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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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April 6, 2016

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

Watch the fourth collection of those videos below.

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1. Saintseneca (KJHK)
2. American Wrestlers (Audiotree)
3. Try the Pie – Thomas
4. The So So Glos – A.D.D. Life (Little Elephant)
5. Courtney Barnett – Dead Fox (Austin City Limits)
6. Pop & Obachan – Elora’s (This Has Got To Stop)
7. Mothers – Mother and Wife (Paste)
8. The Nudes – Pretty (Ithaca Underground)
9. Sleater-Kinney – Fangless (Austin City Limits)
10. Three Man Cannon – Patiently (Little Elephant)
11. Lever – Nickels & Dimes (DZ Records)
12. Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – Nobody Dies (The Current)
13. Julien Baker – Sprained Ankle (Paste)
14. Torres – The Harshest Light (Audiotree)
15. Menacerno – Johnny Cas’ (DZ Records)
16. Kamasi Washington – Fair As Equal (Paste)
17. Human Music – Sending Messages (Exclaim!)
18. Hellrazor (BreakThruRadio)
19. Palehound – Holiest (Public Radio /\ Sessions)
20. The Thermals – My Heart Went Cold (Jam in the Van)
21. Soul Low – Frenemies (Little Elephant)
22. PWR BTTM – Dairy Queen (WFUV)
23. Ancient Whales – To Be (Public Radio /\ Sessions)
24. Des Ark – French Fries Are Magical (Do512)
25. Frigs – Trashyard

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April 6, 2016

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

Watch the third collection of those videos below.

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1. Thao & The Get Down Stay Down (KEXP)
2. Leapling – Alabaster Snow (VHS Sessions)
3. Ty Segall & The Muggers (KEXP)
4. Jawbreaker Reunion – Small Investments (This Has Got To Stop)
5. Julien Baker – Blacktop (BIRN)
6. Bantam Lyons – Away from the Bar (Faits Divers)
7. Furnsss – Effy (WHUS)
8. Michael Rault (Audiotree)
9. Ratboys – Light Pollution (DZ Records)
10. Savages – Evil (KCRW)
11. Stone Cold Fox – Contagion (Hooke)
12. Darlene Shrugg – First World Blues (Noisemakers)
13. Single Player – Silver Dollar (DZ Records)
14. Parquet Courts – Outside (WFUV)
15. The Dirty Nil – No Weaknesses (Little Elephant)
16. Palm – I Don’t Want to Know (VHS Sessions)
17. Sleater-Kinney – Price Tag (Austin City Limits)
18. Looming – Nailbiter (Trundle Sessions)
19. Courtney – Kids In Blushing Love (DZ Records)
20. EL VY (NPR)
21. Low – Try To Sleep (The Current)
22. Kishi Bashi – Manchester (NPR)
23. Run Forever – Big Vacation (Trundle Sessions)
24. J Fernandez – Read My Mind (Consequence of Sound)
25. Sharon Van Etten – Tarifa (NPR)

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April 6, 2016

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

Watch the second collection of those videos below.

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1. Julien Baker (Audiotree)
2. The Dirty Nil – Zombie Eyed (Little Elephant)
3. Amber Arcades (3voor12)
4. Big Ups (Do512)
5. Brooke Waggoner – Fresh Pair of Eyes (OurVinyl)
6. Quarterbacks (WSPN)
7. Natalie Prass – Tell Me (OurVinyl)
8. gobbinjr – bb gurl (Play Too Much)
9. Sweet Spirit – Breakthru Radio
10. Operators (KEXP)
11. Bill Ryder Jones – Wild Roses + Put It Down Before You Break It (La Blogotheque)
12. Two Gallants – My Love Won’t Wait (OurVinyl)
13. El Pino & The Volunteers (3voor12)
14. Mulligrub – Homo Milk + Man in the Moon
15. All Dogs – Skin (Little Elephant)
16. Gaelynn Lea – Submission
17. Ride (KEXP)
18. Glen Hansard – When Your Mind’s Made Up (NPR)
19. Justin Townes Earle – Mama’s Eyes (OurVinyl)
20. Posse – Cassandra B (Band In Seattle)
21. TUFT – Sheep (Jam in the Van)
22. The Nudes – Your Eyes (Ithaca Underground)
23. Wildhoney – Soft Bats (Audiotree)
24. Cayetana – Freedom 1313 (Little Elephant)
25. Daughter (BBC)

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April 6, 2016

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

Watch the first collection of those videos below.

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1. Charly Bliss (Audiotree)
2. Julien Baker (NPR)
3. Happyness (KEXP)
4. Car Seat Headrest (NPR)
5. PWR BTTM (KEXP)
6. Kal Marks – Coffee (Allston Pudding)
7. Fern Mayo (BreakThruRadio)
8. Wolf Alice (NPR)
9. Coke Weed (WKNC)
10. Frankie Cosmos – Outside With the Cuties (Pitchfork)
11. All Dogs – Sunday Morning (Little Elephant)
12. Eskimeaux (BreakThruRadio)
13. Sóley (KEXP)
14. Ty Segall & The Muggers – Candy Sam (Conan)
15. Pinegrove – Need 2 (Little Elephant)
16. Beach House – Irene (Pitchfork)
17. Petal – Sooner (WXPN)
18. Ratboys – Collected (DZ Records)
19. together PANGEA – Blue Mirror (Consequence of Sound)
20. VANT – Parking Lot + Do You Know Me (3voor12)
21. Long Beard (BreakThruRadio)
22. Courtney Barnett – Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go to the Party (Colbert)
23. Michael Rault – Nothing Means Nothing (Out of Town Films)
24. Sleater-Kinney – Modern Girl (Austin City Limits)
25. Bo Ningen (KEXP)

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March 27, 2016

Watch This: The Honorable Mentions of 2016’s First Quarter

It’s been quite some time since their was an installment of Watch This, Heartbreaking Bravery’s weekly (when on schedule) round-up of the finest work in the live video field. Coverage is generally split between individual performances and full sessions that are captured in places like basements and professional radio studios. Though there has yet to be a volume of Watch This in 2016, the information regarding the series was collected diligently while it remained quiet.

Due to the overwhelming bevvy of material that’s surfaced over the past three months, the below collection while simply be given via hyperlinks. There’s a lot of information to digest here and — due to the nature of press cycles when bands are on tour — several acts will be listed more than once. Like the recent round-ups, this will be literally impossible to watch in one sitting. The best way to view this material will be to simply bookmark this page and explore the content at random, all of which is definitely worthy of some investment.

More round-ups will follow focusing on the best of the best of the 2016 Watch This field of candidates. Until then, enjoy these examples of excellency in the live video format.

Deep Sea Diver, Lip Talk, Strange Attractor, Potty Mouth, Expert Alterations, Nathaniel Rateliff, Shearwater, Shade, Indian Askin, Mount Moriah, The Wild Reeds, Ty Segall & The Muggers, Kevin Morby, Margaret Glaspy, Seratones, Kakkmaddafakka, Dr. Dog, Valley Queen (x2), Bantam Lyons, Rob Sutherland, Cosmonaut, Alabama Shakes, Long Beard, I Am Oak, Albert Hammond Jr., Amber Arcades, Victoria Reed, Dilly Dally, Sunflower Bean (x2), Fauna Shade, SEGO, Lissie, Declan McKenna, Billie Marten, Adult
Mom

Matt Vasquez, Bird Courage, Nap Eyes, Fraternal Twin, Giant Peach, Lola Marsh, Minnoe, Civic, Kamasi Washington, John Rossiter, Bummed Out Still Glowing,
Little Hurricane, The Perennials, Timothy Bloom, Duncan Sheik, Dilly Dally, Oscar, Langhorne Slim, Rob Courtney, Hinds, Into It. Over It., Bombino, Frank Bell, Ancient Whales (x2), Ripper, Eerie Wanda, The Dazies, Vinyl Thief, Alright Panther (x2), Julia Holter, BRAEVES, Stone Cold Fox, Painted Zeros, The Hunna, Kate Davis, Molly Parden

Super Furry Animals, Dogbreth, Tommy Emmanuel, All Dogs, Rupert Angeleyes, Korey Dane, Comfy, Jeanne Added, The Pines, Axel Flóvent, Naked Naps, Ezra Furman & The Boyfriends, Queen of Jeans, Darlene Shrugg, Sun Club (x2), Born Ruffians, Narc Twain, Pale Spectre, Canshaker Pi, No Parents, Idlewild, Woodpigeon, Rubblebucket, WEEED
Homme, Stumpf, J Fernandez, She-Devils, Emilie & Ogden, Fufanu, Most Selfless Cheerleader, Lael Naele, Pinegrove, Keenan O’Meara, Parquet Courts, Avantist, Low Culture

Chris Bathgate, Bombay, Julia Holter, Young Jesus, Heartless Bastards, Wussy, Futurebirds, Ben Folds, Bye Beneco, Posse, E.M.I.L., Battleme, Chill Moody, Mass Gothic, Escondido (x2) Feral Moan, Savages, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Help the Doctor, lowercase roses, Leyya, Hinds, M. Ward, LIGHTS, The Pony (x2), Armani White, Forth Wanderers, Oiseaux-Tempête (ft. G.W. Sok and Gareth Davis), Sonya Kitchell, Chris Bathgate, Emily Mure, Emily Wells, Torii, SWMRS, IAN, Dot.s, Chilly Gonzales, The Flips

Lanterns on the Lake, The Wombats, Rationale, Zula, Marc Scibilia, This Is The Kit, Looming, Bayonne, Crater, The Entrepreneurs, O, Sleep Storm, T. Hardy Morris, SkyBlew, John Coffey, Basia Bulat, Violent Femmes, Jeremy Messersmith, Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers, Trixie Whitley, Aubrie Sellers, The Bottle Rockets, Max Meser, Tall Heights, Chilly Gonzales & Kiaserr Quartet

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December 30, 2015

2015: The Best of Watch This

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When Watch This was conceived it was done with the intent to not only critically examine the balance of filmmaking and live performance but celebrate the art of the live video, a format which seems to have fallen to the wayside despite being more fruitful than it’s been since it was introduced. There’s real power behind the clips that manage to seamlessly merge the best qualities of everything that goes into the best live performance videos and they can yield genuinely unforgettable moments (when everything kicks back in on “Waitress”, the held falsetto in “A Proper Polish Welcome”, and a whole host of other chill-inducing moments are scattered throughout this compilation). Those moments are the beating heart behind this series construction and they’re what sustains the project as it presses forward.

Well over 300 live clips were covered on this site in 2015 and this is a collection of 25 that genuinely stood out for one reason or another, whether it was the sheer joy in a performance (Diet Cig), the performer’s ability to freeze blood (Julien Baker, Dilly Dally, SOAK), the trio of artists who appeared on Watch This the most throughout this year (Courtney Barnett, Girlpool, and Torres), an electrifying presentation and performance (July Talk), or a clip that’s a fully functional masterclass in every category that elevates a clip from astonishing to transcendental (Glen Hansard). All of those and more have been plugged into this packet, which culminates in a tour de force reminder of the overwhelming power of what can be achieved on a live platform from the resurgent Sleater-Kinney as one final exclamation point for a truly extraordinary year. So, as always, sit up, focus, adjust the volume, and Watch This.

Watch the 2015 edition of the best-of compilation for Heartbreaking Bravery’s definitive recurring series, Watch This, below. The track list is available under the embed.

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1. Hop Along – Waitress (World Cafe)
2. July Talk – Paper Girl (Audiotree)
3. Ronny – Why Do You Have Kids (Gems On VHS)
4. Julien Baker – Sprained Ankle (BreakThruRadio)
5. Mikal Cronin – Say (WFUV)
6. Molly Parden – Weather (GemsOnVHS)
7. Eskimeaux – Folly (This Has Got To Stop)
8. Waxahatchee – Under A Rock (Pitchfork)
9. METZ – Spit You Out (3voor12)
10. Ought – Beautiful Blue Sky (KEXP)
11. Saintseneca – How Many Blankets Are In the World? (ANTI-)
12. Diet Cig – Harvard (In the Attic)
13. SOAK – B a Nobody Blud (La Blogotheque)
14. Dilly Dally – Burned by the Cold (Strombo Sessions)
15. Alex G + Girlpool – Brite Boy (SPIN)
16. Footings (Jenn Harrington)
17. Mike Krol – Suburban Wasteland + Neighborhood Watch (KEXP)
18. Beach Slang – Get Lost (Cozy Couch Sessions)
19. Public Service Broadcasting – Go! (WNYC)
20. Christopher Paul Stelling – Dear Beast (ANTI-)
21. Courtney Barnett – Depreston (La Blogotheque)
22. Algiers – Blood (WFUV)
23. Torres – A Proper Polish Welcome (NPR)
24. Glen Hansard – McCormack’s Wall (ANTI-)
25. Sleater-Kinney (NPR)

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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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