Heartbreaking Bravery

@heartbreaking_bravery | heartbreakingbraveryllc@gmail.com | @hbreakbravery

Tag: Sooner

April 6, 2016

Watch This: The Best of 2016’s First Quarter, Vol. I

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Each of the seven volumes that comprise this Watch This package contain 25 clips apiece. Due to the sheer volume of live videos that have come out during January, February, and March all of the packages will have the same introductory paragraph. Regular Watch This segments will resume on Sunday.]

It’s been a tremendous first quarter for live videos. While Watch This, Heartbreaking Bravery’s weekly series celebrating the very best of the live video format, hasn’t been in operation for roughly three full months, the information required to keep this thing humming (i.e., checking through hundreds of subscriptions and sources for outstanding new material) has been collected at regular intervals. If they were full sessions, single song performances, studio-shot, DIY captures, transcendent songs, or transcendent visual presentations, they were compiled into a massive list. 175 videos wound up making extraordinarily strong impressions, those videos will all be presented here, in the Watch This: The Best of 2016’s First Quarter extended package, one 25-clip presentation at a time. 

Watch the first collection of those videos below.

–

1. Charly Bliss (Audiotree)
2. Julien Baker (NPR)
3. Happyness (KEXP)
4. Car Seat Headrest (NPR)
5. PWR BTTM (KEXP)
6. Kal Marks – Coffee (Allston Pudding)
7. Fern Mayo (BreakThruRadio)
8. Wolf Alice (NPR)
9. Coke Weed (WKNC)
10. Frankie Cosmos – Outside With the Cuties (Pitchfork)
11. All Dogs – Sunday Morning (Little Elephant)
12. Eskimeaux (BreakThruRadio)
13. Sóley (KEXP)
14. Ty Segall & The Muggers – Candy Sam (Conan)
15. Pinegrove – Need 2 (Little Elephant)
16. Beach House – Irene (Pitchfork)
17. Petal – Sooner (WXPN)
18. Ratboys – Collected (DZ Records)
19. together PANGEA – Blue Mirror (Consequence of Sound)
20. VANT – Parking Lot + Do You Know Me (3voor12)
21. Long Beard (BreakThruRadio)
22. Courtney Barnett – Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go to the Party (Colbert)
23. Michael Rault – Nothing Means Nothing (Out of Town Films)
24. Sleater-Kinney – Modern Girl (Austin City Limits)
25. Bo Ningen (KEXP)

1 Comment
September 2, 2015

Littler – Somewhere Else (Stream)

littler

And the hits keep coming. This past Tuesday may not have been as overflowing with worthwhile material as some recent days have been but it did unearth quite a few feature-worthy items. In the full stream category there was CITRIS‘ elegantly crafted, 90’s-indebted Panic in Hampton Bays, Mumblr‘s dark, created-in-a-day EP Super! Premium! Deluxe!, elle le fantôme’s brooding paint it blacker, and Charm School– one of the year’s best demos- courtesy of Dame. For music videos, Car Seat Headrest got the Matador era of their career off to an extraordinary start with the excellent clip for “Something Soon“, Miss June issued a strong reminder that they’re responsible for one of the year’s finest EP’s via “Student Loan“, while Hayden, Insect Ark, and Media Jeweler rounded the format’s offerings out with flair. A select few individual songs wound up creating a deep impression, a group that included Stove‘s formidable “Jock Dreams“, Miserable’s tender “Palmistry Notes“, Petal’s career highlight “Sooner“, and Fleurie’s swirling “Still Your Girl“.

While all those are worth exploring, it was Littler’s “Somewhere Else” that secured the day’s headline slot by showcasing a good band’s steady ascension to greatness. Having already established a song discography, the band’s become increasingly poised and that newfound confidence has seeped into their songwriting. On “Somewhere Else” the band takes a few risks with their dynamics and they all pay off beautifully. From the slow-burning front section to the supercharged ending, there’s never a false note. Lyrically, it’s an exploration of romantic tendency that benefits greatly from a disarmingly honest approach. With the mantra of “It’s always better somewhere else” dominating the song’s second half, “Somewhere Else” offers an unflinching reminder of the effects of longing- and secures Littler a spot as one of today’s more promising emerging acts. Sharp throughout, this is a song that demands to be heard.

Listen to “Somewhere Else” below and keep an eye on this site for more details on any forthcoming releases.

1 Comment