Jun 16, 2021
Evening mood
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Evening mood
A crane guards the rest of her flock, holding a rock in her claws, in a bestiary with additions from Gerald of Wales’ Topographia Hibernica (Salisbury, late 12th century–early 13th century): Harley MS 4751, f. 39r
The Trundle Sessions are back!!
Sleeping Cranes from St. Louis tears it up in their song “Laramie County Apocalypse”!
Just Paper Cranes.
Sleeping Cranes & Self-Taught Media Team Up for Collection Cassette
If you are a follower of this blog, then you are already well aware of A.J. Ward’s introsensitive americana crooning. Having been traveling, writing, and performing since 2008, Ward has amassed quite the impressive catalogue under the Sleeping Cranes moniker. The best of said extensive catalogue is now being released on cassette under the wing of Self-Taught Media.
Self-Taught Media, headed up by Josh Milligan (formerly the brains behind Waybridge Records) and Austin Miller (ex Tradewinds, ex Your Favorite Doorman, ex Reliable Show Promoter) is an “independent record label/printing service operating as an antithesis to traditional music industry ideals.”
Knowing what Josh was getting done with Waybridge and the strides he and Miller are already making with Self-Taught (They have already premiered cassettes from the fantastic bands Cocoba and Foxtails), this project is only going to keep getting cooler as time goes on. Check out their website and order the new Sleeping Cranes cassette below!
http://selftaughtmedia.limitedrun.com/
Biased STL Best of 2015
Bet you thought the year end lists were over huh? We went and put this list of 2015 favorites together as a nice little new years treat. Enjoy!
David Shanle (New Lives)
Title Fight - Hyperview
Turnover - Peripheral Vision
Envy - Athiest's Cornea
Foxing - Dealer
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Drug Church - Hit Your Head
Defeater - Abandoned
Drug Church - Swell
Beach Slang - The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
Dikembe - Ledge
Superheaven - Ours is Chrome
Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
Microwave - Stovall
Dan Mendenall (Bike Path, Old Mountains, Skinner, Biased STL)
10. Turnover - Peripheral Vision
Remember when Turnover sounded like just another band that really wanted to be Title Fight? Well, Peripheral Vision is the album that Title Fight wishes Hyperview was. This album has a very distinct sound, crossing the bridge between emo and dream-pop. Turnover have(ahem) turned over a new leaf and have learned how to build an incredibly atmospheric record. "Dizzy On The Comedown" sounds like it belongs on a million high school mixtapes. Occasionally, the songs can kind of blur together but that's kind of the asthetic of the record. Overall the record is just solid front to back and honestly is a really soothing listen, even if almost all of the lyrics deal with break ups, depression and anxiety.
9. The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Harmlessness
TWIABP is one of the biggest bands of the so-called emo revival but what they did on their latest LP Harmlessness was make a huge indie rock record. With sprawling soundscapes full of strings, horns, keyboards in addition to your traditional guitar/bass/drums rock set up, they've done something really special. Dave Bello has finally learned how to actually sing, which made the listening experience so much more enjoyable and they let keyboardist Katie Shanholtzer-Dvorak take some vocal duties on what is my absolute favorite thing TWIABP has ever done "January 14th, 2014". When she sings "But don’t you quiver/I am an instrument/I am revenge/I am several women" I get chills every time. There's a definite Modest Mouse influence on this record, which is always a good thing (especially since MM's record this year was awful). There's moments of extreme jubilation and crippling self doubt. They really run the gamut on this record. It might be the best record to come out of the emo revival.
8. Hop Along- Painted Shut
Have I told you about how much I love Hop Along? If not, have you ever actually talked to me before? Get Disowned is one of the greatest records of this generation, that's all I'll say about it because I can go on for hours. BUT Painted Shut is their follow up to that perfect record. Honestly, I knew deep down that I wouldn't love it as much as Get Disowned and that's totally ok. Painted Shut took a lot of ideas that Francis Quinlan and company were toying around with on Get Disowned and streamlined them into a pop record. As is usual with HA, Francis's voice is the main attraction. Her range is just phenomenal and I don't think there's another person on this planet that could sing these songs like her. Lyrically, she writes about some of the most unique things ever, like on opener "The Knock", which is about Jehovah's Witness's and how one visit emotionally effected Francis. "Horeshoe Crabs"is probably my favorite track on the record, it reminds me a lot of Good News era Modest Mouse, and Francis's voice absolutely soars when she sings "They used to find me pitching horeshoe crabs back into the sun." The only problem I have with the record is that it's nowhere near as adventurous as Get Disowned but I mean that's a very small complaint.
7. Kendrick Lamar- To Pimp A Butterfly
If Good Kid M.A.D.D. City proved that Kendrick Lamar is one of the best rappers of this generation, To Pimp A Butterfly has cemented him as one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. Saying this record is ambitious is an understatement. It's nearly 80 minutes long, most of the songs deal with racial politics and during times when racial tensions are the highest they've been in decades, this a record that feels as important as any folk record that came out of Greenwich Village in the early 60s. The production flirts with free jazz, soul, rock and r&b in addition to your typical west coast Dr. Dre style beats. Kendrick raps in so many different voices, that if you didn't know, you might think that there's more than one rapper on every single track. Speaking of which, Snoop drops one of his best verses in a decade on "Institutionalized", which sadly doesn't sample Suicidal Tendencies. Some of the most powerful moments in music have come from Kendrick Lamar this year from the reveal of this album cover (which I assumed would be WAY more controversial than it actually was) to him performing "Alright" on top of a destroyed cop car while tattered American flags waved on the BET awards, which caused a minor shitshow for Republicans, to watching video of Black Lives Matter protesters in Cleveland chant the chorus of "Alright" at the police. Simply put Kendrick Lamar has crafted one of the greatest and most important hip-hip records of all time.
6. Beach Slang- The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us
After putting out two EPs last year, this was one of my most anticipated records of the year and it didn't disappoint at all. Beach Slang are basically punk rock Goo Goo Dolls and their lyrics are corny as hell but somehow they make it work so well. "Ride The Wild Haze" sounds like it was picked right off of Dear You and is easily the best song on the record. The entire record sounds familiar from the second you put it on, and that might be the fact that Beach Slang are a nostalgia driven band but whatever it is, it has me hooked.
5. Between The Buried And Me- Coma Ecliptic
BTBAM put out a fucking Queen record. Coma Ecliptic is FINALLY an album that I can show to someone who would normally be turned off by 90% of any BTBAM album and have them actually listen. Don't get me wrong, it' still heavy and still has blast beats and break downs but Tommy "My Name Belongs In A Comic Book" Rodgers utilizes his singing voice more than his growling one by like 60/40. There's tons of weird poly-rhythms and sweep picking but there's also a ton of piano on every track. There's lots of Pink Floyd-ish soundscapes that lead into straight metal parts. These guys might be the most talented band in metal right now. I mean, of course they're all freaks of nature technically but they can make someone like me who doesn't have an attention span for most albums over 45 minutes enthralled for a full 70 minute Rock Opera.
4. Dollar Signs- Yikes!
Dollar Signs sound like a panic attack. The entire record seems to be about either being uncomfortable with growing up, getting dumped or having a panic attack, which is essentially what 2015 was for me. Singer Erik Button pours out his anxiety over every single song. He has a knack for getting away with making some of the most hilariously depressing lyrics I've ever heard like "If Kanye West feels alone sometimes, what hope to I have?". Also I think that "I Hope I Don't Fuck This Up" is the cutest god damn song ever written. "Holiday Inn" perfectly describes going to The Fest from "You're making out with a girl you just met, and then you stop to text your girlfriend" to the line about doing Shooies. I almost feel like this band is just singing about me. I mean they have a song that's hook is "I'm giving up on punk, Bomb The Music Industry! broke up." and a song about a 15 year old named Dan wearing a Cannibal Corpse shirt to a family function (I'm sure I did that at least once) but I guess every mid-twenties punk dude is exactly the same. This album is hilarious, sad and extremely cathartic.
3. Shinobu- 10 Thermidor
Shinobu just straight up blew me away this year. For some reason I never listened to them or even knew that Mike Huguenor (of Hard Girls) was their singer(if I had known that I definitely would've listened). From the second I put the record on I was absolutely hooked. Shinobu have a very distinct meld of pop-punk and indie rock that almost sounds like it could've been sucked right out of 1996 alternative radio (think "Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger). Every track is better than the next. Opener "Untitled Micheal Haneke Project" laments watching your friends become successful, while you're toiling away in relative obscurity in the punk scene ("Does it ever pay to be true? I don't wanna be true. Please don't let this be true"). "Violence House" is another highlight. It's a song about parental (maybe sexual?) abuse that really reminds me of Combat Rock era Clash. After as serious and revealing as "Violence House" is, it's followed up with a song that would fit on an early BTMI! album, called "Jokes". The title track closes out the album in epic fashion, clocking in at over six minutes. Lyrically Mike Huguenor is as on point as I've ever heard him and musically there's not a single misstep.
2. The Mountain Goats- Beat The Champ
John Darnielle is without a doubt one of the greatest storytellers in music history, up there with Tom Waits and Johnny Cash. His lyrics paint portraits of a couple falling apart, two kids who started a metal band, someone going to kill their lover, the story of his own life, but on Beat The Champ, Darnielle tackles a pretty odd set of characters. Beat The Champ is a record that is completely about wrestling. From Chavo Guerro to Bruiser Brody (and his untimely death) to characters that he just made up. This album just sounded fun from the first time I heard about it and it didn't fail to deliver. The Mountain Goats can be pretty morose and aren't a band that I usually associate with being a "fun" band but songs like "Foreign Object" and "Choked Out" simply are just that. The former being lead by thick brass and the latter almost reminding me a punk song. As bright and poppy as some of the tracks on here are, there are tracks that are just as dark as anything on Tallahassee. "Stabbed To Death In San Jaun" tells the story of Frank Goodish aka 70s and 80s wrestler Bruiser Brody who was stabbed by a fellow wrestler before a match. "Werewolf Gimmick" tells a tale of a wrestler who has taken kayfabe too far. The opening track "Southwestern Territory" may be the most haunting track on the entire record. It tells the story of every professional wrestler and musician: being in the only person awake in a vehicle on a desolate highway in the early hours of the night and reflecting on all the things you're missing ("I try to remember to write in the diary/that my son gave me.") Beat The Champ is the best record the Mountain Goats have released since The Sunset Tree.
1. Jeff Rosenstock- We Cool?
I can't really express my love for Jeff Rosenstock properly. Bomb The Music Industry! is one of my favorite bands of all time and his solo career has been a continuation of everything BTMI! was doing before they broke up. The themes are all pretty familiar but the musical ideas are all way more streamlined. There's not many bleeps or bloops, the first song "Get Old Forever" is the closest we get to a BTMI! song and that's totally ok. As usual Jeff Rosenstock goes the extra mile to incorporate a ton of genres. Some songs are straight up Weezer worship like "Novelty Sweater", there's a bunch of pop-punk ("Hey Allison) and "Beers Again Alone" is a country song with distorted guitars. I honestly don't think this guy is capable of writing an album that I don't love.
A.J. Ward (Sleeping Cranes)
10. Dollar Signs - "Yikes"
9. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats - "Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats"
8. Desaparecidos - "Payola"
7. Jason Isbell - "Something More than Free"
6. James McMurtry - "Complicated Game"
5. Father John Misty - "I Love You, Honeybear"
4. Furlough Noir - "Sleepy Prayers"
3. The Mountain Goats - "Beat the Champ"
2. The Tallest Man on Earth - "Dark Bird Is Home"
1. Sufjan Stevens - "Carrie & Lowell"
Dan Ruzicka (Skinner, Old Mountains)
Blacklisted - When People Grow, People Go
Early Worm/Party Favors - Split EP
Foundation - Turncoat EP
Frank Turner - Positive Songs For Negative People
Harms Way - Rust
Jeff Rosenstock - We Cool?
Kublai Kahn - New Strength
Looming - Nailbiter
New Lives - In Passing EP
Rotting Out - Reckoning EP
Senses Fail - Pull The Thorns From Your Heart
Simply William - 2nd EP
Smooth Talkin Perverts - Show Me
The Story So Far - The Story So Far
With a special shout out to The Arctic Monkeys' debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" from 2006. Listened to this album for the first time in a very long time and I still love it.
Max Sandza (Lobby Boxer)
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Jeff Rosenstock - We Cool?
TWIABP - Harmlessness
Auras - Crestfallen EP
Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
Jr. Clooney - EP
Mutoid Man - Bleeder
Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$.
Periphery - Alpha & Omega
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Luca Torretta (Bike Path, Old Mountains, Skinner, BiasedSTL)
ALBUMS Beach Slang - The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us Metz - II Jeff Rosenstock - We Cool? Pears - Go To Prison Deafheaven - New Bermuda Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly The Velvet Teen - All Is Illusory Jamie xx - In Colour Youth Decay - The Party's Over Drug Church - Hit Your Head Torche - Restarter Turnover - Peripheral Vision Ceremony - The L-Shaped Man Freddie Gibbs - Shadow Of A Doubt Timeshares - Already Dead Mick Jenkins - Wave[s] Go Deep - Influence
EPS/SPLITS Jr. Clooney - EP Rozwell Kid - Good Graphics Everything Went Black - Night Terrors Teen Death - Drag/Dark Life New Lives - In Passing Every Time I Die - Salem Guerilla Poubelle/Arms Aloft - Taches Noires Vivantes/Living Black Spots The Japanese House - Clean Early Worm/Party Favors Split EP LifeWithout/Oakwood Estate Split EP Zao - Xenophobe/Fear Itself Iron Chic - Ys Dryjacket - Lights, Locks, & Faucets
OTHER NOTEWORTHY JAMS Grimes - "Kill V. Maim" The Black Queen - "Ice To Never" Desaparacidos - "The Left Is Right" Coheed and Cambria - "You Got Spirit Kid" Mark Rose - "Well & Diet" Justin Bieber - "What Do You Mean?" Looming - "Cotton Tongue" Le1f - "Koi" Intervals - "Meridian" KEN Mode - "These Tight Jeans" Old Wounds - "Actual Nothing" The Wonder Years - "Cardinals" Malfunction - "Drift" Better Off - "Suicide Island" The Press War - "I'm So Bored With Us" Defeater - "Spared In Hell" Senses Fail - "The Courage of an Open Heart" After The Fall - "Indian Ladder"
Part two of Calvin Tiger's interview with A.J. Ward of Sleeping Cranes.
Calvin Tiger did a great, in-depth interview with A.J. Ward of Sleeping Cranes. Check out part two now!
Here's another great Trundle Session from Sleeping Cranes! Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!