Worriers | Heartbreaking Bravery

August 29, 2015

PWR BTTM – West Texas (Stream, Live Video)

PWR BTTM III

A lot can happen over the course of two days. Bringing an already stacked run of days to a close, Thursday and Friday continued to unearth a wealth of gems, including a trio of strong records from Naomi Pop, Funeral Advantage, and Gold Class. No less than 16 great new songs emerged from a variety of acts including Salad Boys, Laura Stevenson, SPORTS, Josh Ritter, Field Trip, Ricked Wicky, Adir L.C., Boys, Chris Walla, Ghosts In Pocket, Psychic Handshake, Cœur de pirate, Mos Def (ft. Ski Beatz), Speedy Ortiz (covering The Cardigans), Shunkan, and Destroy This Place. Music videos made a strong impression as well, with outstanding new clips from Diet Cig, Alex G, Worriers, The King Khan & BBQ Show, DRINKS, Flowers of Evil, Ali Barter, and A Place to Bury Strangers. On top of all of that, the run of days also yielded another look at PWR BTTM’s extraordinary forthcoming record, Ugly Cherries, by way of “West Texas”.

Over the past three months, PWR BTTM have gone from a quick few mentions on this site to being one of its most celebrated featured acts. A lot of that can be traced back to the band’s incendiary live show but most of it has to do with the fact their recent songs have been nothing short of astonishing. The band’s upcoming full-length debut, Ugly Cherries, already had one of the years best songs (the record’s title track) released to kick off the rollout campaign and now it’s being followed by the equally powerful “West Texas”.

All of PWR BTTM’s usual characteristics are on display throughout the song, from the inventive structures to the sharp playing to a lyric set that pushes honesty to a level that feels defiantly confrontational. Benjamin Hopkins and Liv Bruce trade vocal leads with a fluidity that betrays the duo’s already uncanny connection and the song makes the absolute most of its runtime, landing every blow it throws with a vicious intensity. Harmonic riffing, power drumming, and a bevvy of immediacy help make “West Texas” a standout track but, as is nearly always the case with PWR BTTM, their melodic and lyrical sensibilities push this into a realm that not a lot of other bands have even attempted to occupy. Sardonic, sincere, and singular, it’s another perfect example of why PWR BTTM deserves as much conversation as possible.

Listen to “West Texas” below and pre-order the record from Father/Daughter and/or Miscreant ahead of its September 18 release. Beneath that, watch a video of the band performing the song (along with “Short-Lived Nightmare”) at Shea Stadium.

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August 10, 2015

Watch This: Vol. 89

Welcome to an extremely late night (early morning?) edition of Watch This– the weekly series that celebrates some of the week’s best performance captures. With 2015 already feeling overstuffed, I’ll forego the usual honorary mentions round-up and simply present the five best captures to have surfaced this week. From site favorites to series favorites to new faces, there’s a fair amount of material to cover. Pro-shot presentations get balanced out by some lovingly lensed DIY clips and- as always- all of the performances contained within those videos are outstanding. So, pour a drink or fix some breakfast, ease in, adjust the volume, focus up, and Watch This.

1. Sleater-Kinney – Bury Our Friends + Entertain (Pitchfork)

The unexpected resurgence of Sleater-Kinney was one of 2015’s first great musical moments and the reverberations from its impact are still being felt. Recently, the band- by all accounts- absolutely owned Pitchfork this year with a monstrous day 2 headlining set that overshadowed Wilco’s Star Wars marathon the previous night and Chance the Rapper’s hometown celebration as the fest’s final headliner. Even just from the two-clip sample contained below, “Bury Our Friends” and “Entertain”, its abundantly clear that Sleater-Kinney are one of the best live bands on the planet right now. A note to other bands splitting bills with the revitalized legends: don’t feel down, feel fortunate you get to be a part of something that can’t help but feel just a little unprecedented.

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2. Worriers – They/Them/Theirs (Don Giovanni)

Imaginary Life came out a few days ago, immediately registering as one of the year’s best punk efforts. Even with a collection that strong, “They/Them/Theirs” stands out. Personal, timely, and deeply impassioned, it’s a clarion call for a marginalized sect. The band played their release show at The Knitting Factory last Friday and brought the same verve, force, and resilience to their performance of their song of the year candidate. Scrappy and thrilling, it’s one hell of a showcase for the band’s collective talent.

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3. The Trims – With You + Bright Lights City (Jam in the Van)

Every now and then, Jam in the Van will resurface with a session that hits a sweet spot for this site and their recent capture of The Trims found that mark. Bridging post-punk and indie pop hallmarks, the quarter’s landed on a sound that’s unusually compelling when considering their pop-oriented proclivities. Subverting anthemic by-the-numbers move at just about every turn, their music manages to come off as cinematic while still feeling like an outlier. Moody, vibrant, and occasionally bruising, the group seems primed for a breakout and ready to greet whatever may come their way.

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4. Young Jesus – Baked Goods (A Fistful of Vinyl)

Young Jesus are no strangers to this site. Ever since releasing their best-of-decade contender Home (a record I simply can’t recommend strongly enough), they’ve been on my radar. The past few years have been a transitional process for the band following their relocation from Chicago to Los Angeles. Earlier this year, the band released the excellent Grow/Decompose and they seem to be settling into their new era quite nicely. Earlier this week, the band unveiled even more new music via a taping of a raw, fiery performance, courtesy of A Fistful of Vinyl. Bold, bloodied, and not even a little glossy, “Baked Goods” is presented in a manner that feels intrinsically connected to the band’s DIY ethos. It’s a startling watch and a strong reminder of how much beauty can be found in imperfection.

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5. SOAK (NPR)

It only seemed like a matter of time before Bridie Monds-Watson wound up making an appearance at NPR’s Tiny Desk and now that the moment’s finally arrived, the fit somehow feels even more natural than expected. Here, Monds-Watson’s SOAK project turns in a trio of songs and an impressive array of warm, humorous asides. The closing two numbers, “B a Nobody” and “Wait”, sound as fine as they ever have and “Sea Creatures” proves to be the perfect introductory piece for the set. Grounded and contained, it skews towards the kind of intimacy that the tiny desk was built to elicit from its performers but continues to prove elusive to a fair number of their acts (Monds-Watson namechecks Angel Olsen’s session, who hit extraordinary heights in regards to the series’ intended intimacy and caused the first major Watch This dilemma by pitting that session against an unforgettable La Blogotheque capture, which wound up securing the spot in that particular installment). All things considered, it makes sense for Monds-Watson to feel trepidation about performing in such a vaunted space but now that everything’s said and done, it’s clear that the SOAK session resides comfortably in the series’ upper echelons.

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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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July 30, 2015

Heat – This Life (Music Video)

This summer, Thursday’s have offered up a glut of outstanding material vying for coverage and today’s field was no different. Since there are nearly two dozen titles to touch on, they’ll be listed by virtue of artist and the represented format before moving onto the featured item. As usual, the single streams category proved to have the most productive release slate and included great new tracks from Hazel English, Sleepy, Infinity Girl, The Chills, Dark Palms, Wavves, Night Flowers, Willis Earl Beal, Blank Realms, and Air Waves. Music videos found some entertaining life via clips from Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Pet Cemetery, Kalle Mattson, Pink Frost, The Atom Age, and Pearl Charles. Topping everything off was a strong group of full releases that included releases from Worriers, Nice Legs, Fox Academy, Fog Lake, Suis La Lune, and Two White Cranes.

A lot of those band names are new to the site and Heat, who have today’s feature spot, are yet another new addition. Still riding high on the surge of last year’s excellent- and overlooked- Rooms EP, the band are now offering up a stark black-and-white clip for the release’s lead-off track. Using a minimalist approach to the visuals, director Jimmi Francoeur takes a few cues from some of Anton Corbijn’s formative work to create a sleek, engaging performance-sync clip. A room setup that’s clever in both construction and lighting lends an air of sophistication to the visually striking clip, while still allowing the bulk of the emphasis to fall on “This Life” itself, a punk-indebted powerpop number that cribs influences from a variety of other genres and sculpts it into something that manages to be both familiar and refreshing. In short: it’s a knockout from a band that deserves more attention than they’ve received.

Watch “This Life” below and pick up Rooms here.

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June 29, 2015

Nervosas – Parallels (Stream)

Nervosas have been one of the bands this site’s been pushing since it first came into existence. One of the only bands to be granted an On the Up feature, they’ve finally managed to erase any doubts on whether or not they’d be able to follow up their outstanding debut (which very nearly topped my list for Album of 2013) with their just-unveiled sophomore LP, once again entitled Nervosas. They’ve impressed live, cultivated a dedicated following through a tenacious touring schedule, and gained the respect of just about anyone currently operating in or along their circuit.

When they’re not on the road, they’re ensuring Cleveland remains an unlikely hot spot for DIY punk, and now- just ahead of their next official release- they’ve finally captured the attention of national media. Unsurprisingly, the attention’s warranted and couldn’t have come at a better time; their new material’s retained it’s morose tendencies while remaining blisteringly energetic. One of the best examples of this is their recently released single, “Parallels”, a characteristically ferocious post-punk ripper that embraces its gothic sensibilities and shows off the trio’s considerable musical ability. It’s a shot in the arm that’s arriving when that might be what we need most.

Listen to “Parallels” below and stream the entirety of Nervosas over at Noisey ahead of its release on Dirtnap. Underneath the embed, listen to 10 other outstanding tracks to have surfaced in the past two weeks.

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Worriers – Plans
Lazyeyes – Fractals
The Atom Age – It’s A Mess
Mas Ysa – Arrows
Heaters – Kamikaze
Best Behavior – Buried On A Mountain
Adult Mom – Told Ya So
Gothic Tropic – Puppet Master
Tenderhooks – I Weakened at the Weekend
The Castillians – You & Me

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May 22, 2015

Worriers – They/Them/Theirs (Stream)

There were a lot of great items that were released over the past week and, as such, this will be the first of many posts coming throughout the weekend. Each one will have a featured piece and approximately four other releases included with whatever’s in the title. To that end, before getting to Worriers’ impassioned career highlight “They/Them/Theirs”, we’ll be taking a look at some other memorable songs- and one great EP- that are worth hearing. Among them, Big Star’s Jody Stephens’ new project Those Pretty Wrongs and their lovely “Lucky Guy“, Spirit Club’s compellingly gentle basement pop tune “Fast Ice“, and theweaselmartenfisher‘s unbelievably stunning “Daguerrotype Reboot“. Add in Trophy Dad’s Shirtless Algebra Fridays EP and it would already have been an impressive quartet with four worthy potential features. Then, of course, there was “They/Them/Their”, a blistering basement punk tune that’s both a pointed commentary on gender roles and easily Worriers’ finest work to date.

Lauren Denitizo lays out the songs terms from the onset with one of the year’s best opening lines in “You’ve got a word for one/so there’s a word for all”, before capping that verse off with “what if I don’t want something that applies to me/what if there’s no better word than just not saying anything”, delivering a stark, no-bullshit narrative for the respect all people’s identities deserve to be met with in under 20 seconds. Of course, it’s only a fragment of what, even with no lyrics, would have been the sharpest music of Worriers’ expanding career. The lyric set, which serves as one of 2015’s most arresting, just sweetens the deal. Even brought down to the chorus’ “We are floating between two ends that don’t matter” (a sentiment that articulates in one line what Tica Douglas’ Joey managed to create a compelling album around) , “They/Them/Their” becomes Worriers’ implicit clarion call.

We’re currently in the midst of a landscape that’s changing for the better, allowing for greater empathy and humanism. It’s a shift that’s being met with derision from the people who feel challenged by the changes. Worriers have always had their patch of land picked out and their flag stuck in the dirt. Now, they’re delivering the most eloquent reasoning for why they’re in the right and laying out the reasons to follow their path. I’ll be on their side of this movement every time. Which side are you on?

Listen to “They/Them/Their” below and keep an eye out on this site for more news on Imaginary Life, Worriers’ forthcoming album, which is due out via Don Giovanni on August 7.

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February 19, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 13

Again, sincerest apologies on the delay involving this 13th installment of Watch This. What would regularly run on Sunday was pushed back this week due to an obscene overabundance of material that needed some serious navigation. When the realization of the source of last week’s excess of material could be traced back to two events, things became a little more manageable. Now, at least for this week, there will be three standalone videos and the final two spots will be occupied by video playlists; one being the Marked Men weekend, the other being the Don Giovanni showcase. Brooklyn, you had a surreal wealth of incredible music this week, worthy of anyone’s envy. For all of those videos, as well as a few more, watch everything posted below.

1. Dog Day – Sandwich (exclaim!)

Kicking off the series this week is Dog Day, a quartet whose sound is steeped in shoegaze aesthetics without ever crossing the line into that genre. Instead, they offer up a very singular take on brooding post-punk that carries a lot of noise and no wave heft. As for the band’s performance, it’s detached to the point of being eerie, effectively elevating the sense of unease. A very strong, very curious, introduction to a band that has a decent shot of gaining a very faithful following.

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2. Sandrider – Gorgon (KEXP)

HOLY FUCK.

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3. Porches. ft. Frankie Cosmos – Fog Dog (Live at Woodbury)

Porches. continue to impress every time the project surfaces. This fan-shot performance clip of “Fog Dog” may actually be the most arresting material to come from Porches. to date. It helps that Frankie Cosmos vocals lend the whole thing an almost unbearable lightness. A genuinely gorgeous piece of entertainment- and the ending? One of the most endearing things to have shown up in any kind of film this year.

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4. The Marked Men Weekend (Live at St. Vitus)

So, the other weekend an enormous wealth of material consumed Brooklyn and lit the NYC punk community on fire three times over. A large, large, part of this was the three sets that reclusive basement punk icons The Marked Men graced the city with, bringing along an assortment of their friends to share the moment. All three of The Marked Men’s sets were captured in full by the always-reliable unARTigNYC, who also filmed single clips of the support acts; Tenement, Radiator Hospital, Worriers, Kim Phuc, Iron Chic, Future Punx, and Shellshag. Those clips appear in that order and are all worth watching (especially Tenement, who will get an emphasis on here whenever there’s an appropriate excuse, and Radiator Hospital, whose Something Wild was one of 2013’s very best).

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5. The Don Giovanni Showcase

While The Marked Men weekend was happening over at St. Vitus, the Don Giovanni showcase was going strong just a stones throw away. There were a few bands that made appearances at both (Tenement, Worriers, and Shellshag) and made sure the wealth was lovingly spread across the city. Now, Don Giovanni’s a record label that’s earned a lot of mentions here by virtue of their roster, one of the strongest in DIY music. While not being able to attend was painful, it’s easy to tell that it was an incredible time from the videos that were presented by Don Giovanni themselves. Curiously, sets/songs from the explosive combination of Screaming Females and Tenement were left out (though a performance of “Doom 84” in Cleveland has been tacked onto the playlist- along with the previously-mentioned Shellshag medley– because as long as this video playlist cheating is taking place, why not cheat a little more?) along with a few others but there’s still a lot to love here.

Contained in the playlist are the following: Nude Beach (who absolutely lit Quarters Rock N Roll Palace up in Milwaukee last July with Midnight Reruns and Tenement), Black Wine, Groucho Marxists, Priests (especially Priests, who, as one of the most original and exciting bands in music, are going to be given a lot more words here in the very near future), Vacation (a few members of which have found growing success in their other incredible band, Tweens), Worriers, Nuclear Santa Claust, California X, and, as mentioned, both Screaming Females and Shellshag. Watch it all below and buy a goddamn guitar already.

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