Heartbreaking Bravery

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Tag: Review

May 13, 2016

Twist – Soaked (Stream)

twist

Editor’s Note: There’s been a month-long gap in coverage, thanks to near-incessant travel and other extenuating circumstances. The following run of posts that contain this note will be posts that should have appeared sometime within the past several weeks. Use these posts as an opportunity to catch up to the present release cycle or to simply discover some new music. Either way, enjoy.

Buzz Records’ newest signee, Twist, came charging out of the gate just a few days ago with the surging “Soaked”. The surf-tinged basement pop number comes packed with plenty of punk bite and spells out in plain letters exactly why Buzz took interest in the first place; “Soaked” is of an exceptionally high standard and marries a twinge of noisy dissonance with a formidable, melodic core. Where it sets itself apart is in its retro-leaning pop sensibilities.

Taking an impressive amount of cues from the pop music of the 50’s and 60’s, “Soaked” finds intriguing ways to update those influences into something more identifiably modern. Utilizing subtle touches like the bell arrangements and a quasi-industrial percussion section to carve out its own place among a very crowded field, “Soaked” succeeds effortlessly as a welcoming introductory piece to a new artist that should, hopefully, be receiving a considerable amount of attention.

Sunny, battered, and tenacious in its determination, “Soaked” winds up coming across as something resembling a mission statement for Twist. If the project lives up to this glimpse at the future, then this entry will be far from the last time a Twist song appears in a featured slot on this site.  

Listen to “Soaked” below and pick up the digital single from Buzz here.

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May 13, 2016

Faye – Ancient Bones (Stream)

faye

Editor’s Note: There’s been a month-long gap in coverage, thanks to near-incessant travel and other extenuating circumstances. The following run of posts that contain this note will be posts that should have appeared sometime within the past several weeks. Use these posts as an opportunity to catch up to the present release cycle or to simply discover some new music. Either way, enjoy.

One of 2016’s most intriguing emerging acts made their mark with the memorable post-punk cut “Chow Chow“. That band, of course, was Faye, who have once again surfaced to offer up the haunting, meditative “Ancient Bones”. This time around, the band switches their focus from immediacy and directness to a more slow-burning, dynamic approach that pays dividends in unexpected ways. “Ancient Bones” is among the most gripping songs of the year’s post-punk output but it never sacrifices the amount of heart that propelled “Chow Chow” into a feature spot only a month ago.

The decision to embrace restraint and let the song slowly unfurl winds up benefiting the band’s intelligent melodic sensibilities while displaying an air of maturity that suggests they’re far more than a carefree party band. “Ancient Bones” also turns darkly introspective in its chorus, focusing in on a fractured relationship with a laser-like intensity that brings up the possibility the band may eventually be responsible for some of the strongest lyrical narratives of DIY punk’s slew of noteworthy emergent acts.

It’s a deeply promising song that demonstrates a tremendous amount of potential, that the trio’s capitalized on as much of it as they have already is nothing short of astounding and “Ancient Bones” serves as remarkably compelling proof.

Listen to “Ancient Bones” below and pre-order Faye here.

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May 12, 2016

Mutual Benefit – Lost Dreamers (Music Video)

mutual benefit

Editor’s Note: There’s been a month-long gap in coverage, thanks to near-incessant travel and other extenuating circumstances. The following run of posts that contain this note will be posts that should have appeared sometime within the past several weeks. Use these posts as an opportunity to catch up to the present release cycle or to simply discover some new music. Either way, enjoy.

Back when Mutual Benefit experienced a breakthrough with the excellent Love’s Crushing Diamond, the project secured the attention of a lot of new listeners and I counted myself among that crowd. As much as I liked those songs on initial listen, they’ve grown on me exponentially over time. It wasn’t until “Not For Nothing” that a Mutual Benefit song knocked me flat (and was very nearly named this site’s Best Song of 2015).

“Not For Nothing” set an extremely high bar for the rest of Mutual Benefit’s upcoming Skip A Sinking Stone, as did its accompanying video. Thankfully, the arrival of “Lost Dreamers” quelled any doubts over whether or not Jordan Lee’s project was capable of living up to the task of matching the masterpiece that was “Not For Nothing”. A great song from the outset, “Lost Dreamers” took on even more poignancy when paired with the Ethan Samuel Young-directed music video. Separation, again, seems to be the defining crux of the song, only this time around that separation is more worldly than physically intimate.

All throughout “Lost Dreamers” there’s an acceptance of the world’s majestic sweep, that’s emphasized by erasing the human torso, allowing the viewer to get a more sprawling sense of the surroundings on display throughout the clip while simultaneously de-emphasizing our place as humans in that world. There’s a statement to be found about nature and industry but that large-scale issue is given minimum impact while the video chooses to present a more acute commentary on human perspective.

Suitably, gorgeous landscape shots comprise the bulk of “Lost Dreamers” visualization while flashes of everyday city life are integrated into the scenery in thought-provoking ways. With the palette almost exclusively leaning towards brights and tans, “Lost Dreamers” eventually registers as more of a celebration of humanity than a condemnation (while still showing a keen awareness of humanity’s potential to be irrevocably damaging).

Eventually, the formula’s switched and instead of erasing the torso, it’s the heads and hands of the people in the clip that have evaporated, subtly illustrating — once again — the importance of human perspective. By switching the focus to physicality, the clip touches on our relative meaninglessness in a way that encourages us to make the most out of what we’re given. In the end, “Lost Dreamers” stands as a moving, subversive reminder of why our own humanity matters while making a case for greater awareness. It’s a sublime piece of art that doesn’t deserve to be forgotten anytime soon.

Watch “Lost Dreamers” below and pre-order Skip A Sinking Stone here.

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May 12, 2016

WRAY – Pined (Music Video)

wray

Editor’s Note: There’s been a month-long gap in coverage, thanks to near-incessant travel and other extenuating circumstances. The following run of posts that contain this note will be posts that should have appeared sometime within the past several weeks. Use these posts as an opportunity to catch up to the present release cycle or to simply discover some new music. Either way, enjoy.

One of the most unbearably tense music videos of 2016 came by way of WRAY‘s Dillon Hayes-directed clip for the outstanding “Pined”. Expertly lensed by Hayden Mason, “Pined” plays almost exclusively to the anxious paranoia that serves as the song’s driving function. Painstakingly choreographed, “Pined” is so meticulously composed that at more than one point it becomes a genuinely unnerving experience.

A loose narrative thread begins to emerge more than full minute into the clip that may or may not  involve the occult but definitely involves an eerie woodland ceremony. At some point a series of shots involving a statue, tree branches, and a reflective body of water are interwoven to amplify the unsettling nature of “Pined” to an even greater magnitude. In the video’s closing moments, all three members of WRAY surround a cassette recorder that plays back field recordings before the POV switches to a skybound view of the trees, allowing some sunlight in, releasing the viewer from the relentless fear that imbued the rest of the clip (while letting it linger via the unanswered questions).

“Pined” is one of the more masterful videos, at least as far as classic filmmaking craft is concerned, to be released in recent memory. It’s difficult to parse, impossible to shake, and easy to admire. Tense and unforgiving, it’s a miniature masterpiece that succeeds in securing interest as it piles on a formidable amount of intrigue. As much of a short film as a music video, it’s the kind of clip you’ll want to show to your friends just so you can spend the next few days dissecting all of its potential meaning (and spend a few more hours getting lost to its spell).

Watch “Pined” below and order Hypatia from Communicating Vessels here.

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May 12, 2016

Patsy’s Rats – Rock N’ Roll Friend (Music Video)

patsy's rats

Editor’s Note: There’s been a month-long gap in coverage, thanks to near-incessant travel and other extenuating circumstances. The following run of posts that contain this note will be posts that should have appeared sometime within the past several weeks. Use these posts as an opportunity to catch up to the present release cycle or to simply discover some new music. Either way, enjoy.

Every once in a very rare while, a great song gets a great hangout clip that world-builds so effectively it’s easy to want to dive right into whatever’s being depicted onscreen and just get completely immersed in the experience. The clip for Patsy’s Rats standout single “Rock N’ Roll Friend” is that rare video. Kicking things off with a wink is the shot of someone in an Oldsmobile turning up the radio as the song swells up in the background.

What follows is a whole array of quintessentially Californian imagery: open roads, old muscle cars, skateboarding, and a quality selection of open fields. The band mimes their way through the song, throws guitars to each other, lights one on fire, and very clearly just enjoy each other’s company. It’s a video that lives in a very pure moment and it serves as the perfect antidote to the increasingly grim videos that have been populating the format’s landscape in recent times. Give it a watch (or five) and then call up some friends, take a trip, or just spend some time outside… and then do the whole thing all over again.

Watch “Rock N’ Roll Friend” below and pick up a copy of Patsy’s Rats here.

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May 12, 2016

EERA – Drive With Fear (Music Video)

EERA

Editor’s Note: There’s been a month-long gap in coverage, thanks to near-incessant travel and other extenuating circumstances. The following run of posts that contain this note will be posts that should have appeared sometime within the past several weeks. Use these posts as an opportunity to catch up to the present release cycle or to simply discover some new music. Either way, enjoy.

Back when this site ran the Best Songs of the First Quarter list, one of the more singular songs it contained was EERA‘s tremendous “Drive With Fear”, a hazy song that proved to be instantaneously gripping. Now, the song’s received a Katia Granfield-directed video, comprised almost entirely of grainy footage that manages to come across as, disconcertingly, connected and irreparably divorced.

There’s not a solid narrative function to be found in “Drive With Fear”, with Granfield instead adopting an approach more similar to what Shane Carruth managed with Upstream Color: a video designed to play directly to emotional response rather than painting a by-the-numbers plot. What’s surprising is how well Granfield succeeds on that count, “Drive With Fear” is an unsettling watch simply because of how easily it manages to evoke a variety of deep-seated feelings, playing to the songs strengths all the while.

Both a clip worth studying and worth experiencing, “Drive With Fear” winds up being difficult to shake by almost any measure. Strangely, the cognitive dissonance it creates winds up being more inviting than off-putting and, unsurprisingly, investment’s rewarded tenfold. In the end, “Drive With Fear” should be celebrated for its brave refusal to play into something easy; we need challenging art now more than ever and, by that count, this is a perfect introductory piece.

Watch “Drive With Fear” below and pick up a copy of the self-titled EP here.

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May 12, 2016

Ought – Beautiful Blue Sky (Music Video)

Ought VIII

Editor’s Note: There’s been a month-long gap in coverage, thanks to near-incessant travel and other extenuating circumstances. The following run of posts that contain this note will be posts that should have appeared sometime within the past several weeks. Use these posts as an opportunity to catch up to the present release cycle or to simply discover some new music. Either way, enjoy.

Very few acts have been as immediately intriguing as Ought, a quarter who experienced a breakthrough with the exceptional More Than Any Other Day and continued to make good on their seemingly endless promise with last year’s strong Sun Coming Down. The band’s still finding ways to promote that latter release and the heady clip for album standout “Beautiful Blue Sky” (one of this site’s picks for the Best Songs of 2015) is the most recent example.

The Bobby McHugh-directed clip seems to focus squarely on a man in crisis, which plays to the neurotic anxieties of the song to a tee. Beautifully shot by Jacob Rosen, “Beautiful Blue Sky” foregoes in easy narrative for something more ambiguous, allowing the viewer to infer and project their own personal interpretations to the proceedings. It’s a neat trick; much of Ought’s music requires investment and a sizable amount of involvement so it’s nice to have that aspect of the band catered to more directly in the visual format.

A committed performance from Matt Drews enhances the clip as he injects his character with a startling amount of emotion, whether he’s in stasis or executing a series of gorgeous lyrical dance moves. Ultimately, “Beautiful Blue Sky” stands as an invigorating piece of art not simply because of its beautiful execution but because it refuses to condescend to its audience. More often than not, those are the exact types of pieces that both beg and reward repeat visits. Be prepared to be thinking about the clip’s contents for quite some time (and enjoy all of the return trips).

Watch “Beautiful Blue Sky” below and pick up a copy of Sun Coming Down here.

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May 12, 2016

Ratboys – Not Again (Music Video)

ratboys

Editor’s Note: There’s been a month-long gap in coverage, thanks to near-incessant travel and other extenuating circumstances. The following run of posts that contain this note will be posts that should have appeared sometime within the past several weeks. Use these posts as an opportunity to catch up to the present release cycle or to simply discover some new music. Either way, enjoy.

Ever since the release of last year’s excellent AOID, site favorites Ratboys have been on a very winsome streak. The current culmination of that streak is their outstanding digital single “Not Again“, which saw the band continuing to elevate themselves into a serious force via their own organic evolution. Now, the band’s unveiled a charming music video to accompany the track.

The endearing clip, which comes courtesy of Kenna Hynes and Tiny Ship Co., finds an empowering bent in a fairly simplistic structure; the band practices, the band gets into a paint fight, and the paint fight becomes a more communal act once the band opens themselves up to the public. It’s in the latter part of the clip’s composition where the subtle, elegant metaphor kicks in and touches on the dynamic shifts from practice to performance. It’s a surprisingly elegant statement, made even more uplifting for the warmth its given in the visual treatment.

The slow-motion sequences of “Not Again” are beautifully composed and both video and song wind up in a healthy symbiotic relationship that pushes each foundation to greater heights. It’s another perfect step forward for Ratboys, who are hitting a formidable stride. More importantly, it’s a reminder that embracing music can be as important as embracing your friends (and vice versa). Funny, heartening, and just about perfect, this is a clip worth remembering.

Watch “Not Again” below and pick up the digital single from the band here.

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May 12, 2016

Deerhoof – Plastic Thrills (Stream)

deerhoof

Editor’s Note: There’s been a month-long gap in coverage, thanks to near-incessant travel and other extenuating circumstances. The following run of posts that contain this note will be posts that should have appeared sometime within the past several weeks. Use these posts as an opportunity to catch up to the present release cycle or to simply discover some new music. Either way, enjoy.

Few bands have held the capacity to surprise as readily or as consistently as Deerhoof, who have elevated themselves into legendary status by that very virtue. The band has a tendency to be abrasive and difficult to parse, which makes “Plastic Thrills” all the more surprising. A very immediate blend of proto-punk, basement pop, and sloppy garage rock, it essentially scans as the band riding a very unexpected — and completely exhilarating — sugar high.

Now, this is still  recognizably Deerhoof and there are very different sections that comprise “Plastic Thrills” but somehow the band manages to bludgeon them into something that’s not only coherent but something that sustains and builds the song’s excess energy. It’s a very sharp left turn from a band that’s perfected the move. “Plastic Thrills” is the kind of song that a lot of people won’t want to end, which injects its incredibly abrupt finish with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor that ensures a reasonable amount of people will consider this a left-field classic.

Listen to “Plastic Thrills” below and pre-order The Magic from Polyvinyl here.

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May 12, 2016

Lady Bones – Ice Cream (Stream)

Lady Bones II

Editor’s Note: There’s been a month-long gap in coverage, thanks to near-incessant travel and other extenuating circumstances. The following run of posts that contain this note will be posts that should have appeared sometime within the past several weeks. Use these posts as an opportunity to catch up to the present release cycle or to simply discover some new music. Either way, enjoy.

Lady Bones have had a fascinating trajectory. Following through a sensible progression that saw them drawing closer to a sound that their Boston-area contemporaries have all but defined, they’ve managed to carve out their own niche imprint on the varying hallmarks that make up that branch of sludge/grunge-leaning post-punk. “Ice Cream” (and all of Terse, really) is exhilarating proof.

In its opening seconds, “Ice Cream” seems like it could bloom into a sunny powerpop  number and there is a strong pop bent to the ensuing proceedings but they’re all mired in the kind of relentless darkness that encourages far more bruising sensibilities. Before long, the trio’s conjuring up an awe-inspiring storm of noises that keep “Ice Cream” hurtling toward its finale. Wisely, the band opts out of a wildly climactic moment and allows the song to vanish into its own smoke, creating an air of intrigue that effectively teases the record that houses “Ice Cream”.

Those final seconds, despite their quiet nature, speak volumes of how much Lady Bones has grown as a band. Never before have they sounded as in control or as confident as they do on “Ice Cream”, which easily registers as one of the finest songs of an impressive discography. It’s a powerful number and it goes a long way in demonstrating Lady Bones’ future is one that never ceases to look increasingly promising.

Listen to “Ice Cream” below and pre-order Terse here.

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