Heartbreaking Bravery

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Tag: Steady Waves

April 6, 2016

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

[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 seventh and final collection of those videos below.

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1. Two Inch Astronaut – At Risk Student (bandwidth.fm)
2. Bob Mould – You Say You (WFUV)
3. The Intelligence (KEXP)
4. Lever – The Task (DZ Records)
5. The Thermals – Always Never Be (Jam in the Van)
6. Saintseneca – Bad Ideas (KUTX)
7. Young Jesus – Oranges (Slanted Manor)
8. Eleventh Dream Day – Go Tell It (Sound Opinions)
9. Julia Holter – Betsy on the Roof (Strombo Sessions)
10. Mothers – It Hurts Until It Doesn’t (Do512)
11. Lucy Dacus – Strange Torpedo (Radio K)
12. Blah Blah Blah – Crying (DZ Records)
13. The Frights – Kids (Allston Pudding)
14. Caveman – Never Going Back (Jam in the Van)
15. Dan San (3voor12)
16. Test Apes (KEXP)
17. All Dogs – Farm (Slanted Manor)
18. Kitten Forever – Brainstorm (Radio K)
19. Bully – Milkman (KUTX)
20. Tancred (Audiotree)
21. PWR BTTM (NPR)
22. Pinegrove – Waveform (BrooklynVegan)
23. Mansfield.Tya – Le dictionnaire Larousse (Faits Divers)
24. Cross Record – Steady Waves (KUTX)
25. Charles Bradley (NPR)

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October 14, 2015

Sheer – Uneasy (Music Video)

sheer

Only two days into the week and it’s already overflowing with new material. Fall’s referred to as Awards Season by a sect of people primarily concerned with film but the same logistical rules tend to apply to the the music releases as well. A good placement on any notable publication’s year-end list is a huge PR boost and– depending on the publication– it can open a lot of avenues to the artists as well. This generally causes numbers to balloon in fall, in hopes that those releases stay fresh in the minds of people who have the power to genuinely affect their career trajectory.

It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, then, that the past few days have seen artists like Wildhoney, Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, Pet Cemetery, Martitime, Woozy, and Labasheeda all unveil full lengths. In addition to that Paper Trail Records released a staggering compilation, new songs from Sudakistan, METZ, Bethlehem Steel, Very Fresh, Casket Girls, Django Django, Cross Record, Martin Courtney, JEFF The Brotherhood, and Cass McCombs surfaced. While those are all worth taking in at least once, it’s a new name earning this post’s primary focus: Sheer.

Over the near two years of this site’s existence, there’s been a tremendous amount of focus on acts incorporating elements of shoegaze, grunge, early ’90s slacker punk, and basement pop. So a band that filters all of the former elements through the guise of the latter is going to have my full, undivided attention. Enter: Sheer. “Uneasy”, the music video for their forthcoming record of the same name, is Sheer’s first major piece of publicity having formed just a touch over a year ago.

The band comes off as fully formed,  bringing a strong sense of identity to the Colin McCaffrey-directed clip for “Uneasy”. Nothing feels out of place and the band’s sense of control over every aspect of their craft is impressive. Primarily a performance edit for the verses, McCaffrey heightens the band’s atmospheric half-time drop in the chorus by augmenting it with some stunning visuals and seamlessly merging the two for the song’s breathtaking bridge. Soft transitions, lens flares, and a faded color palette all lend to the palpable sense of damaged romanticism in “Uneasy”. It’s a startlingly beautiful look at a band that’s well on their way to becoming a much bigger name right out of the gate.

Watch “Uneasy” below and pre-order the band’s debut from The Native Sound here.

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