Premiere: Pleasure Gap's Ambitious, Ranging Scatter

Manchester, NH indie rock five Pleasure Gap returns next week with its third full-length, an eight-song set impressive in its ambition and range. The collection is called Scatter, the music it contains bucks simplistic categorization, and we are pleased to premiere the entire thing for you today via the embed below.

Scatter commences with the mournful epic "Therapist," which deliberately interlaces guitar and bass lines, cycles through thoughtful tempo and rhythm changes, and detours almost too briefly for an arresting, harmonic-spangled interlude. Indeed, the compelling bones of Scatter are its complex arrangements, which eschew standard verse-chorus-verse construction in favor of rambling forays. Here and elsewhere across the album, fronter Ryan Egan's high and lonesome vocals slide around his range, sometimes depositing mumbles a la Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, and at others delivering adenoidal expostulations after the fashion of Alec Ounsworth. The result is a record with notable range, as adept at delivering the garagey, Pavement-ings of "Merkle" (that's no typographical error referencing the German Chancellor, but rather the last name of Pleasure Gap bassist and co-founder Sean Merkle), as it is the vestigially metal, melodramatic "Dumpster Dreams." But the track that shines brightest on Scatter is the smoothed-out, mid-tempo ballad "Murder Me Gently," which bobs and weaves along to prominent slide guitar, swaying gently -- as one would expect -- in subdued, heartfelt choruses that take on increasing color in the final minute via multiplying layers of moving, melodic, low-octave guitar work.

Midnight Werewolf releases Scatter March 29 as the third and final monthly installment of the label's Triple Threat series of cassette releases; it is available for pre-order now in a limited edition of 100 light pink cassettes in hand-crafted, hand-numbered cases, which come bundled with stickers and pins. Scatter will also be available as a digital download. Pleasure Gap plays on a particularly hot bill next month at O'Brien's in Boston's Allston Rock City enclave, a benefit for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The show transpires April 23 and also features hitmakers of the day and Clicky Clicky faves Funeral Advantage, Burglary Years and Kitner; full event details are right here, and Pleasure Gap's complete slate of upcoming shows is listed below. Pleasure Gap's first long-player Tropical Barn was self-released in 2013 [link]; a sophomore set Cream Wave arrived last summer [link].

Pleasure Gap: Bandcamp | Facebook



03.23 -- Manchester, NH -- Fuzz Hut
04.15 -- Providence, RI -- AS220
04.17 -- Dover, NH-- Wrong Brain HQ
04.23 -- Boston, MA -- O'Brien's
05.06 -- Portland, ME -- Geno's
05.07 -- Winooski, VT -- Waking Windows
05.08 -- Albany, NY -- The Tree House
05.09 -- Brooklyn, NY-- Palisades
05.29 -- Manchester, NH-- Fuzz Hut

Clicky Clicky Music Blog Is 10

Well, no, not just yet. But on Feb. 26, 2006, or thereabouts, we waved goodbye to the fine folks at Junkmedia.org and began writing here under our own shingle. We'd had a personal blog here or under a clunky AT&T URL (dial-up, fool!) since 2000, but early in 2006 we looked at the future and wondered something akin to what the Red Stockings of the era were thinking: why not now? Why not us? Autonomy appealed to us, we gave it a go, and here we are 10 years and some 2,150 or so blog posts later. A great many terrific writers helped us along the way, including upstanding citizens (and one French national) Michael Piantigini, L. Tiburon Pacifico, Jay Kumar, Ric Dube, Nick Lorenzen, Michael RobbGrieco, Brad Searles, Mark Griffey, Jeff Breeze, Vanessa Deroo and D.P. Dean. And of course we would be nowhere without the indefatigable efforts of current long-tenure writers Edward Charlton and Dillon Riley. So many thanks to all, but especially you, the readers. It seems ridiculous to think that we'll do this for another whole decade, but for the time being we aren't going anywhere. There is just too much rock to rock.

Speaking of which, and as you might have gathered from the hot graphic above (featuring Mark from "G-Force" / "Battle Of The Planets," for those of you not as nerdy as us at the turn of the '80s), we are having a rock and roll show at the end of the month to celebrate our decennial. Topping the bill at Out Of The Blue Too in Cambridge, Mass.'s lovely Central Square are Boston fight-pop heroes Earthquake Party!, whose long-germinating full-length will hopefully feel the warmth of daylight sometime this year. Shoegaze titans Bedroom Eyes and upstart 'gaze-punk outfit Blew will also perform, and we're not ruling out a last-minute addition should a Clicky Clicky fave come knockin'. We're also sorting out someone special to provide interstitial and post-prandial auditory delights from the proverbial DJ booth, so expect an announcement on at least that in the coming days.

We've also been cooking up some other stuff to mark the anniversary. This link, for example, will take you to a Spotify playlist representative of the Clicky Clicky Sounds Of The Decade. It's not wholly comprehensive, of course, as it only contains what music is presently available on Spotify. And it is long on older sounds and short on more recent stuff, as we figured most of you know what has been "up" in more recent years. We've been thinking about creating a hard-copy 'zine to hand out at the show mentioned supra, and perhaps soliciting guest listicles of one sort or another from writers. But in all likelihood, the Spotify playlist is all we'll get done in the next two weeks, as we're always looking ahead, and only look back in rare instances like these. No matter. Clicky Clicky is 10. Hope to see you at the show in a couple weeks. Here's the Facebook event page where you can pledge your allegiance. Thanks for reading Clicky Clicky Music Blog. Here are a few of our guiding stars, all released on Slumberland a distressingly long time ago, now out-of-print, but never far from our thoughts.

Velocity Girl -- "My Forgotten Favorite" -- "My Forgotten Favorite" / "Why Should I Be Nice To You?"
Whorl -- "Maybe It's Better" -- "Maybe It's Better" b/w "Christmas"
Lilys -- "Claire Hates Me" -- In The Presence Of Nothing

Review: Bedroom Eyes | Honeysuckle

Standard bearers for unyielding, big-guitar shoegaze in Boston would seem to be hard to come by these days, with many of the genre's key regional proponents shutting down, migrating elsewhere, or mutating. The newer school of Boston 'gaze is tempered with pastoral passages, post-rock dynamics and more distinctly American production aesthetics, and the richly melodic, guitar-drenched sound purveyed by now-resuscitated legends RIDE and My Bloody Valentine would seem to have somewhat fallen out of favor. However, that all changes next week, when Bedroom Eyes return with a commanding sophomore set. The Boston foursome's new long-player Honeysuckle -- its first in three years -- places Bedroom Eyes at the vanguard of the city's big-guitar scene, poised for a breakout into the broader American underground on the strength of its moody, sonically aggressive and vividly rendered songs.

Honeysuckle is intoxicating, and its uptempo material particularly so. Buzz-sawing album highlight "Plain Heir" hits like a tsunami of swirling, bending guitars, with deep reverbs elevating the drums and characteristically smeared vocals in the mix. Similarly powerful is "Gypsy," whose churning, distorted guitars and breakneck pace are all blitzkrieg and no ebb. That pacing and surprisingly compact compositions establish a tension with the richness of Honeysuckle's arrangements and production, and this tension is at the core of what makes the set so entrancing. The effect is amplified by the fluidity between tracks; while the album doesn't quite have a continuous mix, songs flow and breathe into each other. Indeed, Honeysuckle employs two beautiful interstitial instrumental compositions to link key tracks like so much edgeless watercolor. First, the arpreggio-led, narcotic revery "(Highsummer)" ties the aforementioned "Plain Heir" to the pretty, mid-tempo anthem "Wild Sins," a tune whose thunderous choruses are set off by dreamy passages of layered guitar leads. The final third of the record is unstoppable; there the interstitial "(Deepwinter)" is sandwiched by the fiery, indefatigable belter "Lorraine" and the tremendous closing title track, which alternates between glimmering verses that call and shuddering choruses that respond.

Part of the narrative pushed with Honeysuckle is that the collection represents a "painstaking reworking" of the Bedroom Eyes sound. Nonetheless, it is striking how our review of the band's spine-tingling 2012 debut could very well apply to the new set. All of the visceral guitars, spectral vocals, saturated emotion and crackling energy the band presented on What Are You Wrong With persist here. Perhaps the production is where the foursome's game feels most stepped-up, particularly the vocal treatments, and a sonic wholeness across the record achieved by a honey-dripping, sub-aquatic ambiance. Despite its familiar building blocks, the new record by any metric is a distinct step forward. Sure, Honeysuckle arrives in the wake of a lineup change and an earlier scrapped LP session, but the painstaking reworking would seem to have rebuilt a reliable foundation, not reconfigure the band's sonic DNA. Whatever; the results speak for themselves.

Honeysuckle is a towering collection, a masterstroke, and so we are very pleased to premiere for you today the entire album via the Soundcloud embed below. Midnight Werewolf Records will release Honeysuckle in a limited edition of 100 cassettes Nov. 24, and the label is already taking pre-orders right here. The release is the first in a series of three cassettes that the label will issue over consecutive months featuring Boston acts (subsequent tapes feature Charles and Pleasure Gap). Honeysuckle will also be available on CD, and the band has already been selling it at shows. Bedroom Eyes just wrapped a short strand of live dates that took it as far south as Richmond; the band's next area show is Dec. 5 at Firebrand Saints in Cambridge, Mass. with Burglary Years, Summer of Aden and Babydriver. Bedroom Eyes also performs the following week with Porches at UNH in Durham, NH, and you can read more about that right here.

Bedroom Eyes: Bandcamp | Facebook



Previous Bedroom Eyes Coverage:
Today's Hotness: Bedroom Eyes
Review: Bedroom Eyes | What Are You Wrong With
Bedroom Eyes Record Release Show With Sneeze, Lube, Kal Marks And Big Mess | O'Brien's | 9 July
Clicky Clicky Music Presents... N O F U C K I N G W H E R E : 11 Boston Bands Perform Ride's 1990 Album
Young Adults, BDRM Eyes, Chandeliers and The Living City | The Box Fort, Allston Rock City | Jan. 28
Today's Hotness: BDRM Eyes

Regolith A2E3: Sean Tracy Presents Dye's Alone

Did you feel like we left you hanging? We apologize for the delay, but a bunch of real-life stuff got in the way of our publishing this, the final installment of Sean Tracy's plunge down the time-sensitive cataracts in the songwriting challenge barrel we here at Clicky Clicky call Regolith. We think you are going to agree it was worth the wait, however. We are very pleased to be able to present to you today the fruits of Mr. Tracy's labor, which he is attributing to his project Dye (which, of course, we first told you about here in A2E1). It's an EP titled Alone, a particularly fitting moniker, as Dye typically includes Tracy's cohort Sam, but here of course, per Regolith rules, does not. The Alone EP contains five concise compositions touting gauzy rhythm guitars, gently perforating leads and bass work, a warm low end and spectral vocals. The short collection is shot through with a sedately stunned vibe, not unlike that of The Cure's 17 Seconds, but its compositions are more densely populated by guitars, hinting at Tracy's love of C86 and shoegaze sounds. Alone is eminently listenable, and while in the interview below Tracy expresses dismay at the quantity of material he was able to complete in 30 days, there is no questioning its quality. The EP is streaming at the Clicky Clicky Bandcamp page and also embedded at the foot of this post. Read and listen on. -- L. Tiburon Pacifico

Clicky Clicky: So how did it go? Do you consider the results a personal success? A failure?

Sean Tracy: It went all right. I feel pretty good about it, but there a ton of things that I wanted to do over [or] add. I wrote 12 songs and I'm turning in four-and-a-half, so...

CC: What were the biggest challenges and frustrations?

ST: The biggest challenge was definitely recording the vocals. Personally, I'm not someone who is much of a creative writer, so writing lyrics is typically something I dread/dislike very much. Just getting the time to record them was hard enough, but then getting vocal takes that I actually felt good about was a different story.

CC: How were you able to work around or overcome these challenges?

ST: I'd say the second thing is closer to what happened. I pretty much had to write stuff as I recorded it, and even while I typically do that, I would still have [other] ideas that were literally more thought-out than I had for this project. At the end, I had gotten to the point where I was having to write vocals/lyrics and guitar parts at the same time.

CC: What song do you think came out the best?

ST: That's a hard question, probably "17." I spent the most time on it, and gave it the most thought out of any of them. To me, it seems like kind of a weird one, but I was really happy with how the instrumentals came out, if nothing else.

CC: What song or songs do you wish you'd had more time to work on? Do you see yourself re-doing any songs in the future, in any of your bands?

ST: The song I wish I had more time to work on was "Ripped." Lots I wanted to try out for that one that I just didn't have time for. And... maybe? Not in the immediate future.

CC: Are there any songs you did for this project that you couldn't re-create live?

ST: I guess the answer to that is, um, all of them, at least not without at least 3 other people to play them with me...

CC: If there was one person or piece of equipment you could have brought in for the project, who or what would that have been?

ST: If i could work with anyone else I'd probably have to say my friend Sam Glassberg, who I used to be in a band with. I feel like we could probably have written a full album if that were the case.

CC: Did you learn anything about how you write and record music? What specific or quantifiable lesson, if any, did you learn that will help you in the future?

ST: I've learned that I tend to be pretty spontaneous, and that sometimes I have a hard time being my own editor. I guess that's why working with others is beneficial. Having multiple points of view is probably for the best.

CC: If you could travel into the future and speak with the next Regolith participant, what one piece of advice would you give them?

ST: Store all your project files in the cloud forever (I just lost my external HDD and my Macbook, within two weeks of each other. Still trying to get over that).

Normally here we'd tease the next Regolith artist-in-her-or-his-own-residence, but at this point we are still hammering down start dates and batting orders for some prospective participants. In the meantime, get cozy with Alone, and keep an eye out for news about the release of the debut full-length from Chandeliers, which Tracy referenced in A2E1. Chandeliers play a very hot bill in Boston June 7 at O'Brien's, along with Idiot Genes, Flat Swamp and Strange Mangers. We last saw Tracy performing with Bedroom Eyes at the incredible Soccer Mom record release show early this month (which, incidentally, seems like 1,000 years ago now), but Tracy has since left that band.

Previously:
Regolith A2E2: Sean Tracy Writes Songs Under The Gun
Regolith A2E1: Sean Tracy Is A Songwriter
Regolith A1E3: Reuben Bettsak Presents Emerald Comets' Inside Dream Room
Regolith A1E2: Reuben Bettsak Writing Songs Under The Gun
Regolith A1E1: Reuben Bettsak Is A Songwriter
Introducing... Regolith

Regolith A2E2: Sean Tracy Writes Songs Under The Gun

Sean Tracy likes to do it in the car... recording vocals, that is -- HEY-O! Welcome back to Regolith, Clicky Clicky's 30-day songwriting and recording challenge, wherein we con one woman or man of the indie rock persuasion to let us tag along and take an in-depth look at her or his creative process as they write and record new music from scratch. This is episode A2E2 -- that is "Artist Two, Episode Two" -- wherein Mr. Tracy gives us his mid-project update. You remember Sean, right? The guy who makes the bass noises for Boston anxiety-pop unit Chandeliers and New Hampshire/Boston shoegaze goliaths Bedroom Eyes? We covered all of that in A2E1, which, if you missed it, it's still online right here. There's some pretty interesting insights below. Perhaps our favorite is Tracy's assertion that the project is a lot like a quiz that you've written for yourself. "You know you're the one who made up the questions in the first place, but you still have to think about the answers." Something about that sentiment makes us think of a favorite Lilys lyric, but it also has a ring of truth for those of us who written a song or 10. Check out our full second interview with Sean below, which gives us some sense of what we might be hearing when Tracy turns over the proverbial tapes as his 30 days elapse (at which point we do one more blog post and offer the music via our Bandcamp page, remember? Also, Tracy turns back into a pumpkin). We invite you to dig in to the nitty and gritty below, and be certain to check back for the thrilling conclusion in the coming days. -- L. Tiburon Pacifico

Clicky Clicky: How has the project been going so far? Are you finding it easier or harder than you anticipated? Any particularly big challenges?

Sean Tracy: It's been a lot of fun! Definitely a positive experience so far, but I would say that I'm finding it a bit harder than I anticipated, mostly because I'm now at the point where I'm having to scale down what I wanted to do initially. I'd say that's the biggest challenge, having to sacrifice some tracking/production for the sake of finishing it. I've also had some basic technical issues... a broken microphone, broken headphones, etc.

CC: Tell us about your recording equipment setup. Are there specific reasons you use the equipment and software that you do?

ST: The primary things I've been using to record have been my MacBook and my new USB interface, a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. It acts as a preamp for a microphone as well as for the guitar, so I've been relying on that for almost everything. I have a microphone that I "liberated" from work that is apparently broken, so I'm most likely (really, really soon) going to borrow or buy another one.

For software, I've been using Logic to record/mix and Adobe Audition for more mixing. I use Logic mostly because I learned how to record with Garageband, which is basically Logic's baby brother, so when I wanted something better, it was sort of an easy transition.

CC: Describe techniques you employ (mic placement, mixing, effects, etc.). Would you use these same techniques if time were not a limiting factor? How did you learn to record this way?


ST: Well, currently the one microphone I have is not working, so I'm thinking of placing it in the trash. [Ba-da-dum~! -- Ed.]

When it did work, I would kinda dangle it over my amp (a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe) to record the guitar because I don't have one of those little mic stands. The original game plan was to use the Focusrite to record one track of DI guitar, and one mic'ed track off my amp to give it a real amp tone with the DI mixed in. Because of the microphone situation, I'm going to probably just use only the DI tracks. This might change if I get the time to try out another microphone, but I'm not really sure yet.

For effects, I have a few pedals that I run my guitar through. Reverb, chorus, delay, echo, fuzz and distortion so far. I also use Logic to add in some digital reverb and compression to the whole mix.

If time weren't a factor, I would probably still do it this way. I think it works really well, especially as a way to dirty up some of the DI tracks. This is my first time recording this way, but I got the idea from Ryan Stack at Format Audio, our recording engineer for the new Chandeliers LP. This is more or less what he did for the bass tracks on the album, and I thought it sounded great, so I wanted to try it out for this project.

CC: Do you have any unusual tricks or rooms/spaces you record in that are exclusive to your home studio?

ST: I guess the one strange thing about me is that I like recording vocals in my car. I get much less background noise/hum that way, and I also don't have to worry about my neighbors thinking I'm a total weirdo/jerk for singing the same part over and over again.

CC: What instruments have you been using to this point? Do you foresee introducing other instruments?

ST: For guitars, I've been using a Fender Telecaster, and, in some places, an Epiphone SG. The Telecaster has been the main guitar, but I've used the SG in a couple places to get a kinda crunchier/hotter sound.

For bass, I've been using a Fender Bass VI, an instrument that tends to confuse a lot of people because it has 6 strings. It looks like a baritone guitar, which is what most people think it is, but it's tuned the same as a standard guitar and can be played like a bass or guitar (Robert Smith of the Cure was known to use one). I love how it sounds.

For the drums, I've been using Logic to program beats. I've been mostly trying to get the programmed drums to approximate the sound/feel of a natural drum kit/live drummer, but in some spots I wanted the beat to feel more like a drum machine.

The only other instrument that I may try to use is an old Casiotone keyboard that I have. I think it could be fun to somehow work keys into a couple places.

CC: Do you find that the time limitations change your approach to writing and/or recording?


ST: Yes. Well, somewhat. I usually record while I write but that's kind of what I need to do for this project. It's nice to come up with a mostly-structured song before I record it, but with the time limit, I've been finding myself myself just hitting "record" and experimenting until I find an idea I like, and then going from there.

CC: Do you feel that the songs are turning out differently than they otherwise would if you weren't restricted to 30 days? If so, what do you think would be different about them?

ST: Hard to say. I'd like to think that maybe they would be a little more developed, at least structurally, but I don't know if that would be a good thing or not. Were it not for the time limit, however, I don't think that some of these songs would ever have existed, because it's something that's forcing me to sit down and produce something, and hopefully that's caused me to create something a little different or interesting than I ordinarily would have.

CC: At this point, do you find the time restrictions to be a hindering your process? Or do you find them to be liberating in some way?

ST: I think of it as more liberating. I tend to work well under pressure... sometimes it's the only way I can actually finish anything. I tend to doubt myself a lot, and there's not really time for that. Knowing there's a deadline is kind of motivating me to be creative, but at the same time, there's not a minimum amount of songs that I have to turn over, so it's almost like taking a quiz that you've written for yourself. You know you're the one who made up the questions in the first place, but you still have to think about the answers.

Related Coverage:
Today's Hotness: Bedroom Eyes
Today's Hotness: Chandeliers
Review: Bedroom Eyes | What Are You Wrong With
Bedroom Eyes Record Release Show With Sneeze, Lube, Kal Marks And Big Mess
And Then Some Days We Get Awesome Mail 12
Clicky Clicky Music Presents... N O F U C K I N G W H E R E
Young Adults, BDRM Eyes, Chandeliers and The Living City | The Box Fort, Allston Rock City | Jan. 28
Today's Hotness: BDRM Eyes

Regolith A2E1: Sean Tracy Is A Songwriter

He rumbles the thunderstick for Boston anxiety-pop phenoms Chandeliers, he blasts the bottom end for Boston-and-New Hampshire-based shoegaze goliaths Bedroom Eyes, he does a bunch of other stuff, too. And now Sean Tracy is doing Regolith, Clicky Clicky's still new-car-smelling, month-long songwriting challenge. Attentive readers will recall it was just last month that we unveiled the results of Regolith Series 1, which featured scene stalwart Reuben Bettsak, and which produced this pretty dynamite collection of music (some of which will be performed this Sunday). We are very excited to have Mr. Tracy as our next songwriter-in-his-own-residence for this tripartite series. He's a New Hampshire native that has been keeping it real in the greater Allston/Brighton for several years, and we've been a fan since way back in 2010, when we put Chandeliers on a very hot bill at Precinct in Somerville, MA. As we mentioned supra, Tracy is also now playing bass in another Clicky Clicky fave act, Bedroom Eyes, which just released a totally sick new track called "Wild Sins" that we've embedded below. Incidentally, both acts he now plays with contributed tracks to our 2012 RIDE tribute comp NOFUCKINGWHERE. We think membership in two of the city's best bands is reason enough to bamboozle a gal or guy into doing Regolith, don't you? Either way, Tracy graciously has taken up the gauntlet and recently began work in earnest. We'll be sure to keep you apprised, as is the Regolith way, but before we go too much further, let's get acquainted. -- L. Tiburon Pacifico

CC: What is happening with your various projects right now?



 ST: Chandeliers is coming out with a full length LP this year. It's 12 tracks we recorded in January, that were written over the last two years or so. I'm really excited about it, and can't wait to put it out. We're doing a 2-day trip [this] week, out to Connecticut and Philadelphia, two places we have never played before, and planning a longer tour once we have records to sell.



Bedroom Eyes just released a single for a compilation and, besides that, we're finishing up some material that was tracked before I joined the band. That should be out soon. Besides that, we're writing new songs for an EP that we'll hopefully record later this year.



 I played in/play in a band called Dye (briefly, emphasis on briefly, called Kardashians). It's now mostly a recording project consisting of me and my friend Sam. We played two shows before he moved to the west coast and we have yet to release anything, but have 6-7 recorded songs that I really hope we will release this year. We practice as much as we can given the distance, maybe 2-3 times a year.



 CC: What instruments do you play? When did you start playing them?



 ST: I play guitar (7 years), bass (5 years), and I can play drums a little. I have a kit, but don't really (never) play it. I can also "play" keyboard, if pressing keys and hoping they make pretty sounds counts as playing... [it does. -- Ed.]



 CC: How long have you been writing music?



 ST: I guess ever since I got my first guitar. I always tried to write my own parts, really simple ones at first, even though I couldn't really translate the ideas into actual playing. I actually sort of learned how to write songs by recording my own stuff with Garageband when I was around 19 or 20, and that's when I started messing with multi-tracking, learning how to mix audio, junk like that. And then after being in a band that worked on songs together, and seeing how that process went, I kind of eventually started working on more complex parts and full songs of my own.



 CC: What are your songwriting influences? Do you feel like there's an influence on your music that is obvious to you but might not necessarily be apparent to a listener?



 ST: Very, very many. I guess the biggest influences are my favorite bands, mostly jangly guitar bands from the '80s, and c86 bands: McCarthy, The Bodines, The Smiths, The Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, '90s Slumberland stuff, especially Black Tambourine and Henry's Dress. Early Modest Mouse, '90s Kinsella-sphere emo, like Cap'n Jazz, American Football, Joan of Arc (that first album), The Promise Ring, and other stuff like Sunny Day Real Estate, Braid, early Fugazi, and older punk bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains and The Wipers. For more contemporary stuff, Grouper, Deerhunter and Broadcast. Is this too many? [No. -- Ed.]



 I've also got a real place in my heart for old doo-wop stuff, like from the '50s and '60s. Not that I think that sound influences what I write, but I really admire how simple, in terms of structure and lyrics, that most of those songs are. But you can still tell there's real emotion that goes into it.



 CC: How would you describe your songwriting (not recording) process. Are the songs planned out, or is the process more organic, with single chords or melodies developing into parts, which then develop into songs? Or do you have a back catalog of riffs/parts/progressions that you mix and match until they find a home?



 ST: Well actually, I write quite a bit by recording. If I have one or two parts that go together, I'll record it and listen for how another part might work its way in there. Hearing something play back usually helps me decide what works and what doesn't, and where structural things and transitions should go. It feels a lot different playing a song vs. hearing it recorded. It's almost like how I "proofread" a song.



 Typically I'll have a few parts that will not really have a set order/duration, but almost always the part that comes to me first ends up being the chorus, and I kind of work the other parts around that.



CC: Do you normally write your songs alone, or are you used to writing with others? Will this project change the way you typically write?



 ST: Most of the songs that I write, I write by myself, so this is actually somewhat normal for me.



 CC: Where will you be doing your writing and recording throughout this project?



 ST: My bedroom/apartment, and maybe some in my practice space.



 CC: What are your goals/aspirations for this project?



 ST: My goal is really to push myself outside of my comfort zone, and by that I mean, actually PRODUCE something. Since I was 19, I have started writing and recording literally dozens of songs, some finished, many more unfinished, but zero that I've formally released. It's partly an insecurity thing, but it's also an attention span/schedule thing: I have ADHD, I work full time, I play and practice in two bands, and I have a girlfriend. There's not a lot of time in between for me to focus on songwriting, and this is a really good excuse for that, and it's just a cool idea for a project, too.

What else can we tell you? Here's the Face book deets for that show Chandeliers are playing in Philly Saturday night: all of our Philadelpia pheoples should hit that. The threesome is back in Allston Rock City April 30 supporting this bill at O'Brien's toplined by Streight Angular. Enough of my yakkin', how about some songs?





Related Coverage:
Today's Hotness: Bedroom Eyes
Today's Hotness: Chandeliers
Review: Bedroom Eyes | What Are You Wrong With
Bedroom Eyes Record Release Show With Sneeze, Lube, Kal Marks And Big Mess
And Then Some Days We Get Awesome Mail 12
Clicky Clicky Music Presents... N O F U C K I N G W H E R E
Young Adults, BDRM Eyes, Chandeliers and The Living City | The Box Fort, Allston Rock City | Jan. 28
Today's Hotness: BDRM Eyes

Today's Hotness: Soccer Mom, Screaming Maldini, Routine Involvements

>> Based on the math and the recurrent wringing of hands/gnashing of teeth about Facebook page views, roughly 95% of Clicky Clicky Facebook page readers missed our trumpeting there of last week's long-awaited announcement about the pending release of Soccer Mom's full-length debut. Which is quite a long sentence. But, indeed, this is finally, finally happening. The Boston shoegaze giants' titanic first long player is a self-titled, nine-song collection that will be released by 100m Records May 1 as an LP, CD and digital download. As for the music, Soccer Mom presents an impressively realized set of songs, songs that balance delicately the dueling guitars of co-fronters Dan Parlin and William Scales. Texture is a concept the band has championed for years, but the real stars of the new set are the finer melodies, and the distinct (but not stifling) framing these recordings provide (as opposed to the volatile maelstrom of the band's live performances). We don't want to say more than that, as we'll have a complete review of the full record in a few weeks. But it is coming, with all of its bad magic and transformative loss. Ardent fans will note that some of the new songs are already in the wild, with early versions of "No One Left" and "Hideaway Sands" appearing here at Foundwaves last summer, and today here, where "Sundown Syndrome" and "Orejas" were debuted by Allston Pudding. Soccer Mom's catalog to date also includes a vinyl single, the colossal 10" You Are Not Going To Heaven, and last year's desperate and desolate digital single "Brides" b/w "A Canoe Shy." There is as of yet no pre-order information for Soccer Mom, but we've seen evidence that physical copies of the record exist, so all in due time, my pretties... The record will be feted May 3 at Great Scott with a release show featuring the staggering slate of support acts Bedroom Eyes, Infinity Girl and Palehound. For now, how about taking a listen to The Mom's brilliant cover of Lilys' "Ginger," from last year's Clicky Clicky comp? It does a body good.



>> Sheffield, England-based indie pop geniuses Screaming Maldini have loosed to the wilds of the Interzizzles the third in its mysterious and apparently monthly series of free downloads, an effort now dubbed #monthlymaldiniXII. The latest track is the anxious, dreamy ballad "Abyssinia," in which singer Gina Maldini passionately entreats, fiercely fends off desperation. The tune is dark and dynamic, raising itself up from plodding piano chords onto the back of thumping percussion and gang vocals in the chorus. "Abyssinia" carries the sextet's characteristically deft arrangements and sophisticated harmonies, and draws on its familiar horns and key changes, but the compositional skill, a Maldini hallmark, makes the song feel newer and fresher, even among the act's impressive repertoire. Not only did Gina perform the lead vocal of the track, she also wrote and directed the video for the accompanying clip, which you can watch right here. Last month the sextet issued "Bearings," the second tune of #monthlymaldiniXII, which can still be heard right here. This month finds Screaming Maldini heading to Japan for the first time, to support the recent release into that market of the band's stirring self-titled full-length (which we reviewed here a year ago). Two tunes from Screaming Maldini charted in the Tokyo Hot 100, a very respectable achievement for the Sheffield six. We're holding out hope that at the end of the 12-month exercise that is #monthlymaldiniXII there is a physical release of some sort. Call us old-fashioned. And after you're done doing that, listen to "Abyssinia" via the Soundcloud embed below.



>> Is upstate New York having a moment? It's probably always having a moment, right? But, anyway, obv. now-act Perfect Pussy hails from Syracuse, noise-rock upstarts What Moon Things are poised to make a statement and break out of verdant New Paltz later this year, and now comes Routine Involvements, an act that cultivates hooky, crunchy guitar pop from its base of operations in Rochester. Let us consult a map: oh yes, there it is, physically even further west than Syracuse. But sonically -- at least based on the new song "Faux Affections" -- Routine Involvements are considerably more west. That is, if you want to go ahead and compare the four-year-old act (which was formerly known as Stereophone) -- as many likely will -- to Weezer circa the first two albums. The Rochester trio's latest effort is the Future Days EP, which will be released on cassette later this month by Dadstache Records. The six-song set includes the aforementioned "Faux Affections," which follows its chugging bass line and palm-muted guitars through several logical steps, none of which shock, but all of which add up to a bracing bit of scruffy pop. Choruses are big, alluring feedback pools across the floor of the second verse, calm if tense vocals explode along with the guitars in the final thirty seconds. It's a great song, and we're eager to hear more of them from this rock combo. At present there is no information about ordering Future Days at the Dadstache online storefront, but if you keep your eye on that there link we expect it is just a matter of time. For now, stream "Faux Affections" below.

Today's Hotness: Bedroom Eyes, Fat History Month, Yawns

>> At long last we have new music from Boston shoegaze dynamos Bedroom Eyes, an act that was sidelined for months when its second guitarist suffered a broken hand last fall. That guitarist has now left the band and after briefly considering augmenting the remaining three-piece with a keyboard player, Bedroom Eyes has elected to continue on as a trio. Earlier this month the act updated its Bandcamp offerings with a new demo of a song called "Ripe," its first recorded effort in the new trio configuration. The tune commences with a clean, articulated guitar melody and bright bass, suggesting, albeit momentarily, that Bedroom Eyes may have changed its approach to the art of rocking. But that moment is fleeting, as the bending, buzzsaw guitars and floating vocals that characterize the band's powerful prior work quickly move front and center. It's a welcome return from one of the brightest stars in the constellation of Boston shoegaze. Download or stream "Ripe" via the Bandcamp embed below. The band has an EP's worth of new material under its belt and hopes to get that music recorded in a proper studio or to at least self-record and issue some tunes via a cassette. Bedroom Eyes released its stellar full-length debut What Are You Wrong With last summer, and we reviewed it right here.



>> Revered Boston indie rock duo Fat History Month delivered a twofer at the beginning of the month with the announcement of its sophomore set Bad History Month and an expanded cassette reissue of the duo's first single, "Safe And Sound." The new long-player is a co-release of Exploding In Sound and Sophomore Lounge, two of America's finer labels, and will be issued to the masses April 1. The Bad History Month LP ("the last one was our comedy album. This one's a tragedy," the act quips at Bandcamp) is heralded by its alternately swirling and angular title track, a characteristically entrancing three-minutes-and-change of deconstructed cow-punk which you can stream via the embed below. The 12-song LP is being pressed in a limited edition of 500 discs and comes packaged with a letter-sized, 26-page illustrated lyric sheet/coloring book, with art by Adric Giles. Pre-orders are being taken now with the inducement that those taking advantage will receive a single MP3 download (presumably of the title track, but who knows?) to tide them over. Hidden Temple Tapes is doing the honors for the reissue of "Safe And Sound," and the new cassette version contains two additional songs from the sessions that produced the original sides, as well as five more songs -- the "Mummy Demos" -- from the pair's first recording session in 2007. Get all the deets about the "Safe And Sound" cassette right here. Fat History Month embarks on a massive, five-week U.S. tour with labelmates Pile March 22; full dates are at its Bandcamp page right here (scroll down, money). Fat History Month's titanic debut full-length Fucking Despair was issued by Sophomore Lounge in September 2011.



>> We do sincerely hope that you were watching the Clicky Clicky Facebook page earlier this week when we gave big ups to the new song/debut video from Glaswegian indie sensations The Yawns. The quintet, which we turned on to after scenemates The Cherry Wave referred to them recently, on Valentine's Day offered up the new tune "Full Of Admiration" via a fairly demented video clip that you can watch right here. "Full Of Admiration" opens with a pretty bass melody but is quickly overtaken by jangly guitars and spectral vocals -- including some beautiful falsetto melodies -- set adrift in a thick cloud of reverb. The delicate but damaged pop song -- which will feature on The Yawns' next long-player -- reminds us of the apparently-still-a-band-all-these-years-later Norman, Okla.-based psych pop savants Evangelicals, who slipped off our radar a few years ago. The clip for "Full Of Admiration" features band members lounging in a tub of God-we-hope-that-is-beer, snorting glitter, and eating fried egg out of a handmade Valentine that was too big for the mail slot. In short: it's fucking brilliant. We know little about The Yawns beyond the fact that it features former members of Copy Haho -- once part of the short-lived but very promising Awesome Pals collective, right? -- and GoldFlakePaint picked the band's self-titled 2012 full-length debut as one of the best of last year, but we are very eager to hear and see what the fivesome does next. You can stream "Full Of Admiration" via the Bandcamp embed below.

Today's Hotness: Big Deal, Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson, The Nimbleines

>> [Photo Credit: Malia James] Internationally sourced and London-based indie rock duo Big Deal disclosed earlier this week that it will release a sophomore set, June Gloom, June 4th. Which, you know, thank God it's actually being released in June, because, duh, am I right? If the spelling-challenged preview track "Teradactol" that first appeared online in November is any indication, the new collection promises a new, noisier and louder sound for the heretofore relatively reserved pair of Kacey Underwood and Alice Costello. June Gloom was produced by Rory Attwell, whose credentials include production work for Yuck as well as the recently released triumph from London's Veronica Falls. Underwood and Costelloe are abetted in the creation of the record by drummer Melissa Rigby (according to SPIN) and an unidentified bass player, yet another indicator that the softly forlorn Big Deal that first revealed itself with the skeletal and haunting single "Homework," released by Records Records Records in 2010, is a thing of the past. Or at least not quite so softly forlorn. June Gloom will be released by Mute and touts 12 tracks in total, and you can stream and download "Teradactol" via the Soundcloud embed below. A video for the first single from June Gloom has been filmed and, according to Big Deal's Facebook page, it will be unveiled soon. The duo's enchanting first full-length Lights Out was released via Mute in the US in January 2012, and we kicked its tires for readers right here.



>> Oslo-based emo heroes Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson this week relayed news that its 2005 debut Unnoticeable In A Tiny Town, Invisible In The City has been remastered and will be reissued in March on 180g vinyl by Doognad Records, also based in Norway. The set is available in a limited edition of 250 black LPs, and fans can get one via Doognad's Big Cartel dojo right here for the princely sum of 20 Euros, which according to the Googles Saturday afternoon equals USD $26.76. We're not saying Unnoticeable In A Tiny Town... on 180g vinyl isn't worth that kind of coin, we're just reporting here, folks. According to a Facebook post, the record was remastered by Will Killingsworth at Amherst, Mass.'s own Dead Air Studios. Older and hipper Clicky Clicky readers may recognize Mr. Killingsworth's name from his years playing guitar with screamo giants Orchid (readers may also recall Bedroom Eyes and Best Practices have both made exemplary records at Dead Air). Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson's most recent release, the 10" EP Small Changes We Hardly Notice, was released last summer and included the stunning opener "All I Remember Is Punk Rock." The set was one of our favorite releases of the year (although, as we got it on vinyl, its aggregate ITunes playcount didn't rate the EP for inclusion in our 2012 year-end list). Small Changes We Hardly Notice was issued domestically by emo powerhouse Count Your Lucky Stars Records -- keep your fingers crossed that the label might get some stock of the reissue of Unnoticable, so you don't have to eat some pesky international shipping. Since it is one of the greatest things since sliced bread, stream the tune "All I Can Remember Is Punk Rock" via the Soundcloud embed below. If you'd like to listen to the old master of Unnoticeable In A Tiny Town, Invisible In The City, it is available for streaming right here at Bandcamp.



>> There is a slippery but quantifiable charm to the debut digital single from the new oddball electropop duo The Nimbleines, who recently revealed themselves via the 12" extended mix of the tune "Let's Play Leaving." The song traverses some varied terrain while hewing closely to some familiar touchstones, laying in gentle vocals, synths and electric rhythm tracks that at different times echo vintage DEVO or Yo La Tengo's "Year Of The Shark." Even with the synth and programmed beats there is a lo-fi aura to the tune that gives it an earthy appeal; The Nimbleines certainly are not taking a sterile approach to the production values, something that we appreciate. The band is comprised of Boston musician and music journo Jonathan Donaldson, who some may know from his work from the delightfully quirky guitar act The I Want You, and Columbus, OH-based James Goodman, a fellow heretofore unknown to Clicky Clicky. The Nimbleines characterize themselves and an electropop/psych act, and its Facebook page indicates a full-length is planned. We don't feel the psych stewing on "Let's Play Leaving," just light, hooky, '80s-referencing synth-pop, so we'll be curious to hear more from the pair. In the meantime, the delicate hooks that cycle through the verse and chorus of "Let's Play Leaving" will give your ears plenty to contend with. Stream and download the tune via the Soundcloud embed below.

Review: Bedroom Eyes | What Are You Wrong With

Dense, bending chords, drifting vocals and desperate rhythms drive the terrific recent long-player from Boston shoegaze luminaries Bedroom Eyes. The collection, self-released by the quartet July 9, entices with its big melodies, superfuzzed guitars and bass and healthy blasts of feedback and static. All of which make What Are You Wrong With the record we've waited a long time to hear a Boston band make, a kind of golden mean between Dinosaur Jr's Bug and My Bloody Valentine's Isn't Anything. And despite only recently locating the second half of the band to the city and having a very short life span to date, Bedroom Eyes' biting blend of shoegaze and punk is presently among the most intense and captivating in the Boston underground.

The buzz-sawing verses of opener and album highlight "Garmonbozia" pump fuzz-bass sunshine under radiant, shimmering guitars, each verse building to a glorious cacophony in the chorus. As with the entire album, everything is limned with a rich sonic grit. Indeed, What Are You Wrong With succeeds as much because of its rough edges as it does for its uncannily memorable melodies. All sounds are gratifyingly loud and sent to tape that way, allowing the music to smash up against the stereo field in a manner that approximates both the listener being "there" live, caught in the swirl, and one of the more memorable moments of "Kentucky Fried Movie" (for a young teen-aged boy, anyway). The production allows the recordings to shudder with a barely contained energy, bringing to bear Bedroom Eyes' Allston basement show cred in a deliciously visceral way.

Even before it released this long-player, it was already a big year for Bedroom Eyes. The band was named the best underground act in New Hampshire, even when half its members had already made the jump to Boston. What the cognoscenti knew was there was no reason to expect a let-down, as Bedroom Eyes had already unleashed on an eager public of early adopters a tantalizing clutch of excellent demos and compilation tracks, including iterations of "Big Boo," "Soggy," and a thrilling cover of Ride's "In A Different Place" on Clicky Clicky's Nofuckingwhere compilation (still available for free download here).

What Are You Wrong With strongly delivers on the promise of those early tracks, while offering new insights into the rapidly rising band. Songs such as "Weak Back" and "Dissipate" evidence Bedroom Eyes allowing itself to work odd grooves and explore sound and space outside the constraints of verse-chorus-verse inevitability. The blunt-force of the wall of guitar and desperate rhythmic intensity of the former track builds and then breaks down, settling into a quiet lumbering groove of fuzz bass and edgeless feedback that provides perhaps the most satisfying and beautifully pure moments on the record. "Touch Of Sap" has verses that sway and bend, and a pummelling chorus that recalls scene-legends Swirlies. What Are You Wrong With has no filler, just lots of killer. Buy it on CD or as a digital download via the Bandcamp embed below. As we reported here last month, the foursome is already at work on a follow-up, an EP to be released on cassette; we'll keep you posted.

Bedroom Eyes: Tumblaaaaah | Facebook | Bandcamp