If the Tracey Ullman Show were rebooted in 2022 its intro music and video might sound and look a lot like what Child Seat has going with its single “Fever Dream.” The summery melody, uplifting vocals and expansive dynamics sound like a futuristic mutant form of 80s synth pop, one that came in the wake of MGMT and Matt & Kim. Madeleine Matthews and Josiah Mazzaschi in their reflective silver frocks that look like repurposed car windshield sun reflector pads performing in a windswept desert location at points, in others in shiny garb and in yet other scenes frolicking around a pool in an abandoned oasis give the impression of not just surviving but thriving in a time where civilization has collapsed and they’re having to make their own fun and send it out into the world as a signal that it’s not all dystopian hellscape. I mean who could think someone with a bad blonde wig and a blow up sax wailing on that solo isn’t a sign that maybe it’s okay to have some good times? Which is of course a humorous science fiction take on the world we’re living in now. Watch the video for “Fever Dream” on YouTube and follow Child Seat on Instagram.
Jawbreaker at Fillmore Auditorium 4/8/22, photo by Tom Murphy
When Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker said at some point during that band’s set said something about how this is probably the punk tour of the year it seemed obvious. Even if one were inclined to contrarian impulses the fact that it was Jawbox headlining a bill that included Samiam, Face to Face and Descendents makes that more challenging to refute.
Samiam at Fillmore Auditorium 4/8/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Samiam started very early in the evening around 6:30 p.m. and its melodic punk sound had some unexpected grit to it live. There was an underlying catharsis of personal pain and loss the seemed to inform the songs and upon closer listen songs like “Dull” and “Capsized” in the set list hit hard and heavy yet in doing so made the need to make music to uplift without trivializing those feelings so urgent in a way that translated directly to the live performance.
Face to Face at Fillmore Auditorium 4/8/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Face to Face’s own anthemic punk while not as gritty as that of Samiam before them sure delved into topics deeper than one might expect from a band that is so closely associated with pop punk. But its songs exploring personal integrity and the core meaningfulness of life informed by a self-effacing humor and poetic insight were undeniably effective. “Walk the Walk” and “It’s Not Over” really made that obvious and how Face To Face injects some inventive guitar work into a style of music that can be a bit predictable three decades in. Trever Keith also gets points for throwing some friendly shade in saying how he enjoyed his Dodgers handling “your Rockies.” Fortunately people laughed and didn’t take the comment too seriously.
Descendents at Fillmore Auditorium 4/8/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Descendents walked on stage and without a lot of preamble launched the set with “Everything Sux” like the legends of the whole pop punk world they are. Although there was a spirited joyfulness to the Descendents’ performance and they performed silly songs like “Wienerschnitzel” what became very apparent from the live show is how this music makes life’s everyday problems and struggles seem manageable by humanizing them, by pointing out the humor value and poignancy of it all even when it feels its most painful. Setting those moments of peak emotional turmoil to energetic and tuneful punk songs fortifies the mind. While it may not be saying it’s all going to be okay or something unrealistic like that it at least suggests these experiences don’t have to sink you and that has been an important thing to hear for years and even now which is part of why Descendents and the bands it influenced remain resonant and relevant. And it wasn’t all songs about being a young, angsty person, and material like “Global Probing,” “Clean Sheets” and “When I Get Old” transcend the adolescent mindset while staying rooted in a spirit of youthful exuberance and a willingness to feel all those feelings and not hide from them in the name of growing up. Like burying your emotions just because you reached a certain age or have a “real” job and a mortgage and marriage really worked for anyone anyway.
Jawbreaker at Fillmore Auditorium 4/8/22, photo by Tom Murphy
After Jawbreaker split in 1996 its cult following seemed to increasingly expand for over twenty years. Its anthemic pop punk songs infused with literary yet accessible lyrics found a wide audience among fans of pop punk but follow the creative threads even from its debut album Unfun and there’s more thoughtfulness, inventive guitar work and unconventional rhythms than one might expect given its general legacy as one of the star bands of 90s pop punk. And live the sharper edges of the music and its more experimental instincts were starkly obvious. The infectious melodies and emotionally vulnerable vocals that have made it a massive influence on emo were there to be sure. One was struck by how much The Clash probably influenced the songwriting not to mention an obvious inspiration like Descendents. But in its most stretching out past the boundaries of standard punk moments, when the band engaged in noisy soundscapes mid-song or near the end it felt like getting to see a Steve Albini band though more Shellac than Big Black. It had that combination of focused intensity and wildness that you don’t hear in much punk that got too popular. And that’s when Jawbreaker was at its most exciting from a musical standpoint.
Jawbreaker at Fillmore Auditorium 4/8/22, photo by Tom Murphy
For just three guys on stage Jawbreaker unleashed a lot of energy all while maintaining a stance of self-deprecating irreverence that you’d hope to hear. If you include the encore the set consisted of almost all of Dear You with some choice tracks from 24 Hour Revenge Therapy thrown in (“Boxcar,” “Condition Oakland” and “Jinx Removing”) and before performing “Basilica” to close out the show, Schwarzenbach told us something like how they would leave us with one last psychedelic mindfuck to take with us before retreating to the comfort of our everyday abodes. Given the extravagant sonic freakout that blazed out the show, at least the band delivered as it did the entire performance.
The sound of contemplative reflection at twilight runs through Ethan Woods’ “Chirin’s Bell.” Tonally its reminiscent of Nick Drake and the impressionistic compositional quality of the music lends itself similarly well to establishing a mood and dreamlike imagery. Hushed drones, processed lap steel and simple acoustic guitar melody with spare percussion to give the track some texture help to make vivid what sounds like the story of a sheep taking stock of its life as a metaphor for the roles we internalize as a matter of life circumstances and the weight we put on ourselves borne out of how that living circumscribes our dreams and aspirations until we learn to dream differently. But also reconciling one’s upbringing and background with establishing your own identity and accepting where you come from rather than reject it outright. People that don’t go through this process often end up going back to their roots in a perhaps misguided attempt to rediscover what they feel they lost. But this song doesn’t seem to be coming from the perspective of life post-self-liberation, but of considering the essence of one’s life to which one was born but considering what else might be possible for yourself. Lines like “I itemize the time you take with your indecision,” “I wonder to myself did I fuck up with my big plan” and “beyond the wooden fence can remain good friends” point to those strains of thought that take you out of mundane existence for a moment. The dramatic arc of the song is subtle but reaches a peak with all the musical elements swelling with the rise in intensity of the vocals wondering again about fucking up but then outros to returning to reminiscing being a part of the herd while considering leaving it. Listen to “Chirin’s Bell” on YouTube, look for Ethan Woods’ second solo album Burnout due out April 29, 2022 through Whatever’s Clever and follow the artist at the links below.
With a brisk pace and expansive, ethereal guitar melody over a steady urgent rhythm “be that someone” by Mexican post-punk band mercvrial is a surprisingly incisive commentary on the deleterious effect of social media. In the music video for the song we see people looking at their phones for the brief validation of likes on various social media platforms and how it syncs up so well and so insidiously with the work culture in late capitalism wherein people need to show they’re grinding for increasingly diminishing rewards and settling for truly ephemeral benefits. We see in the video the ways in which people advertise for themselves by posting a cultivated image of success and performative presentation of living their best lives all the time when anyone living in the real world knows can’t be true or certainly not sustainable. What makes this commentary accessible even as it shows how a system of technocratic rewards and punishments self-sustaining by our participation is eroding our collective psyche is how upbeat the song comes off and how the video shows the supposed good times posted to social media can convey a false picture of psychological health and vitality. At least until the end when a couple that seems to be getting along but there’s the dating app showing a match so on to the next exciting thing even if there’s no way of knowing it will be exciting. It’s easy to see people as interchangeable and as an option when the illusion of such is at your fingertips. The reality is probably more complicated than that but we’ve all seen that dynamic and perhaps even been or are a part of it to varying degrees. And yet we all know we can do better than this even if the instant dopamine shot from these micro brain stimulations of social media engagement give us is hard to let go. This song is about that and the lyric of “be that someone that everyone loves” sums up the root of the issue perfectly. Watch the video for “be that someone” and follow mercvrial at the links below.
The softness of “I Saw The Egg,” the title track from Battle Ave’s new album, hearkens back to turn of the century indiepop and the psychedelic alt-country of Sparklehorse. Spare percussion, likely electronic, accents the informal rhythm of the simple keyboard figures that intertwine and trace the outer edges of the song’s introspective daydreaminess. Guitar stretches to fit the flow and spike of mood in the last half of the song like Adrian Belew guesting on a particularly delicate Modest Mouse single. It fits in well with an album that sounds like it’s from another time that utilizes elements of musique concrète with traditional pop songcraft informed by a gentleness of spirit that makes the record easy to take on as a whole with songs about reorienting one’s life and priorities to make room for aspects of lived existence neglected while you’ve been putting all your energy and momentum into a professional pursuit or some other personal goal without as much attention paid to the things that make doing so sustainable. Balancing adult responsibilities with one’s creative life needn’t be diametrically opposed, after all, and requires a simple adjustment of one’s habits and cognitive orientation which this song alludes to with poetic imagery. Listen to “I Saw The Egg” on YouTube, check out the rest of the album on Bandcamp where you can also purchase the cassette and download and follow Battle Ave at the links below.
Charli XCX at Ogden Theatre 04/06/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Given her status as a popular pop artist it was a bit surprising to see Charli XCX booked at the 1,600 capacity Ogden Theatre but that’s been roughly the size of venues she’s playing on the tour supporting her 2022 album Crash. Reviews of the record suggested that it wasn’t as experimental as her earlier releases and perhaps that’s right. But the quality of songwriting is still solid and songs like “Beg For You” and “Good Ones” are easily among her most immediately compelling even if you’re not necessarily drawn to modern pop music. “Every Rule” was produced by Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never who is one of the most respected experimental electronic artists these days to name just one producer for the record pointing to how the experimental side of the singer’s material is still very central to her output.
But how would this new music that is seemingly more traditionally more pop in tone and composition and older favorites steeped in hyperpop and experimental electronic music translate live? The stage set was minimal with only Charli and two male dancers on stage dressed like pop stars from another planet. The projections and light show were also low key and the stage lighting low like we were getting to see the show in an even smaller venue, the kind of underground club where many pop artists might like to start and perform more often to have a more direct connection with the people that show up. Charli came to put on a show and sure there was some fine choreography obvious from her and the two other dancers but it was something somehow both dramatic and brash but low key. It was never over the top yet expressed the heartfelt melodramatic emotions that make for music that sticks in your mind for years. No one wants to see a pop artist that is too hesitant in self-expression.
Charli XCX at Ogden Theatre 04/06/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Charli XCX also managed to exude an open sensuality and confidence but as part of her songs that are thoughtful, nuanced and raw but relatable. If she was miming the music you couldn’t tell and the set list seemed arranged in a way where she could take breaks and remain incredibly energetic and engaging throughout with more mellow songs hitting at just the right time for the emotional arc of the show as well. Not once did the artist remark on the altitude because, really, wouldn’t be a bit rote to say something about that knowing people hear it all the time? There was something that hit you as tasteful about the presentation even if you’re the puritanical type to note Charli’s minimal outfit. Charli’s music delves into both the internal emotional dynamics we all navigate as well as feeling and owning being an imperfect human with needs and desires that should never be a source of shame. The content of Charli’s words are never esoteric but also rarely unintentionally mundane, just crafted in a way that is accessible to pretty much anyone. This show drawing from a wide swath of her career but focused on the new record, as you’d expect, was proof that Charli XCX as a commanding and passionate performer and as an artist is someone that appreciates her role as an artist in its various capacities and the opportunity making pop music provides for commenting on the personal and making it vehicle for articulating collective experiences with creativity and a clarity that resonates beyond the realm of mainstream music and beyond the narrow confines of popular music genres.
Charli XCX at Ogden Theatre 04/06/22, photo by Tom MurphyCharli XCX at Ogden Theatre 04/06/22, photo by Tom MurphyCharli XCX at Ogden Theatre 04/06/22, photo by Tom MurphyCharli XCX at Ogden Theatre 04/06/22, photo by Tom Murphy
The winsome strains that introduce Salarymen’s single “Rerun” sound like a portal to a place outside of normal time. Its nostalgic melody reaches into the same emotional realms that made the songs of Tennis, early Beach House and Snail Mail so appealing. But Salarymen wax into an Alvvays-esque flavor of indiepop that seems as personally mythical as it is imbued with an immediacy that refreshens the mind. The video depicts the members frolicking around the shore of a body of water that looks like a lake but could be big enough to be the ocean which, intentionally or not, serves as a metaphor for the colorful swirl of the song’s appeal as something that feels like a peek into private musings about life but a commentary on the nature of human existence and the importance of our own little corner of all of that beyond our utilitarian role in society. Watch the video for “Rerun” on YouTube and follow Salarymen at the links provided.
Letting Up Despite Great Faults, photo courtesy the artists
Letting Up Despite Great Faults released its latest album titled IV on March 4, 2022 and marked its first full album in nearly eight years. But for a band that got off to what might be described as a slow start in 2004 in Los Angeles followed by the 2006 release of its first EP Movement (which was reissued on cassette in 2021) the group, lead by singer/guitarist/songwriter Mike Lee, fairly quickly progressed from an early synth pop/proto bedroom pop project to a more shoegaze band by the time of its self-titled 2009 debut and following its move to Austin, Texas at the beginning of 2012 the band has fused the more soundscapey side of its songwriting with the entrancing pop hooks that have always been its hallmark. The new record and its lead single “She Spins” hits your ears right away as one of the great works of guitar pop of the past two decades. Its unconventional melodic lines subvert expected musical tropes of the genre and the intricate guitar interplay recalls the best sides of the Paisley Underground and C86 but with lush production that makes it an easy record to get lost in with a single listen. We had a chance to speak with Lee about his early days as a musician, his development as an artist within the context of Letting Up Despite Great Faults (a name that’s a nod to the Blonde Redhead song “Loved Despite Great Faults”) and the aesthetics of IV from the songwriting to the cover art which Lee, as a graphic artist himself, helped to create.
Listen to our interview with Mike Lee on Bandcamp linked below and catch Letting Up Despite Great Faults performing with Blushing, Old Soul Dies Young and Moodlighting at Lost Lake on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, doors 7, show 8, $12.
“Survivalist” is the lead track from Keith Monacchio’s new album, his fifth as a solo artist, Under a Nightlight Sky. It has a lively beat and sounds like something you’d expect to hear at a honky tonk though it’s more rock and roll than country but would fit in either context. As the title suggests it’s a song about one of those people who has way too much faith in their own independence and efficacy as a human being. The kind of preppers who are paranoid about “communists” taking over the USA, of BLM and Antifas [sic] launching widespread criminal violence, critical race theory ruining public schools in which it’s not even taught and the whole host of conspiracy theory fueled, conservative wingnut beliefs that get fools to horde guns, ammunition, food, water and medicine in bunkers under the supremely misguided belief that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and a right to bear arms means you can and should have as many guns as possible in case a tyrannical government is in charge when, really, a functioning, robust democracy and a just society with equitable economics would stave off most problems and result in a stronger country. And besides, a tyrannical federal government could just send in supersonic drones to drop more ordinance than any militia group and certainly more than any individual can handle, no Ruby Ridge or Waco style stand-off required. But Monacchio handles this subject with humor and with some concerned affection for someone who might actually be in his life who has gone off the rails with the hope this person can be coaxed back from the ledge. And it’s Monacchio’s hope that gives the song the proper, non-judgmental but not indulgent tone that the subject deserves. It’s a great introduction to an album of introspective songs about the nature of familial relationships between parents, children, one’s role in those situations and where it all intersects with political tribalism and hoping beyond any current signs otherwise of a future in which there isn’t so much conflict and existential crises that push people into strange types of acting out and adopting deviant beliefs under the assumption that holding those ideas dear will protect them from what they think threatens their lives and senses of self. Listen to “Survivalist” on Soundcloud and follow Monacchio at the links below where you can listen to the rest of the album on Bandcamp.
Mondo Cozmo aka Joshua Ostrander once fronted the alternative/indie rock bands Laguardia and Eastern Conference Champions before recording under his own name in 2016. The project’s records beginning with 2017’s Plastic Soul through New Medicine from 2020 have had a lively and eclectic quality that synthesizes Ostrander’s folk influences with those more experimental and electronic for a sound that feels both familiar and fresh. His 2022 album This Is For The Barbarians propels Ostrander’s creative instincts in interesting new directions for an album that is often evocatively intimate, delicately thoughtful, brash and rebellious and contemplative all at once. It is a deep record with thought-provoking and insightful commentary on the state of the country and the world as well as the impact of navigating a time of great conflict and disorder bordering on chaos. One hears in the music the influence of Bob Dylan, Radiohead and Bruce Springsteen. Ostrander consulted with the latter on some of the songwriting for the new record and in our interview with the open and engaging musician Ostrander talks about what he and the boss discussed.
Listen to the podcast interview on Bandcamp linked below, catch Mondo Cozmo on tour now with The Airborne Toxic Event. Follow Ostrander on his website www.mondocozmo.com.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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