Post-punk | Heartbreaking Bravery

September 19, 2014

Iceage – How Many (Stream)

To put it mildly: it’s been a great day for music videos, unexpected niche releases, and cover songs. Everything that will be receiving a hyperlink in this article was, at one point, set to be today’s feature. From the unexpectedly dazzling cover of the Squidbillies theme song that Neko Case provided for the television show’s season premiere to the lovely visual collage Alvvays offered up as the accompanying video for their lilting “Next of Kin“, it’s been a day of unlikely surprises. In other corners, Grape St. kicked off a Burger series that’ll feature bands from the label performing short sets on-air, Fear of Men delivered a stunning take on Ty Segall’s “Sleeper“, Heat released an impressive video for “Rooms“, and The So So Glos released another outstanding music video for a song off of 2013 highlight Blowout (bringing the overall total to 6). Virtually all of those were highlight-reel worthy pieces for their respective artists and have their own respective merit- but none of them managed to stand out as emphatically as Iceage’s most recent Plowing Into the Field of Love reveal, “How Many”.

After making a tremendous impact with “The Lord’s Favorite” and “Forever“, the increasingly intriguing post-punk band re-affirms the potential for Plowing Into the Field of Love to be a legitimate masterpiece. While Iceage’s first two records, New Brigade and You’re Nothing, were fine releases in their own right, they were easily characterized by a violent bleakness. This time around, the band’s seemingly traded in that approach to attempt something more expansive (and, arguably, more menacing). Where their used to be unrestrained viciousness, there’s now tension, subtle atonality, and total discord- and “How Many” goes to impressive lengths to showcase just how brave of a record Plowing Into the Field of Love (which is due out October 6/7 via Matador) is shaping up to be. From a subtle percussion trick that recalls the proto-industrialism of Einstürzende Neubauten to the unfiltered major key piano progression that interlopes with the vocal melody but acts in stark contrast to much of the rest of the song’s presentation, it’s abundantly clear that Iceage are embracing new ideas with a completely unexpected (but entirely welcome) amount of maturity, verve, and conviction.

There are sections of near-euphoria in the chorus that punctuate the intimidating slow-build of “How Many”, proving that their grasp on the tension-and-release dynamic is as considered as “Forever” suggested it might be (in the review of “Forever” it was noted that Iceage was starting to seem like a natural extension of early Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- “How Many” re-affirms that thought). As if all of that wasn’t enough, Bender Rønnenfelt’s performance as both a vocalist and a lyricist has taken on a startling measure of depth as he grows further indebted to Southern Gothic in his prose and emerges as a courageous performer behind the microphone- one who’s willing to take sizable risks. Iceage’s rhythm section has become atypically tight and kinetic, while the guitar work remains incendiary. By coming out swinging with three of the year’s most memorable songs, Iceage have given Plowing Into the Field of Love a lot to live up to- and if it does, they may very well have 2014’s most important album on their hands.

Listen to “How Many” below and pre-order Plowing Into the Field of Love here.

1 Comment

September 17, 2014

Allah-Las – Follow You Down (Music Video)

Another day down, another great batch of streams and videos to show for it. First off: a full record stream from The Growlers, who have a career-best on their hands with Chinese Fountain. Representing the music video side of things, there was YAWN’s fascinating video for “Flytrap” and then a whole host of great single song streams. New Orleans duo Caddywhompus started to gain some attention on the back of “Stuck“, Glish made a deep impression with their towering “Pretty Car“, and Radical Dads carved out a place for themselves with the jumpy “In the Water“. Sonic Avenues’ second exclusive track for the deluxe version of their classic self-titled surfaced, as did great brand-new songs from FF, Doe, and Allo Darlin‘. However, despite all those great candidates for a feature, there was one thing that kept creeping back up; Allah-Las music video for “Follow You Down”.

From the immediate outset, it becomes apparent that “Follow You Down” isn’t going to be overtly conventional. Mixing the band’s trademark 60’s garage-grit revivalism with a quasi-Western, the video coaxes as much intrigue out of that contrast as possible. With both mediums emphasizing the lo-fi (and the low-key) aspects of the band’s presentation, things in the Sasha Eisenman-directed clip get fairly ridiculous pretty quickly- but that doesn’t stop it from being compelling or losing any momentum. The actual story in the video’s a fairly straightforward narrative that plays out, in full accordance with their chosen style, like a great Western- right down to the quietly tragic/humorous ending. “Follow You Down” on its own was a fun rock n’ soul-tinged throwback but the video manages to give it new life. All in all, it’s an absolute blast and goes quite a ways in proving that sometimes the best videos come out of a band letting their guard down and allowing themselves to have fun.

Watch “Follow You Down” below and order the just-released Worship the Sun (which “Follow You Down” is taken off of) over at Allah-Las’ bandcamp.

September 16, 2014

Mitski – Townie (Stream)

It’s been an absolutely monstrous week for great new music and we’re not even halfway through it. First and foremost, it should be noted that Stereogum is now streaming LVL UP’s Hoodwink’d in full (this site’s current front-runner for Album of the Year), along with great new records from Spray Paint, Lower Plenty, and S. NPR, as always, has a few gems available in their First Listen series, King Tuff’s Black Moon Spell and Perfume Genius’ Too Bright among them. Wander on over to the unending sprawl that is bandcamp and there are a few new things to unearth, like Cancers’ Fatten the Leeches and the unreasonably compelling split that comes courtesy of Follies and Wishbone. Similarly, Pitchfork Advance is offering up an early stream of upcoming stunners from Whirr and Foxes in Fiction, Stay and Ontario Gothic, respectively. On the single song side of things, there were outstanding new tunes that surfaced from site favorites Krill, a revitalized The Twilight Sad, a resurgent The Jazz June, and an intriguing new shoegaze project born out of the Deafheaven camp going by the name Creepers. As if all of that weren’t enough, there were also standout music videos emerging from a few intriguing corners of the musical spectrum that generally gets covered here, mostly from artists that exist on the fringes of their genre- Kevin Morby, Angel Olsen, Hiss Golden Messenger on the folksier side of things and the punk-leaning acts being well represented by Pet Sun and PS I Love You.

With all of that now existing in the world, anything getting the feature spot today had to be spectacular. Mitski (who recently made an introductory appearance on this site via Watch This) proved up to the challenge with the gnarled-but-beautiful basement pop rager “Townie”. Unsurprisingly, this song (and Bury Me At Makeout Creek, the upcoming record it’s attached to) comes via Double Double Whammy- who, between LVL UP, Follies and Wishbone, Krill, and this, had themselves one hell of a day- cementing that label’s reputation as one of the most exciting things in music. Pulling in an equal amount of influence from punk, post-punk, 90’s scuzz, powerpop, soul, and 50’s pop, “Townie” reveals itself to be something immediate and sublime before the gift of a chorus kicks in. Easily one of 2014’s best songs, it skyrockets the expectations for Bury Me At Makeout Creek and acts as an unforgettable introduction-at-large for Mitski. Everything here works on an extraordinary level, from the floating vocals to the tambourine attack to the feedback screeches to the fucking theremin section. “Townie” is as defiant as it is triumphant, adding an impressive amount of gravity with an unflinchingly honest lyric set. Package it all together and it becomes something completely irresistible that approaches levels of transcendence. Music doesn’t get much better than this.

Listen to “Townie” below and pre-order Bury Me At Makeout Creek from Double Double Whammy here.

9 Comments

September 15, 2014

Medicine – Move Along – Down the Road (Stream)

Another day, another string of great releases to cover before moving on to the day’s main event. Among them: a full stream of the sublime split 12″ from Joanna Gruesome and Trust Fund, a full stream of Terry Malts’ hard-charging Insides EP, and a characteristically incendiary performance from White Lung that also doubles as the official video for Deep Fantasy highlight “I Believe You“. Even with all of those being more than worthy of their own individual features, there was one song that surfaced today which managed to make a surprisingly large impression: Medicine’s “Move Along – Down the Road”.

Ever since Medicine’s surprise comeback record last year, To the Happy Few, they’ve been forcing their audience to re-adjust their expectations. Not that this is a bad thing; they’ve blown nearly all of those expectations out of the water. That trend looks like it’ll continue with their upcoming record Home Everywhere. After the multi-color swirl of lead-off single “Turning” suggested the band might be indulging their more psychedelic impulses, their most recent look at Home Everywhere confirms that with an even greater authority. “Move Along – Down the Road” is a near-claustrophobic cacophony that plays like a pissed-off, alternate world version of Andorra-era Caribou. In short: it’s a thrilling, fascinating, whirlwind of a song that hints towards Home Everywhere becoming one of 2014’s most widely celebrated releases. Medicine seems to be emphasizing their more cinematic sensibilities this time around and it suits their left-field shoegaze to tailored perfection.

Listen to “Move Along – Down the Road” below and pre-order Home Everywhere from iTunes here (all pre-orders will including the accompanying soundtrack to shoegaze documentary “Beautiful Noise“).

1 Comment

September 14, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 44

Welcome to a late-night installment of Watch This, the 44th in the weekly series that celebrates the best live performances to surface in the previous week. This time around, there’s a split between full sets, late night performances, and DIY presentations that all include bands that have previously earned themselves features (or extended mentions) on this site. Whether it’s another jaw-dropping full set from White Lung or a revitalized Death From Above 1979 diving headfirst into their single, these are all worth watching. Normally Watch This is posted much earlier on Sunday, so in the spirit of today’s delay, the featured videos get darker in atmosphere as they progress. Day turns to night and Volume 44 gets to lay claim to five great performances. So, sit back, relax, take a drink, ease up, and Watch This.

1. Death From Above 1979 – Trainwreck 1979 (The Late Show with David Letterman)

The Physical World, Death From Above 1979’s long-awaited follow-up to the classic You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine, may have disappointed a few people with absurd expectations. Most of them were hung up on their own projections of what they thought the band should be instead of letting them come out of hibernation to evolve naturally. It’s hard to think that any of them would be disappointed by a performance like this one, which winds up being part of a late surge of memorable talk show performances.

–

2. Benny the Jet Rodriguez – Alley Cat (Razorcake)

Is the sound on this the greatest? No. Does it need to be? Same answer. Is this a great take on a great song from a great record? Absolutely. Does the combination of logos, titles, and credits make it difficult to definitively credit? Extremely. How are more people not talking about Benny the Jet Rodriguez and Home. Run? That’s impossible to say- but it needs to change. When should that change start? Right now. Does every city deserve a venue like VLHS? Definitely.

–

3. Diarrhea Planet (KEXP)

Diarrhea Planet may have released a very good record the other year that holds up as a standalone piece but their reputation was almost entirely built by virtue of their excitable live shows. This KEXP session goes a long way in confirming any of the uninitiated’s suspicions that they have a penchant for the irreverent and wild- and that’s all that really needs to be said. Just watch the video.

–

4. White Lung (unARTigNYC)

This isn’t the first full White Lung set to earn itself a feature on Watch This. Hell, it’s not even the first one that comes courtesy of unARTigNYC. All that said, the band keeps managing to get better, a feat of borderline absurdity considering they’re already one of the better live acts out there today. Easily the best-looking and best-sounding White Lung set to find its way onto Watch This, their recent set at Palisades found them in their fieriest form (especially after a very tense moment towards the start of the set that found vocalist Mish Way pushed to the point of physically accosting and ultimately ejecting an audience member)- absolutely laying waste to a selection of songs that leaned heavily on 2014 standout Deep Fantasy. Even if the whole set was emotionally charged thanks to the severely unfortunate circumstances, it provided a handful of thrilling moments and cemented White Lung’s status as one of today’s most exciting bands.

–

5. Nothing (KEXP)

Nothing are notorious for eardrum-obliterating volume levels when they play live, which seems fitting for a band so prone to relentless heaviness. Here, they hold nothing back and give KEXP one of the station’s more memorable sessions- creating an entrancing sprawl that sides towards the heavily atmospheric. Guilty of Everything was a high point of mid-2014 and is well-represented here. Apart from a few fairly awkward interview exchanges (which is probably putting it mildly), the individual song performances are weirdly mesmerizing. All in all, it’s hard to ask for a better way to cap off another great week of documented live music.

September 14, 2014

Pretty Pretty – Feels Like Rain (Stream)

Once again, the past few days have provided a decent amount of material making it difficult to figure out which to feature. Most notably, two vicious post-punk numbers from the likes of Cycle Schmeichel and BODY. The former is full of a restlessness that aids Cycle Schmeichel’s wiry post-punk tendencies well, while the latter is a foreboding piece of hard-charging, rapidly-building tension characterized by nervousness before allowing an exhilarating release. Both are among the best songs to have come out of this month thus far- and September’s already seen two of the strongest weeks for new music this year. On top of both of those, Pretty Pretty finally released their Sweater Leather 7″ tracks via their bandcamp, which they’d previously teased with the sugar-coated title track. Sweater Leather not only manages to live up to the promise of that initial look but occasionally surpasses it, including “Feels Like Rain”- the closing track.

While “Feels Like Rain” isn’t quite as hard-charging as the trio of tracks that come before it (including easy standout “You Say“), it does manage to act as a perfect finale piece’ it summarizes nearly everything that precede that moment while serving as a reminder of Pretty Pretty’s specific strengths. From the call-and-response vocals to the vintage 90’s crunch in the guitar tones, it’s difficult not to see “Feels Like Rain”- and Pretty Pretty, by extension- for what it is: a perfect slice of sun-splashed punk-leaning popwerpop. There’s an underlying intelligence in the song’s composition that reveals itself in the details; the light riffing before the main guitar part kicks in, the subtly clever lyrics, and the general dynamics all point towards Pretty Pretty being a band that takes their songwriting very seriously. Fortunately, their efforts pay off in full and make Sweater Weather one of the more memorable 7″ releases of the year.

Listen to “Feels Like Rain” below and keep an eye on both Let’s Pretend and Mandible for the impending release of the physical copy.

September 12, 2014

Nano Kino – Eyes Before Words (Music Video)

Since the majority of the start of this week was spent on the road, it’s been difficult to be as vigilant about keeping up with the new music and videos that have been coming out. Today, that changed and the amount of great content is almost overwhelming. Every single one of the items that are going to be hyperlinked following this sentence are worthy of being the feature item. Those include full album streams from Mumblr and Sleepyhead (their first in 15 years), and a stream of Parquet Courts and Future Punx’s split 7″. There were excellent music videos from Death From Above 1979, Lace Curtains, and Brick Mower. Most of all, though, there were great new songs. Cut Teeth offered up a post-hardcore ripper, Ovlov provided a tantalizing glimpse at their upcoming 4-way split with Ex-Breathers, Woozy, and Gnarwhal. There was a smoky piece of folk-psych from Mail the Horse, a new Pity Sex song that ranks among the best of the year and teases an upcoming split with Adventures (it’s also their career-best), a new look at an upcoming EP from the increasingly popular Girlpool, a fiery Stereolab cover from Greys, another indicator that Dark Blue’s Pure Reality will be one of the year’s best records, another gentle piece of bliss from Eternal Summers, a snappy piece of riff-happy outsider pop from Little Big League that- like the Pity Sex song from just a few hyperlinks ago- ranks among the year’s best, another incendiary look at Meatbodies’ upcoming record on In the Red, and a brand-new career highlight for King Tuff. That’s one hell of a haul.

All of those are likely to get features elsewhere- if they haven’t already had them (and most have)- and Heartbreaking Bravery would be nothing if it wasn’t for the bands that are flying under the radar. Those are the kind of bands that this place strives to support- and Nano Kino (which translates to “very small cinema”) is one of them. And while the duo does include Duncan Lloyd of Maximo Park (and Decade in Exile), their profile’s currently surprisingly contained- which isn’t likely to last too long. There are chilly atmospheres that permeate throughout the duo’s music, using no-wave and post-punk as their major touchpoints while exuding an icy demeanor not too far removed from The xx. A lot of the band’s intrigue gets an extra push thanks to the mysterious vocal performances of Sarah Surl, the duo’s other member. While there’s still a considerable sense of mystery to be found in the textured guitar work that Lloyd provides, Surl gives it a strange sense of humanism that allows Nano Kino to eclipse so many similarly-minded acts.

Nano Kino currently have plans to release their debut record in the early parts of next year but have promised to tease pieces of the record in the lead-up campaign. One of the first pieces they’ve offered up is a visually stunning black-and-white clip that emphasizes the band’s penchant for noir-ish sensibilities. Bringing in other visual aesthetics to the fold (there’s a prominent French new wave influence running throughout this- as well as a lot of glances towards Spain’s golden-era of silent film), “Eyes Before Words” winds up being a quietly intense experience. Using grainy superimposed imagery (that’s occasionally stripped back to isolation) to maximum effect helps make this a video that stays with the viewer long after the final whispers of the fade-out. It’s unrelentingly poised and announces Nano Kino as a band that’s embraced a very particular vision- one that could wind up meriting critical and commercial success. Whatever the future does hold for Nano Kino, it’ll be a pleasure watching them fight their way forward- especially if the ensuing releases all manage to be as arresting as “Eyes Before Words”.

Watch “Eyes Before Words” below and keep an eye on this site for updates in the coming months.

1 Comment

September 10, 2014

LVL UP – Ski Vacation (Stream)

It’s been an insane past few days. Full streams, videos, and songs worth writing about have been emerging at a breakneck pace and making deciding what to feature a near-herculean task of decisiveness. There was a monumentally important music video from Mean Creek‘s Chris Keene for his upcoming solo record as Dream Generation, an interactive piece of unbridled fun from Ty Segall for the title track off of Manipulator, characteristically cinematic videos from both Beverly and Fucked Up– who have each been doing wonders with the visual medium, a video that practically defines Bob Mould’s workmanlike nature, and a Jane Forsyth & Ian Pollard-helmed video for Parquet Courts’ “Bodies Made Of“- which proved to be an astoundingly sensible creative pairing. There were full streams of the gently gnarled She Keeps Bees full-length, the psych-trip of the White Fence and Jack Name split, and a new Greylag song, “Yours to Shake“, that showed some serious teeth. Picking between all of those seemed as if it might be impossible until, once again, LVL UP made the decision fairly easy.

At this point, noting that LVL UP’s upcoming Hoodwink’d is this site’s front-runner for Album of the Year seems redundant. It’s a 15-song masterpiece that sees the band perfecting their best aspects and surpassing an arsenal of lofty expectations in the process. This is something that this site’s touched on in reviews for the first three songs to be teased from the record: “Soft Power“, “I Feel Ok“, and “DBTS“. Now, the band’s released the fourth look at the now-imminent Hoodwink’d with “Ski Vacation” which shows the band expanding their sonic palette yet again. Boasting a tranquil atmosphere and no shortage of jangly guitar tones, the song integrates some subtle-yet-effective surf tendencies into the band’s outsider pop aesthetic- and the end result is spectacular. What jumps out about all of the songs that the band’s been previewing is that they stand on their own extraordinarily well and would warrant serious consideration for pushes as Hoodwink’d singles- but as a collective piece they’re extraordinary and complement each other better than just about anything that even bothers to casually flirt with genre-hopping tendencies. In that respect, Hoodwink’d might be the first record 2014 produces that would be deserving of a title no smaller than masterpiece. “Ski Vacation” is just the fourth of 15 dimensions.

For some essential reading on Hoodwink’d, please go to Sasha Geffen’s Interview piece– where the track premiered- to scroll through a can’t-miss interview that sheds some light on what went into making the record.

Stream “Ski Vacation” below and pre-order Hoodwink’d from Double Double Whammy (which has played host to several of 2014’s best releases and is in the midst of an absurd winning streak)- who will be co-releasing it with Exploding in Sound (see: last parenthesis)- here.

2 Comments

September 7, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 43

It’s almost hard to believe that there have been 43 weeks since the first installment of Watch This was posted. Over the course of that time, this series has boasted a variety of recurring staples, one of the earliest of which being the “Band/Artist to Watch” segment that was devoted to the fifth and final slot. After being dormant for the vast majority of the series, that particular stamp re-emerges today in anticipation of an incredible release from an artist that’s been too-frequently described as a “best kept secret”. Along with the re-emergence of that sub-series, there’s a return to Little Elephant, a look at NPR’s Field Recordings series, yet another video to be featured from Exploding in Sound’s takeover of Serious Business, and a recent portrait of a band that doesn’t deserve to be overlooked. What it all winds up amounting to is one strange, wonderful capsule that explores some of the finest artists of the moment delivering performances worth remembering. So, sit back, turn the volume up, adjust the visual settings to personal preference, take a drink of something refreshing, focus, and Watch This.

1. Benjamin Booker – Have You Seen My Son? (NPR)

It’s been said before on this site a few times but it bears repeating: Benjamin Booker absolutely tore his set up at the Horseshoe Tavern at NXNE back in June. His debut self-titled record on ATO lived up to some fairly high expectations, revealing him as an extremely worthwhile new talent- and while it does have a sense of vulnerability, it’s usually buried underneath gnarled tones and emphatic gruffness. Here, Booker strips standout single “Have You Seen My Son?” to its barest form; an acoustic ballad. Add in some gorgeous cinematography, courtesy of NPR, and it’s required viewing.

–

2. Mitski – First Love / Last Spring (Bandwidth)

Every once in a while, there’s an artist that manages to appear on a variety of trustworthy sources but, for some reason or another, gets overlooked or forgotten. Mitski had the misfortune of falling to the latter category a few times this year by virtue of coming up on days that were already ridiculously over-filled with content. After seeing the light perfection that is this utterly enchanting performance of “First Love / Last Spring”, it’s difficult to not want to go back and ensure the mistake of overlooking them was never made to begin with. “First Love / Last Spring” is as sweet of a song as anyone’s put out this year. So, to Mitski: sorry for being late to the party but thanks for sticking around; life’s better with this music in it.

–

3. Shy, Low – Saudade (Little Elephant)

There haven’t been too many Little Elephant videos to appear that warranted consideration for the Watch This series since Mansions’ thrilling two-song set from way back in May. Fortunately, Shy, Low have provided enough water to make up for that particular drought. “Saudade” is a fascinating mixture of shoegaze, post-rock, golden-era emo, math, and a cavalcade of their connected fringe sub-genres. Every note gets played with investment and commitment while still being technically impressive, which is a medium that a lot of bands strive for but few ever achieve so concisely. “Saudade” is the perfect example of the more aggressive kind of music that’s incredibly easy to get lost in.

–

4. Baked (BreakThruRadio)

At this point, it’s probably safe to assume that if a video emerges from the Exploding in Sound takeover of BreakThruRadio’s Serious Business series, it will wind up being featured here. Virtually all of them have been nothing short of praise-worthy and Baked’s session continues that trend with ease. Baked themselves have come ridiculously close to landing feature spots on this very site numerous times for their eccentric take on some of this place’s most-frequented genres. In their session, those eccentricities are on full display in both their interview segments and their live form, making for some incredibly compelling viewing.

–

5. John Davey – Grand Emporium (Xack Gibson)

There are certain performances that manage to stick with a person and John Davey’s capable of delivering them. That’s said with no shortage of authority, having seen Davey deliver a solo acoustic set in a small WI basement to next to no one only a handful of years back. It was a relatively truncated set but it’s proven to be unforgettable thanks to the spellbinding nature of the songs. This being the case, the “Artist to Know” final slot section of Watch This is being revived to feature a gorgeous black-and-white video that features Davey performing one of his most impressive songs: “Grand Emporium”. Not too much has changed since this video was shot four years ago; Davey’s songwriting remains as nuanced and gripping as ever while allowing some subtle growths in terms of production. All that can be heard on Davey’s sophomore effort, Living Is Trying, which can (and should) be pre-ordered from Dilated Time Records here. “Grand Emporium” also provides a good platform to give this reminder: Heartbreaking Bravery would be nothing without DIY ethos and the artists that embody them across a variety of genres and fields. If a song in a genre that’s not typically covered here manages to come off as transcendental and provides an opportunity to feature an extremely impressive emerging talent, it will get featured. Here’s one of those songs- and one of those talents.

2 Comments

September 6, 2014

Young Jesus – G (Stream)

In 2012, Chicago quartet Young Jesus quietly self-released Home, which was astounding on first listen and improved with subsequent listens. Now, with the benefit of distance, it’s easy to cite it as one of the best records of the decade’s first half. Earning its longevity through a delicate balance of the genuinely mournful and the defiantly celebratory, it occasionally wound up coming off as a much more self-aware and contained version of Funeral. There was nothing overly bombastic about it- or anything that suggested grandeur that neared the over-reaching. While those elements were certainly present, they were given equal footing with an underlying minimalism; burying large ideas in a decidedly niche presentation without ever losing their focus.

After the release (and extremely warm reception of Home by the people fortunate enough to hear it), the band fell understandably silent- emerging out of the shadows to play a one-off show on the rarest of occasions. Following up near-perfection isn’t an enviable task- or one that can be taken lightly. Thankfully, the clouds have been slowly parting and the band’s begun to make some calculated moves, the most notable of which is their relocation to Los Angeles. Another that deserves some serious consideration is the addition of a keyboardist, which allows them to broaden an already impressive sonic palette.

“G”, the first song to be teased from the band’s upcoming Grow/Decompose (that’s the artwork, up above) gets one thing out of the way very quickly; this is still a band that’s defined by the city that birthed them. There’s a very prevalent strain of relatively downtrodden post-punk that’s helped characterize Chicago over the past several years that’s been best exemplified by bands like Young Jesus and Shy Technology. That they haven’t sacrificed that sound in the wake of their move is a welcome affirmation of their own identity. All of the other key elements of their best works remain in tact as well, from impressive arrangements and individual song structures to the never-ending arsenal of memorable turns of phrases that can be found in their typically extraordinary lyric sets.

If there was any doubt of the band losing any of its punch after re-assembling out West, “G” annihilates those notions almost as soon as it starts playing. Opening with a character-heavy dialogue (another of the band’s more prominent traits) of: “Neil sits alone outside in a motel in the summer, he checks his phone, checks when a friend is coming over” it’s abundantly clear that the band’s lost none of their verve in what, by all logic and reason, should be a transitory stage. By the time they land on the line “he makes a joke about how fucking ain’t for lovers” in the midst of unraveling Neil’s existential crisis under a microscopic lens, “G” has already entered the conversation for their best song. Unfailingly melodic, unrelentingly impassioned, and frightening personable, this is Young Jesus at their best and bodes well for what’s to come.

While Grow/Decompose has yet to land an official release date, it seems to be safe to say that whenever that occasion does arise, it’ll be a great day for music.

Stream “G” below, download Home (an essential must-own) on their bandcamp, and check back here for additional updates in the coming weeks (or months).

1 Comment

Tag: Post-punk