Shortly after Mike Krol’s set finished, I received word that Daughter were playing a secret, unannounced-to-the-public 1 AM set and immediately made sure I found an attendance spot. The band’s been one I’ve held in high esteem and one of their quietest performances has stuck with me ever since my initial exposure to it several years ago. Very shortly into the set, it was made clear why it was kept under wraps: this was a show that the band wanted to make memorable for everyone in attendance- and it was also the show where they announced their forthcoming album, Not To Disappear.
Gracefully moving through a set that relied heavy on material from Youth but still made room for the new material, the band found themselves in fine form and silenced a sold-out room, who all grappled with various stages of awe. No matter what mode the band is in, whether they’re idling at a slow tempo or switching over to hard-hitting, they exude an impossible amount of grace. As the members trade off instruments (or trade endearing witticisms), they never seem anything less than serene.
Occasionally that calmness translates over to their music and creates an arresting, engrossing atmosphere. That intersection was never more evident than it was when the quartet unveiled the live premiere of their new single, “Doing The Right Thing” (which they’ve affectionately shorthanded to “Detroit” for the way the acronym appears on their set lists). Now that the song has a powerful video (one of the year’s finest) as an accompaniment, this memory rings even more fiercely but as the song’s closing lines were drawn out in a whisper, there was a silence so complete that thinking about it now, weeks after the fact, is enough to induce chills.
Everything in their set that had come before that moment and everything that will always have that singular performance as a reference point; it was that strong of a moment. As their set wound to a close, the band proceeded with a characteristic amount of elegance, never striking a false note. As the skies opened up outside and loosed a torrential downpour, their crowd filed out into the late-night storm in states of quiet reverie. In passing, I overheard a hushed “wow” that was immediately met with a silent nod, an exchange that acted as the perfect summation of a genuinely memorable evening.
Watch the band perform the title track from Youth below and explore a photo gallery of the show here.
Just a handful of weeks ago, this site was singing the praises of Mike Krol‘s latest effort while dissecting the enigmatic songwriter’s curious history of rotating backing bands. A little over a week ago, he brought himself and his latest group of misfits to Baby’s All Right. Before they took the stage, Dead Painters delivered a set built momentum as it went along, hitting several sweet spots along the way and converting more than a few uninitiated audience members (myself included). Before too long, Krol and everyone with him on this tour, started frantically setting up an impressive assortment of props around the perimeter of the stage.
After a brief recess and with an array of barbed wire, flood lights, strobe lights, police lights, and pedals meticulously fixed to the stage, Krol and four other members (three of which came from the sorely missed Sleeping in the Aviary) suddenly appeared in near-blackness. One foot stomp on a pedal that triggered all of the lights going off simultaneously revealed each member in full police officer attire (true to the image that Turkey‘s album art boldly presented). From that point forward, the band were a blur, careening through a discography-encompassing set with reckless abandon. Suddenly, it was a surreal cops vs. prisoners scenario where the dividing lines were continuously blurred as artist and audience fed off of each other’s incessant, insistent level(s) of energy.
Songs came at a rapid-fire pace and nearly everything in Krol’s impressive collection found representation. Everyone in the band seemed like they were trying to tear their way out of their own skin, never showing any signs of fatigue, skewing closer to a startlingly pure state of delirium. A little past the set’s mid-way point, Baby’s lights person decided to get in on the action, triggering flashes of the venue’s iconic LED backdrop, much to Krol’s excitement. By the evening’s frenzied conclusion, both the band’s lights and the venue’s lights were firing on all cylinders while Krol and his band lost themselves to their own maelstrom of limbs.
As “Less Than Together” gave way to a clever guitar-driven reprise that echoed Turkey‘s closing number, the audience was already clamoring for an encore. On the whole, it was one of the mot well-received sets I’ve ever seen at the venue; on it’s own, it was the single most memorable standalone set I’ve seen take place on that stage. Anyone that has the chance to see this band play a date on this tour should immediately make it a priority or resign themselves to kicking themselves for years to come. This was one for the books.
Watch a collection of live videos from the show below and explore a photo gallery of the evening here.
One of Brooklyn’s most attractive attributes has always been its thriving music scene, aided in no small part by an impressive string of venues. One that’s consistently booked incredible shows, fostered a sense of community, and remained a point of pride for several communities is The Silent Barn, which has been covered here on more than a few occasions. Over the past month, the Barn’s hosted a handful of shows I’ve been fortunate enough to attend, starting with a strong bill that included site favorites Washer, Slight, Vagabon, and Downies. All four played strong sets and included incredible new material. Spit proved to be a highlight of a fundraiser for a community bail project a few weeks later and everything culminated with an unbelievable set from PWR BTTM as they celebrated the release of Ugly Cherries with Kississippi, Fern Mayo, and Charly Bliss (which also had the benefit of being hosted by the ceaselessly entertaining Mary Houlihan). It was a show that was immediately preceded by a more intimate affair that was highlighted by a set from Yohua.
While all of the bands that played delivered memorable sets, PWR BTTM’s deserves greater focus. After being impressed with some of their earlier songs, their live show wound up securing them as a spot as one of my favorite bands of the moment. I’ve talked a lot about the additional reasons that they’ve earned so many words here, with their presentation of identity playing a major factor, and I’m far from the only person that’s found an element to latch onto when it comes to the band and their music. After Charly Bliss had enticed everyone with a characteristically extraordinary set and the promise of Ugly Cherries-themed cupcakes, PWR BTTM took to the stage and delivered one of the most memorable sets of the year.
People screamed along to key lines of songs, crowd-surfed, danced, and moshed, as the band tore through a discography-spanning set that peered into the future once with the unveiling of a devastating, bass-led song that prompted genuine tears from a few audience members (also notable: PWR BTTM’s Benjamin Hopkins’ parents were in attendance, as was the mother of Charly Bliss’ Eva Hendricks). Hopkins went into the audience on more than a few occasions and at every moment during their set (one that included Fern Mayo’s Nicholas Cummins on bass duties for a small batch of songs), it was abundantly clear that their audience has only grown more passionate since the start of this year. By the time “Carbs” was coming to its conclusion, a few bodies were being hoisted above the crowd, both Hopkins and Liv Bruce’s dresses were half off or more, and everyone was drenched in sweat- but, more importantly, they were smiling. Watch a composite video of several of the performances that have occurred over the month of September and view a photo gallery of the shows mentioned here.
Very few records to have come out of 2015 have earned as many individual words as All Dogs’ Kicking Every Day, a triumphant debut full-length from one of this site’s personal favorites. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with All Dogs in the past and the multimedia piece I was allowed to conduct for The Media wound up producing some of my personal favorite memories. Seeing them in a venue that’s so intrinsically connected to The Media– one of today’s most important publications- was tantalizing enough to make it one of the shows I’d prioritized as soon as it was announced. The lineup surrounding All Dogs was no slouch either, bringing in Florist, Fleabite, and The Sidekicks as support. All of those bands pedigrees packaged together ensured that All Dogs would be playing to a full house and the groundswell of national attention for Kicking Every Day pushed that guarantee a step further.
As a lead-in to the evening’s proceedings, Florist felt like the perfect fit. Surrounded by friends, rejoined by Felix Walworth on drums (who’d been missing from the lineup at their Baby’s show due to touring), and playing a wealth of new material, they managed to entrance the crowd early on and hold their attention to the end. Like the best acts operating in their stylistic vein, Florist managed to make the room extremely intimate and created a palpable sense of togetherness by reducing the audience to a hushed silence. Fleabite, a quarter fronted by A Year’s Worth of Memories contributor Ali Donohue, quickly took the noise levels in the opposite direction but maintained an established sense of intensity.
Having released one of this year’s stronger 7″ records in TTYL(which boasts a cover where Donohue is wearing an All Dogs shirt, no less), the band seemed invigorated. Every song felt meaningful and the band played with conviction, whether it was an old standby or a new piece while embracing feedback with an almost gleeful zest. Before too long following the close of their set, The Sidekicks were up and repeatedly jumping. Another band riding high on the wave of an excellent release- Runners In the Nerved World, their first for Epitaph- the band played with an unparalleled gusto.
Driven in large part by the dual guitar onslaught of Steve Ciolek (who also plays in Saintseneca with All Dogs’ Maryn Jones) and Toby Reif (whose self-titled solo EP stands as one of last year’s best surprises), the band quickly proved to be a deeply formidable live presence. Playing with energy, grace, and a clear love for what they do, every song felt like an all-or-nothing rallying cry and pulled an already involved audience even further in. Closing out with the supercharged Awkward Breedshighlight “DMT” had everyone roaring and likely cemented the status of a large handful of converts while simultaneously providing a perfect build to the night’s headliner.
I’ve spent a lot of paragraphs on this site- and others- detailing what makes All Dogs such an inherently special band and nearly all of them get brought to the forefront in their live performance.Maryn Jones, the band’s guitarist/vocalist, is one of this generation’s finest humanists, constantly painting conflicted portraits of a deeply personal nature that examine and scrutinize faults in a manner that can occasionally feel defiantly celebratory. A lot of these dissections are universally relatable and, as such, can act as a form of therapy (for both Jones, who puts herself under the knife with reckless consistency, and the listener). The band Jones is surrounded by- bassist Amanda Bartley, guitarist Nick Harris, and drummer Jesse Wither- know how to perfectly accentuate Jones’ tales and sensibilities to emphasize both the finer and larger points being made.
In terms of composition and dynamics, the band’s grown in leaps and bounds since the addition of Harris and the decision to start writing together as a band, a trait that’s easily evidenced in the disparity between the band’s still-great 7″ (which served as the basis for one of this site’s first-ever reviews) and the borderline masterpiece that is Kicking Every Day. When the band did reach back to the 7″ in their set, the songs sounded startlingly massive and the new textures made them feel more vital than ever (this was especially true for “Say” which, as it had last year in Milwaukee, sent chills running down my spine). A slew of Kicking Every Day‘s preview tracks’ emotional impact was maximized by both the setting and their execution in the live setting.
The three songs that received features here-“That Kind of Girl“, “Skin“, and “How Long“- all hit their marks with an unapologetic accuracy, heightened by an almost intimidating amount of volume. Every member of the band was in fine form throughout, with each member alternately appearing to lose themselves in the song at hand or take complete and total control of its delivery. Jones’ vocals, perennially light but always suggesting an unbearable weight, sounded as masterful as ever and the band rallied around her tales of damage, self-loathing, defeat, clarity, and uncertainty with unprecedented force.
After a marathon set that covered the band’s still-young discography, the band packed up and left the stage. There was no call for an encore because, at least for a moment, it seemed like All Dogs had said everything they possibly could. While the band will likely always have something more to say, their exit seemed necessary; these songs are so intimately personal that listening to them at length can make for a crippling experience. Thankfully, while the emotional resonance still held fast, it was hard to feel anything other than uplifted. Every band that’d played before them had brought something new to the table and All Dogs wove all of those strengths into a beautiful tapestry that covered the Silent Barn like a blanket for their time onstage, bringing everyone together under an intangible communal cloak and keeping them warm with good intentions. I’m not sure there’s a more perfect way to spend an evening.
Find a photo gallery of the show here and watch a video containing performances from each of the bands that played the show below.
Four bands that have been featured on this site before filed into Baby’s All Right last Thursday and saw the Brooklyn venue nearing capacity once again. Site favorites Jawbreaker Reunion got things off to a strong start with a set that leaned heavily on some genuinely great unreleased material but still made room for a few cuts off of Lutheran Sisterhood Gun Club (one of this site’s picks for the best albums of 2014 list). Every song in the band’s set was played with an unwavering passion (a recurring theme throughout the night) that makes them one of the more exciting live prospects currently playing out.
Sitcom, the solo project of Jake Lazovick, was playing without the full band that had previously accompanied him leading up to his stop at Baby’s- the last show of the band’s tour with Bellows- but gained another musician for the evening. Sitcom’s songs are acutely observed tales of existence that gained a sharp edge when presented in the decidedly minimal trappings. Lazovick’s stray-dog vocals and genuine pathos (something balanced out by Lazovick’s sharp-witted banter) made the performance feel utterly human on top of an already strong sense of intimacy. Captivating in it’s own right, it also wound up being the perfect lead-in to Bellows.
The Oliver Kalb-led project’s been a staple of The Epoch for years (something Kalb wrote about in great detail for our A Year’s Worth of Memories series) and has recently started coming into its own. As evidenced by the band’s excellent Tiny Desk session, there’s a fiercer connection at the crux of the group than usual, probably thanks in part to their involvement with each other’s other bands (a congratulations is due to Bellows’ keyboardist/vocalist Gabrielle Smith, whose Eskimeaux project was recognized by Rolling Stone earlier today). This was my first trip to see Bellows and while I’d been lightly familiarized with the band’s live show, nothing could have prepared me for the grounded ferocity of the band’s set.
From the first song onward, the band frequently dipped into a startling heaviness that the recorded work never really even lightly touches. Eliciting more than a few chills as their set progressed, the band also had to deal with a faulty amp that would occasionally cut out- something that somehow rendered their bursts of heaviness even sharper and more damaged. It was a deeply-felt, exhilarating performance that wound up stealing the night and subsequently guaranteeing that this won’t be the last time a live Bellows set is featured on this site.
Still riding high on the unexpected success of their first official full-band release, Quarterbacks took to the stage in front of an attentive audience with close to nothing to prove.
After putting out one of the best records of 2015’s first half in their extraordinary self-titled effort, the band have been tirelessly promoting the new material with an intimidating road schedule. All of their touring’s paid off as the band’s been able to cultivate and refine their live show, which still manages to come off as both compelling and as a delightful mess. Harnessing all the momentum of a runaway train, guitarist/vocalist Dean Engle and his band tear into these songs with a vicious force, never bothering to cast a look back once they’ve started sprinting.
Towards the end of their set, Engle announced it’d be the band’s last appearance for a while so they could take a break to focus on their lives but when they left the stage, it was abundantly clear that they were leaving things on a very strong note (or maybe it was some feedback). More importantly, they were leaving the door wide open for the possibility of future work and an exciting return. All things considered, it was a near-perfect closing to another extraordinary show.
View a full gallery of the show here and a video embed containing a handful of the evening’s performances.
Last night, this site ran a summary of what went down at Sharkmuffin’s release show last Friday. About halfway through that post, a lot of ecstatic praise gets directed towards Charly Bliss, who have somehow only managed to get better since releasing what might be the best EP of the decade so far. Since the release of that EP, their name has shown up here quite a few times and guitarist/vocalist Eva Hendricks was even kind enough to submit a wonderful piece to the A Year’s Worth of Memories series. When they were announced as the pre-film band for SummerScreen, Brooklyn’s best film and concert series, I immediately cleared any lingering conflicts to make sure I could be in attendance. Their slot came right before Labyrinth, which won a poll to emerge as the “Audience Favorite” pick- ensuring that the quartet would be playing to a large crowd.
Before the show, Hendricks was wracked with nerve while the band’s other guitarist/vocalist, Spencer Fox, remained nonchalant. It took them less than a minute of diving into “Percolator”, the first song of their set, to find a middle-ground in giddy energy. One of the things that I’ve come to love the most about Charly Bliss is that when they play live, they’re clearly doing what they love and coaxing the most out of it that they possibly can. Instead of coming across as showy or theatrical, their stage antics feel grounded in an honesty that makes them even more compelling. It doesn’t fade, either, it builds as it goes until the band collectively approaches a white-hot intensity that makes the band members actually exploding seem about as likely as their amps blowing.
Unmistakably a Charly Bliss set (read: unbelievably great), the outdoor, family-friendly setting suited their sunnier sensibilities to perfection and the sound carried extraordinarily well. Small children danced, a handful of senior citizens cracked smiles, and a man on a bench outside the gates couldn’t help himself from shaking his head in admiration- and then in tempo- by the time the band hit “Love Me“, their perennial closer (and one of this site’s picks for last year’s best songs). From the audience’s increasingly positive reactions to the post-set autograph requests, it was abundantly clear that they’d made more than a few converts- and they did it on their own terms, doing one of the things that they love most. It’s exactly the kind of thing that this site was built to celebrate. As classic as Jim Henson’s Bowie-fueled fever dream has come to be, it wasn’t even close to the evening’s finest moment. Great weather, a great set riddled with great songs, and a sense of genuine camaraderie tipped the scales and everything- as it has so frequently in the past year- came up Charly Bliss.
A gallery of photos from Charly Bliss’ set can be seen here and a video embed containing a few songs from the set can be found below.
Johanna Warren is an incredibly important person to me who has been a central figure in two of the larger undertakings I’ve completed in the past year. The first was her beautiful contribution to the A Year’s Worth of Memories series (one where she detailed the first effort of what was originally going to be the video for “Black Moss” before it became “True Colors“) and the second being a multimedia artist profile for Consequence of Sound that included a photoshoot, a live video shoot, and an extensive interview. After being fortunate enough to take in Waren’s unforgettable, all-acoustic rooftop performance only a few weeks ago, I was more than willing to accept her invite to come to her quasi-release show (one specific to NYC) for this year’s outstandingnūmūn.
Held at a basement venue, the menu for the evening was far more eclectic than is usually covered here and perfectly suited to Warren’s sensibilities. An abbreviated meditation session was given, poetry was read, a mothering station was set up (and very briefly caught fire), tarot readings were available, and there was a bold, intense performance art piece from Gretchen Heinel (one of the directors of the “True Colors” video) involving nudity, white flowers, foreboding music, and a blood bag (which was partially consumed by Heinel herself). All the while, a few other vendors were offering their goods or services and a looped projection from visual artist Elisa Ghs. While it was officially titled a healing fair, the two main draws came in the form of its performing artists.
After Heinel’s incredibly intense performance art piece, Mikaela Davis (a new name to this site) immediately set about bringing some tranquility back to the proceedings. Davis is the kind of performer that exudes a natural grace that can frequently easily lend itself to an inherent magnetism, so I was very close to completely positive I’d enjoy her performance before a single note was played. After she’d set up her harp and made sure that Warren was seated at her harmonium (a recent addition to her live oeuvre), the duo had me frozen with a half-minute soundcheck of a beautifully arranged Elliott Smith cover. In less than a minute, Davis went from a promising prospect to an artist with my undivided attention. By the time her first song’s last notes were ringing out (the only she’d play with Warren and/or a harmonium accompaniment), an audience member succinctly summarized everyone’s reactions with a soft, awed expletive.
That sentiment crept in again and again as Davis’ set progressed, looping through my head with each new movement and figure of her songs. Positioned in front of the projection screen, still looping visuals, the effect was so transfixing that it almost became unnerving. Undeniably beautiful and occasionally deeply mysterious, Davis’ slow-burning songs melted over a hushed audience, all of which knew they were witnessing a rarity and providing it with the according levels of attention. It was a mesmerizing set of songs that has less in common with Joanna Newsom’s work (a frequent comparison that holds some waters but mostly comes up somewhat flat) and falls more along the lines of the likes of Elliott Smith and Priscialla Ahn. As much as I wanted to see Warren perform again, it was impossible to want Davis’ set to end. It did, though, as all good things must, and watching/hearing the closing song was an unforgettable experience- one that ensured that this won’t be the last time Davis’ name is mentioned on this site. Mouth agape, it took me several moments to collect myself, process what I’d just witnessed, and prepare myself for whatever magic Warren had conjured up for the evening.
Before long, Warren was seated in front of the microphone, guitar in lap, ready to launch into a set that drew on nūmūn and new material at a fairly equal rate. “Figure 8”, “The Wheel”, and a handful of others all evoked the same stunned reactions that keep me coming back to Warren’s music and, surrounded by friends, family, and fans, she looked even more at peace than usual. When it came time for “True Colors”, Warren made sure to dedicate it to Heinel and the clip’s other director, Damon Stang, who were seated next to each other, all smiles. Warren’s set marked the third time I’d seen the songwriter perform this year and the performances have all occupied the same space of unshakable quiet intensity but, for whatever reason, “True Colors” came off as particularly alive in the basemen (officially titled The Grove).
As familiar as I’ve come to be with Warren’s work, I’d been keeping an eye on the untouched harmonium throughout Warren’s set, hoping she’d return for at least a song. Finally, at the very end of a characteristically arresting performance, Warren took a seat and began the repetitive motions required to breathe life into the instrument (one of my personal favorites). Titled “There Is A Light”, the song ranks among the best in her discography. Gentle, gorgeous, and reaffirming, it almost comes across as a once-silent prayer pulled out into the world. Instead of feeling voyeuristic, there’s a very welcoming sense found in the song’s radiant warmth- one that likely had more than a few people (myself included) on the verge of tears. As the final lines of the song hit (“Well, we could lie down and collectively seal our fate. You know it’s now or never but it’s never too late.”) and the chords drift off into silence, that silence is sustained. In that moment and the several moments that followed, no one made a sound, collectively drawing out the impact of a perfect ending.
A full photo gallery of the show’s musical acts can be seen below and a video containing some of the evenings performances can be found beneath the gallery.
Sharkmuffin’s release show party for Chartreuse at Shea Stadium was the kind of show that’s worth circling multiple times on a calendar. Easily my most anticipated of the month, it didn’t disappoint. A stacked five-band bill was kickstarted by a strong set from the emergent Fruit&Flowers, who delivered their wild-eyed basement pop with a lot of psych’ed out post-punk flourishes and an emphatic punch. Boytoy- who released one of last year’s finest debut EP’s– followed suit with a riff-happy, surf-heavy angle on a similar approach. Fuzzy, sunny, and surprisingly atmospheric, the trio managed to impress on their own terms and set site favorites Lost Boy ? up perfectly.
Lost Boy ?, as they always have, brought an outsize outsider charisma to the proceedings and kicked things into high gear almost as soon as they hit the stage. The band’s extraordinary Cannedwould have been at the absolute peak of last year’s special releases list had it been streaming anywhere ahead of its official vinyl release in 2015 but it was kept off the internet until that moment came. Even though about a year’s elapsed between the record’s original release, Canned still feels unbelievably vibrant thanks to the explosive energy that permeates throughout literally every song on the collection. That ragged ferocity is, unsurprisingly, amplified in the live setting and nearly every song the band played felt like a giddy exclamation mark. Celebratory and occasionally punishing, it was the adrenaline jolt that made sure things kept going strong after the midway point.
Even in the seemingly impossible scenario where Lost Boy ? had faltered, the evening would’ve been easily rescued by another site favorite- Charly Bliss. Soft Servetopped this site’s best-of EP list in 2014 (incidentally, Lost Boy ? secured the 11 slot) and whenever their LP finally secures its official release, it’s not a stretch to imagine it’ll wind up securing the Album of the Year distinction or something remarkably close. I’ve been desperately searching for something I don’t like about Charly Bliss for over a year and I still can’t find anything. The band’s a powerhouse in the studio, an absolute force on stage, and they’re penning some of the best music being released today. I’ve come to accept that they’re one of my absolute favorite bands and with every set I take in, that declaration’s getting closer to shedding the “one of” and simply becoming “my favorite band.” Unsurprisingly, their set here was monstrous and left a tall order for Sharkmuffin.
To their credit, Sharkmuffin kept the evening going even stronger with a deeply impassioned set that saw the band play every cut from their excellent Chartreuse, one of 2015’s finest releases. Playing as a quartet with Lost Boy ?’s Davey Jones giving an assist on guitar, the band’s set took on several different modes with a finessed aplomb. Coy, vicious, and carefree, the band shifted their focus at will and whipped an adoring audience into frenzy after frenzy with an incredible amount of ease. Alternating between poise and recklessness, then somehow managing to bridge the gap, Sharkmuffin tore up Shea Stadium and more than earned their encore. It was the final stage of a progression that started with foot-tapping (Fruit&Flowers), head-nodding (Boytoy), headbanging (Lost Boy ?), pogo-dancing (Charly Bliss), and- finally- moshing (Sharkmuffin themselves). Combining seemingly every single one of those stages with their last two songs, the band left the stage exhausted and smiling and the audience couldn’t help themselves from exiting the venue in the exact same fashion.
Click over to the full photo gallery of the show here and watch some of the evening’s performances in the video below.
On the first day of August, a flock of people congregated at David Blaine’s The Steakhouse to see a show packed with impressive solo artists and two secret headliners. Six acts in total and margaritas by the bucketful, the night promised to be memorable and delivered on that promise in full. Brittany Costa (who also plays in the excellent admira) kicked the evening off with a set of delicate, haunting songs anchored by her stunning voice and reverbed-out electric ukulele. Adir L.C. sustained that setting (swapping out the uke for a guitar) and blended in a distinct brand of soulfulness that elevated his songs far past the standard coffeehouse fare.
The evening’s third act, Rebecca Ryskalczyk, recently earned a feature on this site for an excellent demo packet. Ryskalczyk, who also plays in Bethlehem Steel, offered up a gorgeous set (“Other Otters”, in particular, was breathtaking) and one of the night’s most unexpected moments. Mid-set, the songwriter broke from the music for a spirited stand up set that kept the audience entranced as they laughed. Her set was the last of the solo acts and set the stage for the first full band performance. Roz and the Rice Cakes took that slot and ran with it, offering up an eclectic, manic set of carnivalesque pop.
Before long the first of two secret headliners, site favorites Girlpool, were front and center. Having just delivered a mesmerizing set at Baby’s All Right only a handful of days prior, there was the looming possibility of diminishing returns. The setting, the performance, and the overwhelming quality of the duo’s music quickly put any concerns to rest and once again provided a masterclass in minimal pop. Eliciting more than a few chills, the band made their way through a varied set with verve and grace before finally putting a bow on another unforgettable set.
Frankie Cosmos took the last headliner slot and the audience’s adoration for the trio was as palpable as it had been for Girlpool. Playing their first show with the new lineup, the trio seemed eager to test the waters and wasted no time in settling into a groove. A handful of songs bled into each other seamlessly and the band seemed incredibly locked in to their performance, providing a strong showcase for material old and new. For how gentle Frankie Cosmos’ music seems, the band’s performance can be fiery to the point of contradiction, creating a fascinating dynamic that works heavily in the band’s favor. By the time the band wrapped things up with the painfully gorgeous “Embody”, they’d likely won over anyone that wasn’t already on board and- more importantly- ended a great show on the perfect note.
Click over to the full photo gallery of the show here and watch some of the evening’s performances in the video below.
Heartbreaking Bravery has never been an overtly traditional blog. Yes, some commonplace elements and recurring themes keep it from falling apart but its essentially come to operate as a living journal of the things that have piqued my interest. It’s allowed me a place to provide documentation of recent events that blend recap aesthetics with critical analysis while simultaneously operating as a platform to showcase lesser-known bands. When it was initially devised, its sole purpose was to grant me an outlet to be able to keep writing but- over time- it grew into something that eventually had a heavy impact on my life. Whether through enabling visits to Toronto or being one of the biggest root causes of the recent relocation to Brooklyn, it’s played an enormously active role in shaping some of the biggest decisions I’ve ever made- and it’s been directly responsible for linking me to a handful of genuinely invaluable people that I’d be twice as lost without.
Now on its 600th post- and with the blue moon just barely behind us- it felt appropriate to allow the rarest of overtly personal posts. Over the near-two months I’ve been residing in Brooklyn, I’ve had the privilege of both witnessing and playing a part in some genuinely unforgettable moments. For a large handful of them, I was fortunate enough to have the camera on and rolling. The 25 clips that are all contained in this sequence are videos I’ve shot personally since landing in New York. From a breathtaking acoustic rooftop performance overlooking the city’s industry-driven sprawl to an inexplicably perfect moment at a secret wedding to secret headliners to a slew of site favorites, there’s a lot of content here- all of which made me feel like I was in the exact right place. It’s an offering that acts both as a celebration of a small accomplishment in terms of longevity and as a sincere thanks to a part of the world that has so readily accepted- and celebrated- both myself and this site. I’m genuinely unsure of what the future holds but if it’s anything as exciting as the past few months have proven to be, I’ll consider myself fortunate to share it with both my friends and anyone kind enough to lend any attention to this site.
Below the video, you can find a tracklist of the sequencing and- as this is another 100 posts- there will be links to the preceding 100 posts. Click play and browse at will. Enjoy.
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1. Girlpool – Crowded Stranger (Live at Baby’s all Right) 2. Diet Cig – Dinner Date (Live at Shea Stadium) 3. Frankie Cosmos – On the Lips (Live at DBTS) 4. Radioactivity – World of Pleasure (Live at Baby’s All Right) 5. Dogs On Acid – Make It Easy (Live at DBTS) 6. PWR BTTM – Projection (Live at Palisades) 7. Slothrust – Crockpot (Live at Suburbia) 8. Charly Bliss – Dairy Queen (Live at Shea Stadium) 9. Told Slant – I Am Not (Live at Silent Barn) 10. Montana and the Marvelles – Stand By Me (Live at DBTS) 11. Lost Boy ? (ft. Patrick Stickles) – Big Business Monkey (Live at Shea Stadium) 12. Idle Bloom – Dust (Live at Alphaville) 13. Swirlies – Wait Forever (Live at Silent Barn) 14. Tenement – Crop Circle Nation + Dull Joy (Live at The Acheron) 15. Bully – Brainfreeze (Live at Rough Trade) 16. Rebecca Ryskalczyk – Other Otters (Live at DBTS) 17. Attic Abasement – Sorry About Your Dick (Live at Shea Stadium) 18. Eskimeaux – Folly (Live at Palisades) 19. Krill – Turd (Live at Silent Barn) 20. Littlefoot – Worrydoll (Live at DBTS) 21. Florist – 1914 (Live at Baby’s All Right) 22. Mitski – I Will (Live at Palisades) 22. Adir L.C. – Inside Out (Live at DBTS) 24. Johanna Warren – Survive (Live) 25. Benny The Jet Rodriguez – Alley Cat (Live at The Acheron)
Heartbreaking Bravery 