each colliding with the other to produce something as singular as it is captivating. As the camera circles Cave, surveying his every movement and placing him at the center of swirling uncertainty, Cave repeats “don’t touch me” as the video cuts to black, providing one last breathtaking moment of a miniature masterpiece.

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September 14, 2016

Strange Ranger – Sunbeams Through Your Head (EP Review)

strange ranger (2)

Over the past two days, there were a handful of exceptional new tracks from the likes of Purling Hiss, Kississippi, Kevin Morby, Pop & Obachan, benngrigg, Busman’s Holiday, Trails and Ways, Emilyn Brodsky, Sun Angle, Touché Amoré, Crying, Suburban Living, Kim Gordon, Henry Jamison, Light Fantastic, Levitations, Softspot, Rick Barry, and Shana Falana. Additionally, there were outstanding music videos from Martha (who also found room for an amusing Radiator Hospital cameo), Sex Stains, The White Stripes, Adam Torres, Wolf People, Chromatics, The Kills, Matt Kivel, and Nøise. Rounding everything out were incredible full streams via Oh Boland, Low Culture, Sat. Nite Duets, Left & Right, Human People, LA Font, Bad Kids To The Front, Cheshires, and Toy Cars.

While more than a handful of those were considered for this post’s featured spot, Strange Ranger secured the position by virtue of releasing an EP that contains a few of the finest songs to have been released all year. One of those, the record’s opening and title track, earned a healthy amount of recent praise. “Sunbeams Through Your Head” set an impressive, melancholic tone for its namesake which was released in full earlier today.

Following the haunted title track, Sunbeams Through Your Head could have gone a number of directions but chose to expand on its thesis statement. The EP’s second track, “Life Would Be Cooler”, is by far its longest and one of its most gripping. “Life Would Be Cooler” also turns out to be surprisingly economical in its narrative, painting a portrait of an intense (and intensely damaged) longing in less than 60 words, closing with a devastating plea that drives a staggering amount of genuine feeling home.

It’s an opening salvo that packs an emotional wallop but Strange Ranger stays on course for the next barrage of tracks, remaining unapologetic for their overwhelmingly weary nature and casting an atmospheric pall in the process. In a strange way, it’s almost moving, listening to the band support their most downtrodden tendencies with intuitively empathetic moments in the instrumental composition. “Dolph”, “Whatever You Say”, and especially the gorgeous, instrumental “Thru Your Head” all contain breathtaking moments of a deeply felt compassion.

Everything that the EP works towards comes splintering apart, quite literally, in the manic closing track, “oh oh oh oh”. From the outset of the record’s final statement, the vocals are cracking to the point of breaking as a mournful organ line runs underneath the pained theatrics. Those are the song’s only two elements and they grow more pronounced as the narrative grows more hopeless. Eventually the narrative’s abandoned altogether, buckling underneath its own weight and disappearing into the ether, as the organ figure delivers a somber eulogy. It’s a challenging, mesmerizing way to close out an incredible EP and allows Sunbeams Through Your Head to linger long after it’s gone. It’s company worth keeping.

Listen to Sunbeams Through Your Head below and download it here.

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April 10, 2016

Watch This: Vol. 120

After several recaps, best-of features, and weeks of waiting, Watch This returns to its standard weekly installments. A large handful of memorable videos have managed to accrue during the course of the past week. Kississippi, The Cave Singers, The Belvederes, Lomelda, The Districts, Foxing, Cherry, The Zolas (x2), Choir Vandals, Fraternal Twin, Bayonne, Sun Club (x2), Jitters, 4th Curtis, Tomber Lever, Otis the Destroyer, Sounds Del Mar, Holy Wave, Shearwater, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Audacity, and The Greeting Committee all had individual efforts that merited multiple looks. Ultimately, this week belonged to the quieter sessions but still found a way to produce one of the most memorably raucous turn-ins of 2016 (so far, at least). There’s a lot to appreciate in the five videos below so, as always, straighten up, lean in, crank the volume, focus, and Watch This.

1. Mothers (NPR)

Last year, Mothers had me on the verge of tears with the unveiling of the devastatingly gorgeous “Too Small For Eyes“. I’d seen them a few months prior to that release but the restrictions CMJ presents essentially ensured that I wouldn’t be adequately prepared for the band’s astounding debut full-length, When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired. NPR recently hosted the band for an exquisite Tiny Desk session that does an intensely moving record justice.

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2. Sunflower Bean – Easier Said (World Cafe)

One of the more intriguing bands to watch develop and fine-tune over the past few years has been Sunflower Bean, whose insane work ethic has begun to translate to widespread success (and no shortage of burgeoning acclaim). While it may be easy to become fixated on the band’s backstory, in the face of their music — a lovely blend of powerpop and psych-pop — it simply doesn’t matter. The band’s recent World Cafe session sees them on steady, assured footing, ready to meet whatever may come their way.

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3. Kal Marks – Mankind (Allston Pudding)

Kal Marks is a name that’s appeared on this site multiple times over and the band keeps providing reasons to keep that name in heavy rotation on these pages. Case in point: an intense, scorched-earth single song performance for Allston Pudding. The band holds absolutely nothing back in this run through “Mankind”, which finds the trio elevating their no-holds-barred take on a blend of vicious basement grunge and snarling post-punk. It’s a thing to behold.

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4. Long Beard – Moths (VHS Sessions)

VHS Sessions has been crafting excellent live performance videos throughout 2016 but their current crown jewel came in the form of this humble run through “Moths” from Long Beard, who continue to set an exceedingly high bar for themselves and their peers. The trio constantly tap into an ineffable magic that renders songs that sound simple on paper transcendent in practice. This performance may very well be the most definitive example of their most intangible — and compelling — aspect.

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5. Daughter (KEXP)

One of the most unexpected shows I managed to luck my way into last year was Daughter‘s secret set at Baby’s All Right. I’d admired the band previously but was completely enraptured with their live set, even to a point where I was incapacitated by severe chills during a breathtaking run through “Doing The Right Thing”. While it’s impossible for what the band achieves onstage to translate to a filmed studio session, this KEXP run is as close as anyone’s likely to get for the foreseeable future.

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April 6, 2016

Watch This: The Best of 2016’s First Quarter, Vol. VI

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Each of the seven volumes that comprise this Watch This package contain 25 clips apiece. Due to the sheer volume of live videos that have come out during January, February, and March all of the packages will have the same introductory paragraph. Regular Watch This segments will resume on Sunday.]

It’s been a tremendous first quarter for live videos. While Watch This, Heartbreaking Bravery’s weekly series celebrating the very best of the live video format, hasn’t been in operation for roughly three full months, the information required to keep this thing humming (i.e., checking through hundreds of subscriptions and sources for outstanding new material) has been collected at regular intervals. If they were full sessions, single song performances, studio-shot, DIY captures, transcendent songs, or transcendent visual presentations, they were compiled into a massive list. 175 videos wound up making extraordinarily strong impressions, those videos will all be presented here, in the Watch This: The Best of 2016’s First Quarter extended package, one 25-clip presentation at a time.

Watch the sixth collection of those videos below.

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1. Lady Lamb – Dear Arkansas Daughter (Audiotree)
2. Lithuania – God In Two Persons (WXPN)
3. Jason Isbell – Something More Than Free (The Current)
4. Lever – The Nerve (DZ Records)
5. Mothers – Burden of Proof (Paste)
6. Kississippi – Googly Eyes (WXPN)
7. Savages – Adore (Colbert)
8. The Dirty Blondes – Because (VHS Sessions)
9. Saintseneca – Sleeper Hold (KUTX)
10. Lucy Dacus – I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore (Radio K)
11. ARNO – Dance Like A Goose (Bruxelles Ma Belle)
12. Devon Goods – Michigan (VHS Sessions)
13. Little Yellow Dog – Time Machine (DZ Records)
14. Two Inch Astronaut – Personal Life (bandwidth.fm)
15. Tangerine (KEXP)
16. Kitten Forever – Cannon (The Current)
17. Eleventh Dream Day – Cheap Gasoline (Sound Opinions)
18. Catbath – Jellyfish (Radio K)
19. Andy Shauf – The Worst In You (La Blogotheque)
20. Choir Vandals – Ghostly (Little Elephant)
21. New Ruin – Disappearances + Del Rosa + Negative Dialectics (Razorcake)
22. Left & Right – Sleep Show (Do512)
23. The Thermals – Thinking of You (Jam in the Van)
24. Blah Blah Blah – Soon as I Get Home Tonight (DZ Records)
25. Julia Holter – Sea Calls Me Home (Strombo Sessions)

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January 14, 2016

The Honorable Mentions of the 2015 Music Categories

Before diving into the particulars of the forthcoming lists, it’s worth addressing the distinction made in the headline. Each of the categories that received a list in 2015 (music videos, songs, EP’s, albums, odds and ends) will be expanded upon in this post. However, there are still two forthcoming film lists but each of those will include the honorable mentions along with the featured rankings. An obscene amount of great material came out over the 12 months that comprised the past year so any attempts to cover everything would be futile. If anyone’s exhausted the below lists, a more comprehensive version can be found by exploring the following tags: stream, full stream, EP stream, and music video. Explore some of the top tier picks that didn’t make it onto the year-end lists via the tags below.

Music Videos

EPs

Songs

Albums

Odds and Ends

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December 27, 2015

2015: A Visual Retrospective, Vol. 7

PWR BTTM I

Throughout the course of 2015 I’ve been fortunate enough to attend upwards of 100 shows, festivals big and small, and spend approximately half a year living in a city that hosted a mind-boggling amount of quality shows on a nightly basis. To that end, it’s probably unsurprising that I wound up taking over 10,000 photos this year alone. Over the course of the next few days, this site will be running seven volumes of the shots that stood out as personal favorites, whether that was due to their composition, sentimental attachment, or an intangible emotional or intellectual response. It’s been an honor to be able to take even the smallest part in the ongoing sagas of the artists in the photographs below and an additional thanks is due to the venues that allowed me to shoot (as well as the people who encouraged me to keep shooting).

The preceding galleries can be accessed via these links:

2015: A Visual Retrospective, Vol. 1
2015: A Visual Retrospective, Vol. 2
2015: A Visual Retrospective, Vol. 3
2015: A Visual Retrospective, Vol. 4
2015: A Visual Retrospective, Vol. 5
2015: A Visual Retrospective, Vol. 6

Enjoy the gallery.

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December 26, 2015

2015: A Visual Retrospective, Vol. 1

Enjoy the gallery.

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December 23, 2015

Mothers – Too Small For Eyes (Stream)

[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 song(s) in the headline(s) and an accompanying list of tracks that deserve to be heard.]

Back in October, Mothers delivered a memorable CMJ set as part of BrooklynVegan’s Baby’s All Right showcase. As promising as the songs contained in that showcase were, nothing hinted at the band being capable of a song like the breathtaking “Too Small For Eyes”, which stands out as one of the most painfully gorgeous numbers of 2015. Aided by a remorseful piano figure and a lilting string section, Kristine Leschper’s aching vocals take on an impressive amount of life. Over the course of its nearly six-minute runtime there are no false moves, just a sustained series of grace notes that push the song towards sublimity. Masterful in both arrangement and execution, “Too Small For Eyes” astonishes as irrefutable evidence of the depth of Mothers’ potential. Elegant and genuinely extraordinary, this is a watershed moment for a band that’s more than ready to be thrust into the spotlight.

Listen to “Too Small For Eyes” below and keep an eye on Grand Jury Music, who will be running the pre-orders for When You Walk A Long Distance, You Are Tired in early 2016. Underneath the embed, explore a list of great songs to have appeared over the course of the last several months.

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Kississippi – Greyhound
Low Cut High Tops – Good Day
Youth Lagoon – I’ve Seen
Takénobu – Curtain Call
Casanovas In Heat – Jaded
Stove – Lowt-Ide Fins
The Both – You’re A Gift
Burnt Palms – Fold
Lil BUB – New Gravity
SWMRS – Figuring It Out
Baroness – Shock Me
Franesca – Sanity
Parlor Walls – Birthday
The Body – Shelter Is Illusory
The Echo Field – Is He Gone
Garrett Klahn – Are We Alright?
Frameworks – Time Spent
Hinds – San Diego
Death Index – Dream Machine

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Tag: Kississippi