Review: Roomrunner | Separate EP

If you've read anything about Baltimore noise-rock unit Roomrunner, and we're guessing you have, you know people can't seem to stop saying that the foursome loves the '90s rock. The band was practically suffocated with comparisons to Nirvana and assertions that it loved grunge during its last album cycle, although we have half a memory of a sticker applied to the face of the LP that suggested Roomrunner had a pretty solid sense of humor about it. After all, what's a band to do -- at least people are paying attention, right? Well, what Roomrunner did was evolve, and to an impressive degree, in fact, as evidenced by the foursome's fourth release, the terrific and massively listenable Separate EP.

The tunes on the short set tout a less dense, more nimble mix of elements, an apparent byproduct of all four members of Roomrunner contributing to songwriting for the set. In effect, the new dynamic masterfully frees the band from the glue trap of its earlier super-saturated, sludgy sound. Where Ideal Cities was an unrelenting listen that regularly featured overwhelming fuzz, Separate is marked by a notable amount of space within even more sophisticated and tuneful compositions. Sure, no one will ever call songs like the new one "Push Down & Turn" spare, but the mechanistic EP closer "Slow" is almost as airy and fluid as a Pinback song, and shows the remarkable degree to which Roomrunner's reality is greater than its supposed influences. On "Slow" Bowen presents a lower, gravely voice, before the song shifts into a bombastic, Weezer-styled chord progression appointed by simple, effective vocal harmonies that trail off in a series of surprisingly contented "doo doo doo doos."

The more balanced -- dare we say separated -- mix of Separate de-emphasizes guitars, or at least loud distorted ones, leaving room for different tones and textures to reveal themselves. Maybe they were there all along, hiding in the corners, paved over in album mixes by colossal guitars and explosive, room-filling drumming. Speaking of, notable EP opener "Ms. DNA" is packed tightly with some chunky, floor-stomping 4/4, but veers into a nifty 7/4 bridge. Fronter Denny Bowen smartly matches his nasal, distorted vocal to the tune serrated riff during the verses, making the song a fairly irresistible calling card for the collection. Dynamite preview track "Chrono Trigger" and its no-less-awesome-but-more-ridiculously-titled successor "ESPN Zone," instead of looking across the country (and the decades), seem to find inspiration in more proximal D.C. post-hardcore acts like Jawbox -- which, incidentally, was fronted by the EP's producer, J. Robbins -- or Shudder To Think. As the EP winds down the band continues to fluidly shift gears, executing some exciting dynamic shifts and entertaining some lighter, occasionally even jangly guitar. It's a new morning for Roomrunner, and we are very stoked to hear the next full-length set.

The Separate EP was released Tuesday via Accidental Guest on 12" vinyl or digital download; you can acquire the vinyl right here and the ones and zeroes right here. A bunch of live dates are posted at the act's Bandcamp right here; assuming you are reading this review the moment it goes live, you are probably missing Roomrunner's hometown show tonight, but the act is slated to perform in America's Living Room, a/k/a The Silent Barn in Brooklyn, tomorrow night, Oct. 25. -- A Dillon Riley and Jay Breitling joint

Roomrunner: Bandcamp | Facebook



Previously:
That Was The Show That Was: Roomrunner with Shannon And The Clams | Great Scott | 17 June

Show Us Yours #17: Golden Gurls

[PHOTOS: P. McCracken] We keep in close contact with Golden Gurls fronter Andrew Mabry because the dude is funny, smart and opinionated. Also, his band is great. You might recall Clicky Clicky's wide-ranging interview with Mr. Mabry that we posted on the eve of Golden Gurls' first Boston show last September. And that we were pretty excited to see the trio's debut full-length Typo Magic get picked up for a limited edition release in the U.K. earlier this year. The gals (awww Mabry's gonna hate that...), who we're gonna go ahead and call Baltimore's best guitar band, have been hard at work on a second record and are hodge-podging together some late summer tour dates with Sooyoung Park's new project Bored Spies, so we thought it was high time to get the band back on the record to give some accounting of how they've been spending their time. We proposed to Mabry that perhaps he'd care to submit to our recently resuscitated interrogations about practice spaces, Show Us Yours. Mabry graciously agreed, and below he shows us around his rock dojo and surrounding environs, and offers more details about how the rest of the band's year is shaping up. Let's jump in, shall we?

Clicky Clicky: So why do you use this space, or how did it come to pass that this was the one that you settled on? Or maybe this space is a catch, and people think it's too cool for you?

Andrew Mabry: When we started this band, I was already using the current space for another band I had called Left Channels, it's actually just my basement. For some reason my neighbors don't seem to be affected by our noise; then again, I soundproofed most of it to the point of it just being a loud hum you can hear sometimes. I also live on a block were about five other bands practice, and most of them are a lot more to take in than we are, be it dirge or metal or Sunday gospel jammers going on for four or five hours straight, I think the people around are just used to it always happening.

CC: Is there an idiosyncrasy or quirk of the space that has affected one of your songs, or even your overall sound?

AM: On our demos we definitely used the quirks of this space. I recorded vocals in the bathroom in the basement which has awesome '50s style wallpaper -- you can get lost in that wallpaper for real. The ceilings [in the basement] aren't very high, so you have to record the drums mic'd really close, etc., it makes for some strange home recordings. The entire space is also wood paneling, remember that stuff? I always had a love/hate relationship with paneling. We wind up having to use a lot of early '60s recording techniques on demos in order to catch everything we're trying to catch, [because of] guitars get lost and the bass getting farty, but the drums come out crystal clear, almost decent recording quality.

CC: You walk into your space. What's the first thing that you smell? Why won't that smell go away?

AM: I suppose you smell musty air and stale beer. We drink a lot of beer at practice. Our drummer never finishes his beers, it seems he likes to make the clean-up difficult. The best is when they get super moldy like science projects. I love that. Also there seems to be a constant smell of drummer, drummers know what that smell is, it's a weird smell that never goes away. It's sort of like a soda stain on concrete or a spirit haunting one room in your house.

CC: I thought Typo Magic was amazing. A bunch of our favorite Boston indie rock-type friends thought it was amazing. You might have even thought it was OK. And yet -- like the majority of great indie rock bands -- you are not swimming in money and cars and whatever it is that people swim in these days in music videos. So I guess my questions are these: first, how do you define success for the band? And, second, what keeps that fire burning in you to keep writing songs and playing music despite the fact that Brooke Shields and Elizabeth Taylor never want to hang out and you don't have a pet monkey?

AM: Hahaha, well this is a seriously difficult question to answer: how does one define success in a band context? I look at bands like Speedy Ortiz, they are out there killing it everyday and working hard towards a goal, what it is I am not entirely sure, to me they are successful. Are we successful? I have no idea, I am just glad our stuff got out there and people are listening to it. The modern musical economy and the self-serving nature of youth culture really destroys all of the concepts of success -- from a musical business standpoint -- I had growing up. I think of bands like Fugazi and what they did in the '80s and '90s, no band in the modern era will ever be able to pull that off again.

At the same time it's apparent the measuring stick for all of that has had to change. What that is now is subject to a lot of debate, a few friends of mine and I argue this over and over again on my porch drinking beer all of the time, yet we always come out to a stalemate on it. Some people believe selling records is what matters, others will tell you it's getting people to listen to you at all... which is apparently a thing nowadays. I like to think back to the era when a record label was enough, like Matador or even Caroline Records, you would see they had something new out and just feel compelled to give it a listen at home, hence a purchase was made, because the Internet wasn't full of torrents and all of that stuff yet.

With Typo Magic I have tended to err on the latter side of the argument between record sales and just people listening, we just wanted to get it out there, financial compensation was never something we pondered. If we had a monkey that would be killer, I am guessing it would make it difficult for us to write new songs, though. My wife is more of a mini-pig fan, she wants us to buy one of those pretty badly which could become a solid band mascot with some training, I'd say. For what it's worth, I feel like Boston bands have the best scene period, and all of the bands whom we've ever interacted with there are amazing people. Infinity Girl, Speedy Ortiz, Soccer Mom, Young Adults, Boom Said Thunder, and Pile, just to mention a few, have been nothing but supportive and are all great people. As for Elizabeth Taylor, we often eat dinner under a picture of her at the corner bar by my house...

CC: You've got an album in the works -- what can you tell us about that? Damnably did a limited release of Typo Magic for England -- will they be involved with the next record? Do you plan to tour to support it? What do the next six months look like for the band?

We do have an album in the works, it's about 80% completed, all recorded at Magpie Cage studios (J. Robbins of Jawbox's studio) here in Baltimore, starting about about 3 months ago. I am not sure if Damnably will be involved with our next record's initial release, it very well may be the same scenario as with Typo Magic, we put that out ourselves and we will likely put out the 2nd album as well. We've been looking for a label in the States, but as of yet, nothing has really come to light. I can tell you this though, George at Damnably is one of the coolest people on the planet and he has done more for us in a few months than I think we were capable of doing ourselves in a full year. We plan to tour in support of the 2nd record assuredly, we are going on tour with Bored Spies in late August, well, it's in the works currently, as you and I have bantered about at great length. I think the next six months will see the release of a couple 7 inches and a 12 inch by us, we're mulling over what we'd like to do with our 2nd record a lot more in depth than the 1st record. I guess that's the difference between going into record for the 1st time haphazardly and taking the time to write the material for a 2nd release, as of the moment this will be 35 minutes long and more in depth, sonically speaking, than Typo Magic.

We thank Andrew and the gang for playing along for Show Us Yours #17, and encourage you to stream their excellent 2012 record Typo Magic via the fancy new Bandcamp embed below. For a complete gallery of Golden Gurls photos shot for this feature, hit this link.

Golden Gurls: Facebook | Bandcamp



Previous Show Us Yours episodes:
Shapes And Sizes | Dirty On Purpose | Relay | Mobius Band | Frightened Rabbit | Assembly Now | Meneguar | Okay Paddy | Charmparticles | Calories | Sun Airway | It Hugs Back | Lubec | A Giant Dog | Bent Shapes | Krill

Today's Hotness: Two Inch Astronaut, Hausu, Hisoft



>> If you are getting a strong DeSoto Records or Dischord vibe off of trio Two Inch Astronaut, well, that's little surprise. The act hails from Colesville, Maryland, a burg situated just north of the beltway that rings the district. On its forthcoming sophomore LP Bad Brother, Two Inch Astronaut proffer a fresh iteration of the '90s post-hardcore anthemics championed by acts such as Jawbox and Shudder To Think. The nine-song set from the self-described "stealthy dark goofy post-punk" threesome touts sophisticated, angular compositions that splay out into massive crescendoes or subdued creaking grooves. "Spank Jail," the second track on Bad Brother, illustrates Two Inch Astronaut's well-developed penchant for speed, intricate grooves, aggression and (just enough) melody, but the rest of the record reveals that the threesome ably works in myriad tempos and shadings. What is consistent throughout is a beautiful desperation and relatable unease, things that made records like Jawbox's For Your Own Special Sweetheart or even Hurl's brilliant DeSoto single "Positronic Ray" b/w "Radishes" remarkable every time you listened. Opener "Swol" -- an excellent rocker that seems one or two genetic mutations away from a composition by remarkable Boston labelmates Pile -- and the blissfully syncopated mid-album cut "Blood From A Loyal Hound" are available now for free download via Bandcamp and you should go grab those right now. However, Clicky Clicky is particularly taken with the emotional, monolithic rocker "Sternum." Exploding In Sound has kindly agreed to let us offer an exclusive stream of the track, so hit the Soundcloud embed below and then hold on to your hat. The label will release Bad Brother June 18. The set is available for pre-order from the band's Bandcamp right here as a digital download or 45RPM 12" LP. The vinyl is available in a limited edition of 250 pieces, and the first 100 sold have been pressed to translucent purple vinyl. Two Inch Astronaut's most recent prior release was a split single with Boston's angular-rock juggernaut Grass Is Green, the cringe-inducingly titled "Split Dicks," last September. Those two bands will reunite in the physical plane June 12, when they, along with Crinkle Face and Hive Bent, perform at O'Brien's in Allston Rock City. In the meantime, have a listen to "Sternum" via the embed below, and get pumped.



>> Hopping to the left coast, today we also concern ourselves with Portland, Oregon's melodic indie-punk quartet Hausu. The act is preparing for a huge summer tour and the late June release of its debut LP, Total. A preview track from the set, "Leaning Mess" (a play on the word "meaningless," maybe?) leads with clean melody lines and bright jangle but ultimately harder post-punk dynamics cast long, moody shadows across the composition. Lyrically, fronter Ben Friars-Funkhouser presents the sort of opaque romanticism of Ian Curtis and Joy Division, albeit with a delivery that accounts for the rise and (arguably for some, we suppose) the fall of hardcore punk music. It is Hausu's vivid, visceral instrumental performance on "Leaning Mess" that will hold listeners' close attention, as the band veers from more conventional verses into discordant passages that flirt with sonic white-outs, urged on notably by an increasingly unhinged Friars-Funkhouser in the song's final minute. Total is being issued June 25 on cassette by Bridgetown Records, and on CD by Hardly Art; no pre-order information for the latter is available as yet, but a recent Facebook post from Hausu states it is in receipt of the cassettes and expects to have them on offer when it launches an ambitious, exhaustive five-week North American tour this week. The quartet play a relatively local live date June 18, when the act performs at renowned Easthampton, Mass. art space The Flywheel on an all-ages bill that also includes Harmoos, Lovebird, Tender Cruncher and Abortus Fever. Make a note of the live date nearest you, as we suspect after several listens to the embed of "Leaning Mess" below you'll be thinking this is a quartet you need to see.



>> Sure, there are a great many things that the world can use a lot more of, but if you ask us enough times -- and particularly today -- we will almost certainly eventually say the world needs more music from the apparently short-lived dream-pop band Hisoft and its dazzling but even more obscure, Pittsburgh-spawned precursor The Low Numbers. We've mentioned both acts in the blog previously years ago (this post from 2005 is the most comprehensive), but they are at top of mind again today. That's because over lunch we were trolling YouTube looking for Lilys clips we hadn't seen before (more on that another time), when we found this great live set from Hisoft. The erstwhile Philly act was comprised of fronter and guitarist Gerhardt Koerner, bassist Jesse Trbovich (now part of Kurt Vile's Violators, we believe), guitarist Don Devore and drummer Jason Kourkounis, and at least Mr. Koerner had previously served as a part of the Precollections-era Lilys line-up, which should make the aforementioned line of YouTube inquiry make a bit more sense. The five-song live performance may or may not have been filmed at The Khyber in Philadelphia, and the set list suggests it must have been about the time of the release of Hisoft's brilliant 2005 EP Amateur. Four songs from the five-song EP are performed: "West Coast Keith," "Comfortable," "Country Voice" (listed as "Country" on the EP), and "Continental Luck." Hisoft closes with the brilliant Low Numbers tune "Josef Albers," the b-side from one of two singles the band released (the second single was actually issued under the band name Numbers). The YouTube clip is a crucial document of an unsung act perhaps at the height of its game, so do take the time to watch the set end to end.

J. Robbins with Drew O'Doherty | The Lily Pad | 7 Oct.

Folks of a certain age likely think of J. Robbins as the guy listed as the recording engineer on a million indie rock CDs from the last decade. But Mr. Robbins' personal history has greater musical import (not to discount his excellent recordings), first as one of the main creative engines (if not *the* main creative engine) in D.C. post-hardcore legends Jawbox, and later as the fronter of Burning Airlines. Jawbox's superlative collection For Your Own Special Sweetheart, released in 1994, practically defined the term post-hardcore, and it contains what may be our favorite 'box jam, "Reel," a blazing live performance of which is embedded above. But if you dig back even further, say to "Paint Out The Light" from 1990's Grippe released on Dischord, you'll see that Robbins has been turning out great music for a startlingly long time. Robbins makes a very rare local appearance Friday night, performing an early, all-ages, acoustic show at The Lily Pad in Cambridge. According to this Facebook event page, Robbins will be performing songs from his older bands as well as some from his latest project Office Of Future Plans. Advance tickets can be obtained through this EventBrite page. Doors at 6:30 and the show starts at 7PM sharp with Drew O'Doherty opening.

Review: Calories | Adventuring

Brevity: Birmingham, England-based power trio Calories has it. The act's music is so tightly compacted that even the verses play like choruses, and its entire debut set Adventuring is done almost as soon as it begins. On Adventuring, due March 9, Calories delivers a brisk, exuberant collection of 10 tunes that clocks in at a breathless 23 minutes. All the songs are singalong-able, everything is anthemic and everything rocks.

Calories has been streaming new tracks at its MySpace garage for months, namely the lead track "A Bear, A Bison," "To Encounter A Deer" and the title cut. Spirited fist-bangers all, driven by bassist Pete Dixon's affecting bark, but the trio has kept some cards up its six sleeves. The punishing push and pull of "Caught In The In-Between" -- which recalls the finer early work of '90s D.C. post-hardcore standard bearers Jawbox -- is the most exciting track on Adventuring. The Jawbox reference may not be terribly off the mark, considering the slate of influences at Calories' MySpace reads like a who's who of the American underground of the last 20 years, including Jawbox contemporaries Shudder To Think (whose Get Your Goat album is exceptional), as well as Blonde Redhead, Polvo and Don Caballero. "(See You On The Expedition)," another highlight, rocks very convincingly in 3/4 time.

Adventuring is available for pre-order now right here; fans who pre-order the collection will also receive a bonus handmade CDR containing 26 tracks (!!!) of demos and extras, as well as a digital sampler from the label. All of which makes the 8 pounds sterling sticker price well worth it in our opinion. Calories embark on a short tour supporting Glaswegian indie phenoms Dananananaykroyd March 26, and you can inspect the trio's full itinerary at its aforementioned MySpace. There's no preview MP3 to be had for Adventuring, which is a shame, but we think you'll enjoy the non-album track "Drink The Potion," a live video of which is linked below. Word from the Calories camp is that the tune was written about a month or so after Adventuring was recorded, and it is likely going to be on the trio's next record, which could be tracked later this year. As a sidenote, we'll point out that only recently have we gotten our hands on Calories-predecessor Distophia's absurdly good but never released masterwork Beat Dyslexia. If you do not have this record you should hunt it down with extreme prejudice. It's exceptional, and we're posting the amazing cut "Children Know The Score" below with the hopes that some day the set might get a proper commercial release. Finally, you may recall Calories helped us relaunch our Show Us Yours feature a month ago; here's a link to that.

Calories -- "Drink The Potion" [YouTube]
Distophia -- "Children Know The Score [.m4a]" -- Beat Dyslexia
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[buy Distophia records at MusicStack here]

Calories: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Don't Get Too Attached To Pending Disappointment

Obviously the name Pending Disappointment should be your first hint. But the track we discuss today, "I'll Leave You Behind," is a more explicit warning: self-deprecating, feels-good-feelin'-bad indie rock ahead. But we've jumped ahead of ourselves... The bands surrounding Boston/New York rock concern Midriff Records, including flagship act The Beatings, share common members, but the label's "sound" is less specific than you might imagine. While The Beatings channel Burma-esque postpunk, and side project E.R. proffers a folksier bent, Midriff's latest release -- Pending Disappointment's New York Penn, NY -- takes cues from '90s favorites including Archers of Loaf and Quicksand.

It is this latter influence that features prominently in the track "I'll Leave You Behind," which is a little similar to Quicksand's phenomenal rocker "Too Official" from the 1993 masterpiece Slip. Boston-based trio Pending Disappointment has curiously banished "I'll Leave You Behind" -- an MP3 of which is posted below -- to the far end of the new record (two songs proximal to the amazingly titled album closer "FFF=666", which of course nods to Jawbox's amazing For Your Own Special Sweetheart) despite the fact that it rocks most steadfastly. Punctuated with harmonics and burbling bass playing in the verse, the track would have made a nice closer or a pointed album opener. Stuttering dynamics in the bridge drive toward an ascending melody and deflating denouement. For optimum enjoyment this track should be blasted loudly. New York Penn, NY will be released Thursday. Pending Disappointment's debut Off The Starboard Bow was released by Midriff in 2005.

Pending Disappointment -- "I'll Leave You Behind" -- New York Penn, NY
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[buy New York Penn, NY from Midriff right here]

Pending Disappointment: Interweb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Previous Midriff coverage:
That Was The Show That Was: The Beatings | TT The Bear's
That Was The Show That Was: E.R. | TT The Bear's
That Was The Show That Was: E.R., The Mitchells | PA's Lounge
Review: E.R. | This Conspiracy Against Us
!Exclusive! The Beatings MP3