Young Jesus | Heartbreaking Bravery

Lady Bones have had this site’s attention ever since sending over a copy of their split with Horsehands last year, and while that release presented Lady Bones as a band with enormous potential, it still would have been hard to predict the direction they take for their latest single, “Botch”. Before diving into their bold stylistic revision, there’s quite a bit of material to catch up on that came out this week. Both this post and the ensuing post will have a handful of songs and full streams that will be featured and, as ever, all of them will be worth hearing. For the sake of time, they’ll all be listed with no other context given than that they’re exceptional pieces of art that deserve attention. Full streams: Toner’s self-titled, Needle Exchange’s Is This My Program?, Really Big Pinecone’s Embrace the Boss, Vexx’s Give and Take, The Barbazons’ Avec Plaisir, Nicolas Jaar’s Nymphs II, Diamond Youth’s Nothing Matters, Liza Anne’s Two, and Young Jesus’ Grow/Decompose (which will likely be making a few more appearances on here as time drags on). Songs: Sorority Noise’s “Art School Wannabe“, Expert Alterations’ “Midnight Letters“, Deaf Wish’s “Eyes Closed“, Anna B Savage’s “III“, Bad Meds’ “Hoax Apocalypse“, Vundabar’s “Chop“, and Ratboys’ “Tixis“. Seek all of them out; they’re linked here for a reason. “Botch” is also the featured song for a reason: it’s a monumental step forward for one of today’s more compelling bands.

Eschewing any semblance of sunnier sensibilities to take a plunge into a realm that sees them shoulder to shoulder with Kal Marks and Pile at their darkest, Lady Bones seem to have tapped into something that many bands have attempted (and failed) to capture. Embracing bleak, Gothic-tinged post-punk to an unprecedented degree, Lady Bones sound completely rejuvenated. It takes them less than sixty seconds to establish this sea change before exploding out into an impassioned furor. For three and half minutes the band provides a masterclass in refined dynamics (with an emphasis on tension) and engage in a total rebirth. There’s an unbridled passion that runs deep in “Botch” that seems set to tie over to the band’s upcoming full-length, the provocatively titled Dying. As a standalone single, “Botch” has enough punch to brand the name Lady Bones into the memory of just about anyone who crosses its path- but where the mystery kicks in is how it fits into the larger puzzle. If all of Dying can sustain this level of grim determination and near-feral energy, then Lady Bones may have a bona fide album of the year contender on their hands. With a battering ram of a track like “Botch”, it’s only a matter of time before they start turning some heads.

Listen to “Botch” below and pre-order Dying ahead of its June 3o release date from Midnight Werewolf here.

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May 12, 2015

Young Jesus – Milo (Stream)

If it wasn’t fairly clear that Grow/Decompose was one of this site’s favorite records of 2015, allow me to clarify: Grow/Decompose easily ranks among the best things I’ve heard over the past two years and this post won’t be the last time it sees coverage here. Premiering the record’s teaser trailer was an honor and the trailer itself was a great indication of the band’s growing ambition. Hellhole Supermarker will be releasing the record on May 13 but “Milo” definitely warrants a closer look before the rest of the songs are revealed. Before exploring that song, though, there are several other brilliant tracks from this past week that deserve to be heard. Those songs? Whitewash’s “Member“, Seacycles’ “Commando“, Pale Honey’s “Lonesome“, Everything Everything’s “Regret“, Communions’ “Summer Oath“, Daughn Gibson’s “It Was Everything“, Sea of Bees’ “Dad“, Prurient’s “Frozen Niagra Falls (Portion One)“, and Oscar’s “Beautiful Words“. All of them are linked for a reason; they’re compelling pieces of art that deserve to be celebrated as much as possible. Another one of those pieces, of course, is Young Jesus’ “Milo”.

As Grow/Decompose‘s penultimate track, “Milo” already occupied traditionally fertile ground for emotive slow-burners- especially ones that reach breathtakingly climactic moments. As signal-bearers go, that’s a strange mark but “Milo” comfortably occupies a space with the most exemplary tracks to fall into that niche category. Grow/Decompose, much like Home– the band’s previous masterpiece, is a record that makes no qualms about being emotionally-driven. While Home certainly felt personal, “Milo” takes that sense of voyeurism to new heights in the quiet, arresting opening. “He sees your daughter in a sundress/eating oranges alone. He feels the love of a father/a love his brother ignored. But he is fumbling with a bottle/because it makes sense just to hold. But don’t you worry while he’s using/it just makes everything slow.” is about as devastating as introductory scene-setters can possibly manage to be. John Rossiter, the band’s guitarist/vocalist, delivers those opening lines in a broken, vulnerable tone that makes them feel uncomfortably realistic, haunted, and lived-in. The instrumental break that follows feels near-euphoric but is tethered to a sense of weariness that prevents it from feeling too celebratory. It’s an extraordinary track that acts as Grow/Decompose‘s narrative endpoint before “Dirt“, the record’s sprawling epilogue, closes things out. Even though “Dirt” is strong enough in its own right, it allows space for “Milo” to resonate and for the listener to recollect themselves after the severe gut-punch of “Milo”, one of the band’s best tracks in an already astounding catalog of stunners.

Listen to “Milo” below and pre-order Grow/Decompose ahead of its release from Hellhole Supermarket here.

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April 28, 2015

Bent Denim – Good Night’s Sleep (Music Video)

After a ridiculously packed month of material and a few small campaigns, this site’s nearly caught up on songs and music videos. There are 18 songs to get to and ten videos that aren’t contained in this post’s headline. What is going to be the primary focus of this post is also one of the best clips of the year (and possibly the decade) but we’ll get to that in due time. Before then, we’ll start with the lion’s share of the pre-feature coverage: single streams. Since there are so many, I won’t go into too much detail in listing the attributes that make them great, just know that they are genuinely great. In no particular order those songs are: Young Jesus’ “Dirt“, Fort Lean’s “New Hobbies“, Sweet John Bloom’s “Tell Me“, Chelsea Wolfe’s “Iron Moon“, Battle Ave.’s “Solar Queen“, Diamond Youth’s “No Control“, Colornoise’s “Amalie“, Spraynard’s “Bench“, and The Trendees’ “Motorcycles (Make Loud Noises)“. Joining that already formidable pile were Crosss’ “Golden Hearth“, Jack + Eliza’s “Oh No“, Elliot Moss’ “VCR Machine“, Lull’s “Bubble Tea“, Porcelain Raft’s “All In My Head“, Stranger Wilds’ “Pronoia“, Ezra Furman’s “Lousy Connection“, Mike Viola’s “Stairway to Paradise“, and Inheaven’s “Slow“.

Much like the songs listed above, the music videos over the past week or so have covered a similarly expansive musical spread. Among these videos were Something Anorak’s absurdly lush “I Am A Doctor“, Heaters’ retro dancehall exhibition “Mean Green“, ANAMAI’s extremely unsettling “Half“, Iron & Wine’s surprisingly beautiful indie wrestling fever dream “Everyone’s Summer of ’95“, and Palma Violets’ gleefully raucous “English Tongue“. Also included in this run were Ceremony’s stark career highlight “Your Life In France“, Jamie xx’s slow-burning, jaw-dropping “Gosh“, Death From Above 1979’s wild-eyed Amish party clip “Virgins“, The Rentals’ eerie, foreboding “It’s Time To Come Home“, and “Keep Your Stupid Dreams Alive“- a comically psychedelic animated adventure from The Prefab Messiahs. And then there was Bent Denim’s devastating, unforgettable “Good Night’s Sleep“.

Abortion has always been- and likely always will be- a difficult subject to address. Treatment either empathetic or unerringly sympathetic has rendered some recent works (like last year’s outstanding Obvious Child or The Antlers’ wrenching “Bear“) into pieces of art equipped with a lasting resonance. It’s the same reason that Ben Folds Five’s “Brick” has retained its value as an emotionally difficult piece of pop culture and it’s why the deeply-felt clip for “Good Night’s Sleep” is nearly impossible to watch without feeling emptied. After one viewing, it’s difficult to return to the video’s thesis shot: a vacant child’s swing, rocking gently in silence. It’s an arresting image that sets the tone for the ensuing emotional onslaught. Intertwining two visions (a la Derek Cianfrance’s masterpiece, Blue Valentine)- one decidedly more hopeful than the other- Bent Denim present a vision that cuts in a manner that’s brutally immediate.

Accentuating the video’s sense of pain and longing is the home video visual aesthetic, which suits the gentle tones of the song to a sublime perfection. All in all, “Good Night’s Sleep” is an intensely compassionate, moving portrait of both sides’ turmoil following what comes off as a difficult decision (one via audio and one through the clip, which features a gripping performance from its lead). In either case, the emotions are so palpable that the whole thing feels uncomfortably voyeuristic and intensely harrowing. It’s a situation that’s more familiar than most parties would let on but it’s rarely presented as delicately or as realistically as it is in “Good Night’s Sleep”. At the clip’s conclusion, to drive everything home in a way that’s definitively final, the viewer’s returned to the thesis image: a lone child’s swing, once projected to be full, once again swaying in silence.

Watch “Good Night’s Sleep” below and order Romances You from the band’s bandcamp.

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March 24, 2015

Young Jesus – Grow/Decompose (Album Teaser Premiere)

Back in September, the newly-relocated Young Jesus teased their forthcoming record with a punchy tune called “G”, which earned quite a few kind words from this site. It was a riveting look at what the band had in store after their last full-length, which is one of the finest records to have come out of the upper Midwest in the last several years (and a record I have no problem calling a masterpiece). Home was Young Jesus’ first major statement and it wound up doubling as a victory lap for their time in Chicago. Now based in Los Angeles, the band’s fine-tuned their sound and there’s a staggering maturity that’s present in Grow/Decompose, which is due out May 13 via Hellhole Supermarket. A few days ago, the band uncovered a little more of Grow/Decompose by unveiling the record’s opening track, a fragile acoustic-driven number that builds in intensity entitled “E.M.P.“. It’s a telling glimpse at what will undoubtedly stand as one of this year’s many great releases.

Today, it’s my honor to present the album teaser for Grow/Decompose, which stays in keeping with the band’s DIY ethos while simultaneously emphasizing their growing ambitions. Set to the melancholic instrumental “Father Son”, the teaser was animated and shot by guitarist/vocalist John Rossiter, whose unique artistic vision is on full display. As calming landscapes and swirls of colors fly by, a message begins to appear: WE ALL DISSOLVE TO THICKER DIRT THAN WE HAVE EVER KNOWN AND IN THE DIRT THERE GROWS A VINE GOD LABELED HOLY GHOST. It’s an arresting message that comes with a twinge of a more foreboding nature as “Father Son” begins to dissolve into an increasingly atonal warning. Mesmerizing, surreal, and deeply intriguing, the teaser’s a fine match for the record it’s promoting. Unyielding in its artistry and set in its convictions, it’s everything that makes Young Jesus one of the most exciting bands out there- and it’s just part of what will make Grow/Decompose a record that will be remembered fondly for years to come.

Watch the teaser for Grow/Decompose below and keep an eye on this site for more updates on the record.

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December 7, 2014

Watch This: Best of 2014 (Video Mixtape)

Live music videos never seem to get the emphasis they deserve. It’s part of why Watch This was created; to celebrate stunning documents of equally stunning performances. A good band can make a great record but a truly great band usually excels in the live setting. With 2014 winding to a close (and with another 100 posts in the past), it seemed appropriate to start reflecting on some of the year’s best offerings. Lists of LP’s, EP’s, 7″ releases, and more will be forthcoming but today the focus will fall on live clips. And, yes, 2014’s not quite over yet and there will be a few weeks worth of live clips to consider (in addition to the past few weeks, which will be focused on in the posts immediately following this one) and “best” is still subjective- but the videos contained in this mix were simply too good to just feature once. If there’s enough material, an appendix will be added around the start of next year.

To be eligible for this video mixtape, the videos involved had to have been previously featured in Watch This and not contain an interview sequence. Full sets were ruled out as well (with a lone exception being made for one of 2014’s best videos in any capacity to provide a sense of closure to the proceedings). These videos were pulled in from as many places as possible with only Chart Attack, La Blogotheque, and Little Elephant making repeat entries (with two each). From the painfully gorgeous (Mutual Benefit, Angel Olsen) to sublime perfection (Radiator Hospital, Little Big League) to the absurdly impressive (Kishi Bashi) to the most electric late night performance of 2014 (Ty Segall), there’s a little something for everyone. 25 clips are included and listed below, with a hyperlink provided to their respective installments in Watch This‘ always expanding catalog. Since this brings the site to another 100 post mark, hyperlinks will be provided to posts 300-399 for anyone interested in checking out past material. With all of this exposition out of the way, there’s really only one thing left to do: sit back, focus up, and Watch This.

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1. Audacity – Counting the Days (Jam in the Van) — vol. 24
2. Greys – Guy Picciotto (Chart Attack) — vol. 24
3. Radiator Hospital – Fireworks (BNTYK) — vol. 51
4. Ovlov – Where’s My Dini? (Little Elephant) — vol. 23
5. Frankie Cosmos – Embody (Radio K) — vol. 55
6. Mean Creek – My Madeline (Wondering Sound) — vol. 19
7. Joanna Gruesome – Anti-Parent Cowboy Killers (BTR) — vol. 51
8. Sweet John Bloom – Aging In Place (Allston Pudding) — vol. 48
9. Emilyn Brodsky – Someone Belongs Here (TCGS) — vol. 28
10. Mitski – First Love // Late Spring (bandwidth) — vol. 43
11. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Jubilee Street (ACL) — vol. 54
12. Sharon Van Etten – Serpents (Pitchfork) — vol. 40
13. Mutual Benefit – C.L. Rosarian (Bruxelles Ma Belle) — vol. 19
14. Angel Olsen – Enemy (La Blogotheque) — Vol. 11
15. Kishi Bashi – Philosophize In It! Chemicalize In It! (WNYC) — vol. 29
16. Little Big League – Year of the Sunhouse (Little Elephant) — vol. 45
17. Screaming Females – It All Means Nothing (Audiotree) — vol. 27
18. Ty Segall – Feel (Conan) — vol. 40
19. Dilly Dally – Candy Mountain (Chart Attack) — vol. 51
20. Cloud Nothings – Now Hear In (Amoeba) — vol. 57
21. MOURN – Otits (Captured Tracks) — vol. 53
22. Courtney Barnett – History Eraser (KEXP) — vol. 34
23. Lee Fields – Don’t Leave Me This Way (La Blogotheque) — vol. 54
24. Jenny Lewis – Slippery Slopes (KCRW) — vol. 52
25. Saintseneca (NPR) — vol. 38

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September 6, 2014

Young Jesus – G (Stream)

In 2012, Chicago quartet Young Jesus quietly self-released Home, which was astounding on first listen and improved with subsequent listens. Now, with the benefit of distance, it’s easy to cite it as one of the best records of the decade’s first half. Earning its longevity through a delicate balance of the genuinely mournful and the defiantly celebratory, it occasionally wound up coming off as a much more self-aware and contained version of Funeral. There was nothing overly bombastic about it- or anything that suggested grandeur that neared the over-reaching. While those elements were certainly present, they were given equal footing with an underlying minimalism; burying large ideas in a decidedly niche presentation without ever losing their focus.

After the release (and extremely warm reception of Home by the people fortunate enough to hear it), the band fell understandably silent- emerging out of the shadows to play a one-off show on the rarest of occasions. Following up near-perfection isn’t an enviable task- or one that can be taken lightly. Thankfully, the clouds have been slowly parting and the band’s begun to make some calculated moves, the most notable of which is their relocation to Los Angeles. Another that deserves some serious consideration is the addition of a keyboardist, which allows them to broaden an already impressive sonic palette.

“G”, the first song to be teased from the band’s upcoming Grow/Decompose (that’s the artwork, up above) gets one thing out of the way very quickly; this is still a band that’s defined by the city that birthed them. There’s a very prevalent strain of relatively downtrodden post-punk that’s helped characterize Chicago over the past several years that’s been best exemplified by bands like Young Jesus and Shy Technology. That they haven’t sacrificed that sound in the wake of their move is a welcome affirmation of their own identity. All of the other key elements of their best works remain in tact as well, from impressive arrangements and individual song structures to the never-ending arsenal of memorable turns of phrases that can be found in their typically extraordinary lyric sets.

If there was any doubt of the band losing any of its punch after re-assembling out West, “G” annihilates those notions almost as soon as it starts playing. Opening with a character-heavy dialogue (another of the band’s more prominent traits) of: “Neil sits alone outside in a motel in the summer, he checks his phone, checks when a friend is coming over” it’s abundantly clear that the band’s lost none of their verve in what, by all logic and reason, should be a transitory stage. By the time they land on the line “he makes a joke about how fucking ain’t for lovers” in the midst of unraveling Neil’s existential crisis under a microscopic lens, “G” has already entered the conversation for their best song. Unfailingly melodic, unrelentingly impassioned, and frightening personable, this is Young Jesus at their best and bodes well for what’s to come.

While Grow/Decompose has yet to land an official release date, it seems to be safe to say that whenever that occasion does arise, it’ll be a great day for music.

Stream “G” below, download Home (an essential must-own) on their bandcamp, and check back here for additional updates in the coming weeks (or months).

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Heartbreaking Bravery

Tag: Young Jesus

May 15, 2015

Lady Bones – Botch (Stream)

May 12, 2015

Young Jesus – Milo (Stream)

April 28, 2015

Bent Denim – Good Night’s Sleep (Music Video)

March 24, 2015

Young Jesus – Grow/Decompose (Album Teaser Premiere)

September 6, 2014

Young Jesus – G (Stream)