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

Today's Hotness: Mooncreatures, Tungs, Tapes & Tubes

>> Well, it didn't come as soon as we had hoped when we wrote about the band's first EP here two years ago, but Mooncreatures are indeed back, with another cinematic and evocative collection of heavily vibing ambient dreampop. The London-based duo's new, hermetic EP Gaslamps feels even more of a piece than its remarkable debut, as its six gentle songs steadily swell and breathe into one another. Band founder Rhys Griffiths describes the set as "a northern European night time record," but we'd put a finer point on it: the proceedings would seem to be aural travelogue of sorts, or so the song titles suggest. Opener "Cityscape, Hauptbahnhof" is all gauzy shimmer, as much an array of slowly shifting thoughts as it is cycle of pretty, waivering chords. The reverie is briefly suspended by a stretching tone that suggests a far off police siren, and the listener is suddenly transported to the second composition, the more intently structured dreamer "Tram To Brockenheim." The second half of the EP contains the sort of haunting half-dreams that hang in your consciousness for mere moments upon waking; these come in the form of the 44 second sketch "View From" and its two-minute successor "Expedition To." Gaslamps was released as a digital download March 14 via French label Beko, a concern that has also released music by the previously Hotnessed The Bilinda Butchers, Drug Rug and others. Stream the entire set via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to purchase the full EP.



>> Earlier in 2014 we deemed Heavy Midgets' superlative LP Super Kings the first excellent surprise of the year, and now the label responsible for it, Richmond's Bad Grrrl Records, extends its streak of hot releases from the area's best DIY guitar bands with a new long player from reliable scene mainstays Tungs. Tungs' weirdly wonderful Not For Grandma finds the trio further pushing sonic boundaries and contorting its influences, as it has since debuting in 2010 with a set called Sleeping. More so than any of its prior collections, Not For Grandma catalogs the band's whims like a mixtape. Surprises abound -- we recommend going straight to the deep cut "Eggsack" and sticking around for the completely demented saxophone that abducts the song in its final 90 seconds -- as each song seems to almost inhabit a separate universe. Single "Roses" is an aggressive, minute-long punker in the vein of early '80s Black Flag, with plenty of palm muting, echoey vocals and a slick delay-time spin in the final seconds as the tune collapses. The threesome shifts gears hard for the following track "Geebus," whose clean guitar chops and falsetto vocals mark it as an R&B-tinged guitar-pop jam until thick distortion overtakes the tune in the chorus. Most impressive is the four-song stretch from "Bone Dry" to the doomy (but strangely gleeful) "Flesh Light," which posits an alternate reality in which punky, Bleach-era Nirvana and the darker, bent string, drop-D-tuned Pac. Northwest grunge were never watered down following Cobain & Co.'s rise to superstardom. All four of the songs revel in the classic fuzz of alternative America's '80s heyday, and the serrated and slack nature (check the goofy closer "Me Fucking You") of it all is as cathartic as it is oddly comforting. Not For Grandma is available from Bad Grrrl now on CD, tape and vinyl via this Bandcamp page. Stream all of the long-player via the embed below.



>> Tapes & Tubes' music is meditative and sturdily constructed, and it has a timeless quality that has a lot to do with great songcraft and probably a bit to do with the manner in which it is recorded, too. The act is the project of Olympia, Wash.-'s Austin Potter, a home recording and analog sound enthusiast whose love for the dreamier and more sedate side of Yo La Tengo (or, by extension, greatly underrated Brits It Hugs Back) is readily ascertained by listening to the recent collection Ebb Tide. Throughout the contemplative, 10-song set boxy, minimal drumming, organ and Mr. Potter's quiet vocals routinely work in tandem to create vividly murky moods and a sense of broad possibility. The collection offers affirmative nods in the direction of Lou Reed and Bob Dylan, in the form of covers of "I Remember You" and "God Knows," respectively. The former is a relatively deep cut from Reed's 1986 set Mistrial, which is widely considered to be, well, the album before the one that had everyone proclaiming (rightfully) that Lou Reed was "back" (that would be the 1989 opus New York). The original has its charms, but Potter's reinvention of "I Remember You" succeeds via its understated restraint: Reed's bouncy guitar is kept, but the awful canned rhythm tracks scrapped. The new interpretation gives a sense of the reasoned smarts Potter brings to a song, and those smarts are evidenced throughout Ebb Tide. "Beginning" echoes to a certain extent Yo La Tengo's masterful "On Our Way To Fall," but Potter's whispered vocals, almost impossibly, feel even more intimate than those of Ira Kaplan. The whirling drone of organ on Tapes & Tubes' "Haunted House" may be a little too perfect, but it goes far toward establishing a sheets-of-rain-down-the-windshield vibe as well as the tune's steady groove. Grooves aren't always a necessity, however: the shimmering ambient guitar exploration "Solo Guitar Two" is pretty and enchanting, and indicates that the music of Tapes & Tubes may be increasingly potent the more minimal its approach. Ebb Tide was self-released last month and is available as a digital download via Bandcamp; plans are in place for a limited-edition cassette release as well. An even newer short collection titled Amplifer is already on offer right here.

Today's Hotness: Walrus, Red Sea, Wildhoney

>> If the allegedly impending spring has you in the mood for some Syd Barrett-inspired psych pop, well, you are not alone. Enter Walrus, a sextet based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, led by brothers Justin and Jordan Murphy. The act's dazzling and impressively realized new EP Glam Returns highlights the band's modern, compact and sunny take on the style. Across four songs simple chords, richly delayed vocals and burbling organ unravel to reveal bright, quirky songwriting. Standout track "Bulash" is buttressed by whooshing synths and circularly applied tremolo guitars that imbue the verses with a bouncy, almost tropical feel. The hazy vocals recall those of popular beat group Tame Impala. The most thrilling section of the song arrives at the tail end of its first minute, when a shouted, echoing blast of vocals and guitar announces the chorus. The choppy guitars here elevate the energy from that of a lysergic psychedelic fever dream to more mod-leaning aggression; it jolts the listener from the cozy bed of effects defining each instrument. Walrus draws heavily on powerful strains of our collective psych past, and on all four cuts on Glam Returns the band's enthusiasm and love for the style is both evident and contagious. Glam Returns was issued digitally via Bandcamp last month, and it will apparently be released on cassette via Out of Sound and Poncho Records March 27, in time for Walrus' planned jaunt out of town to destinations including Fredericton, Ottawa and Montreal. The EP, according to a recent interview, contains older material that the band doesn't perform live much these days, and Walrus hopes to have a full length out later this year. In the meantime, dig in to Glam Returns via the Bandcamp embed below. -- Edward Charlton



>> "We love to sound as one would love to food." That's the opening line of the Bandcamp bio for Atlanta's Red Sea; theirs is some of the best music (food?) this reviewer has encountered so far in 2014. The quartet's brilliant recent EP, Yardsticks For Human Intelligence, is presently available as a free download, and it is an art rock tour de force. Brainy, knotty, and alluringly catchy, this is the kind of stuff one would play for someone who claims they are "bored with music" (though really, why would you hang out with an asshole like that? -- Ed.). It's that good. This four-song selection follows up on a similarly sequenced EP from 2010, and, interestingly, these tunes appear to have been recorded in 2012. While that may make one wonder about the present state of Red Sea (keep your blouse on, they just played a hometown show last week), it also adds to the mystery from these compositional mavericks. The band just has so much on offer. Opener "Tandem Style" menaces with almost taunting vocal work and jumbled rhythms, which are interrupted by high-pitched slashes across the bridge of the guitar. Very quickly one senses that these guys are operating within their own, singular sound world, one in which it's normal for a singer to fluctuate from evoking Nico to Kermit the Frog to an opera singer within the span of a verse, one in which any of the more aggro-avant fret work of Thurston Moore is fair game for the plundering. Highlight "Grapes" cascades through mysterious section after mysterious section over the course of six minutes. Despite hard stops, one-offs and dramatic arpeggios, the piece never loses inertia; one particularly memorable bridge drops in at the two-minute mark. A generously textured noise section closes the tune out with exotic pedal work. The balance of the EP, comprised of the numbers "Down With The Crown" and "Vacant Ring," features more shifting, schizophrenic earworms. The steady, cool strum of the guitar work, despite the erratic changes, calls to mind Women and their prickly, post-punk masterpiece Public Strain. Indeed, at times, Yardsticks For Human Intelligence even feels like a possible extension of that band's legacy in an instrumental sense. Red Seas' EP offers an arresting look at a very compelling young band, and we recommend you listen very closely to what it has to offer. Stream Yardsticks For Human Intelligence via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to download the tunes. -- Edward Charlton



>> We've been hearing about Wildhoney through the dream-pop grapevine over the last year, and the band's hotly anticipated 7" EP, Seventeen Forever, proves the hype is warranted. The Baltimore, MD-based shoegaze concern are now previewing the quasi-title track from that upcoming slab of vinyl, which arrives on D.C.-based Photobooth Records April 20, and, man, is this purist heaven. As on the act's previous disc -- recorded by Roomrunner bassist Dan Frome -- Wildhoney channels the best late-80's shoegaze and post-punk and synthesizes it into a fresh, professional 2014 model. "Seventeen" opens with some reverb-saturated surf guitar before a hip-hop drum break erupts, a smooth move straight from the Chapterhouse playbook. Soon after, Lauren Shusterich's lead vocals fly in on a sheet of harmonies that exude a contemporary pop confidence rarely exhibited so early on by such a young band. The crystal clear recording and myriad guitar tracks that surround her recall the same sort of carefully laid out, yet spirited indie rock of Maryland-based forebearers Velocity Girl. The most compelling part of the tune comes during the chorus, when both singers chant "over and over" while the guitars switch over from the chunky chording in the verses to melodic, single-note leads that one could almost mistake for bright keyboards. This grade-A East Coast dream pop not only feels very now and dreamy, but also so purposeful that one can hardly imagine anything but a bright future for Wildhoney. Our recommendation? Snatch up the band's dynamite previous self-titled 45, from 2013, in time to be prepared for this great piece of springtime wonderment here. Stream "Seventeen" via the Bandcamp embed below, and click here periodically for the next few weeks to see when pre-orders the 7" EP will begin. Massachussets and/or New England fans can catch Wildhoney performing at The Flywheel in Easthampton, Mass. March 23 with mighty Boston shoegazers Soccer Mom. Wildhoney plans to record a full-length set in June, according to its tumblaaaaaahhhh. -- Edward Charlton

Today's Hotness: Whirr, Honey Radar, Lurve

>> Bay Area shoegaze goliath Whirr accomplished more than its name suggests with the 2012 debut full-length Pipe Dreams. Rather than embrace a controlled spin, the sextet charted a course for sweet oblivion, aided by metallic riffing, barely whispered vocals and destructive, tom-heavy drumming. The result was one of the best shoegaze albums of the year and, likely, the decade. Consequently, Pipe Dreams set the bar high for future efforts from Whirr, and everyone else for that matter, but with the recently issued Around EP that challenge has been roundly met. Released July 9 on Graveface Records -- a label that issued certain of the group's work pre-Pipe Dreams -- the EP presents four songs including the single "Swoon." The song's epic scope encompasses pummeling chords, serene, nearly-ambient drop outs and everything in between. After a cymbal-heavy crash of over-reverberated drums and what sounds like thirteen individual guitars playing one note, a rhythm guitar sets off a marvelous cycle of dripping-wet, almost water-colored structures. While still decidedly Whirr, the more sprawling, glassy and gothic tones of Around emphasize that Whirr is not interested in simply recreating Pipe Dreams; much credit should be parceled off for Whirr's drummer, whose dynamic performances often are what makes these four songs particularly dramatic. By hammering a harder edge on styles made prominent by legends such as My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Slowdive, Whirr have established a singularly beautiful sound with Around, one that thrives on pillowed delay, exploratory tempos and profoundly affecting chord changes. The EP is available for purchase from Graveface as an LP, CD, cassette or download right here. Stream "Swoon" via the Soundcloud embed below. Whirr plays Great Scott in Boston Aug. 15, with support from hotly-tipped Philadelphians Nothing and local noise-pop heroes Soccer Mom. The date is part of a tour that commenced Tuesday; full details on the Boston appearance are right here. -- Edward Charlton



>> Strolling through the world of underground DIY cassette releases seems similar to what this reviewer imagines an indie record store must have been like before the Internet [Oh, you young people smh -- Ed.]: crates of bands, tapes and labels, linked mostly by scene and bubbling up based on word of mouth. Many tapes of the contemporary era can only be obtained through stock sheets collected from bedroom imprints, and often only 100 copies are made before the work dissolves into the ether and collective memory of friends and devotees. And so the current cassette culture requires buy-in from both ends, of course, and perhaps that is why discovering a really stellar tape is such a uniquely rewarding experience nowadays. Which explains why we were stoked to receive in the mail Western Plum Musket by Honey Radar, a tape out now on Philadelphia's Tree Top Sorbet label. Honey Radar, a shadowy lo-fi concern from Indiana that appears to have been in operation for several years, trades in the sort "sudden epiphany rock" of contemporaries like Guided By Voices and Times New Viking. While the dashed-off production values and singer Jason Henn's strange word associations do evoke Bob Pollard or Syd Barrett, the breezier songwriting and softer singing come across as contemplative and wistful. Western Plum Musket, an EP of sorts, offers several very strong songs. The opening one-two-punch of "Roughing Up The Painter" [video] and "Mason Neck," highlight Honey Radar's quirky strengths. The former tune offers a prickly warble and wins over the listener with a charmingly out of tune bass pattern and automated frequency adjustments. It is "Mason Neck," however, that is the real treasure. A pretty, yet shambling, psychedelic strummer, the song sounds like a lost garage-folk 7" from the mid-'60s. The warm and crispy production gives the number a hint of a modern, updated sense, and the tumbling rhythms and wispy voice recall the twelve-string stunners of mid-period Lilys. The band works through a couple of short noise numbers on the cassette as well, which capture the spontaneity seemingly intrinsic to the format. The contrast between these experiments and Mary Plum Musket's more serene moments limns both with a flash of gratifying unpredictability, just the sort of magic one hopes to find on a cassette. Get your copy of the limited-edition Mary Plum Musket right here while you can, and stream the entire deal via the embed below. -- Edward Charlton



>> In our online pseudoworld of limitless (and increasingly meaningless) genre fusions, vertiginous taste-making and purportedly new approaches to making the heart of rock and roll beat, sometimes you just want the straight stuff with a capital R. Brooklyn's Lurve are happy to oblige with "Wires," one of two numbers the band posted to its Bandcamp earlier this year. "Wires" is a driving, tightly realized and deftly disguised power-pop song that erupts with a basement-show exuberance, one that makes the song seem significantly shorter than its four-minute-ish runtime. After some distorted opening guitar chords, "Wires" presents its best side –- a thirty-second breakdown of punky guitar figures that interrupt each softly sung verse. Eventually the song latches onto a fixed-note groove that delivers it to a squalling end. The smeared noise, sudden minor chords, and rough-hewn production try, but fail, to mask somne keen pop songcraft. And speaking of "smeared," this song is remarkably evocative of Canadian power-pop juggernaut Sloan's overlooked 1992 grunge-noise statement Smeared, and songs like "I Am The Cancer," or even contemporaries Superdrag, and their crushing early tune "Senorita." Sure, the underground remains subject to Eric Bachmann's prescient mid-'90s lament, but Lurve hit upon a memorable pop formulation that they can hopefully continue to shape into their own. "Wires" and "Simple Syrup" show much promise, and we are optimistic that Lurve's planned full-length -- recorded by Roomrunner's Dan Frome and slated for release this month on Cincinnati's Broken Circles Records -- will follow suit in offering up something fresh via that which is already tried and true. Stream both tunes via the Bandcamp embed below. -- Edward Charlton

Speedy Ortiz's Major Arcana Release Show With Grass Is Green, Vegans, Kal Marks | Great Scott | 6 July



It's a weird week with a Thursday-shaped hole in it, or maybe a giant leisure chasm, if you are among those fortunate to have Friday off work/school/life. At the far end of said chasm we think the living will be a touch strange and electric, as we will finally all exist in a world where one can possess Major Arcana, which to date seems to have been the most-talked-about record of 2013. Speedy Ortiz's pre-release singles have come at regular intervals to keep the chins wagging (ploing! blaam! pizzow!) for the last couple months, but today the whole enchilada dropped in the form of an album stream via NPR's First Listen platform (the true album release, as in the day we expect Carpark will have the record in stores for you to purchase it, is a week from tomorrow). If you haven't spent any time with Major Arcana yet, well, stop what you are doing and get in there, because we expect the talk is only going to increase, as the Western Mass.-based quartet's debut full-length is as strong as they come. We'll have a lot more to say on the subject next week here and in the electronic pages of Vanyaland, which will run our review.

For now let's concentrate on the brilliant spectacle that will be Saturday's Boston release show. For the occasion, Speedy O-dawg has enlisted progressive post-hardcore wunderkinds Grass Is Green, who slay on the regular and have had their share of digital ink-facsimile in the Clicky Clicky, and who also played the release show for Speedy Ortiz's widely heralded Sports EP in May 2012, which we guess makes Grass Is Green a bit of a lucky rabbit's foot for Speedy? Also on the bill this Saturday are Vegans and Kal Marks. Full event details are at this Facebook event page right here; readers in New York would do well to see Speedy Ortiz not Saturday but rather Friday night, when it fetes the release of the LP at Death By Audio in Brooklyn with support from BFFs Roomrunner (who we recently wrote about here), Californiax, No One and the Somebodies and The Sediment Club. That's a whole lot of rock music; you'd do well to get your inoculations up to date before the week is out. Speedy Ortiz will embark on an exhaustive/exhausting five-week tour July 9; they are very likely coming to your town to do the Speedy Ortiz curse to your favorite DIY space, so check out the tour dates posted here and warn your indie rockers. Finally, there will be at least one "music" "video" coming along in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out.

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



[PHOTO: D. Riley] Despite being underage, Great Scott and its community vibe, relatively spacious confines and decent sight lines has fast become a favorite of mine in the city. Plus, they always seem to book the best local gigs. So, I was pretty psyched to head there Monday to witness Baltimore noise-rockers Roomrunner open for hotly tipped psych-pop dynamo Mikal Cronin. What I wasn't expecting was the huge crowd. After all, this was Monday night in Boston.

I also missed the memo on the show being a four-band bill, so I walked in the club about halfway into Roomrunner's blazing set and was confronted by a formidable wall of bodies. Total bummer, I thought after making my way to about the tenth row of bobbing humans from the stage. However, Roomrunner being the impressive live act they are, I could still feel plenty of the energy the quartet was throwing off the stage, even from the proverbial nosebleed seats. The band tore its way through cuts off their recently issued debut long-player Ideal Cities during what amounted to an all-too-brief half-hour. The performance -- what I saw of it -- was highlighted by a strikingly volatile take on album standout "Duno." The '90s indie comparisons often lobbed at the group proved apt, at least based on period signifiers such as frontman Denny Bowen's slacker attire and mumbled stage banter.

Doubling down on the night's apparent nostalgia kick, Monday's biggest surprise was the rousing set from '60s-indebted garage rockers Shannon And The Clams, whose hook-heavy jams thoroughly impressed. Based out of California, the act was a heretofore unknown quantity to me. In that regard I was apparently in the minority, as seemingly everyone around me and near the stage shouted back every word to the band while gleefully keeping not one but two beach balls aloft throughout the set. Most importantly, though, I felt the floor shake under the sheer force of the crowd's impassioned dancing, as true a sign of a good set as I've ever seen, or, well, felt. -- Dillon Riley

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