Hope y’all are getting through what feels like the longest January ever. I along with House of Nod have made a new music video for “Carnations” that I’m really proud of and super happy to share with y’all. I’m usually really nervous/uncomfortable on camera but between House of Nod and the AMAZING dancers I was too busy having my mind blown to be nervous 🙂 I hope y’all like the video
Palehound is the lo-fi indie rock project of Boston-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Ellen Kempner. Kempner came to music early, writing her first songs at the age of ten. Citing influences like Elliott Smith, Angel Olsen, and Kim Deal, her songs are confessional and often caustic with a wry, offbeat edge. While studying music at New York’s Sarah Lawrence College, she released her debut EP, Bent Nail, on Exploding in Sound Records.
A quirky mix of grunge-folk and ’90s-influenced indie, the release garnered some buzz and Kempner eventually dropped out of school to focus her efforts on songwriting and recording Palehound’s first full-length. Working with producer Gabe Wax (Wye Oak, Speedy Ortiz) and a newly minted rhythm section of drummer Jesse Weiss and bassist Nick Koechel, Kempner recorded her first LP, Dry Food, which was released in the summer of 2015 by Heavenly Records. After switching over to Polyvinyl in early 2017, Palehound have followed up with A Place I’ll Always Go, a reflective album about love and loss.
The death of a loved one is an inevitable aspect of life for everyone, but we’re never quite prepared for it. Whether it’s unforeseen or expected, it’s always a shock that can send us reeling when it happens. Ellen Kempner, the Boston-based songwriter and guitarist of Palehound, understands this firsthand. In relatively close succession last year, Kempner experienced the sudden death of one of her close friends and, later, the decline and passing of her grandmother. “I have been pretty lucky my whole life up until now to have not lost anybody significant to me,” Kempner tells NPR. “It’s always been one of my biggest fears: losing family or a friend … Honestly, the only way I could think to make sense of it was to write songs about them, for them, and about myself in the midst of it all.”
On A Place I’ll Always Go, the forthcoming follow-up album to Palehound’s superb 2015 debut, Dry Food, Kempner documents this tragic period of her life in revealing detail, channeling her grief into compassionate and relatable songs that mull over love, mortality and the lingering ache felt with their absence. She also grapples with the overwhelming, sometimes at-odds floods of emotions and guilt that arise when attempting to get back to everyday life — which can often feel insignificant in the aftermath of loss, but is crucial to healing.
The results can be heard on the new album’s galvanizing first single, “Flowing Over,” which both captures Palehound’s trademark sound — scrappy and buzzy guitar rock, bolstered by Kempner’s dexterous riffs — and, thanks to the band (which now features drummer Jesse Weiss and bassist Larz Brogan), also offers some darker, nuanced shades that evoke the album’s themes.On “Flowing Over,” Kempner is as direct and personal as ever. “And I know your words are sugar but now’s not the best time for me / I’ve got teeth with roots down to my feet,” she sings before careening into the cathartic chorus, “Flowing over ’til I’m empty!”
Kempner says she wrote “Flowing Over” as “kind of a callout to myself to get my act together. I have really bad chronic anxiety and always find myself doing things that perpetuate it, like listening to a sad song when I’m already super down. It’s a masochistic habit I have of psyching myself up so intensely that I explode and then spend the rest of the day feeling helplessly exhausted.” And while Kempner describes listening to sad songs in order to feel better, “Flowing Over” feels like the type of song people might turn to in their own tough moments.
When coupled with a fantastic music video, “Flowing Over” takes on a different meaning. Featuring the Boston League Of Women Wrestlers (or BLOWW), the video, directed by Jay Buim, depicts a group of women and non-binary wrestlers preparing for a match: They suit up into wild, colorful costumes and evocative makeup; assemble their DIY ring; and do some stretches. And then it all erupts into an all-out, action-packed melee — full of flips, chokeholds and pummeling faces into mats. While the ferocious, fun exuberance matches Palehound’s heavy power chords and gnarly hooks, the video also infuses the song with a message of inclusion and empowerment.
In a statement to NPR, Kempner reflects on the video’s origins:
The first time I saw BLOWW perform, their energy was so intoxicating that I couldn’t get them out of my mind for days. Watching other women/non-binary people exert so much of their time and energy into their passion, I immediately felt inspired to step up my game.
“Flowing Over” is taken from Palehound’s album, A Place I’ll Always Go, out June 16th, 2017.
As part of Palehound, Jesse Weiss became in a key figure in Boston’s flourishing DIY scene, the band scooping the city’s coveted Boston Music Award back in 2015 following the release of their brilliant ‘Dry Food’ LP. Appearing here in something of a supergroup, alongside fellow Bostoners Jack and Alec Pombriant (We Can All Be Sorry) and Nicole Pompei (Bat House), Weiss adds another gem to his back-catalogue, the quartet delivering a brilliant eight-track collection under their chosen Be You Me guise , via the Super WimpyPunch label.
Drifting between those little cluster of genre aesthetics that lend themselves so well to DIY records of this nature – from subtle guitar refrains, to noisier moments of scuzzy pop magic – the band’s self-titled effort makes for a fully endearing escape. Those aforementioned experimental moments lend the record a hard-cutting edge that’s perhaps not immediately apparent, digging themselves in over repeated listens, a vice-like grip that results in something of an unsteady listen, moments of sunniness immediately hidden behind a blanket of clouds, brightness suddenly plunged in to the dark.
Above all, however, Be You Me is a righteously enjoyable ride. The guitars gleam throughout, and the push-and-pull of the vocals, while somewhat heady and disorientating, attach themselves to you like a best friend you’ve never been abl to keep a hold on. A sumptuous, woozy record, that deserves to exist on its own two feet, regardless of the collective nature of those that came to make it, we suggest playing this one as often, and as loud, as your situation permits.
Hey, just wanted to let y’all know that spook the herd has released some newish recordings that will end up being our last. even though these were recorded way back in 2015 and we haven’t really been a band for quite some time, figured it was best to just get these out there than let them sit forever. moving forward Abe Kimball is working on a solo album that is awesome and almost done. plus, Theo Hartlett, Morgan Luzzi, and i are working on a new project that we are going to record real soon. anyway, hopefully you enjoy these new/not that new songs
Growing up in Boston, Rachel Platten recalls harmonizing with her family to finely crafted pop songs – from Sam Cooke to The Beatles – that dominated her parents’ vinyl collection. As a teenager, Rachel gravitated towards, and began to become affected by, hip-hop and female singer-songwriters. “My CD collection was Tori Amos and Patti Griffin but then A Tribe Called Quest and Nas.” The commonality between the two seemingly different genres: confessional and vulnerable songwriting. Singing in various bands in New York Rachel went solo and booked herself on a coffee shop tour before collating her demos into an album and releasing single “1000 Ships” on an indie label. Her first single through Columbia “Fight Song” followed in 2015 and Wildfire is available now.
There’s an unofficial debate between Pile fans about whether they’re better as a live band or a record band. The Boston rock act excel at each, hence why the question is fun to ponder, but A Hairshirt of Purpose felt like an unexpected response to that question. Instead of leaning into the misaligned duelling guitar riffs and inimitable drums of the band’s past catalog, Pile tried their hand at segue songs and lush viola parts, giving the album a sense of cohesion that doesn’t try to mimic their live ricocheting. It’s an intense, emotion-spanning listen of a record, all carried by frontman Rick Maguire’s cryptic lyrics that, once again, teeter near the edge of insanity — which means outbursts of mania, like those on “Fingers” and “Hairshirt”, come with an even bigger payoff.
Boston’s Palehound, lead by fierce vocalist and prolific creative force Ellen Kempner, has announced the sophomore album “A Place I’ll Always Go”, released in June on Polyvinyl Record Co. The collection is a frank look at love and loss, cushioned by indelible hooks and gently propulsive, fuzzed-out rock. As Kempner explains, “A lot of it is about loss and learning how to let yourself evolve past the pain and the weird guilt that comes along with grief.”
This year has really probably been the best year of my life, especially as a musician. I can honestly say that almost every show was great. At the end of 2016, right after recording A Place I’ll Always Go, I was feeling super anxious and unsure about touring a lot. Playing shows and travelling used to make me feel super vulnerable and paranoid. I can truly say that this year has turned my relationship to touring around and I feel the opposite about it, I am so excited to tour more. A lot of this is because ya’ll were so amazing and supportive and made us feel really special at shows. Thank you so much for that. Cannot wait to tour with Weaves in February, I love that band a lot and have a really good feeling about that tour.
Also wanna say that this wraps up our first year with Larz touring with us. Jesse and I have been touring together for 3 years and the addition of Larz to our band has been hugely awesome for us. I love Jesse and Larz so much and can’t wait to keep working with them on touring and new material.
Happy holidays, hope everyone has a pleasant end to their year. Sending extra love to all the beautiful people reading this who may have a hard time with the holidays and going home to family.
Love, Ellen
By now, we’re pretty well aware of what genres blend together well. Mixing stoner metal with prog-rock’s sprawl with hints of psych isn’t totally new ground, but few do it as well as Elder, and Reflections On A Floating Worldis easily their best record yet. Elder is a three-piece heavy psych band hailing from Boston, USA. Their lengthy songs are told as stories, unfolding and undulating across genre boundaries and into new kosmische territory.
Reflections of a Floating World is Elder’s fourth full length album and second LP released via StickmanRecords (EU) and Armageddon Label (US). Long, undulating and dense tracks float between psychedelic passages and progressive rock without missing a beat; adventurous and unpredictable songs are punctuated by hypnotic jams, all colored by the tendency toward melody and dynamism that has become the band’s hallmark. In keeping with their motto of expanding and expanding upon their repertoire, guest musicians Mike Risberg and Michael Samos joined the core three in the studio to add extra guitar, keys and pedal steel, adding vibrancy and lushness to the album. In all regards, Reflections shows a band with a clear vision honing their skills with every year.
Pile is a rock band, but it plays its songs even the most beautiful, heartbreaking ones as if they were horror films, packed with jump-scares and cliffhangers. Songs swell, building to all-consuming washes, or running right up to the edge of a cliff to dangle there precariously. That type of uneasy adventurousness has always been part of Pile’s makeup, but A Hairshirt Of Purposestreamlines it, offering the most nuanced record of the band’s career while still working in moments of explosive, fiery rage. Tracks like “Fingers” or “Rope’s Length” may be built on simple chord progressions, but they’re manipulated in ways that feel excitingly alien, subverting post-hardcore’s standard loud-to-quiet tonal shifts. Hairshirt is both lovely and ugly, even when—especially when—it doesn’t make a lick of sense.
“Texas” by Pile from the “A Hairshirt of Purpose” LP, out now on Exploding in Sound. Directed by Adric Giles.
Pile is still killing it with songs that can be both blisteringly intense and beautifully melodic. The lyrics continue to confound and amaze me. There’s something I can’t quite place about this album that keeps me coming back to it. It took several listens to the album to make me see past the obvious beauty of ‘Leaning on a Wheel’ and ‘Rope’s Length’, but consider me engrossed.
If you’re hoping to score some life tips from Camp Cope’s sophomore LP How To Socialise & Make Friends, you might want to look elsewhere.
“It’s not like an instructional album. Like I don’t know how to socialise or make friends,” frontwoman Georgia Maq admits . The Melbourne trio are about to follow their acclaimed, self-titled debut with a record that’s even more raw than the first, if that’s even possible.
“In the last one we had like a couple a harmonies and like a gang vocal and this one is just like fully stripped back, there’s nothing,” Georgia says. “Everything was done just really quickly, how we like it, and I think I don’t care as much for this album. I don’t care what people think.
“I care less because I’m happy with what we’ve done and so anyone else’s opinion doesn’t really matter.”
When shesays “really quickly”, she means it. The album was written in a couple of months, and recorded injust two days(though half a day longer than the first). In fact, drummer Sarah ‘Thommo’ Thompson says she booked the tour for this album before a single word was written.
“[We] went ‘Uh oh, now we have to record it’ and we just went to the same place we did last time, just booked two days with nothing written knowing that if we didn’t have dates to aim for we wouldn’t do it,” Thomo says.
The album is totally done now, though we’ll have to wait until March to hear it.
gmaq – vocals/guitar
kelly- lead bass
thomo – drums
Pre Oreders for ‘HOW TO SOCIALISE & MAKE FRIENDS now if you’re in australia, hit up www.poisoncityestore.com to check out the different colour options, along with this lovely tee designed by Celeste Potter, & the first ever camp cope stickers. friends throughout the rest of the world! run for cover have a different range of colours for you to choose from over at http://www.runforcoverrecords.com available to order now. thanks so much to everyone who’s helped make this possible, we are stoked for you to hear it
The Fat Angel Sings 