Conversation: Jeremy Warden Of Double Grave

(Double Grave by Tessa Loeffler)

(L to R: Seth Tracy, Bree Meyer, & Jeremy Warden)

Well hello everybody. Welcome to Flatbasset's first ever interview!

If you've been following the blog for the last couple of years (or even the last couple of days), you probably know that I'm a tremendous fan Minneapolis rock band Double Grave. Dating back to their early days as Ego Death I've been following their career and playing their songs on the podcast at every opportunity.

Just last Friday (4/27) they released the latest EP Empty Hands on Forged Artifacts (cassette) and Sad Cactus (7"). It's a straight-ahead ripper of a four song EP clocking in at just 10 minutes and I highly suggest you purchase it today and listen to it later today. To support Empty Hands the band is somehow mounting both a quick tour of the Midwest as well as holding down a residency at the Kitty Cat Klub each Tuesday in May beginning 4/1.

To mark the occasion I reached out to Double Grave singer/guitarist Jeremy Warden to see if he was interested in chatting a little bit about the new EP & the upcoming shows. He was kind enough to trade e-mails with me.

Flatbasset: How does it feel to have Empty Hands out in the world? Do you feel any nerves on release day?

Jeremy: It feels great! We took our time letting this out in the world, so, we definitely all feel relieved to finally show it to people. Release day wasn't so nerve wracking this time because we didn't have a show, our release show is two days from when I write this and I'm sure we'll all be a bit nervous then just hoping everyone has a good time and we play well, but we're mostly just excited and grateful about everything regardless. 

FB: Why did the band decide to release an EP rather than save the songs for a larger project?

JW: That's a good question! Mostly we just wanted to make a 7". It's just a band goal we had because we all enjoy the format and thought it'd be fun to make one of our own, something short and fun and loud. Our last record was sort of a slow burner, very melancholic and cold, and that was what we wanted but when we play live it's a bit more quick and noisy, so representing that side of us on a release also felt important moving forward.

FB: On a related note - Were the songs on Empty Hands written specifically with this specific project in mind?

JW: I think I answered this above but yup basically! Some other songs were written at around the same time but those will see their own release some future day probably.

FB: What was the impetus behind doing a dual release with Sad Cactus & Forged Artifacts?

JW: There are a few reasons I was excited about the dual release. Primarily, I genuinely admire what each label has been doing recently. This is our second release with Sad Cactus, they helped out with our last record and we have made some good friends through them, some of my favorite releases of recent years are from fellow cacti.

And I would say the same about Forged Artifacts, they had an incredible catalogue of music last year.

Sad Cactus is mostly an East Coast operation, which has been fun for us, but we also take a lot of pride in being from the Midwest, and I think Forged Artifacts is one of, if not the coolest Minnesota label, so I've wanted to work together for a while. Since we wanted to release the EP on two physical formats (7" & Cassette) I thought each label could take on one side of things and all together make something really exciting.

FB: Do you have a preferred medium for new music?

JW: Honestly I don't even know. Music is everywhere these days. I do love physical artifacts of music. I love to hold it in my hands and knowing that it's mine and I can listen to it whenever I want, it won't disappear off the internet or in a lost hard drive. And I appreciate the different effects formats have on music. Like, having listened to our EP on three formats, it's wild hearing how different each one sounds.

I started getting into tapes because my van has a tape player and that's my favorite place to listen to music, and tapes offer a certain power to DIY bands that I appreciate, because of their cost and compact size. In my life though, the biggest sign of appreciation for a record is buying the LP if that exists. CDs are cool, but, I just always break them somehow. But let's be real I mostly stream stuff on Youtube and Bandcamp.

FB: Lyrically, with a few exceptions, the songs on Empty Hands are more personal than political? Do you ever have to fight the urge to get political or is that just not something that seeps into your songwriting?

JW: To me Empty Hands feels political in a sort of ambiguous way. But you're right we're not an overtly political band. This EP is more about feeling lost and doubting yourself than anything else. I've mostly written about feelings and questions and haven't tried to spread any sort of message. I have a hard time being really direct in lyrics, in terms of a specific political point. I feel that it locks the song in a time and place, and if a song is going to live a long life with people, it has to be relevant over time.

That said I feel like at this time the world is on a dangerous edge, and I want to use this privileged platform of playing music to speak to that and help insight change more so now than in the past, but I think I'll always end up speaking broadly about things, even if there is a deeper political intent. 

FB: Empty Hands is a brisk 4-song-in-10-minutes release that has its hooks front-and-center. Some past Ego Death/Double Grave material ("Sunlight/Graveyard," "Deceiver," the coda of "Truth Is Whatever You Say") sound more like band exploring new sounds or trying new structures. Do you ever find yourself writing songs and thinking, "No, this doesn't sound like a Double Grave song" or do you just write what strikes you and run it through the DG ringer?

JW: I try to finish most songs I start writing, but, easier said than done. I can take a long time to feel right about a song. There have been some songs that I've written and we've worked out and played together for a while and then abandoned, mostly because they didn't feel like a step forward, they didn't feel like growth. Maybe once we're actually playing it together it lacks a certain energy or it feels too familiar already, or like we're trying too hard at something and missing the mark, and so we decide to spend our time on something else.

I tend to think of writing in batches, anticipating releases, so we'll often think of songs in relation to each other and hold them up to a similar critique stylistically. Empty Hands was fast and loud, New Year's Daydream was moody and darker, for example.

FB: How did this Kitty Cat Klub residency come about? Was it something the band sought out or was it an idea presented to you?

JW: We asked the Kitty Cat Klub if we could do it and they said yes. That venue was like our first home. When we started a few years ago they let us play there so often, it's where we found ourselves in a way, so we thought it'd be fun to celebrate there again. This is actually our third release event there now that I think about it.

FB: This residency is a bit atypical in that the band has constructed a tour of the Midwest around the first couple of residency dates. How did that come about? Do you find think the structure of powering through a quick tour, spending a day or two back home, and hitting the road again to be ideal or would you kind of prefer to go into "tour more" and just become road warriors for month?

JW: The tour on top of the residency just kind of happened. We planned the residency, and knew we wanted to tour on the new release too. We realized that June and July would be harder months to tour because of personal schedules, and at the same time our label mates Tundrastomper wanted to come out this way in May and play together, so we just went for it!

Quick tours are fun and pretty easy in that you know you'll be home soon and you're not that far away should anything go wrong. Also for this tour we're mostly going places we've been a few times and we get to see a lot of friends which is obviously super fun. That said, short runs mostly just whet my appetite for longer tours, personally.

FB: Bluntly, do you enjoy being out on the road? It seems that some bands romanticize the road life while others treat it as an exercise in endurance (both mentally & physically).

JW: Between the three of us the feelings on touring vary but generally we all enjoy it. I for one really like to tour. I never traveled much before we started touring, so that's fun, and it also shrinks your world in a way I love. You only have a few things to worry about (barring unforeseen setbacks which are bound to happen) and one of them is playing music, and seeing how music lives in other places, and connecting with cool people.

I also feel really fortunate regarding our dynamic. We're best friends, truly. We all care about each other and understand each other's personalities and needs without much effort or any drama, and I feel like that makes a big difference, it allows things to get easier and easier rather than more strenuous.

FB: How was the lineup for the residency chosen? Was the band able to curate it 100%?

JW: We joyfully hand picked every last act.
 

FB: Was there anybody you hoped would be able to play but just couldn't make it work?

JW: Sure, booking is rarely very simple. Every performer on the bill is fantastic though, and pretty much everyone is a friend as well, so, it's gonna be great.

FB: Lastly, and this is kind of a big, open-ended question: We've had great venues close lately (The Triple Rock, Reverie) and new venues step up (Mortimer's, Eagles Club) to fill the void. There's still a tremendous amount of great music coming from Minneapolis & St. Paul with new band popping up all the time and bands like Double Grave, Straya, The Florists, Royal Brat really growing into their sound, but it seems like things are in a state of flux right now. Broadly, what's your take on the indie rock scene in the Twin Cities?

JW: That's a wild question. I think the TC scene is always in flux really. It's very different now from when I first moved here to start playing. But I think music is just always changing the way it fits into the world, and at an increasingly rapid rate. Things do seem somewhat amorphous here right now, but maybe that's just my vantage point because places we used to play and bands we used to play with are gone, but, like you said there's new stuff happening all the time! We're still playing new places and meeting new people all the time.

The Twin Cities sometimes feels like an overgrown garden of music to me. There is so much going on right now, and everyone is just so active, it's like the city isn't big enough for it all. Or we don't know what to do with it. Pretty much every time I go to a local show I'm just floored by how great my peers' music it, I'll go weeks just listening to friends' music. So, despite things always changing, I don't feel like the music scene here is in any kind of danger, if anything it has yet to explode.

FB: Thanks for chatting with me, Jeremy.

Double Grave Kitty Cat Klub Residency:

5/1 - w/Tact & Products
5/8 - w/Tundrastomper & Straya
5/15 - w/Wetter & The Cult Of Lip
5/22 - w/Halftramp & The Florists
5/29 - w/Bathtub Cig & Hemma

Empty Hands is out now:

Cassette via Forged Artifacts
7" via Sad Cactus
Digitally via Bandcamp
 

I can be found on this big terrible internet on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on my Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #121

Our enemies lay dead upon the ground but still we kick...

Well hello again, music fans. Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #121!

Believe it or not, folks, it's another miserable, rainy Friday here in Minneapolis. I decided the best way to cope was to stay in & keep myself comfy by the warmth of these jams. You're welcome to join me.

This week's show is packed full-to-the-brim with jams. I've got some great new local music, a perfect entry point for one of the great punk bands of all-time, our continued exploration of the Father/Daughter Records catalog, get into a little lo-fi indie rock, a little alt-country, a little east coast shoegaze, say goodbye to one of the great American bands of the last 20 years, and mourn the death of Brit Pop. All that plus the Cover Of The Week, a deep dive into Nate's Archives, a trip in the Minnesota Way-Back Machine, and the Flatbasset Flatclassic.

As always, Flatbasset Radio is completely free. I've finally set up a decent downloading site, so if you'd like to download Flatbasset Radio: Episode #121 (with all the appropriate iTunes tagging), just click here.



Here's how Ep. #121 plays out:

01. Beautyness - Funny Old Life

02. Levek - Look On The Bright Side

03. Jennie Lawless - Chokecherry

04. The Lemonheads - Mrs. Robinson

05. Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown

06. Bull Moose Party - Let You Down

07. The Thermals - Now We Can See

08. Information Society - Signals

09. Pinkwench - Ides Of March/At Least I Tried

10. Foxes In Fiction - Cream Screen

11. Justin Townes Earle - Who Am I To Say?

12. Pulp - The Fear










Beats by Phatnumber
Flatbasset Radio Artwork by Ross Auger

Thanks for listening!

For more of my rantings you can give me a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on my Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #86 (Local Show!)

Who cares about music anyway?

Well hello again, podcast fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #86!

As you can see from the title, this week's show is a special episode. As you've hopefully noticed if you've been listening over the years, I do my best to work in plenty of local music on the show. There really is so much good stuff coming out of Minnesota that it's nearly impossible to keep up.

So, with that in mind, I decided that I was well overdue for a strictly-MN based show. I'm also feeling pretty good about the way last week's show turned out (if you recall, it was just a 45 minute mix with none of my usual speaking parts). With that in mind I thought I'd just go all in and put together an hour long mix of some of Minnesota's finest jams.

Of course, just because I didn't take the time to speak during the show doesn't mean I don't have things to say about these songs. Like last week, if you scroll down you'll find the track list and some random thoughts about each of the jams.

As always, Flatbasset Radio is completely free. I've finally set up a decent downloading site, so if you'd like to download Flatbasset Radio: Episode #86 (with all the appropriate iTunes tagging), just click here.

If you don't have the time or desire to download the show, just click the Mixcloud player below and you're good to go.



Here's how Episode #86 plays out:

01. Color TV - Meat Wagon

Rather than ease into this mix I figured we start it off with a bang. I got turned on to Color TV a couple of weeks ago when one of my co-workers said, "Hey, my buddy's band is going to be opening up for the Descendents. You should check them out." As somebody who's been counting down to that Descendents show for 20 years you better believe I had tix tucked away at Planet New Basset. I figured I should find out what these guys were all about before the show. As you can hear on "Meat Wagon," these guys are definitely... ummm... descended from their headliners. The concert acted as a bit of a release party for this new 7", which you should probably look into.

02. The Social Disaster - Bad Boys With Big Hearts

Duluth's lone representative on this mix. I did a write-up of The Social Disaster's Dark Side Of The Roller Rink earlier this year, so I won't bore you by re-hashing that (because I know you all read those posts religiously). "Bad Boys With Big Hearts" is the lightest moment on the album and it is also the most charming.

03. P.O.S. - Wearing A Bear

P.O.S. has been bringing the fire since fully recovering from his kidney transplant. "Sleepdrone/Superposition" stood as a renewal of his mission statement, "Waves" was a stellar, collaborative one-off, and the crew track "Spill Me Up" sounded like a 'Welcome Home" moment. With "Wearing A Bear" we have P.O.S. & Lazerbeak teaming up to bring the best out of each other just like they've been doing since high school. A bananas Lazerbeak beat, straight throwback P.O.S. flow, in-jokes, Minnesota accents... It's good to have Stef back fully functional.

04. Total Gaze - Pink Line

Checked these guys out strictly because of a Facebook share from my buddy Dr. Bill. I trust his taste in music completely and he did not disappoint with Total Gaze. Their album We Need More Condos just came out and, like "Pink Line," it's an off-kilter affair. It's like the band wrote all these tight, scrappy indie rock songs and ran them through a Sonic Youth filter. I mean that as a compliment. It's a delightful little album.

05. Cruel Love - Kissing In The Corner (w/Botzy, Beasthead, & Godelt)

Mo Bluntz & Bonnie Stitches put their self-titled album out back in October of 2014 and I've been meaning to play something off of it ever since. Sorry about that. "Kissing On The Corner" is a fascinating entry in their catalog because it pulls back just enough layers of fuzz to make this song sound spaced out as fuck.

06. Graveyard Club - Nightcrawler

Graveyard Club seems to have turned up out of nowhere. I'd never heard of them and then, with the release of Cellar Door they were suddenly tearing up my Twitter feed. Turns out they've been active since 2013.How was I to know?!? It's not like a write a blog focused on local music or anything.

Better late than never though. While popular taste implies that they've missed the halcyon days of the 2010's synth-pop boom, they're doing it better than almost anybody I can remember. Their secret? Hooks for days. Even when the lyrics turn dark, the band sells every chorus like it might be their last.

07. Eric Mayson - Flatspin

Another artist I've been meaning to play since before his album came out. If I remember correctly, Detail was my second or third most-played album of last year. In my defense, the album is really meant to be taken as a whole. As you can hear on "Flatspin," most of the songs are between two & three minutes and have little room for fat. While that makes for a delirious listen as an album, it can be difficult to work the songs into this show. Consider that problem resolved though. Even standing alone, "Flatspin" is a gem.

08. Psymun - Banani

Psymun is probably now best known as 1/4th of The Stand4rd, and that's cool, but before their breakthrough he was cranking out beat tapes at a ferocious pace. "Banani" is taken off his Heartsick tape from 2013. I enjoyed that Stand4rd album (and really enjoyed his album with K.Raydio), but there's a special place in my heart for these crazy old EP's. Great bus-riding music.

09. I Self Devine & Muja Messiah - Midnight On Jupiter (w/Lady Midnight)

Yet another I've been keeping in my back pocket for too long. This may sound like a backhanded compliment, but once you get past the more nationally known hip-hop artist in the Twin Cities, these two guys are two of the kings of the Twin Cities. Both are long-running, well-respected rappers who have found success as solo artists and as collaborators. Both sound completely at ease on 9th House.
 

10. The Farewell Circuit - Birdless Sky

Moment of truth: This is the only Farewell Circuit song that I know. That's a bit unfair to a band that has been around since 2009 and has a nice following around town. I'm trying to make up for that by making this 3/4-time powerhouse the centerpiece of the show. That seems fair.

11. Tony Peachka - Idle Hands

I was so taken with Tony Peachka's debut EP Hello Tony that I dug into the Radio K In-Studio tracks to download their performance from earlier this year. As you can here from this charmingly smutty little jam, the gals in Tony Peachka have a way of seeing the glass as half full (nevermind that the beer in the glass is likely room temperature).

I just read the other day that Jordan Bleau (of Frankie Teardrop fame) has recorded their new album and plans to release it on No Problem Records, all of which bodes well for the ascendant trajectory of Tony Peachka.

12. Big Quarters & Mux Mool - Dragon Princess

Back in 2008 when I was a younger & more social person my buddy and I went to the EP release show for Big Quarters & Mux Mool's Fall in Love EP. We were there to see BQ and left mostly confused by Mux Mool. I've since come to appreciate both artists and what they do. And this EP is still killer (with one of the great covers of all time).

13. Al Church - You And I

I picked up Next Summer in one of my frequent Cheapo Records "Local" Section scavenger hunts. I had no idea who Al Church was, but it was summer and I was definitely digging that artwork. Turns out the sound on the album matches the cover to a T. Take note of the dual saxophone/G-Funk keyboard about halfway through the song. Classic.

14. Ego Death - Untitled (In The Morning)

I was a huge fan of Ego Death's self-titled LP, so I was pretty pumped when I heard that they were releasing a new EP. While Daze's opening track "Deceiver" left me afraid that the band had abandoned their hooky-roots, "Untitled (In The Morning)" came rolling in second and picked up right where their debut record left off. Can't wait to here what these guys cook up next.

15. The Plastic Constellations - We Are Genius Millionaires

Fresh off their triumphant appearance on Sunday Night Football, the semi-defunct Plastic Constellations return to fill the coveted "late-mix-instrumental-interlude" spot here on Episode #86. Nice week, boys.

16. Tiny Deaths - Ever

I was digging Tiny Death's Night Flowers EP so much back in February that I opened Flatbasset Radio: Episode #74 with their song "Away." Here we are seven months later and I'm still digging the EP. Grant Culter and Claire De Lune certainly bring out the best in each other.

17. Allan Kingdom - Believe

Allan Kingdom started the year on a high after being featured on Kanye West's track "All Day." He followed that up by releasing this excellent Northern Lights album. If there was any justice in the world Northern Lights would have continued pushing him into the national consciousness. I suppose it's possible that it has and I just haven't noticed because I'm not reading the right sites or listening to the right people. Hopefully that's the case because this album is still fantastic.
 

18. The Karma Kicks - False

Technically The Karma Kicks released the song "False" on their 2014 album It's All Gone Wrong. However, I found out about the song (and the band) on yet another outstanding Ecstattic Studios compilation. This one was lingering near the tail end of ECS 013: Toward A Better Future (Through An Uncertain Past). These St. Paul boys were kicking up a playful jam that stood out from the rest of the more serious work on the album. Part pre-Beatles rock, part GBV, it's good clean fun.

19. Sophia Eris - Dust

I already spoke about Sophia Eris when I played her song "Blue Dream" back on Episode #84, so I won't re-hash everything. Just know that her debut solo EP Sophia Eris definitely stands up. She's deserved her moment in the spotlight for a long time. It's nice to see her getting her due.

20. The Person & The People - Paranoid And Sleepy

To be honest, the chance to close the show with "Paranoid And Sleepy" was the impetus for putting together this episode. The song is the opener on The Person & The People's latest album Dark And Low, but the dual-guitar, "Impossible Germany"-style freakout during the song's second half made the song seem like an ideal closer to me, one last lunge toward the peak before retreating back down the mountain.

There you have it, folks! Enjoy!

For more of my rantings you can give me a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

Album Of The Week: "Hell Yep" by Frankie Teardrop

Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of July 3rd-9th, 2016:

Frankie Teardrop - Hell Yep

01. Not A Love Song
02. Stay Dumb
03. It Flipped
04. Get It (Kelly)
05. Diet
06. Back To It
07. Convertible/Cig Death
08. Beauty Station
09. My Boys
10. Pissin' In The City
11. D.E.F.L.
12. Waiting For You

(Frankie Teardrop by Niya DeLa Pena)

Well, folks, welcome to one of the more morose entries in my Album Of The Week column. I'm sad to say that, this week, I'll be writing up Frankie Teardrop's final album. We all knew this day would come, of course, but not in July of 2016.

For those of you who've been following along with the blog & podcast, you likely know that MinneSarah & I have been huge supporters of Frankie Teardrop for a long time now. I've played their songs five times on the show and this week's marks the third time one of their records has appeared in AOTW.  Hell, it was just two episodes ago that I was waxing nostalgic about their ten-minute performance of "Free Fallin'" at 10K Sounds Festial a couple years ago.

However, it all started rather inauspiciously. Here's what I wrote about Frankie Teardrop's song "Lines" back in March of 2014:

"I spent a week with Tough Guy a while back.  It's a fine, basically enjoyable throwback sort of record.  However, I've yet to see Frankie Teardrop live, which is evidently necessary to totally buy into what Frankie Teardrop's selling.

    "Lines" is a perfectly serviceable, straight ahead rocker.  That, however, is pretty much it.  There's no great chorus to boost the song up, no crazy guitar solos, nothing particularly memorable.  It just trucks along for a minute & forty seconds and then leaves.  Even Frankie's lyrics about abusing substances and pushing things too far ring a little hollow when delivered in such a workmanlike manner.  I don't know if it was MPR or the band that decided to push "Lines," but I know Frankie Teardrop can do better. Try giving "New Beverage" or "Killed A Man" a listen for a more interesting take on just what Frankie Teardrop is capable of doing."

Damn. That's pretty cold. Who would have thought that this band would go on to be one of the flagship bands of the blog?

I'd feel bad about that review, but Frankie Teardrop spent the next two years going out and doing exactly what I was hoping they'd do. Beginning with the Raiders EP they went from "serviceable" to a band that trafficked almost exclusively in crazy guitar solos and great choruses. It was thrilling to watch a band find their sound so quickly & so precisely.

Which brings us Hell Yep, their first and last full-length. The album opens with "Not A Love Song," which boils the Frankie Teardrop experience down to its essence. "This is not a love song, my heart just exploded..." sings Frankie Teardrop mastermind Jordan Bleau, and it's a quintessential FT couplet. They care too much, they don't care at all, here comes the hook, here comes the guitar. One song into the album and we've already got a classic on our hands.



The second track on the album, however, is the track that best explains how we got here. At 3:47 "Stay Dumb" is the longest song on the album by over a minute and with good reason. It's both mission statement and eulogy. It shows how the band has grown (check out the acoustic guitar/feedback/rolling drums intro) from delightfully simple garage rock band to power-pop geniuses.



"I don't wanna stay dumb..." Bleau sings in the chorus, detaching the line from anger or angst and weighting it to a melody that underlines his point. You see, here's the dirty little secret about Frankie Teardrop - they were never dumb. Sure, they may have been playing simple to make the point that there should always be a home for good old fashioned rock n roll music, but that "dumb rock" was never their calling. Bleau's guitar work in the jangling indie-pop band Gloss showed exactly what kind of talent he had. As half of the manpower/brainpower behind No Problem Records, he & Alex Uhrich have shown time & again that the last thing they want to do is release "dumb" rock music. "There's got to be more to life..." Bleau sings in the bridge, "I don't believe the hype..."

What makes the rest of the Hell Yep so much damn fun are the moments when the band shows just how smart they can be (without sacrificing any of the hooks). Listen to the keyboards that fill out "Get It (Kelly)," the drum machine intro at the beginning of "Diet" or my favorite, the absolute double pixie stick rush of the lead guitar & pre-chorus keyboards on "Waiting For You." Add up all those little flourishes and you'll realize that Frankie Teardrop has made one of the smartest "dumb" record you've ever heard.



At 12 songs in 22 minutes, Jordan Bleau & the boys have trimmed every ounce of fat from their sound and delivered a perfect debut LP. Everything about the band that worked in the past has been amplified while everything clumsy has been jettisoned. The whole thing's been given a pop sheen that makes it completely accessible for new fans, while still having all the personality that'll keep older fans coming back.

Twist those words a little bit, and you can see why Hell Yep also makes for a perfect ending point for Frankie Teardrop. They've pushed their sound as it can be pushed. All those little keyboard washes and acoustic intros I've been fawning over are clearly the work of a man who wants to push his sound further but feels he needs a clean break & a fresh slate to do so. To put it briefly, it's the kind of final statement that leaves you wanting more. And those are always the best kind.

I don't know what happens next for Jordan Bleau, but Frankie Teardrop made for quite an opening act. Boys, it was a hell of a run. Can't wait to see what comes next.

If you'd like to download Hell Yep or any of the other Frankie Teardrop releases, head over to their Bandcamp page.

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

Album Of The Week: "Dark And Low" by The Person & The People

Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of May 8th-14th, 2016:

The Person & The People - Dark And Low

01. Paranoid And Sleepy
02. Ideal Situation
03. Hot Summer Nights
04. Sleep All Day
05. Leaving
06. I've Seen This Place
07. Until The Morning
08. Since You Loved Me
09. Go Back Home
10. Tonight
11. Misbehaving

(The Person & The People by Katie Essick)

Folks, it's been a crazy couple of weeks to be a music fan. We've been treated to new releases from Beyonce, Drake, Museum Mouth, Aesop Rock, Fog, Radiohead, James Blake & Chance The Rapper within the last 14 days. The Stone Roses put out new music for the first time in decades. Lush reunited. It's all been a goddamn whirlwind and it's not even summer yet.

However, for me, all of that has been gravy, because I've been looking forward to this new The Person & The People record for weeks. They've appeared in this AOTW column twice before and both times I've been pleasantly surprised by what they've brought to the table. Debut EP Zen And The Art Of Popular Music was an intriguing debut, mixing solid hooks with some jazzy guitar work. Second full-length LP What A Drag found the band eschewing the guitar work for a Superdrag-meets-Superchunk style hook-fest. It ended up being my 8th most played album of 2014 despite the fact that it came out in December of that year.

All of which brings us to Dark And Low, their second full-length for Land Ski Records and, relevantly, the always important third full-length. As any student of pop music knows, the third album is always the one where a band has to make a leap of some kind. Bands that are in it for the long haul often make a definitive statement on their third album (think The Queen Is Dead, Parklife, Sebadoh III) where as history is littered with bands who couldn't make the jump (Intimacy, anyone?). It's not a hard and fast rule, obviously, but it's worth remembering in this instance.

Before even pushing play on this one I knew it would be a departure for the band. Opening track "Paranoid & Sleepy" is listed as 6:19 minutes long, making it the longest song in their catalog. And they've chosen it to open the album.



Rather than take their sound in a radically new direction, however, "Paranoid And Sleepy" finds the band revisiting the guitar work of Zen, combining it with the hooks of Drag, and then blowing the whole thing out widescreen. The claustrophobia of their last album is nowhere to be found. If that record was Superdrag-meets-Superchunk, Dark And Low is Superdrag-meets-My-Morning-Jacket. Everything from the guitar work to singer Nick Costa's hooks to the vaguely ELO-ish background vocals all have their own plateaus to stand on as the band builds up this mountain of an opener, climaxing with a three minute twin-guitar solo that rivals "Impossible Germany" as one of the great guitar moments on my iPod.

Guitar histrionics aside, when Costa sings, "I know I bring you down, and I don't blame you, 'cause I'm such a bummer," he's essentially providing his thesis for the record. When his voice returns to open "Ideal Situation" he describes a desire to move to the mountains without telling anybody, taking "some legal drugs," and melting into the carpet as that ideal situation. However, in the second verse, his focus has shifted. Now he'd like to live in the city, get a decent job, and have some kids. The root of this indecisiveness? A significant other. One whose affection he desires so greatly that all of his desires are placed against how she would react to them. Don't let the hooks fool you, this is not a healthy approach, and Costa spends the rest of the record reckoning with his insecurities.

"Hot Summer Nights" finds Costa volunteering to just be friends over a welcoming mid-tempo groove. The pace picks up on "Sleep All Day," a brilliantly catchy ode to drunken jealousy. Where these songs could be read as laments of the heartbroken, the emotional fulcrum of Dark & Low is in companion songs "Leaving" & "I've Seen This Place."



"Leaving" puts to bed any doubts as to just how Costa ended up in this dark space. Though the music is driving, it takes a back seat to the distraught & disoriented Costa who can't come to terms with the loss of someone. Whether this is friend, family, or companion isn't clear, but when Costa opens the second verse with "hair down to his toenails" describing this person as "a ghost from a movies, a frightened mouse" it's clear that whatever this event was, it has left him in struggling (which, in turn, certainly reframes the seemingly trivial trials of the album's first half as yet more snow in an avalanche of struggles).

"I've Seen This Place" picks up from there. "I get by, but hell, man, I sure have to try..." lets us know that Costa's moving on from whatever that traumatic event was, but it's a crawl, and it isn't being done easily or happily.

Yeah, that's a little heavy for just the first half of an album. Fortunately, TPATP dust off a song that's been in the works for at least a year in "Until The Morning," stepping back of the lyrical precipice and reminding us that a chiming guitars and good hook have redemptive power. "Since You Loved Me" is a piano-heavy lament to a former long-term lover residing in that terrible place where neither person has changed their mind about breaking up but neither is convinced it was the right move and trying to rectify those conflicting ideas would upset their current comforts to the point that it's probably not worth it. With it's Beach Boys harmonies, it's an anthem to manageable discontent, which makes it very nearly the most depressing moment on the album.

On "Go Back Home," guitarist Sam Sanford makes good use of his lone vocal lead on the album. His softer voice is nice counterpoint to Costa, which makes opening line "I wish my friends would die before I do..." sound a lot more playful than it should. "Go Back Home" also features the brilliant return of the dynamic guitar solo, somewhat absent since the opening, and it's brilliant. For power-pop, this is a pretty heavy album, and this solo provides a sort of flying-V-on-fire moment to lighten the mood.

Oddly, for an album that lays so much on the table lyrically, it almost feels like there's a scene missing as the band closes the record with "Tonight" & "Misbehaving."

On "Tonight," Costa concedes "I don't believe in anything..." before staying in, getting drunk, offering a half-hearted invite to somebody, before eventually deciding he doesn't need to see that person tonight. It's the sound of a man who's made his peace with the fact that most things are out of his control. He's letting the stress of whatever occurred in those earlier episodes go, relatively content with the fact that there's nothing to be done about them now. In fact, he seems to find a bit of wonder in that knowledge, when he sings "if you get bored we can find a bar, I'll end up staying out late, but I always do, and it really isn't all that far," Costa's dismissing the day-to-day anxiety of life, seemingly amused by the realization that his decision will not actually have any real world consequence outside of whether or not he gets enough sleep.



He takes that concept to a logical conclusion on "Misbehaving." "I can't try to understand your emotions, a person is gonna feel what they're gonna feel..." he sings, a far cry from the man who spent the first couple of songs on the album trying desperately to understand someone else's emotions. "I can't wrap my head around what you've been going through, all I know is my love for you is real," he sings, offering up unconditional love before concluding "I could understand if you don't want me."

I apologize if I'm making this album sound like an emotional slog (or if I'm seeing a narrative where there is none. I've been known to do that). However, after putting out several albums where the hooks were placed front and center, the open nature of Dark And Low is just begging for a deeper reading (also, the album's called Dark And Low). Honestly, as a fan of The Person & The People, I find this to be a fascinating album. The sugar-rush of What A Drag has been replaced by more mature songwriting, more interesting structures, crazy guitar solos, peaks, valleys, strikes, gutters... It's a good look for a band who probably could have kept cranking out 3:00 songs and found a steady home on The Current. However, they challenged themselves to open up, think bigger, dig deeper, and make an album that would require the listener to embrace those challenges as well.

If you'd like to check the album out for yourself, head over to The Person & The People's Bandcamp page to download a copy for yourself (just $5!). Head on over to the Land Ski Records page for more info about shows and such.

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

Album Of The Week: "It Feels Like Laughing With You" by Yeah Wings

Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of April 24th-30th, 2016:

Yeah Wings - It Feels Like Laughing With You

01. Trust
02. A New Place To Live
03. The Hill
04. To Human Kindness
05. Streetsboro Accent
06. By My King's Command
07. Grave
08. It Feels Like Laughing With You
09. Neak

My introduction to Minneapolis slow-core band Yeah Wings goes back to the Ecstattic Studios compilation ECS 019: Make A Star (Part One: Shining Bright) and their track "Sharkswords." It's a six and a half minute slow-burner closing out a compilation heavy on punk rock & crunch.  It's raw & confessional, with singer/bandleader Collin Dall laying out his affection & surprise at a woman named Sally. While it doesn't necessarily fit the mold of the most of the Ecstattic sound, it stands as a fitting introduction to the world Dall creates under the Yeah Wings name.



It Feels Like Laughing With You picks up where "Sharkswords" left off. Rather than rebel against the "slow-core" label (which would have been an understandable reaction some potential pigeonholing), Dall doubles down on the album's opener "Trust." Opening the first act of an album with a song that's 9:44 takes some stones. Waiting until you're 4:00 in to even utter a word is an act of defiance. Once Dall, percussionist Nico Ciani, bassist Alex Depompei, & pianist Matt Ciani have set the mood, Dall lays out the album's thesis is three simple words: "You, loving you."

Now, make no mistake, It Feels Like Laughing With You is dedicated to love in the most real way possible. While Dall certainly has time for deep, true affection, over the nine songs on this record he explores the loneliness, bitterness, joy, & sorrow that come from something so seemingly simple as love. Hell, the second couplet of "Trust" reads, "You, hating you..."



All of these emotions make IFLLWY a heavy album. To his credit, Dall doesn't shy away from his statements by trying to make things more accessible during the album's second act. "To Human Kindness" is limited to two brief verses, slowly picked guitar work, and enough negative space to feel like you're suffocating in your own head. I don't have any idea what the first half of "Streetsboro Accent" means, but when Dall sings "Words mean more to you than my beating arms around you" before letting loose a distortion-fuelled racket of a coda while claiming, "I'm not the same boy I was, I am the same boy you loved," he lays it out with crystal clarity, a mix of anger, longing, & confusion acting as the mid-album peak and second act closer.

The album, out of necessity, takes a 35 second breather of amplifier buzz with "By My King's Command" before launching into its third act.

When we rejoin Dall, he seems to be in the morning-after phase of "Streetsboro's" climax. "Everything moves back while you fight forward..." he sings, seemingly to himself while Matt Ciani's piano & wurlitzer add color a color and the sense of wonder that comes with reflection.

As an album title, It Feels Like Laughing With You seems to imply an in-the-moment feeling of affection. However, the title finds clarity on the track "It Feels Like Laughing With You." It is still an in-the-moment feeling, but it's a feeling brought by memories of those times when affection was simple and pure, an idealized version of the past that does its best to neglect the raw emotion of "Streetsboro Accent" and instead focuses on how things used to be, how they should have been, and how they couldn't be. Matt Ciani's piano is again a standout during the coda, bringing a necessary sense of playfulness to Dall's reflection. It's the audio equivalent of shaking your head and smiling to yourself.



In this narrative, the title track brings closure (or, at least as much closure as possible) to the IFLLWY arc. In that sense, closer "Neak" seems like an odd way to end the record. However, it stands as probably the most accessible stand alone track on the album. Drummer Nico Cianni picks up the pace while Dall eschews the drama & slow-core for an out-and-out jangling indie-pop rocker (it even has whistling!). The way it does fit on the album, however, is as a sort of palate cleanser, playing over the credits of a deep, heavy film.

Honestly, spending a week with IFLLWY was exhausting. Dall tells his tale in a way that's both obtuse and brutally confessional. It's not an album meant for casual listening. It's themes will cut deeply for anybody willing to open up and listen, though, and in that sense it's an incredibly rewarding album.

If you'd like to check out It Feels Like Laughing With You for yourself, head over to Yeah Wings Bandcamp page and pick it up. The band also has a show coming up May 12th at The Kitty Kat Club that you should probably look into.

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

Album Of The Week: "Dark Side Of The Roller Rink" by The Social Disaster

Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of March 6th-12th, 2016:

The Social Disaster - Dark Side Of The Roller Rink

01. Queen Of Agency
02. Machinery
03. Gold
04. Little Girl
05. Bad Boys With Big Hearts
06. God
07. Want It All
08. Battleground
09. Quiet Savior
10. Voyeur

(The Social Disaster by Laramie Carlson)

Straight out of sunny Duluth we have Dark Side Of The Roller Rink, the debut LP from self-described "proto-pop, gloom pop, dance & doo-wop" quintet The Social Disaster. While that may seem like a curious description for a band, it's appropriate. For better or worse, on DSOTRR, the band manages to cover those bases and and more.



The Social Disaster wisely aims to make their case on the opening track "Queen Of Agency." The band locks into a a decidedly indie-pop swing (complete with a bed of synthesizers) as singer Rachel Phoenix steps front and center to deliver no-less-than three different hooks. It's one of the real highlights on the album, a moment when everything the band is trying to accomplish comes together in the same song.

The Social Disaster spends the next three tracks leaning toward the "dark side" aspect of the album title rather than the "roller rink" side. Flashing a harder-edged sound on songs "Machinery," "God," & "Little Girl" Phoenix questions religion, sexism, technology, & a woman's role in the world. Perhaps the band's crunch is meant to mirror the gravity of the subject matter, but unfortunately it causes these three songs to lump together, doing an injustice to all three.



High-water mark "Bad Boys With Big Hearts" functions as a mood-lightening reprieve at the end of the album's first half. The band steps back from the rawk to indulge in some straight-up doo-wop-pop, with Phoenix playing the role of pin-up charmer, lamenting her inability to avoid the same bad-boy mistakes that are just too much fun to repeat.



The album's second half finds The Social Disaster moving away from the charm of the first half and doubling down on a sort-of post-grunge crunch. "God" is Phoenix's anthem to the modern woman, declaring "I am my own God!" as the band rumbles behind her. They continue in this direction for duration of DSOTRR's second half. Unfortunately, as Phoenix forces the issue lyrically and the band works up the anger to match, the album loses the playful energy that makes the first half of the album a real joy.

I hope that doesn't sound too harsh. I did enjoy Dark Side Of The Roller Rink. Like a lot of debut albums, though, it's a bit scattered stylistically and bit on-the-nose lyrically. The band seems to be trying to be everything all the time, which isn't tremendously surprising. It's completely understandable for a band to try to say everything on their first album. However, given how the band sounds when they loosen up, it's clear that they have the ability to be the kind of band that has a little something for everyone. I have very high hopes for The Social Disaster going forward. They're very close to striking the balance between their playful & serious side on this album. Going forward I certainly hope they find that balance, as the two sides of this band compliment each other tremendously.

If you'd like to check out Dark Side Of The Roller Rink for yourself, head over to The Social Disaster's Bandcamp page and give it a listen.

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.