The Brazen Youth are an indie folk-pop group from Connecticut who’ve just released a new EP called Changing. The leadoff track is a grand, slightly bittersweet song called “Hometown” that builds from a simple piano accompaniment to a full-on chorus with a cinematic arrangement. Unusually, the song doesn’t have a recognizable ABA (verse/chorus/verse) structure; the band chooses instead to repeat its “A” section several times, each time gaining momentum and emotional heft as the accompanying sound grows.
If there is one thing we can know for certain, it’s that change is uncertain. and we hope to stay well adjusted to change, but often cannot adjust fast enough. We are lucky to have experienced so much change together. Through the thick of the pandemic we bunkered down together at that farm and recorded something much more expansive than any project we’ve conquered in the past. And through that, we were not able to conquer change, but we were able to get through it. “Changing” EP is a piece of what we did last summer, and it explores the ways we had to adapt- leaving our adolescence, navigating a world of chaos,
Written by: Nicholas Lussier, Charles Dahlke, and Micah Rubin
Brooklyn trio Upper Wilds features Dan Friel (ex-Parts & Labor) on guitar, vocals, and effects, bassist Jason Binnick, and drummer Jeff Ottenbacher and is really exceptional at making fuzzy-noisy songs with big pop riffs, usually concealed within explosive sonic textures. They’ve now released the third in a series of albums about the planets, Venus, and the band is continuing their way further out as they go, planning to release a seven inch when they get to Pluto.
Friel confides that he’s still learning how to be a singer-songwriter after starting with interesting and possibly noisy textures. He prefers using the open tunings of Glenn Branca, tremolo picking, and effects that can ring and chime forever. Friel says that the lyrics just write themselves, themed around the planet named for the god of love, which also happens to be a “backwards-spinning hellscape that melts every camera we send there…”
Hear through the noise to the melodies as Upper Wilds plays very fast love songs from Venus, remotely from their practice space.
Squealy-fuzz noise-pop trio Upper Wilds throws down cathartic love songs with explosive sonic textures and insidiously catchy melodies. They play very fast songs from the album, ‘Venus,’ remotely from their Brooklyn practice space for the Soundcheck Podcast.
“Writing songs on guitar and being the front person for a band is a new thing for me,” admits Fortitude Valley front woman Laura Kovic, laughing “I’ve never been in charge before! ”With a musical restlessness setting in over the past few years during her time as the keyboard player of East London indie pop band Tigercats, Kovic might not be used to being the boss, but she doesn’t seem to be letting that get in the way. After experiencing writer’s block for a couple of years, she took the bull by the horns, as she explains, “Finally I bought a guitar in February 2018 to see if doing something different would help me…and it did!” Kovic cemented the band’s line up by recruiting mutual friend and bassist Greg Ullyart from Night Flowers, meeting bandmates Nathan Stephens Griffin (drums) and Daniel Ellis (lead guitar) of Martha/Onsind through their shared label home on now sadly-defunct indie bastion Fortuna POP!.
“I played in Mikey Collins’ band with Greg, but our first band together was a Blur cover band called Bleurgh…funnily enough, our first show was opening for Martha!” she recalls.
Named after an area of her home town in Brisbane, Australia, Fortitude Valley is a fitting moniker for the songwriter’s first outfit, who says: “It’s essentially the heart of the music scene in Brisbane, and it’s where I first played a show. As a place, it’s always had a special meaning to me.”
Combining elements of power-pop, indie-pop, pop punk and indie rock, their diverse approach takes influence from the likes of Weezer, Belle & Sebastian, The Beths, The Weakerthans, and Pavement. “In the past I’ve usually written more gentle melodic pop songs,” explains Kovic, “but I’ve tried to move away from that slightly on this album and experiment with adding more deliberate bite to my songwriting. Nathan, Daniel and Greg definitely helped to make it more punk. Compared to the other bands people might have heard me playing in, it probably has more of an indie rock vibe.”Addressing those bouts of writer’s block which have plagued her over the years, she says: “I’ve always tended to write in bursts of productivity, then go for long periods without writing anything. The strange thing about this album was that we were ready to record the last four songs in April 2020, then the pandemic hit and we couldn’t finish it, and in the intervening period I ended up basically scrapping some of those songs, and writing new ones instead. My rescue cat Margie has been a great source of inspiration!” Recording in two stints during 2019 and 2021 with a COVID sized hole in the middle, the band’s forthcoming self-titled debut album was laid down between Soup Studios in London, Rocking Horse Recording Studio in Durham, and the members’ respective homes. The album was recorded, engineered and produced by Giles Barrett and Neil Combstock, mixed by Michael Collins, and mastered by Dave Williams.
Addressing themes of the passage of time, friendships and relationships growing apart, and feelings of insecurity, depression, and anxiety—as well as searching for love and salvation—the album is very much a product of our times.With songs ranging from recent single ‘Cassini’, about the doomed spacecraft, to ‘All Hail The Great Destroyer’, a tribute to Margie the rescue cat who destroys everything for fun and is “an absolute legend”, it’s an album that’s packed with pathos, humour, and hope. “The fact that we recorded half of the album before the pandemic hit, and then the other half a year and a bit into lockdown life, those ideas of being stuck in a rut, and looking for salvation, have definitely become more prominent themes,” says Kovic, “but those were there already to some extent. Thinking about time running out has become much more real when everyone has lost a year of their lives (or much worse) to the pandemic.” And now, with time no longer seeming like such a precious and pressured commodity as we all take a step towards COVID being a thing of the past, what does the future have in store for Fortitude Valley?.
“We played End of the Road Festival in September and Twisterella in Middlesbrough in October, but that’s all we have booked in for now,” says Kovic reservedly. “I’m cautiously optimistic about being able to do more when things are safer!” As for Kovic’s continued never-say-die dedication to the underground rock scene? You can take the girl out of Fortitude Valley, but it seems there’s no taking Fortitude Valley out of the girl…
Let us introduce you to Oslo’s next big export – VEPS, who have just released their nineties fueled track ‘Ecstasy’ – which is taken from their forthcoming EP ‘Open The Door’.VEPS are four 17 year old best friends from from Oslo, Norway, that include Laura (guitar), June (bass), Maja (drums) and Helena (keys/piano) who have known each other since elementary school. The girls started playing together in middle school at the age of 14.
Helena, June and Maja knew each other since elementary school, and met Laura when they started middle school. In middle school we were making a short film together, and it was brought up that Laura and Helena was starting a band, but didn’t have drums or bass. June and Maja offered to join in (with limited experience on their designated instruments, June originally a guitarist and Maja who had never touched a drum set) Veps was born!.
The song “Ecstasy” is essentially about commitment issues and jealousy. It’s a story about a guy with commitment issues and a girl who wants him for herself. However, people can interpret it however they like.
The name VEPS means Wasp in Norwegian, and came about in a slightly cosmic and random way. “One Day while in our rehearsal room, we were discussing what our band name should be when all of a sudden a wasp came flying through the window, and we just looked at each other and yelled “VEPS”.
Our new single and music video for ‘Worth It’ are both live now on their respective platforms! A lot of us are far from perfect but we’re still Worth It! Find the link to the song and music video in our bio! We had an amazing team help us to craft this song and hope you love this release as much as we do!
From the start the riffing guitars, pounding drums, and melodic vocal lines. The band cleverly combines elements of pop punk and emo from the early 2000’s. The lyrics of the song stray away from the typical pop punk self-pitying attitude but are empowering instead. The song has a positive message to them that everyone could use. The lyrics go: “I’m worth it…There’s more to me than what is on the surface.”
Our new single ‘Worth It’ on October 1st! To shoot this video we travelled to the beautiful Mississippi River for a change from our usual scenery.
Four Stars is based in Chicago.
“Worth It/Fool’s Gold” Four Stars Music Released on: 2021-10-01
In 1994 Come responded to the difficult-second-album stereotype with the hypnotic, intense and emotional masterpiece “Don’t AskDon’t Tell”. Featuring the original line-up of Thalia Zedek, Chris Brokaw, Sean O’ Brien and Arthur Johnson, the Boston band broadened their sound by slowing down the tempos and creating a dense urban stream of consciousness that mixes noise, city blues and… catharsis. The album hits you immediately as one of the greatest dissident records ever made.
Come’s 1992 debut album 11:11 was devastating to anyone who heard it. The sound this Boston four-piece created seemed beamed in from out of the blue and into the black. Singer and guitarist Thalia Zedek (ex of Live Skull), guitarist Chris Brokaw (then also in NYC slowcore pioneers Codeine) and the rhythm section of Sean O’Brien (ex-Kilkenny Cat) and Arthur Johnson (former Bar-B-Q Killer) created a transmission of traumatic beauty markedly unlike anything else at the time, a sound you craved more of, a sound you instantly got addicted to. So waiting for the next album was torturous. And when it came in the form of 1994’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell“, beyond it miraculously managing to surpass its predecessor, the album hits you immediately as one of the greatest dissident records ever made.
Lovingly remastered, this expanded edition includes “Wrong Sides“, (Loin of the Surf/SVK/Who Jumped in My Grave/Angelhead),an additional albums worth of b-sides and unreleased tracks, (Chris and Thalia’s original demo of “German Song” and our cover of X’s Adult Books).including the band’s very first single ‘Car’ and their last recorded song, ‘Cimarron’, featuring this core line-up. These gems showcase the rawness and incredible growth of a band completely in command of their song writing and at the same time paying homage to some of their punk roots with beautiful renditions of Swell Maps ‘Loin Of The Surf’ and X’s ‘Adult Books’. Also Includes new artwork with unearthed photos and fresh liner notes by the band.
Dissident from traditional rock this is a band playing music that thematically and structurally seems to pull from old Europa, from Eastern folk and modernist classical music as much as US and UK rock. Dissident from traditional ideas about singing and songwriting Thalia’s (ex of Live Skull) presence on songs like ‘Yr Reign’ and the astonishing closer ‘Arrive’ isn’t the pushy self-aggrandizement of a lead singer but the internal voice of the eternal migrant, someone who knows about survival, hiding, how living between multiple worlds can become its own refuge of distance, its own sanctuary of unbelonging
Dig the hell out of the way the drums are mixed. Instrumental and noise rock is often at its best when holding down a subdued groove building to a methodical and profound release. That’s why this track kills. That’s why it could easily be classed as post-rock, too. Tell me you don’t also hear echoes of Bark Psychosis and Godspeed! You Black Emperor.
“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” emerged from a period of cohesion, a break from the tight and hectic touring schedule Come had been plunged into after the acclaim accorded 11:11, and you can hear that increased focus in every moment the layers of guitars and feedback are even more precise, the structuring of songs takes on a new openness and ambition, and the whole narrative arc of the record from ‘Finish Line’ to ‘Arrive’ is more exquisitely realised and sequenced.
“The songs on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell . . . had a kind of magic we didn’t necessarily control ourselves.” Chris Brokaw – interview with Neil Kulkarni, 2013.
Released on limited edition Rough Trade Exclusive 2LP red vinyl, double black LP and 2CD.
Anaïs Mitchell has announced today her first solo record in over a decade. The self-titled full-length will be available on 28th January 2022 via BMG.
As it did for many artists, the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly offered Mitchell a blank slate to reconnect with her own music. The result is a new self-titled album made with close collaborators from Bon Iver, The National and her own band Bonny LightHorseman, Mitchell’s first collection of all-new material under her own name since 2012’s “Young Man in America”.
Anaïs Mitchell has announced a new self-titled album. Her first solo record in a decade is out January 28th via BMG Records. Anaïs Mitchell was produced by Josh Kaufman and features contributions from Michael Lewis, JT Bates, Thomas Bartlett, and Aaron Dessner, plus string and flute arrangements from Nico Muhly.
“I was nine months pregnant when the pandemic reached New York, so we made an 11th hour decision to leave and have the baby in Vermont,” Mitchell recalls. “We left the city and had the baby a week later, and then like everyone, we were in the midst of this unprecedented stillness. It felt like I could see behind me: oh, there’s New York City. There’s “Hadestown“. There’s my life with just one kid. A certain kind of stress and expectations. In Vermont, we moved onto my family farm and lived in my grandparents’ old house, with a new baby. I’d look at pictures on my phone from a few months earlier and wonder, whose life was that? This record, and the songs that are on it, came out of that time. I got into a flow again that I hadn’t felt in a really long time.”
“During the first pandemic summer I was staying on the family farm where I grew up, in a little house that belonged to my grandparents when they were alive,” Mitchell stated, explaining that she moved to Vermont from Brooklyn. “I could see the stars for the first time in a long time. I wasn’t traveling anywhere, or even doing much of anything, for the first time in a long time. ‘Bright Star’ is about looking back on years of restless pursuit and making peace with the source of that longing: the Muse, the Great Unknown, the One That Got Away—those things that motivate us that we never can touch.”
Mitchell recently appeared on Dessner and Justin Vernon’s new Big Red Machine album “How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?” During the 2019 and 2020 awards season, Mitchell won two Tony Awards and a Grammy Award for her musical “Hadestown“.
“I experienced so much joy working on Hadestown, but it just kept ramping up and up and requiring more and more attention,” Mitchell admits. “I had to become so single-minded and really put blinders on to my other creative life.”
Watch the video for the album’s lead single “Bright Star” below.
Mitchell will debut the new material during various headline tours in the U.S. and Europe in 2022 (see European dates below), at which she’ll be accompanied by players from the album. On stage, she can’t wait to further hone the sights, sounds and scenes that bring the songs to such vivid life. “I’ve spent a lot of time trying to write in the voice of other characters, especially with Hadestown. It’s fun for me, but these songs are not that,” she says. “Weirdly, they’re all me. The narrator is me. That’s why it felt right to self-title the album. It felt like after so many years of working on telling other stories, now here are some of mine.”
31st August – Philharmonic Music Hall, Liverpool, 1st September – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 3rd November – Lido, Berlin 4th November – Mojo, Hamburg , 8th November – Les Etoiles, Paris, 9th November – Botanique, Brussels, 11th November – YES, Manchester , 12th November – St Luke’s, Glasgow, 13th November – Newcastle University Student Union, 14th November – Fleece, Bristol, 15th November – KOKO. London
The album includes contributions from Aaron Dessner, after Mitchell recently appeared on Big Red Machine’s new album
Elvis Costello & The Imposters have announced a new album. “The Boy Named If” is out January 14th via EMI Records. Today, Costello has shared lead single “Magnificent Hurt.” Check it out below. The new album titled ‘The Boy Named If’ is coming January. The new single, “Magnificent Hurt”, is just one of the urgent, immediate songs with bright melodies, guitar solos that sting, and a quick step to the rhythm.
The album was produced by Costello and Sebastian Krys, and, according to Costello, it’s a collection “that take us from the last days of a bewildered boyhood to that mortifying moment when you are told to stop acting like a child—which for most men (and perhaps a few gals too) can be any time in the next 50 years.”
Costello debuted “Magnificent Hurt” earlier this month on Memphis radio station WEVL. “The Boy Named If” follows his most recent LP, “Hey Clockface”. Costello has also released an EP with French versions of six tracks from that LP, plus a Spanish-language rework of This Year’s Model. Costello is currently on tour with his band, the Imposters.
The official audio for “Magnificent Hurt” from Elvis Costello & The Imposters’ upcoming album ‘The Boy Named If’, The new single, “Magnificent Hurt” is just one of the urgent, immediate songs with bright melodies, guitar solos that sting and a quick step to the rhythm.
The Fat Angel Sings 