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July 28, 2016

Space Mountain – Never Lonely (Stream)

spacemountain

Over the past week or so there have been new songs to stream offered up from a varied cast of characters that included Infinity Crush, Secret Crush, Microwave, Slothrust, Screaming Females, The Only Ocean, The Submissives, Nots, Navy Gangs, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Aldous Harding, Steady Lean, Fir Cone Children, and IAN SWEET. In addition to those songs there was also a collaborative gem unveiled by Cole Kinsler‘s Space Mountain project that featured a thrilling guest vocalist turn from Forth Wanderers‘ Ava Trilling.

Way back in 2014, Kinsler’s project was making a solid impression and it’s been a privilege to watch (and listen to) Space Mountain grow in both scope and conviction. Recently, that project hit an exhilarating peak with the driving, mid-tempo “Never Lonely”. Easily the act’s finest work to date, it’s enriched by a communal spirit that brings Trilling’s memorable vocals into the fold.

Never before has Space Mountain sounded as expansive or as thoughtful, a mixture that pays massive dividends. By finding a way to bridge both the carefree, open-road atmosphere that permeates throughout some of the most timeless folk records and the dynamics that typically characterize a roster like Exploding In Sound’s, “Never Lonely” creates something that feels refreshing in its modernity while digging its heels deep into the past.

An impressive track at every turn, “Never Lonely” raises the anticipation level for the forthcoming Big Sky full-length a considerable amount. More than that, it demonstrates that Kinsler’s impressive first few works under this moniker were more developmental than most listeners likely realized. If the rest of the record can live up to the standard set by “Never Lonely”, Big Sky may just be one of the year’s finest surprise discoveries.

Listen to “Never Lonely” below and pre-order Big Sky here.

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October 3, 2015

Ernie – Sweatpants (Stream)

As was stated earlier on, it’s been a while since a single stream has been featured on this site- about three weeks to be exact. To remedy that, all of the songs that have been collected over that period of time (all of which made incredibly favorable impressions) will be featured in a trio of posts, beginning with this one. Each post will focus on one genuine standout and include a hyperlinked list of the others beneath the embedded player, bringing the site up to the present release cycle.

Kicking this process off is Ernie’s raucous “Sweatpants”, an unabashedly melodic song that’s not afraid of flashing some serrated edges. A towering vocal melody powers “Sweatpants”, while the guitar, bass, and drums surge underneath. Mining the typically rich field of malaise for lyrical content, Ernie finds a contrast between spry musicality and downtrodden lyrical content and exploits the divide to maximum effect. It’d be a tremendously downcast affair were it not for the defiantly energetic musical approach. Nuanced, balanced, and deceptively subtle, “Sweatpants” is a song that deserves to be in the collections of anyone who’s ever visited this site more than once.

Listen to “Sweatpants” below and pre-order Dog Park from Soft Speak Records here. Underneath the embed, explored a handful of other great songs to find release over the past three weeks.

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Never Young – Stress Hed
Polyon – Blue
Haybaby – Doored
Puddle Splasher – Forget My Name
The Noise Figures – Shoot the Moon
Fern Mayo – Open Work
Sports – Get Bummed Out
Palm – Ankles
Roger Harvey – Arrow/Plane
Smokes – Lemonlime
Lilly Wolf – Terrible Mistake
Boys – Believe Anything
Shunkan – Paleontologist
Pity Sex – What Might Soothe You
Violent Mae – In the Sun
See Through Dresses – Drag Scene
Kindling – Blinding Wave
Modern Baseball – The Thrash Particle
Swings – Sea
S.M. Wolf – We All Decided No
William Alexander – Giant Fade
Soldiers of Fortune (ft. Cass McCombs) – Old Roman Wall
Dumb Numbers – I Dreamed I Saw Jack Nance Last Night
Bambara – An Ill Son
Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s – Broadripple Is Burning (Living Room Version)

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September 7, 2015

The Libertines – Heart of the Matter (Stream)

Not a lot of new material finds release on a major holiday, though sometimes an item or two manages to slip through the cracks and arrive to little fanfare. It also affords the unique possibility to scour the previous weeks’ offerings for the small releases. In the case of the latter, two submissions made it a little easier and produced two full-lengths worth exploring in Phooey!’s latest ambitious collection songs for my little brother and Govier’s understated gem Hermit Crab. As for the former, there was a lovely short documentary on St. Vincent and another exhilarating song to be released in advance of The Libertines’ comeback album.

Normally, the attention would have fallen to Govier or Phooey!’s releases, considering the considerable magnitude of the other two acts’ recognition levels but now seemed like a good a time as any to honor the profound impact The Libertines had on shaping my musical tastes and preferences. They’re responsible for two of the best full-lengths in the past 15 years in Up the Bracket (their fiery, us-against-everyone debut) and The Libertines (their shattering us-against-each-other diarist masterpiece). If the quartet would have bowed out after their self-titled, it would have been understandable- all of the reasons for the split had been aired and confined to the record. It’s that context which makes the news of their return the second most surprising thing about their recent reunion. The first? It’s mixture of vitality and preservation of quality.

Both of those elements can be witnessed in the band’s latest single, which was quietly released earlier this afternoon. “Heart of the Matter”, like the few tracks that have already acted as teasers in Anthems for Doomed Youth‘s rollout, is a rollicking mid-tempo number that packs a deceptively emotional punch. At this stage in the band’s push back towards reclaiming their relevancy, it’s abundantly clear that the band’s treating this like so much more than a staid cash-grab attempt. All of the their recent songs have sounded heartfelt but this one sounds deeply impassioned; they’ve got more things to say and are kicking things into high gear as a sort of self-flagellation for abandoning the project the first time around.

Swinging back and forth between the band’s most effective atmosphere (bittersweet) and one that’s characteristically chaotic, “Heart of the Matter” plays out like a well-earned, albeit surprisingly late, victory lap. That being said, it doesn’t feel like a legacy statement at all- it’s far too focused and hungry to be equated to an epilogue. Once again, the band finds a way to strike the perfect complementary balance between Pete Doherty’s gift for hard-won levity and Carl Barât’s penchant for commentary and determination, with the two trading off vocal leads like its second nature.

While “Heart of the Matter” feels like an on-the-nose title considering what’s ostensibly the band’s aim, it plays out so honestly that even that winds up carrying an additional meaning. Layered meaning has always been one of the biggest pulls of The Libertines’ sensibility, nullifying the more undesirable aspects of their roguish image and revealing a startling underlying intellect. It’s an element that’s still very present in their work and “Heart of the Matter” is the best example of the band’s current era to have been released to the public. Wry, meaningful, and an unshakable statement, it’s more than enough reason to be excited to have one of the last truly great rock n’ roll bands back in our midst.

Listen to “Heart of the Matter” below and pre-order Anthems for Doomed Youth here.

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August 18, 2015

Shannon & the Clams – It’s Too Late (Stream)

After a strong start to the week, this Tuesday saw the flood of releases pumping the brakes a little but still delivering a handful of great songs and music videos. The former category saw the release of Summer Twins’ “Demons“, Lou Barlow’s “Wave“, Julien Baker’s “Something“, Woozy’s “Venom“, and Destruction Unit’s “The Upper Hand“, while the latter category lodged fascinating new entries from Kagoule, Brick + Mortar, and Gangrene (ft. Sean Price and Havoc). While all of those managed to pack a formidable amount of strength, today’s focus fell to an old site favorite: Shannon & the Clams.

Already several releases deep into a legendary career that’s amassed the band a feverish cult following, Shannon & the Clams are showing no signs of slowing down. On “It’s Too Late”, the characteristically charismatic second single off the band’s forthcoming Gone by the Dawn, the band demonstrates a casual mastery of their craft. Utilizing the many strengths of Shannon Shaw (the band’s bassist/vocalist) to perfection, “It’s Too Late”- over the course of it’s two-minutes-and-change run-time- sees Shannon & the Clams taking what feels like a well-earned victory lap. There are no stakes on “It’s Too Late”, just an almost sheepish carefree vibe that suits the band’s retro-leaning mold to a tee. Irresistibly light, fun, and perfect for the last days of summer, “It’s Too Late” is the band’s latest nod, wink, and smile. Don’t let this one disappear.

Listen to “It’s Too Late” here and pre-order Gone by the Dawn from Hardly Art ahead of its September 11 release date here.

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August 8, 2015

Salad Boys – Dream Date (Music Video)

It seems fitting that another stacked week for new releases would find a similarly overloaded endcap. Total Makeover, Soft Fangs, Blackalicious, and Cumstain all had incredible new songs while Melkbelly, Lindi Ortega, and Phylums unveiled outstanding records. Even with the strong representation for those categories, the day belonged to music videos. La Luz’s animated “Black Hole, Weirdo Shine“, sore’s delightfully low-key “elle le fantôme“, Pianos Become the Teeth’s startlingly heartfelt “Ripple Water Shine“, Sharkmuffin’s unapologetic “Tampons Are For Sluts“, Albert Ryan’s lyric clip for “Man“, Kaleo’s gorgeous, inventive “Way Down We Go“, Earl Sweatshirt’s classic, nightmarish “Off Top“, and Deaf Wish’s retro-influenced futurist vision “On” constituted an unusually strong field. Topping everything off was Salad Boys‘ curiously entertaining “Dream Date”.

The narrative through-line’s essentially non-existent in “Dream Date”, leaving the clip to function and thrive on its own singular energy. Directed by Ben Dodd and Salad Boys’ guitarist/vocalist Joe Sampson, the clip finds Sampson placed front and center in various scenic locations. While his isolation could serve as a commentary on loneliness, there’s a wryness and contentment that centers Sampson’s performance and suggests that being alone can be an extraordinary thing. It’s a deceptively clever setup anchored by a committed performance- and a spry basement pop song- that lends “Dream Date” an unavoidable vibrancy. Irreverent, funny, and impossibly light, it’s the kind of video that can act as a reminder of the joy of simply being alive.

Watch “Dream Date” below and pre-order Metalmania ahead of its September 18 release date from Trouble In Mind here.

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August 7, 2015

PWR BTTM – Ugly Cherries (Music Video)

Now that the site’s been brought back up to speed on some of the week’s best songs and full streams, it’s time to turn an eye towards some genuinely great music videos. Roah Summit’s soft, dreamlike “Take Care” kicked off this week’s viewing necessities, shortly followed by Honduras’ lightly deranged “Paralyzed“, Girl Band’s deliriously unhinged “Paul“, Sunshine & The Blue Moon’s nostalgia-ready “Lucy“, and Nano Kino’s poised “Never Seemed To Happen“. Joining those titles were The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s frantic “The Ballad of Joe Buck“, Of Montreal’s animated adventure “Last Rites at the Jane Hotel“, Worriers’ self-effacing “Most Space“, and Foals’ visually stunning lyric clip for “A Knife In the Ocean“. While the feature could have gone to any one of those entries, it felt most appropriate to give it to PWR BTTM’s intentionally bold video for the title track off of their forthcoming record, Ugly Cherries.

PWR BTTM has surfaced an astonishing number of times as this site’s entered its Brooklyn-based era, something that was all but guaranteed a few songs into my first experience of the band’s exhilarating live show. Of course, it also helps that their focus on the area has intensified as of late (the duo recently announced plans to move to the city) and two DIY institutions (Father/Daughter and Miscreant) have both thrown their weight behind the band’s forthcoming record. A lot of that record has been evidenced through this site’s live coverage but the only official preview thus far has been “Ugly Cherries” itself, the record’s shamelessly, refreshingly bombastic title track.

For the video, the camera’s lens places the song’s guitarist/vocalist Benjamin Walter Hopkins front, center, and sidescreen. Almost immediately the viewer’s brought to confront Hopkins’ complete embrace of identity. Shots alternate and contrast the co-existing versions of Hopkins: the to-the-elevens glittery drag queen and the dressed-down lounger. Curiously, Hopkins’ bandmate Liv Bruce is all but absent throughout the video, though they’ve issued an assurance that this is intentional and that Bruce will be prominently featured in the band’s forthcoming clip. It’s a strange move because the duo’s collaborative partnership is one of PWR BTTM’s defining characteristics but eschewing that aspect does allow for the band’s presentation of gender identity to be thrown into a sharp focus on an individual level rather than presenting it as a combined effort (even though the two aren’t mutually exclusive).

Of course, this does nothing to detract from the actual music itself, which- as always- is a deeply felt, ridiculously impressive composition. The band’s commitment to both aesthetic and craft is allowed to thrive in the music video format and “Ugly Cherries” makes the most out of that opportunity right out of the gate. While it’ll definitely be interesting to see what’s in store as a companion piece (and going forward from there), it’s incredibly hard to argue against “Ugly Cherries” being representative of the band at their fiercest. Glamorous, unapologetic, hallucinatory, and surprisingly forceful, it’s both obviously compelling and a perfect way to make a statement. Fortunately, that statement’s left with a lot of room for expansion- something the band will undoubtedly capitalize on with no shortage of conviction and mischievous glee.

Watch “Ugly Cherries” below and pre-order the record from Father/Daughter and/or Miscreant ahead of its September 18 release.

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August 7, 2015

Meat Wave – Cosmic Zoo (Stream)

While the vast majority of the week’s best songs found a home in the preceding posts, one of them deserved its own headline: Meat Wave’s “Cosmic Zoo”. For years now, Meat Wave have been a staple of my own personal listening habits. I was thrilled when they were the band that became the driving force behind Heartbreaking Bravery’s first showcase and their self-titled remains the only tape I’ve managed to wear thin (you can only listen to “Panopticon” so many times before it starts warping). Before diving too much further, though, a quick detour to cover the best full streams of the week-so-far seems warranted. Between inspired records from Lithuania, Sharkmuffin, and Wimps, it’s been a good week (not to mention just about everything streaming over at NPR’s First Listen). Now that we’ve got that out of the way, back to “Cosmic Zoo”.

Following the releases of “Erased“, “Sham King“, “NRA“, and “Delusion Moon“, “Cosmic Zoo” becomes the fifth preview of the band’s upcoming sophomore effort Delusion Moon (which comes on the heels of this year’s outstanding Brother EP). Appropriately, the song’s the fifth on Delusion Moon and has a lot of sway over Delusion Moon‘s building momentum. In the context of the record, it rockets that momentum to stratospheric heights. As a standalone single, it immediately conjures up a startling amount of energy and- over the course of a blistering three minutes- focuses that energy into a series of repeated blows, each hitting their mark with a startling ferocity. Whether it’s the riff that cuts everything to ribbons approximately 1/3rd of the way into the song (one of my favorite moments of music this year), the staccato outro, or the increasingly intense rhythm work of Joe Gac and Ryan Wizniak, it’s an unavoidable show of force.

While force alone would have made “Cosmic Zoo” a must-listen, it’s also headier than it initially seems. Tying into a structure that guitarist/vocalist Chris Sutter designed, it’s part of an overarching narrative that touches on motion sickness and the lunar cycles. Adding a venomous bite to what feels, increasingly, like deeply personal lyrical territory, “Cosmic Zoo” takes on the feel of a meteor, hurtling towards earth, hell-bent on destruction. Like Delusion Moon itself, “Cosmic Zoo” is a snarling tour de force that demonstrates the overwhelming bulk of Meat Wave’s strongest qualities. Brash, unavoidable, and just about perfect, it’s the kind of adrenaline jolt that’s strong enough to keep any week humming along.

Listen to “Cosmic Zoo” below and pre-order Delusion Moon from SideOneDummy ahead of its September 18 release date here. Underneath the embed, revisit a large portion of their set from our showcase.

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July 28, 2015

Dogs On Acid – Make It Easy (Stream)

As a general rule, if a song’s already been covered here, then it’s out of contention for a feature spot, allowing for very rare exceptions. Today’s one of those exceptions. Way back in August, Dogs On Acid released an extraordinary self-titled 7″ on the remarkably reliable RANCH label. It was a release that was spearheaded by “Make It Easy”, which was a big reason why that 7″ landed up towards the very peak of this site’s best 7″ records of 2014 list.

Now, the band’s offering up a slightly cleaner version of the song as a single in their rollout campaign for their upcoming self-titled full-length (their first for punk institution Jade Tree). All of the hooks that helped make the first one so sharp are still intact and there’s no real deviation but- even a year after the song’s initial release- it’s still an exhilarating whirlwind of punchy basement pop that feels fresh despite having very clear roots to movements that happened decades ago. Catchy as hell, unabashedly melodic, and laced with enough punk sneer to win over a legion on converts, it’s as high-impact now as it was in 2014. If the rest of Dogs On Acid can sustain this level of songwriting, it’ll be a very real contender for Album of the Year.

Listen to “Make It Easy” below and pre-order the band’s debut full-length from Jade Tree here. Beneath the official stream, revisit the band playing the song live at DBTS.

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June 15, 2015

Bully – Live at Rough Trade – 6/15/15 (Pictorial Review, Live Video)

Earlier today I wasn’t planning on seeing any shows and was committed to exploring the surroundings of my new apartment (and working on the Miscreant piece) instead. A single tweet changed my entire course of action. All thanks are due to Bella Union’s Sally Hedberg for unexpectedly alerting me to a free in-store set at Rough Trade. I’d meant to catch Bully at one of their several Northside shows after spending the previous weeks fawning over their incredible Feels Like, a viable Album of the Year candidate. While I wasn’t able to attend any of those, I was able to make the easy quarter-mile walk to Rough Trade and salvaged what just hours ago had seemed like an egregious misfire.

After making my way to the front, Bully set in on a ferocious set that showcased guitarist/vocalist’s Alicia Bognanno’s vocals as much as it did the impressive overall musicality of the entire group. The rhythm section was locked in and the guitar work was incendiary but Bognanno has the kind of weaponized voice that’s impossible to override with anything else. Front and center, she led her band through a tightly controlled set that never took its foot of the gas pedal. By the time the band had torn through a set of fiery highlights, it was abundantly clear that their aim’s higher- and far more specific- than most bands venturing into major label territory. By retaining their artistic integrity and firing on every conceivable cylinder, they’re among the most promising acts of today- something further enhanced by their live show. All that’s left is to hope more bands follow their lead.

Photos and videos of their Rough Trade set can be viewed below. Feels Like can (and should) be pre-ordered here or picked up at Rough Trade NYC.

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June 9, 2015

Happy Diving – So Bunted (Stream)

Once more, with feeling: I’ve been caught up in travel arrangements over the past week and a half but I haven’t let new music escape me during that time. I’ve kept a detailed record of everything that’s caught my attention and, unsurprisingly, the bulk of those materials were single tracks. As was the case in the previous two posts, a list of 15 of the strongest highlights to emerge throughout that time frame have been included below the embed of the song earning the feature spot. In this case, that song’s a blistering reminder of the myriad strengths of site favorites Happy Diving.

The band’s exhilarating debut for Father/Daughter Records (another site favorite), Big World, established the band’s identity as well as their reputation for crafting feedback-heavy downer pop. Taking just as many cues from 90’s alt. as shoegaze, the band have conjured up yet another sharp blast of reverb-laden melancholy with “So Bunted”, the title track from a forthcoming 7″ that also marks their first release for the increasingly impressive Topshelf Records (Happy Diving’s signing follows a series of impressive moves from the label and the acquisition of Happy Diving rates as one of their strongest). Effortlessly pairing melancholy with urgency has always been one of the band’s strongest draws and “So Bunted” is a masterclass in that particular dynamic, creating a compelling whirlwind of soaring guitars and bleak emotions. Not a single moment of the track’s 134 seconds are wasted and if this is indicative of what Happy Diving has in store for Topshelf, then we’re all in for one hell of a ride.

Listen to “So Bunted” below and pre-order the 7″ from Topshelf directly here. Beneath the embed are 15 more songs that deserve paragraphs worth of praise and to be added to just about any collection.

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Broen – Iris
Jessie Jones – Sugar Coated
FFS – Call Girl
Creepoid – Shaking
Weaves – Tick
Cyberbully Mom Club – No-Fun
Oscar – Stay
HEALTH – Stonefist
Ducktails – Surreal Exposure
Hibou – Dissolve
The Armed – Paradise Day
theweaselmartenfisher – Draw Back Your Bow
The Rashita Joneses – My Finger
Operation Simon – Innervation
Blacklisters – Cash Cow

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