That Was The Show That Was: Japanese Breakfast with Porches, Rivergazer | The Sinclair | 5 Oct.

[PHOTOS: Tiffany Law for Clicky Clicky Music Blog] The reverbed keys and dense shoegazey guitars on Psychopomp, Michelle Zauner's full-length debut with her latest project Japanese Breakfast, represented a sharp stylistic pivot away from the music of her beloved and much-Clicky Clicky'd Philly indie combo Little Big League. That and the fact that Psychopomp was largely inspired by the loss of Ms. Zauner's mother to cancer provided ready-made narratives ahead of the long-player's release. But the big story for Psychopomp, which was issued last spring, has to be its superlative songwriting, which couches concise hooks and earworm choruses within expansive production. It is one of the year's more arresting releases.

Last Wednesday night at Cambridge, Mass.'s Sinclair the band ran through a tight live reworking of the record, while mixing in a number of affirmative nods to certain key influences. Among the live set's highlights were performances of widely heralded album preview tracks. Japanese Breakfast's cover of Birthday Girls' "Everybody Wants To Love You," whose sprightly indie pop guitar leads -- admittedly something of a tonal outlier on record -- practically blossomed in a live setting. Better still was the band's sparkling rendition of "In Heaven," a track that doubles as Psychopomp's thesis statement, and one that felt particularly cathartic presented on stage. Multi-instrumentalist Nick Hawley-Garner flipped between guitar and keys throughout the set, working to animate Psychopomp's lush and at times Smashing Pumpkins-indebted arrangements.

Even so, and aside from a gorgeous cover of The Cranberries' eternal teen-pop smash "Dreams," the night's biggest moment was Japanese Breakfast's set-closer, an as yet-untitled new tune touting bubbly synth and auto-tune styled vocals from Zauner. For this, she abandoned her guitar and bounced around the stage, underscoring this reviewer's hunch that the band may be heading in a poppier, and perhaps thrillingly experimental, direction. Following its show at The Sinclair, Japanese Breakfast played two sold-out "hometown" shows in Brooklyn and Philadelphia; next week the act heads across the ocean for a three-week tour of the UK and Western Europe. Stream all of Psychopomp via the Bandcamp embed below and click through to purchase the set on vinyl, cassette or as a digital download.

Popular New York group Porches headlined the night, proffering plenty of cuts from its moody, swaying Domino Records debut Pool. Bandleader Aaron Maine has grabbed headlines for taking his project in a bolder direction away from its earlier downer folk-rock. He now leads a much looser live outfit, and has become something of an enigmatic focal point: video clips now depict his slightly off-kilter delivery and dance moves. There are few indie groups out there with as strong a stage chemistry, which likely accounts for the incredible live takes on Pool highlights "Car," "Mood," and "Braid." New York alt R&B outfit Rivergazer, whose Kevin Farrant also plays guitar in the Porches live band, opened the night with tasteful numbers from its recent Only 4 U EP. -- Dillon Riley

Japanese Breakfast: Bandcamp | Facebook



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That Was The Show That Was: Little Big League with Paws, Idiot Genes | Great Scott | 14 Nov.
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Review: Little Big League/Ovlov | "Year Of The Sunhouse," "Pure Bliss Choices" b/w "The Great Crocodile"

The venerable Tiny Engines label will release in August a split 7" featuring tremendous tunes from Philly indie-rock dynamos Little Big League and Connecticut fuzzmasters Ovlov. Two-thirds of the record has been in the wild for some time, in the form of advance streams of Little Big League's "Year Of The Sunhouse" and Ovlov's possibly career-defining tune "The Great Crocodile," and just today the final piece of the aural puzzle was revealed. We feel pretty comfortable saying that if you buy just one split single this year (which would be weird, but let's not make this about us...), this is the one.

With "Year of The Sunhouse," fronter Michelle Zauner and co. channel the electrifying sprawl of the foursome's terrific 2013 long-player These Are Good People, whilst simultaneously tightening the space surrounding the act's dueling guitars. Essentially the tune delivers 2:10 of unmitigated hook, and -- despite that fidelity to and focus on the said hook -- "Year Of The Sunhouse" is perhaps their most expressive track to date. The song gives voice to Ms. Zauner's convictions about her future and contrasts them against the apprehension of those around her. Just today LBL premiered its second tune from this doozy of a release, "Pure Bliss Choices," over on Wondering Sound. The slightly longer workout boasts the same cutting guitar work and evocative imagery upon which the band has built its reputation. The song's double-barreled chorus delivers ringing distortion alongside a wholly arresting vocal melody.

Ovlov's side, "The Great Crocodile," plays out like a response to its titanic full-length am's finale "The Great Alligator." It is a towering, six-minute tour de force, rife with riffage seemingly cloned from the classic Dinosaur Jr. release You're Living All Over Me, with chugging rhythms courtesy of Ovlov's current all-Hartlett-all-the-time back line. The recording is the first to feature the relatively recent 'lov addition, second guitarist Morgan Luzzi, who has been performing with the Hartletts of late. Of all the Exploding In Sound bands, Ovlov has always seemed most suited to emo comparisons, so its pairing on the split platter with LBL makes a lot of sense. The Nutmeg staters make further inroads into that scene this summer, as future dates include shows with Topshelf's Donovan Wolfington and Run For Cover's (recently reactivated) Basement (that's a house show in JP and opening slot at the Sinclair, respectively). "Year Of The Sunhouse" and "Pure Bliss Choices" b/w "Year Of The Crocodile" is available for pre-order now in a limited edition of 1,000 flat vinyl circles with a groove cut in each side. The pressing includes 125 opaque bright orange singles, 225 opaque bright yellow singles, 300 translucent peach singles, and 350 boring old white singles [completists can get all four for $20 but, really, will four copies of the same single really fill that void in your life? -- Ed.]. Pre-order yours from Tiny Engines right here before they disappear. We last wrote about Little Big League here in November, when the quartet played a hot and local show with Paws and Idiot Genes. More recently, Zauner released under the moniker Japanese Breakfast a collection of seven solo tracks written as part of a blog exercises; check out the excellent Where Is My Great Big Feeling right here. -- Dillon Riley