Title Fight, one of ANTI- Records’ most recent acquisitions, are building their lead-in campaign to the forthcoming Hyperview with a compelling amount of style. For most of their career, the band’s been an anomaly, eluding the pigeonholes of definitive genre tags with a determined finesse. While the band has eased up quite a bit on their surface-level snarl, they’re tapping into something that’s arguably more worthwhile: a snarling subtext. Which is why the subtly haunting video that accompanies lead-off single “Chlorine” feels like an appropriate mission statement. A new emphasis on shoegaze has emerged and, in turn, pushed the band to the brink of what feels like a revitalization as much as it does a reinvention. Gone is the screaming, leaving a feeling of suspense and dread in its place.
It’s a powerful new look for them and it suits Title Fight well. “Chlorine” sees them embracing the new direction in full and the accompanying Jonny Look-directed video only enhances the band’s new vision. Mark Burnham is at the center of the clip, as a man who can’t seem to escape the confines of a boat. It’s a relatively simple premise that grows more intricate as it progresses before finally curling into a quasi-nightmarish finish. There’s gorgeous cinematography throughout and a real sense of sorrow permeating Burnham’s engaging central performance. The only real lingering question mark is whether or not the rest of Hyperview will be able to live up to its memorably unnerving first look.
Watch “Chlorine” below and pre-order Hyperview from ANTI- here.
It’s been a few days since regular non-series content’s been posted on the site so tonight’ll amend that in two installments that cover the best material to have been released over the past two days. For full streams there was The Freezing Hands’ infectiously melodic Coma Cave ’13while Cellphone‘s frenetic, lo-fi “Human Rights” clip held down the music video territory. HOLY made a splash with the fuzz-pop of “Golden Fog” and Michael Feuerstack unveiled the entrancing “Clackity Clack“. Most importantly, though, Kal Marks followed advance streams of “Zimmerman” and “It Was A Very Hard Year” with the final track from their forthcoming Just A Lonely Fart EP, “Don’t Pussy Foot With A Pussy Footer”.
With both “Zimmerman” and “It Was A Very Hard Year” reaching (and in some cases exceeding) the stratospherical heights of Life Is Murder, the band’s extraordinary 2013 full-length, “Don’t Pussy Foot With A Pussy Footer” could have fallen flat and Just A Lonely Fart still would have ranked among the year’s best EP’s. Instead, the last track to trickle out into the public from the upcoming Exploding in Sound release opts to rev the engines, showcasing Kal Marks’ penchant for wiry aggression. “Don’t Pussy Foot With A Pussy Footer” is Kal Marks at their rawest and most straightforward, allowing the band to extend their claws and sink through the skin straight to the viscera. It’s a temporary abandonment of the tension/restraint dynamic that the band thrives on, leading to a staggeringly exhilarating release that punctuates the EP at its midway point. Raucous and sprawling, this is Kal Marks operating at their finest; kicking and screaming against the walls of frustration in a bid for a sense of greater freedom. “Don’t Pussy Foot A Pussy Footer” may sound like a title ripe for something lightly comedic rather than overwhelming bleak, but even in spite of the fact that this leans towards the latter it still offers a reprieve, a surge of momentum, and pure catharsis. Embrace its spell and don’t make the mistake of missing out on this EP. Follow the link and buy it below.
Listen to “Don’t Pussy Foot With A Pussy Footer” below and pre-order Just A Lonely Fart from Kal Marks’ bandcamp.
Today was a day that seemed to be defined by a quiet nature, something that was born out of the still fall weather and a severe lack of noteworthy releases (especially considering the steady overabundance of material throughout the past two weeks). Sure, there were premieres of things like Dirt Dress’ “Revelations“, Low Culture’s “Reservations“, and Young Mammals’ Alto Secothat were egregiously overlooked over the course of the past few days that could have easily earned a feature spot today- but nothing felt as appropriate as Mitski‘s demo.
Quietly released on tumblr (and currently without an official title), the song’s an embodiment of the DIY aesthetic that Heartbreaking Bravery was designed to showcase. Self-recorded onto an iPhone as a voice memo, it strips Mitski’s music- something that’s becoming increasingly production-friendly- back to barebones, completely opening up a brave vulnerability that brings the act of listening to the song uncomfortably close to voyeurism. Unsurprisingly, the song itself is absolutely stunning and continues to add new depths to Mitski’s undeniable talent. Haunting, compelling, and melancholic in equal measure, the song’s a window into the songwriting process of one of today’s most fascinating emerging artists and pushes the anticipation for the upcoming Bury Me At Makeout Creek to absurd heights (despite the fact it won’t be included on the record). Most importantly, it’s a stunning song that deserves the attention of as many listeners as possible.
Listen to the song below and pre-order Bury Me At Makeout Creek from Double Double Whammy here. For those interested in hearing more of Mitski in solo acoustic mode, watch the video below the embed of a recent solo set at Dong Island (courtesy of Dong Island).
Today was absolutely dominated by full streams. Between great upcoming records from Pet Sun, Tiger High, White Laces, and Boys Age there was a wealth of material that could have earned this feature spot. Dories’ “Drip“, Glish’s “Kvlt“, and Pity Sex’s Pixies cover rounded out a strong single song collection while a dark, entrancing Kid Moxie & The Gaslamp Killer music video held down the visual territory by virtue of being unforgettable. However, any time there’s a chance to feature an emerging band that’s still relatively hidden in the grand scheme of things, that opportunity will be taken- which is what led today’s feature falling to “Oh Whitney” by the Philadelphia-based trio Hurry.
Next week, Hurry will release Everything/Nothing which follows their promising self-titled debut. That promise has been capitalized on in full, something that Everything/Nothing makes abundantly clear. The production levels have rocketed up, every facet of the band’s songwriting has improved, and- importantly- they seem to have latched onto an identity that’ll serve them well (especially in Philadelphia’s already thriving DIY punk landscape). “Oh Whitney” may be the most perfect example of this, expertly balancing Cheap Girls‘ brand of 90’s revivalism with the more fuzzed-out tendencies of Swearin’. Pinpointing the sweet spot between basement punk and basement pop, Hurry fill “Oh Whitney” with an assortment of riches; feedback, crunch, ghostly backing vocals, and infectious melodies. Hurry also has the unique advantage of a rhythm section with familial ties, with Joe and Rob DeCarolis playing off of each other as expertly as possible while Matt Scottoline leads the charges throughout the record, infusing the songs with the kind of personality and charisma that’ll make Everything/Nothing a must-buy for anyone who connected to the slacker punk of the early-mid 90’s. “Oh Whitney” is just one piece of an incredibly complete picture and a rousing call for action in an effort to make sure Everything/Nothing winds up as more than just a hidden gem. Here’s to hoping this record gets the recognition it deserves.
Listen to “Oh Whitney” below and let the rest of Everything/Nothing play through, it’s worth the time. Pre-order it from Hot Green Records here.
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 Spelland Perfume Genius’ Too Brightamong them. Wander on over to the unending sprawl that is bandcamp and there are a few new things to unearth, like Cancers’ Fatten the Leechesand 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, Stayand 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.
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“).
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 Tavernat 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
It’s very rare that a song comes along in the middle of the night and manages to be so good that it warrants an immediate write-up. There’s no accounting for what kind of material will emerge over the next 24 hours but if any of it manages to be better than Night School’s “Birthday”, rest assured, it will get a write-up at some point. That said, it’d be criminal not to feature “Birthday”, an explosive pop-indebted shoegaze tune that comes courtesy of Graveface Records.
Before going any further, some exposition should be noted: one of the three members of Night School, who will be releasing their debut EP Heart Beat on October 7, used to be in Whirr. While there are similarities between the two acts, they only run at surface level. Night School’s latched onto something that feels new; a welcome expansion in the increasingly accommodating field of shoegaze sub-genres. There are shades of Phil Spector interwoven with sounds that pull from all over both his catalog and the continuously evolving field of DIY punk. Thankfully, this doesn’t result in “Birthday” sounding like a complete and total mess- instead it gets presented as some kind of damaged dream that Alexandre Morte and the rest of her band are desperate to hold on to. Battered guitars create a wall of sound that’s as lush as it is intimidating, the rhythm section powers everything forward with gnashing teeth, and the vocals are practically floating as they create an introspective atmosphere that, impossibly, contrasts and complements the sonic chaos taking place beneath. It’s a gorgeous, towering piece of work that should turn a lot more heads in the days to come. If the rest of Heart Beat winds up being this good, Night School may just be on the verge of releasing something truly great.
Listen to “Birthday” below and take part in Graveface’s intriguing “glorified pre-order” kickstarter campaign here.
This week has had no shortage of great material to choose from thanks to great new songs from the likes of Glish (whose upcoming self-titled is among the year’s best releases), Miss Destiny, Straight Arrows, Colleen Green, Cozy, and VCR. There were also eye-catching music videos from the likes of site favorites Creepoid and Happyness to round things out on the visual end of the spectrum. One of the most arresting things to be introduced into the world, though, was Happy Diving’s lo-fi basement punk rager “Weird Dream”.
Bookending a song with sheets of feedback is a bold move that normally indicates a fair amount of aggression. It’s a trick that Dinosaur Jr. has used to great effect and a proclivity that Happy Diving seems to have picked up (among a few others that offer a strong connection between the two bands). From the scorching guitar work to the scuzzy production, “Happy Diving” isn’t content to drift by without landing a cavalcade of punches. As damaging as it is damaged, the song’s one hell of an introduction to a band on the verge of releasing their debut record, Big World, through a label as revered as Father/Daughter Records. If “Weird Dreams” does prove to be truly indicative of what Big World has in store, October 21 can’t get here fast enough.
Listen to “Weird Dream” below and make sure to pre-order Big World directly from Father/Daughter Records here.
Infinity Cat’s quietly been building themselves been building themselves a roster worth the envy of most other labels. While bands like Diarrhea Planet and JEFF The Brotherhood ensure their name is kept in circulation, it’s the smaller artists like Left & Right that keep the label vital. It’s not a mistake that Superchunk and Archers of Loaf are both referenced in Left & Right’s bio, nor is it a mistake that “Low Expectations” has been circulating around some of the higher-profile taste-making music sites; it’s a sharp song, finely tuned and full of 90’s lo-fi outsider pop hallmarks.
What sets “Low Expectations” apart from an increasingly crowded quasi-revivalist field is the delivery. Left & Right have never been short on passion and it’s still peaking through their work with Five Year Plan, the third entry in Infinity Cat’s Cassette Series (following efforts from both Music Band and Guerilla Toss). There’s a certain sense of history that’s paired with a modernism that helps keep their work grounded and distances it from the risk of feeling dated. Left & Right do anything but live up to the song’s title- the anticipation for the September 9 release of Five Year Plan is through the roof.
Listen to “Low Expectations” below and get a free download of the song by pre-ordering Five Year Plan from Infinity Cat here.
Heartbreaking Bravery 