indie rock

Record #687: Greet Death – New Hell (2019)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

And so, we move from a record by  Explosions in the Sky to a band named after an Explosions in the Sky song.

Over the last several years, there’s been revival of sorts in bands realizing the power of loud guitar amps and dirt pedals. Cloakroom seems to be at the front of the pack of this type of revival, with bands like Lume and Teenage Wrist shortly behind. It’s a reminder of what bands like Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins so popular, mixed with a heaping dose of My Bloody Valentine tossed in, with Black Sabbath for flavor.

Michigan’s Greet Death is another great new act in this crop of fuzz-loving guitar bands, and they are coming for the crown.   Continue reading →

Record #684 – Cloud Nothings – Attack On Memory (2012)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

There was once a point in my life where most of my music was discovered through Pitchfork.com’s Best New Music section. Trashy hipster hellscape Pitchfork may be, I made a number of great discoveries there, such as Grizzly Bear, Diiv, St. Vincent, and even Deafheaven.

I mention this only because for the life of me, I don’t understand how I missed this album when it came out, as highly regarded as it was by the publication that I held in such high regard. I know I gave it some listen, but there must have been some sort of denseness to it that demanded a closer inspection that I always intended to give it, but it was always just outside my grasp.

But a few days ago, I decided it was finally time for that deep dive, and what a rewarding dive it’s been.

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Record #681: Better Oblivion Community Center – Better Oblivion Community Center (2019)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Few songwriters are as prolific and profound as Conor Oberst. In fact, it was his album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning that first convinced me of the power of a songwriter and an acoustic guitar (and turned me from a punk rocker to a folk singer for a few years in college).

Outside of his work with Bright Eyes, though, nothing has grabbed me. Desaparecidos was a great punk band, but that’s never what I listen to him for. The one-off supergroup Monsters of Folk was a supreme disappointment (apart from “Dear God”). The Mystic Valley Band was pleasant enough, but failed to make much of an impression.

But then there’s Better Oblivion Community Center, his songwriting duo with the equally profound and prolific Phoebe Bridgers, which is his best work in almost a decade.

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Record #652: Late Bloomer – Things Change (2014)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

To further showcase just how much I’ve been slacking on this blog, this record was sent to me at the same time as Jet Black’s wonderful L’Ere du Vide, which I got before Christmas.

Admittedly, it was a little hard for me to give this record the time it deserves, buried as it was under a deluge of Christmas records that I was spending more time with. But as I’ve listened to this bit of rambunctious alt-rock, I’ve fallen in love with it.

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Record #651: Jet Black – L’Ère du Vide (2018)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

As broad as I like to think my musical tastes are, there are times that I might actually be pretty predictable.

Take for example my love of dark, guitar heavy, shoegaze inspired indie rock. So infamous am I for my love of this aesthetic that around Christmas, a friend messaged me this album on Spotify saying I would probably like it.

Later that same day, another friend sent me a vinyl copy as a present.

They were both very correct.

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Record #644: Blonde Redhead – 23 (2007)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

As much as I try to stay atop notable new releases, it’s inevitable that some will escape my attention for a while.  In this case, “a while” is twelve years, as the first listen I gave to Blonde Redhead’s magnificent 23 was just last week.

And what a waste it’s been, because this would have been one of my favorite records from my college years if I discovered it earlier. It’s the perfect mixture of thick My Bloody Valentine-y textures, Radioheady beat work, and grade-A pop hooks.

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Record #637: Narrow/Arrow – Middle Children (2015)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

The first time anyone sees Narrow/Arrow, their eyes are drawn to the same thing…Cody Nicolas’ second guitar, clamped to a keyboard stand in front of him. Everyone speculates as to its purpose, but no one is prepared when they see him play both guitars in tandem.

Naturally, that visual is completely lost in an audio format—which is why it’s a good thing that Narrow/Arrow relies more on quality songwriting and composition than on live gimmicks.

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Record #631: The Ataris – Welcome the Night (2007)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

For an artist, growth is a funny thing.

On the one hand, no one wants to hear the same record released year after year. On the other, what happens when an artist grows into something unrecognizable?

Such is the plague of pop-punk demigods The Ataris’ fifth full-length, which was such a sharp left turn that the Wikipedia page says that “the group abandoned the pop-punk label.”

And while this record might seem like a huge curveball to anyone looking for So Long Astoria, Pt. 2, the sonic legacy of this record can be traced all the way back to their earliest records.

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