La Lenguas | Heartbreaking Bravery

August 26, 2016

Noun – Fame and Famine (Stream)

Over the past 24 hours, there have been quality streams from the likes of Real Numbers, LA Font, Wild Pink, Two Houses, Super Unison, Planes Mistaken for Stars, Dennis Callaci, Tokyo Tea Room, Balance and Composure, Raccoon Fighter, and Turnip King. On top of that, there were a string of music videos that emerged from the camps of Slow Down Molasses, Odonis Odonis, LUH, La Lenguas, Magik Magik, Yohuna, Moses Sumney, Brendan Canning, and Makeunder. Providing the day with a welcome dash of finality were full streams that were unveiled by Magic Trick, Ski Saigon, and The Hecks.

As always, all of those entries linked above are worth jumping over to and exploring with a certain level of intensity. However, they weren’t all that wound up being released Thursday. Screaming Females‘ Marissa Paternoster’s Noun project made an unexpected return with the jagged, lo-fi “Fame and Famine”. Quietly uploaded to Paternoster’s tumblr, “Fame and Famine” winds up benefiting from a pre-established tone of unpredictability.

While Paternoster may get the most recognition for Screaming Females, Noun has proven to be a project just as worthy. 2010’s Holy Hell, a consistently overlooked triumph, may even be Paternoster’s finest record to date (though the last few Screaming Females records have been hitting some exhilarating highs). Noun’s consistently allowed Paternoster a wider range of possibilities, making a new entry into the project’s discography a tantalizing prospect.

For “Fame and Famine”, Paternoster takes a direct, immediate route that fully commits to its lo-fi aesthetic and elevates itself via a comprehensive understanding of the format. There’s a surprising amount of nuance in the ambient beds that swirl beneath the insistent, repetitive main section that serves as the engine of “Fame and Famine”. Enhancing the aggressive disconnect that manifests in the narrative of “Fame and Famine” is the artwork the song’s projected over, one of Paternoster’s characteristically striking chalk-based originals.

Everything packaged together winds up being as disconcerting as it does galvanizing. There’s a nervous undercurrent of stress that imbues every second of “Fame and Famine”, lending it a feeling of completeness that can be rare in demos. It’s a fascinating glimpse towards one of today’s most fascinating, tireless artists and it’s another in a long line of formidable examples of Paternoster’s creativity and commitment. Tenacious, unnerving, and more than memorable, “Fame and Famine” is one of the best surprise standalone releases of recent memory.

Listen to “Fame and Famine” below and keep an eye on this site for more updates on the project.

August 15, 2015

Dilly Dally – Desire (Music Video)

This week, like just about any other in 2015, has been enormous for music. Since this site’s coverage was entirely dedicated to live coverage over the course of the past 7 days, these next two posts will be focusing on the great new material that saw release during that time frame. Starting with the full streams, there was no shortage of spectacular releases, including new entries from Ronnie Stone & The Lonely Riders, Doubting Thomas Cruise Control, Gardens & Villa, Places to Hide, Jesse Payne, Morly, Frau, The Barreracudas, Pawns, and Sieveheads. Music videos had a week just as strong, one that included great clips from the likes of La Lenguas, The Arcs, Noveller, Youth Lagoon, This is the Kit, Lithuania, Vundabar, Joanna Newsom, Palm, White Reaper, and Palehound. Of course, it also included the incredible featured video from site favorites Dilly Dally.

Just over a month ago, “Desire” was covered at great length on its own merits as a standalone single. Now that the band’s got the advantage of a visual medium, they can start hammering home some of Sore‘s driving thematic elements. “Desire”, specifically, is grounded with a through line about sexual release- something that comes to the fore through sensuous lighting, a color palette that’s frequently tinted white, and suggestive imagery that balances the beautiful with the mundane. There’s an emphasis on repetition and motion, which- combined with the provocative whites that dominant the video’s middle section- act as perfectly analogous to the song’s original conceit. It’s a stunning, elegant work that complements the song to a sublime perfection and isn’t afraid to shy away of the difficult, ordinary aspects that help humanize an otherwise otherworldly experience.

Watch “Desire” below and pre-order Sore from Partisan here.

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May 26, 2015

Lady Bones – 24 Hour Party Girl (Stream)

Now that the site’s caught up to the current release cycle on all fronts, their may not be as much material in the ensuing posts as some of the more recent entries. Even with that note, it’s extremely clear that 2015’s not going to bother to slow down its astonishing pace in regards to great new releases. While not a lot of publications or bands offered up new material over what seemed to be a slightly extended Labor Day weekend, there were still a few slivers of gold. The music video format found strong representation by way of Mick Jenkins’ stunning “P’s & Q’s” and Skating Polly’s delightfully whirlwind “Nothing More Than A Body“. Single streams saw another compelling duo ushered forth in Terrible Feelings’ new noir-tinged basement pop classic “Black Water” and Drowse’s slowly-unfurling, dread-induced “Melt“.

Full streams were in much larger supply, with no less than six outstanding titles vying for greater attention. Soul Low hit a new career with the surging, shambolic Sweet Pea EP, reaffirming their potential in the process. La Lenguas proved that “Love You All The Time” was no fluke by padding it out with two more stunners on their debut EP, Tears In My Milkshake. Rightfully-vaunted punk label Dirt Cult found another strong release in Blank Pages’ urgent No Reception EP while Heyrocco got their career off to an extraordinarily promising start with the powerful Teenage Movie Soundtrack. Both Communions and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin exceeded heightened expectations with The High Country and Communions, respectively, to bring everything home.

All of those songs, records, and music videos- as always- are worthy of praise and greater scrutiny. It’s Lady Bones’ latest, though, that earns this post’s featured spot. The band recently began teasing their upcoming Dying with a song, “Botch“, that suggested a bold atmospheric shift. Now, “24 Hour Party Girl” has arrived to confirm the band’s new era. Lady Bones had initially caught this site’s attention by virtue of an incredible split release with Horsehands. Any of the band’s more vibrantly bright tendencies evidenced in that first release have all but vanished, replaced instead with the dour relentlessness that drives bands like their labelmates (and site favorites) Kal Marks.

“24 Hour Party Girl”, like “Botch” starts murky and intent, working itself into a contained furor that seems as if its on the verge of toppling everything over at any given moment. Incredibly dynamic, restless, and unnervingly foreboding, the song’s unavoidable proof of the band’s sudden ascension to an unthinkable level. Coming in 15 seconds shy of five minutes, it hits its fiercest moments in its closing passage, erupting into a bruising, cathartic release. The guitar sings while the rhythm section punishes, bringing everything to an unexpectedly explosive finish, leaving nothing but smoke in its wake. Two songs in and Dying is already looking like a surprise candidate for Album of the Year.

Listen to “24 Hour Party Girl” below and pre-order Dying in advance of its June 3o release date from Midnight Werewolf here.

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May 24, 2015

La Lenguas – Love You All the Time (Stream)

Going forward with the onslaught of posts designed to cover some of last week’s most notable music releases, this batch includes full streams and single songs alike, providing an illustrative scope of 2015’s continued kindness in the process. Family Bike’s Everything You Own Is Anagrammed proved to be as hellishly ferocious as expected while Old Table’s Save the Environment continued to expand on that band’s early promise by virtue of being a masterful collection of outsider pop songs. Ultimate Painting’s “Break the Chain” offered an unexpectedly tantalizing glimpse at the band’s upcoming Green Lanes and theweaselmartenfisher continued a masterful run of eclectic covers with a deeply heartfelt rendition of Cat Power’s “Nude As The News“. La Lenguas offers up this collection’s pièce de résistance with “Love You All the Time”.

The first single to be released from the band’s upcoming Tears In My Milkshake, the song’s a sharply crafted blast of doo wop-inflected basement pop that’s reminiscent of latter era of site favorites Sleeping in the Aviary stripped of some of their fuzz. Propulsive and direct, the song’s sound structure and throwaway metaphors suggest that La Lenguas have tapped into a vein of music that’s been, somewhat frustratingly, undermined (at least at this level) over the past few years. There’s a giddy, frenetic energy that courses through the blood of “Love You All the Time”, rendering the tune endlessly playable. Bass runs, sharp melodies, and medium-fi production combine to form a retro aesthetic that suits the band perfectly and helps shape a song that feels like it’ll be part of one of 2015’s most enjoyable collections. Come join the party.

Listen to “Love You All the Time” and pick up the band’s debut EP, Tears In My Milkshake, from Burger.

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