Posts Tagged ‘Exploding In Sound Records’

RICK RUDE – ” Slow Cooker “

Posted: October 30, 2018 in MUSIC
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Last year New Hampshire’s Rick Rude released their debut album, Make Mine Tuesday, a record that remained one of our favorites of the year from January to December. Set to follow it up next month with Verb For Dreaming, the quartet sound as vibrant as ever, with each of their three songwriters offering a distinctive yet cohesive approach to fuzzy punk and shout-a-long indie rock. It’s the sound of a band making music as a release, their collective spirits radiant in every song. Lead single “Slow Cooker” is led by bassist/vocalist Jordan Holtz, a quick fire anthem that wrestles with finding time and inspiration to create after the monotony of the everyday 9-5 life. Wish a wash of creeping distortion, Holtz’s bass line forms the melodic shape, her powerful voice bellowing over the combustible guitars and careening rhythmic churn.

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The Band

Ben Troy: guitar and vocals
Noah Lefebvre: guitar, vocals and clarinet
Jordan Holtz: bass and vocals
Ryan Harrison: drums

RICK RUDE – ” Verb For Dreaming “

Posted: October 11, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Rick Rude Verb For Dreaming Slow Cooker Origins

Rick Rude, a band we choose to believe is named after one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, impressed the hell out of us with their 2016’s Make Mine Tuesday. Now, the New Hampshire quartet are back with a brand new LP, Verb For Dreaming, which will dropkick your hearts when it lands on November 16th via Exploding In Sound Records.

Rick Rude is comprised of three different songwriters, all of whom credit their upbringing as “people of the woods, small towns and tight communities” with crafting an aesthetic that revels in the intimate. In its fuzzy blend of the loud, sloppy, and melodic, their music hearkens back to the grunge outfits that emerged from the Olympia wilderness more than two decades ago. To listen to their new single, “Slow Cooker”, is to stand alongside a sweat-flecked microphone, swaying to the dirty, distorted melodies the band crafts with smirking abandon.

Vocalist and bassist Jordan Holtz says of the track: “‘Slow Cooker’ is a song about trying to be efficient and writing music on the weekends, but in the mindset where you just finished your work week and all you want to do is relax, recharge and do everything else other than write. Writing songs is one of my all-time favorite things to do, but sometimes I feel like it takes me forever to get to a finished product due to everyday variables and distractions. This song speaks to the process of trying to get down to business for the sake of progress, but then constantly getting off-track and the never ending cycle of going back and forth between the two.”

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“Slow Cooker” was influenced by the actual process; I wanted to write a song about writing songs. In the verses, the song touches upon the song creation itself; the dependence on the environment that the song is written in and the different variables that would catalyze or slow the writing process. The chorus addresses the live performance aspect in the songwriting process and the discomfort that comes when you perform a new song live, but also the importance as the live performances continue to shape the song to its final product. Music is a massive part of my life and songwriting allows me to create and also grow as a person through working things out on paper. It is also something that I get very frustrated with, yet no matter how irritated I get, I always want to continue writing. So “Slow Cooker” was inspired by the songwriting process, but also by the love/hate relationship that I have with it.

Releases November 16, 2018

Recorded with Alex Bourne and Joe Brown at the Crawl Space in Dover, NH in the summer of 2016.

Ben Troy: guitar and vocals
Noah Lefebvre: guitar, vocals and clarinet
Jordan Holtz: bass and vocals
Ryan Harrison: drums

PILE – ” A Hairshirt Of Purpose “

Posted: December 7, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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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 Purpose streamlines 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.

KAL MARKS – ” Adventure “

Posted: November 12, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Universal Care is cathartic. Kal Marks’ are finding a release… a crushing, beautiful, absorbing release, an exploration of spirit and emotion in the hardest of times. Their latest LP, Universal Care, due out February 23rd via Exploding In Sound Records, finds the Boston trio at their most dynamic, seeping with vivid colors and sonic experimentation. Its a new approach for the band, one that began on shaky ground, an uncertainty that lead the band to create an album both brilliant and challenging. Universal Care is restless, drawing on personal hardship and these tumultuous times, taking life as it comes. The trio of Carl Shane (guitar, vocals), Michael Geacone (bass) and Alex Audette (drums), have created a record full of sonic risks and rewards, thick textures, skin crawling sludge, and hazy pop. Through unexpected twists and turns, the band capture a range of honest emotions and struggles without boundaries. Crushing distortion, atmospheric drifts, shifting rhythms, and warm acoustics all swirl together in unison. There’s a freedom in their agitation. A welcoming catharsis.

Kal Marks’ new album “Universal Care” will be released in early 2018

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Formed as a solo project over a decade ago, the band has been evolving ever since, weathering the darkness with a sense of humor and one of Boston’s most explosive live shows. Having released two critically praised albums, Life Is Murder (2013) and Life Is Alright, Everybody Dies (2015), Universal Care is a step forward, a brilliant new record that finds the band darting between their most accessible and chaotic moments with natural grace and fury. They’ve spent the past six years playing throughout the country, decimating one audience at a time,

Vocals & Guitar: Carl Shane
Bass: Michael Geacone 
Drums: Alex Audette

PALEHOUND – ” Room “

Posted: September 9, 2017 in MUSIC
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Since forming in 2014, Palehound have taken their plainspoken, technique-heavy indie rock from the basements of Boston to festivals around the world. Boston’s Palehound, lead by fierce vocalist and prolific creative force Ellen Kempner, Their second album “A Place I’ll Always Go”,  released June 16th 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.” 

Creative force Ellen Kempner is revered for her distinct, whispery alto, sterling musicianship and honest, wry lyrics. Very proud to share this new video for “Room” animated/directed by the amazing Rozalina Burkova.

Rozalina captured femme friendship/love in such a beautiful way that I feel perfectly represents the song. so lucky to have worked with her.

“Room” is taken from Palehound’s new album ‘A Place I’ll Always Go,’ out now!

Have you heard the new Lomelda album yet? I’m streaming it right now and on the verge of tears, it comes out really soon you have to check it out.

Other things you should check out are the new Tall Friend and Thunder Dreamer! Why? Because they rule AND they’re both coming on tour with us soon which is awesome.  I really can’t wait to play with/forge deeper friendships with them. I can’t wait to tour again in general, our last tour with Waxahatchee was super fun.

PALEHOUND – ” Audiotree Live Session “

Posted: September 7, 2017 in MUSIC
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Ellen Kempner of Palehound.

Palehound is the songwriting project of Ellen Kempner, who began releasing solo material under the name in 2013. She formed a touring band in the fall of that year, and released a 7″ through Exploding in Sound Records a few months later. Kempner has been lauded for clever, introspective lyricism which sits at the forefront of the band’s official debut, “Dry Food.” Nearly every note on the release was played by Kempner herself, and her personal touch lives in all eight tracks. “Dry Food” is barely half an hour, which is not for lack of material, but is a reflection of Kempner’s skillful songwriting. She doesn’t waste a single measure, dishing out somber, poignant declarations with a simple clarity of thought.

Kempner studied jazz and classical guitar at Sarah Lawrence and the influence finds its way into the core of Palehound’s style. Kempner’s guitar work is colorful, tactile, and frenetic. She noodles over hazy melodies, climbs scales, and bounces between expressive chord progressions with so much ease that it exists as an extension of herself. The way in which Kempner delivers powerful guitar work as a complement to her dark, flowering voice is where Palehound truly shines. At times she’s all-out shredding, showing her command over the fretboard while adding an uplifting edge to the track. She combines this with a booming rhythm section and creative song construction to create bedroom pop in its most refined form.

Watch the three-piece perform tracks from their debut on Audiotree Live.

Setlist:

Healthier Folk, Molly, Psycho Speak, Dry Food, Seekonk, Dixie,

Palehound perform on Audiotree Live, November 20, 2015.

BIG UPS – ” National Park “

Posted: March 10, 2016 in MUSIC
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An absolute masterpiece of a noise rock album. Big Ups is the only band that has been able to channel the spirit of the legend, Slint, and still be able to develop their own aesthetic and not just rehash “angularity”. I cannot recommend this enough.

This album sounds a little more “grown-up” than their debut LP, “Eighteen Hours Of Static”. I don’t mean that in a negative light in either direction. Their debut was ferocious and heartfelt and those qualities ring true in this release. Before A Million Universes is a bit more reserved sometimes, but in those reservations it also comes off as somewhat dark. Their evolution as musicians definitely shines as well, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Big Ups!

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BIG UPS – ” Before A Million Universes “

Posted: March 6, 2016 in MUSIC
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Big Ups Before a Million Universes

Beginnings matter and, in many cases, serve to affirm an energy or ethos that ties together an artist’s career. For punk bands, whose ethos and worldview are often stronger currency than artistic talent or output, these initial moments are used to trace back to a band’s authenticity.  This question can be reversed as well, with listeners, writers and people who generally think about music too often sizing up artists to see if their output still stands up to their original goals and points of view. And while we get the occasional Ian MacKayes, Kathleen Hannas and Steve Albinis—visionary artists who’ve stuck pretty close to the goals they set up as rather young people.

New York City post-hardcore quartet Big Ups’ journey began in a pretty mundane way: The band’s members met five years ago as music technology students at NYU. And while, somewhere along the line, they began crafting music that has a tendency to get pretty intense, they never completely let go of that mundanity—that everyday-ness. That’s not to say any of the music they create—on debut Eighteen Hours of Static or follow-up Before a Million Universes—is boring or uninspired. In fact, the band’s technical training allows them to do interesting things within a genre that’s getting up there in years. But the way vocalist Joe Galarraga attacks his subject matter, which puts capitalism and social injustice in its crosshairs, is often lyrically nonchalant.

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It’s that calloused, understated sort of reaction in lines like “Tell me what you’re worth/ salary, two weeks of work” that serves as a gateway into Big Ups’ ethos. These are four millennials, recent college students, who’ve begun to see cycles repeat themselves already in their relatively short lives. But on Before a Million Universes, their reaction seems less anger-fueled than their work on Eighteen Hours of Static; the scales of injustice serve less as infuriating surprises and more like calls to arms. Big Ups know the score; they’re just hoping to change it.

Big Ups have allowed their musicianship to evolve with them. The overall arch of louds and softs, of interchanges between mumbled, subdued sections and furious peaks of noise—that all is still intact. But the quartet clearly pumped even more work into their songwriting this time around, and the effort has really paid off. Galarraga’s words aren’t just given a vehicle to travel upon; his voice becomes one with its surroundings, allowing for a more effective attack than if the individual elements remained isolated. And perhaps that’s the point the band is trying to make: The only way we get through this is together.

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