There are very few bands that will warrant the subversion of this site’s manifest. One of the rules that this place tends to hold sacred is that the music in question is more important than an individual reaction to it (this eliminates the assumptions involved in writing from a first person perspective). That said, there are a few bands that have managed to flip that script based on the sheer reverence their music has earned. Perfect Pussy and Tenement are the most notable to have it done it so far but today Swearin’ joins their ranks. There’s just something about the band that resonates with me on a really intense personal level. It’s at the point where it’s impossible to distance or separate myself from that reaction. Taking myself out of the equation would, in some way, feel more dishonest than just trying to get across how this band affects me personally- because any time that happens it’s worth dissolving barriers for.
Some exposition:What A Dump, the band’s first demo cassette, is one of my favorite releases of all time. There’s literally nothing in my fairly expansive library that comes even remotely close to matching it for number of plays at this point. Swearin’, the band’s first full-length, is in the top ten of that particular list as well. Despite this being the case, up until last Friday night, I’d never seen the band play live. So, when the opportunity to see the band play for free on a terrace overlooking Lake Mendota came, I dropped everything and jumped at the chance. By the end of that night my enthusiasm and affection for the band and its members had only grown more emphatic. An additional bonus was the fact that the show gave me a chance to finally catch Pretty Pretty live as well, who lived up to their strong early reputation.
Both bands played shortly after the sun finally set on Madison with Pretty Pretty giving a commanding performance that emphasized their strengths as a live act. The Columbus trio”s punk-tinged powerpop never got tiresome and their set only got more impassioned as it went on, gaining a startling momentum until it finally got to a place where the only thing left to do was call it quits for the evening and let Swearin’ take over. Swearin’, for their part, commanded the hell out of their sizeable audience (it’s nice to see free music outdoors on a perfect night proving to be as big of a draw as it’s ever been) and lived up to every ridiculous, lofty expectation I’d been forming for years. A lot of their songs are practically sacred to me at this point and they only grew more vital in the live setting. When their discography spanning set came to a close, strings had been broken, feelings had been poured out, notes had been missed, beer had flowed frrely, an infinite amount of mosquitoes had been swatted, and everyone was all smiles. From “Here to Hear” to “Crashing” to “Dust in the Gold Sack” to “What A Dump” to “Kill ‘Em With Kindness” there was never a moment that felt less than incendiary. My friend Justin summed the whole thing up aptly and admiringly with a simple “Fuckin’ Swearin'”. How right he is.
A video of Swearin’ kicking off their set with “Here to Hear” can be seen below. Below that video is an extensive image gallery of the show. Take a look at both, then make sure to catch them in person whenever they’re in town. It’ll be worth it.
It may have taken a bit of doing but, as of this posting, Watch This will officially be back on its regular schedule. To celebrate this, the 27th installment of the series played strictly by the rules- and somehow wound up being one of the strongest offerings of Watch This to date. All of these songs were live sessions that were posted online in the past seven days and virtually of them contain songs or artists that have previously earned feature articles on this site in the past. In short, there are plenty of familiar faces to be found in this 27th installment and a few of the year’s best records are well represented. Really, now that all the work’s been done and all the exposition’s out of the way, all that’s left to do is sit back, turn the volume up, and Watch This.
1. Ovlov – The Great Crocodile (Little Elephant)
What can be said? This Little Elephant session is just a gift that keeps on giving. It’s the third to earn a spot in Watch This and arguably the finest of those three. The song’s introduction is nearly two full minutes of surging basement punk that verges on post-hardcore territory. Everything after is just as exhilarating as what’s preceded it. All in all, it ends up being another incredible sampling from one of the most exciting young bands out there. Another thing worth noting: the bassist’s sick LVL UP sweatshirt (if that’s not a great representation of what this site’s all about, nothing is).
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2. Angel Olsen – High & Wild (Jagjaguwar)
There haven’t been very many artists who have earned as many Watch This inclusions as Angel Olsen. This is no accident; her last record, Burn Your Fire for No Witness, is a gorgeous work of art. As a performer, she radiates a quiet intensity that’s both transfixing and strangely devastating. “High & Wild” lives up to the precedent she’s set and, as such, was an easy selection for this installment. Burn Your Fire for No Witness has more than proven its staying power and Olsen’s capitalizing on that success by virtue of her live prowess. No complaints.
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3. Yellow Ostrich – Shades (KEXP)
Yellow Ostrich scored a major coup with the acquisition of drummer Michael Tapper, who joined up shortly after leaving We Are Scientists. As a member of We Are Scientists, he was instrumental to their early success (With Love and Squalor is a vastly underrated 2000’s masterpiece) and now one of the driving forces behind Yellow Ostrich. “Shades” is one of the finest songs the band’s ever recorded and their performance of it for KEXP is a committed take. It’s borderline unclassifiable and it’s definitely worth paying attention to.
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4. Cloud Nothings – I’m Not Part of Me (Radio K)
First thought: “Is that a Smooth Brain shirt?!” Second thought: “Oh, yeah, Cleveland.” Third thought? “Good lord, this band slays live.” All that said, Here and Nowhere Else is an easy 2014 highlight and is fully expected to appear in the year-end conversations. It’s the second straight effort from the band that’s earned that distinction after being released in the first half of the year. As immense as their studio output has been, as this adeptly shows, they might be even better live.
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5. Screaming Females – It All Means Nothing (Audiotree)
As promised earlier today, here’s the second Screaming Females video to be featured from the band’s recent stop at Audiotree. Now touring behind their excellent Steve Albini-produced live album, Live at the Hideout, they’re proving time and time again the recordings that made the cut for that record weren’t a fluke. Truly one of the best live acts currently touring, “It All Means Nothing” has been a consistent set highlight and ranks among the best moments in the band’s entire discography. They don’t hold back anything here and the result is another monster of a performance that’s worth several subsequent watches. Make sure to bookmark this one.
On Friday Night, the High Noon Saloon played host to Fire Retarded, Protomartyr, and Cloud Nothings for one hell of a show. Fire Retarded were as spastic as anyone could ask for, flexing some serious punk muscle, while Protomartyr found their footing in smoldering intensity. Cloud Nothings more than proved they’d earned their headlining slot; their set played out like a constant highlight reel. These thoughts will be expanded more later elsewhere- but for now, take a look at the first set of official Heartbreaking Bravery photography (and expect a lot more of this to be featured on the site in the upcoming months). Enjoy.
In one of the more recent pieces to run on here, I bid adieu to a camera that’s served me well over the years. There were vague allusions to various sets that I’ve been lucky enough to catch with that camera scattered throughout the piece- and while this may be dangerously close to tipping into the self-serving spectrum I do my best to avoid on here (and the fact that the audio quality is far from the best), it only seemed appropriate to showcase a few of the more memorable captures over the years. To that end, this installment of Watch This will likely wind up as the one the more unique entries in the series. One last look at the past before pushing towards what’s ahead.
It’s never to fulfill a sense of pride, it’s never for bragging rights, it’s always, in each and every instance, to support an artist that I love or that deserves as much support as they can possibly get. Established or not, this is my way of giving thanks and hopefully extending their music out to other places that may never have heard them otherwise. This holds true for my writing on Heartbreaking Bravery as well. One of the most important things anyone can do is support the art they believe in and this place will always live by that law. So, watch this or don’t, but it’ll always be here as both a reminder of some very personal memories and a showcase for some bands who deserved more attention than they ever received. Sit back, support local music, support local music, support local music, support local music (SERIOUSLY, SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC), and Watch This.
1. Tenement – Morning Mouth (Live at the Afterdark)
This video will be the only one that actually predates the Canon PowerShot I’d been using to shoot these videos over the past several years (this set was shot on a low-end handheld Sony camcorder), it’s included because it serves as a beginning for a myriad of things: my introduction to Tenement (who would subsequently open up an entire world of music to me through their kindness), the beginnings of when I became serious about film, and the start of when I became serious about booking shows. Their five-song set, to a crowd of people they invited up onto a small stage to make them feel more at home, blew my mind and has stuck with me for approximately six years now. My opinion on this band hasn’t changed as I’ve filmed set after set after set, year in and year out- they’re one of the best, if not the absolute best, band currently going. I’ll forever be grateful to them for a number of reasons and delivering this set will always be one of them.
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2. Good Grief – Holy Smokes! (Live in Stevens Point, WI) There isn’t always a lot of options for live music in the middle of nowhere but at the height of Good Grief’s run, there were a few spells where there seemed to be an incredible show happening every other week. I attended every single one I possibly could, not just because of an undying love for live music and the DIY community but because Good Grief had tapped into something genuinely special during their time as a band. It was evidenced by the mass basement singalongs, by Mutts coming all the way from Chicago to play an unforgettable cover of a song from their final record, by the people who had little to no connection with the band who showed up at nearly every show- right up through their final marathon set at K Bueno (this is a band that will likely always have the distinction of being the only one I ever see tearing things up inside of a Shopko that was giving away free hot dogs, chips, and soda)- with a smile on their face and a beer in their hands, and by the fact that more times than not, the first time I would hear a song played for the first time, I would get chills (“Lab Rats” is still one of the most incredible pieces of music I’ve ever heard and a lock as an entry for my 50 Favorite Songs of All Time list). “Holy Smokes!” was never officially recorded, as far as I know this is the only known recording of it, which is why it takes this spot on the list- a look at some incredible music, and some incredible musicians, that too much of the world missed out on.
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3. Midnight Reruns – Too Tall (Live at Frank’s Power Plant)
Like Tenement before them, this was the first time I saw Midnight Reruns (coincidentally, if anyone asks me who I think the best bands in the state are, those are usually the first two names out of my mouth) and even just a few minutes into the first song, it was apparent it’d be far from the last. They tore that place to shreds and threw out a fiery Wreckless Eric cover in the middle of an all-out blitz of a set that showcased Graham Hunt’s beyond-his-years songwriting ability and the band’s undeniable musicianship. They’ve (somehow) only steadily improved since then and have built an impressive expanding fanbase including members of The Replacements, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, ThirdCoastDigest, BrooklynVegan, and Milwaukee Record, who just ranked their debut s/t (still less than half a year old) as the 16th best record to come out of Milwaukee since 2010. Word on the street is the material they’re currently working on blows even that out of the water. Keep both eyes out and both ears open for this one.
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4. Sleeping in the Aviary – So Lonely (Live in Stevens Point, WI) Apart from Good Grief, Used Kids, The Goodnight Loving, and Hot New Mexicans (especially The Goodnight Loving and Hot New Mexicans), there are few bands that can come even remotely close to Sleeping in the Aviary as far as the “bands I wish would reunite” conversation goes. The only places I ever saw Sleeping in the Aviary play, curiously enough considering their level of name recognition, were basements (with one surprisinglytouchingexception being the vinyl LP release party for Expensive Vomit In A Cheap Hotel at the High Noon Saloon, thrown five years after the records initial release) . In one way or another, I was a part of each and every one of those shows and they wound up being a few of the most memorable nights of my life thanks to both the people around me and Sleeping in the Aviary themselves. Ever the manic pranksters, they would usually come armed with cardboard cutouts, bubble machines, various props, or adult-themed piñatas. They’d also always play with a reckless abandon and unparalleled fierceness while still clinging onto a carefree nature and clearly having the time of their lives doing it. Kyle Sobczak was a late addition to the group but provided them with a few of their most memorable songs in their final stretch. “So Lonely” is one of them- and, as mentioned before, being in the middle of nowhere means that when a basement show happens with a band of Sleeping in the Aviary’s caliber comes to play, things tend to go off the rails pretty quickly. No one has seen the regular lead personality, Elliott Kozel, since he disappeared into that crowd… (entirely untrue as clearly evidenced in the video- but still, a great myth to try to start).
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5. Charley & the Cynics – St. Christopher (Live at the Crunchy Frog)
Writing an In Memoriam piece for Charlotte was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. I debated whether or not to include this as the fifth slot or keep it stored away due to its extremely personal nature but I realized that the few videos I did manage to capture of Charley & the Cynics during her time here had a profound effect on why I kept filming and knew it had to occupy this spot. After her untimely passing it was next to impossible to bring myself to watch the videos of her that I’d previously put up out of both respect and unfailing admiration. It’s not like I knew Charlotte all that well; I won’t pretend I did and I won’t glamorize her or try to turn her into some flawless saintly figure. I did know her well enough, though- well enough to consider her a friend and well enough to know that she was a generally positive person who always seemed to treat others with both care and affection, which is something I try to extend to everyone that gets coverage on this site. After enough time had passed, I could watch these videos without needing to spend a night drinking afterwards and I realized that they’re the crux of why I film to begin with: to celebrate the people and music I love while they’re around. Ever since the full extent of that realization hit me, these videos of Charlotte have factored into every time I’ve plugged in a camera charger, every time I’ve replaced an SD card, every time I’ve spent hours making sure an upload doesn’t crash, every time I’ve pointed a lens at a stage, she has been there as a reminder to capture the things that are important while you still can. That lesson is something I’ve carried with me every day and something that’s been a part of the majority of my decisions within music journalism. For that and for all the times I’ve been reminded of that, I’m thankful- and I keep filming.
After yesterday’s mention of Fire Retarded’s impending LP release, the fact that the band started streaming the first song from that LP earlier this week seemed too appropriate of an opportunity to pass up for coverage. Again, this is a Madison-based band that features Bobby Hussy (of The Hussy) that shares a kindred spirit with his other project. Fire Retarded’s a touch more, well, fiery, though; “Meat Stairs” is a balls-out blast of manic energy. Propelled by caterwauling screeches and off-the-rails riffing, “Meat Stairs” displays many of the band’s most prominent traits, each of which is emphasized greatly by the lo-fi leaning production. “Meat Stairs” is melodic as hell and packs more than enough reasons to get excited for the release of Scroog’z Manor (that’s the album art up above).
If this just isn’t enough Fire Retarded and more of their music is a necessity, make sure to catch them on one of their upcoming tour dates. This band’s already a don’t-miss live prospect and Scroog’z Manor carries a pedigree that could make it an easy qualifier for year-end lists. Don’t let this one out of sight.
Madison, WI duo The Hussy are a band that instantly became a fixture in the local scene shortly after their conception nearly five years ago. In that time Bobby Hussy and Heather Sawyer have worked tirelessly to refine their sound, cultivating it into a finessed attack that hits all the sweet spots. Countless singles and three full-lengths later, they’ve become one of the state’s most celebrated acts, both live and recorded.
They’re a band that truly deserves a break, yet they’ve only been quickening their manic pace. After last year’s towering Pagan Hiss (easily their finest recording and one of the year’s best efforts), they’ve already announced plans for a few 2014 releases, with a 4th LP more likely than not (even with the LP release of Bobby’s other band, Fire Retarded). One of those smaller releases is a 7″ on Windiam Records, who just made “EZ/PZ, a song from that 7”, available for streaming on their soundcloud. “EZ/PZ” itself is a short, no-frills blast that the duo recorded on a Tascam 388 and it proves that the band hasn’t lost a step.
Two institutions this place admired greatly announced temporary shutdowns yesterday. Let’s celebrate what they accomplished while active and hope this isn’t the end of either. Pictured below: Heartbreaking Bravery’s sole interview subject(s) at 285 Kent and footage of Thee Oh Sees courtesy of this site. Come back soon, you two.
Expectations are a tricky thing. They can be met, challenged, exceeded, subverted, and failed. When there’s a history that expectations are built on, it may be easier to discern the outcome. Every now and then, though, something will come along and completely mess with that system. Having seen both Nobunny and The Hussy and what they’re capable of, it was best to cast any sort of prediction aside. New Years Gang, on the other hand, were a completely new prospect and subject to more intense scrutiny.
Their opening set would be the final time they took the stage together, as an internal breakup brought their road to an end. Tensions did seem to be running high but they still managed to generate enough momentum to cause a decent amount of celebration in the steadily-growing crowd. Last-minute changes were made to the set, demanding chants for shirtlessness were cast, and the band played in a loose manner that treated their brand of basement punk quite nicely. By their sets final moments, the earlier requests for more skin had been half-obliged, the band seemed truly done, and the crowd seemed satisfied.
After a decent pause between New Years Gang and The Hussy, the latter took off and hit the ground running. Having kept up with The Hussy since their first few months as a band, it’s been a pleasure to see reactions to their sets strengthen over time. This duo, made up of Bobby Hussy and Heather Sawyer, have been responsible for three of the best records to come out of WI over the past three years and in 2013, they unleashed their strongest to date, Pagan Hiss. Unsurprisingly, their set pulled mostly from that record but made sure to factor in cuts that spanned their still-young career. They paced their set perfectly and played more by fiercely than ever. True to form, their set ended with a jaguar on fire (which seems like a fairly apt metaphor for the ferocity of their set).
Then there was Nobunny. The masked marauder and his rotating cast of minions had been through WI a few times since capping off an especially memorable pre-wedding party a few years back and it showed. Years on the road can do wonders for presentation and Nobunny played up his unique angle for all its curious worth. Absolutely tearing through a gloriously ramshackle set of a career-spanning set has become second nature to the iconic rabbit. Flubbed notes and uninhibited glee were abundant and the energy pouring out of the band was reciprocated in full by the audience. Clad in only that demented mask, torn net stockings, two pairs of underwear, and a leather jacket (most of which were gone by the end of the night), he seemed unstoppable. At this point, of his ouevre, Love Visions is the only stone cold classic. That being the case, the rapturous reactions to standouts like “Chuck Berry Holiday” (which was introduced as “Elvis Presley Holiday”), “Mess Me Up”, “Nobunny Loves You”, and especially “I Am A Girlfriend” were well-warranted.
Of the remainder of his rapid-fire set, there were a handful of standouts from his more recent releases (most notably “Gone for Good”) that helped round a surprisingly accomplished set. Throughout the indeterminable set time the crowd had expanded considerably, letting loose like their life depended on it. People were continuously thrown into the stage, falling to the ground only to be immediately helped back up, and stage diving intermittently. For every new trick the rabbit onstage pulled out of his hat, the audience’s energy accelerated. When, for example, the outro to “Chuck Berry Holiday” came about two songs after it had originally trailed off, the place erupted. After “Nobunny Loves You” brought the whirlwind set to a close, the main attraction scampered off the stage and through the audience before re-emerging from the frigid November air through an emergency exit door to the side of the stage.
Nobunny and his band brought things to an appropriately fiery close (albeit not as literally as The Hussy) with the one-song encore of “Not That Good”. By the time everything was over, everyone was spent and smiling. Chaos seemed to inspire companionship. New friends were made, old ones rejoiced, and virtually everyone else got to go home with a few stories to tell. It was a night that saw one band come to a close, the next flourish, and the culmination of years worth of hard-won adoration for the main event. While The New Years Gang may be gone for good, here’s hoping that both The Hussy and Nobunny will be around for a long time to come.
Heartbreaking Bravery 