Review: Ted Billings | American Bedrooms

It's safe to assume that no one is more relieved by the release of American Bedrooms than Ted Billings himself. Not only is the amazing and potent new collection being issued little more than a year after the most recent long-player from Mr. Billings' mothballed rock outfit (this is no small victory, as Age Rings' Black Honey -- one of Clicky Clicky's favorite records of 2011 -- somewhat infamously took four years to complete). But also the release of American Bedrooms likely serves at least in some small part as an exorcism of the feelings related to the events described therein. Most everyone has a story about where they were when the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 occurred; Mr. Billings' American Bedrooms jumps off from that horrific day ("I was starting school when the planes hit," he sings in the opener "Freedom") to explore the songwriter's struggle toward peace of mind in the decade that followed.

While a substantial part of the ambitious, Townshendian narrative is fiction -- particularly the record's climax, "Rotten World" -- it's pretty heavy. Still, it doesn't weigh down the proceedings in the least: American Bedrooms is first and foremost a great rock and roll record whose eight anthemic songs comprise a concise psychodrama punctuated by brilliant, punchy power-pop. Perhaps because of its relatively short gestation period, perhaps not, American Bedrooms is a leaner, more lucid set of tunes than those on Black Honey. Where the prior record was rife with tunes marked by the surrealism of fever dreams, American Bedrooms feels refreshingly straightforward, almost literal. Musically, the record rides high on an undercurrent of vital punk mania; fuzzed guitars rule the day. The set's narrative arc spans both a slow-boiling, post-millennial confusion and disillusionment and a dark twist on conventional salvation (love, here not quite requited and complicated by a hostage situation...) that culminates in the dark ballad that closes the record.

The aforementioned "Freedom" is a tight, buoyant composition commencing with a choppy guitar riff touting Telekinesis-styled fuzz. The fuzz deepens and seeps into the vocal on "House On Fire," a tune that broadens the scope of the record to implicate the collapse of the domestic housing market ("I live in a house on fire, a foreclosure the price was right, we all choose how we're gonna die..."). The guitar part in the title track's verse echoes a bit of Bryan Adams' "Run To You." Thumping, relentless quarter notes from the drum kit anchor the slithering six-string part, but pointedly evaporate at the spine-tingling first chorus, which is ushered in over a solemn, ecclesiastical organ lick. The beat returns, as does the narrator's simple prayer for a facsimile of the American dream ("...all I want to do is to share an American bedroom with you..."). The narrator's misguided hopes of ameliorating his disillusionment and frustration via a romantic conquest, well, that doesn't go as planned ("... I thought you'd learn..."), but it certainly makes for a beautiful finale for American Bedrooms; the stunned admission "didn't see that coming" in "Rotten World" -- delivered amid a pretty cascade of synths -- is terrifically poignant.

Billings self-releases American Bedrooms digitally tomorrow; it is already available for streaming and purchase via the Bandcamp embed below. It is certainly among the best records released this year, although given its late entry it likely won't be recognized as such, sadly. The record will be feted tomorrow evening at The Middle East Rock Club in Cambridge with a record release show featuring a stellar bill. Not only will Mr. Billings and band perform, but also Midriff Records' flagship act, Boston post-punk titans The Beatings, will play, as will the acclaimed Dear Leader and Marconi.

Ted Billings: Internet | Facebook | Bandcamp

Footage: Future Carnivores' "What's Unbelievable"

We keep watching this video: it's got drama, it's got understated humor, and it's for a great song we listened to a lot this year. And this is a pretty "old dude" thing to say, but most of all, it makes us miss the golden age of MTV, when there were videos like this, and this, and this. Stuff that was fun, quirky, and incorporated the band, hopefully performing, maybe not. Future Carnivore's terrific clip is akin to the sort of televisual stuff we gorged ourselves on heavily from about 1981 (starting with HBO's "Video Jukebox") until we hit driving age in 1990. "What's Unbelievable" is a highlight of the band's very strong self-titled set ("a delicious anomaly that listeners will return to again and again"), which was released early this year and which we reviewed right here. The video for the tune was directed by Future Carnivores/Guillermo Sexo guitarist Reuben Bettsak and features performances by Ryan Lee Crosby, Mariam Saleh of the very hotly tipped Fat Creeps and Alana Sacks of Poor Everybodys. After you've gotten your fill of the clip for "What's Unbelievable," click through those other videos we linked at the top of the piece and note some similarities: apparently some aspects of great video making never change.

Future Carnivores: Internerds | Facebook | Bandcamp

Today's Hotness: The Hush Now, The Spinto Band

>> Well, the Christmas tree went up at Clicky Clicky HQ this afternoon, so we're ready now to turn our attention to the music of the season. A reliable pleasure for the last few years has been a holiday offering from Boston dream pop giants The Hush Now, and we were pleased to receive recently the slow, serene rumination "I'm Always Broke In December." It's the first Hush Now Christmas jam to feature a lead vocal from drummer and polymath Barry Marino. The title communicates the sentiment aptly, but it is the band's patient, nuanced delivery that sells "I'm Always Broke" and distinguishes these guys -- again -- as consummate pros. From founder and guitarist Noel Kelly's barely there vocal harmonies and gentle horn solo, to lead guitarist Adam Quane's spectral, mildly dissonant sonics shading the chorus, to keyboardist Jon Rosen's brilliantly subtle layers of organ that commence at about 2:30 in the tune and ride it out, The Hush Now's latest holiday offering is a perfect case study of the band's formidable songcraft and pop chops. The band is midway into the recording of a planned fourth full-length, which we reckon you will see in 2013 barring unforeseen circumstances; "I'm Always Broke In December" makes us that much more eager to here what the band has up its 10 sleeves. Dig the tune via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to download the thing to have for your very own -- for free, the guys know you're tapped out. The Hush Now's last long-player Memos was one of our favorite records of 2011.



>> Just nine months in the wake of this year's well-conceived Shy Pursuit, Delaware institution The Spinto Band make a breathless return with yet another album of high-quality, upbeat indie pop. Titled Cool Cocoon, this new set is out digitally (presumably also physically) Feb. 5th on the band's own Spintonic Recordings. The band's efficient release schedule and tight, catchy songwriting both stand as evidence the quintet continues its present stretch of focused, independent work. "Shake It Off" is a solid choice for the first single from Cool Cocoon, with its instantly memorable vocal melody and stark, yet full piano and drum production. For a band that once made use of a dizzying number of different electric guitar lines, Spinto Band's recent efforts are notable for utilizing the instrument less. Instead, we get satisfyingly over-driven organ stabs (in the chorus) and deceptively funky snare cadences along with the group’s characteristic, classy vocal harmonies and subtle key changes. The slick production and classic-pop touches echoes certain work by Philadelphia's Dr. Dog or tunes from The Apples In Stereo's New Magnetic Wonder. This writer especially enjoys the twisted opening effects and the very short, unresolved verse melody. The Spinto Band are certainly on a hot streak, with productions that sound even more realized than when other labels were footing the bill. Consider them statesmen of the latest, computer-assisted DIY renaissance. If you're lucky enough, catch them at one of their upcoming French shows listed here. Stream or download (in exchange for your email address, a worth-while trade) "Shake It Off" via the embedded widget dealie below. -- Edward Charlton

Today's Hotness: Lemonheads, She, Sir

>> We didn't expect to be learning stuff last Saturday night when we took in the big Varsity Drag show at Midway Cafe, so when fronter (and Lemonheads co-founder) Ben Deily laid out a surprising little history lesson for us, we were caught a bit off guard. We followed up this week with Mr. Deily who graciously reiterated his tale, which concerns one of our favorite Lemonheads songs, "Mallo Cup." When Evan Dando originally brought the song to the band, it bore the title "If Only You Were Dead," the arrangement lacked the metal vamp in the middle, and the chorus had entirely different words. In place of the familiar section that begins "I never will forget," the words instead were "If only you were dead, I'd walk on home, if only you were dead, I'd know I was alone." While Mr. Deily is a big fan of the popular, well-known version of the song, he and Varsity Drag tore through the original version at Midway Cafe Saturday, blowing both our 38-year-old mind as well as what remains lurking within of the mind of the 16-year-old kid who cut the lawn hundreds of times listening to Lemonheads' Lick on cassette. Earlier this fall -- in the wake of news that Deily and Dando were reuniting to create a new Lemonheads record along with Juliana Hatfield and Ryan Adams -- London-based Fire Records announced it will reissue in 2013 that record as well as Lemonheads' debut full-length Hate Your Friends and Creator, which along with Lick are the three records made during Deily's original tenure with Lemonheads. What's more -- and this is where we tie things together, people -- Fire Records issued "Mallo Cup" b/w "Mallo Cup (Live on VPRO 1989)" on "super-limited" edition 7" vinyl Nov. 26 (buy link). That live version is the one found on the tail end of Creator, as fans will likely recognize. It turns out "Mallo Cup" isn't the first Lemonheads single Fire has released; the label, through its Roughneck Records subsidiary, released a single for "Different Drum" in 1990. And that single, incidentally, contains our very favorite Lemonheads b-side "Paint," which was released domestically as part of the Favorite Spanish Dishes EP. While you twiddle your thumbs waiting for those album reissues, why not stream "Mallo Cup" via the embed below?



>> Just as our hunger for new She, Sir jams was rumbling again in the wake of the delicious digital single "You Could Be Tiger" [coverage here], the Austin-based dream pop heroes have announced they will finally release the long-anticipated Go Guitars full length early in 2013 on Japan's Happy Prince Records; the band continues to look for a suitable domestic label situation for the record. But clearly the season of giving is upon us, as the group is also sharing the first single from the planned album, "Condensedindents." The new tune confirms that the act continues its delicate revisions to the tape-saturated noise-pop which first captured our hearts with the brilliant, brilliant 2006 mini-album Who Can’t Say Yes. "Condensedindents" stands apart immediately, as it is marked by She, Sir's signature timeless sonics and composition, but also appropriates signifiers hence unheard. Specifically, there's a smooth, '70s-funk-inspired bass line that mingles with the delay pedals. That single instrument imbues the song with a playful, relaxed bounce that transports She, Sir's dream-pop to the yacht club. Add to this the brief yet effective and creamy guitar strums in the breakdown, and you've got all the makings of another classic from collaborators Russell Karloff and M. Grusha. The duo now works with a steady slate of members including lead guitarist Jeremy Cantrell and drummer David Nathan, both of whom seem to fit seamlessly into the band's aesthetic. She, Sir fans have had to be patient while the band simmered in the studio and practice space in recent years, but the release of Go Guitars is looking and sounding like it will be fine reward for all the good boys and girls that kept the faith. For now, enjoy "Condensedindents" via the embed below. -- Edward Charlton

That Was The Show That Was: Infinity Girl EP Release Show With New Highway Hymnal, Speedy Ortiz and Soccer Mom | TT The Bear's | 5 Dec.

In what seems to be a trend in Boston of late, Wednesday night at TT The Bear's featured a killer lineup worthy of a weekend slot. The occasion was an EP release show for Boston shoegaze quartet Infinity Girl's new Just Like Lovers EP [review]. It was an espcially important show for the band, as its future is presently up in the air, with at least half of the band soon to take up residency outside of Boston's friendly confines. The bill also featured crackling sets from scenemates Soccer Mom, grungy post-punk from Northampton's Speedy Ortiz and Boston-based The New Highway Hymnal's narcotic psych-blues.

Soccer Mom opened the show a little after 9 with a set that included unrecorded material, both "sides" of the foursome's recent digital single, and selections from the band's killer 2011 EP You Are Not Going To Heaven. While their music certainly doesn't shy away from heavy use of noise, it's worth noting that Soccer Mom are particularly loud live. Dan Parlin and William Scales' guitars and their attendant feedback regularly collide and then cut out, leaving an opening for vocals to penetrate the live mix. The 'Mom's newer songs retain the chaotic atmosphere of their older material. The foursome ended its set with songs from their digital single "Brides" b/w "A Canoe Shy;" the latter track and its soaring chorus was particularly impressive.

Speedy Ortiz jumped right into a slew of new songs slated to appear on the band's planned full-length debut; the quartet finished recording the set with Justin Pizzoferrato at his studio Sonelab in Easthampton, Mass. just last week, according to fronter and guitarist Sadie Dupuis. She noted from the stage that certain of the songs in the set were being given their live debut last night. These new tunes fit well within the band's established sound -- sarcastic, awkward verses that give way to big choruses punctuated by dynamic blasts of feedback and heavy drum fills. Speedy Ortiz's lone selection from this year's excellent Sports EP was "Silver Spring," and the live iteration -- complete with a song-ending noise section -- was a highlight of the band's remarkably tight and engaging set. The set closed with a new number touting an extended outro which provided the band an opportunity to nearly destroy their equipment as they ran mic stands and pedals up against their guitars. Wednesday's show is apparently Speedy's last in Boston for a while; the band soon embarks on a short tour with notable Western, Mass. resident Thurston Moore.

Infinity Girl released its triumphant Just Like Lovers EP just past midnight Wednesday morning, but even so it opened its powerful performance with "Please Forget," its typical opening number and a highlight of their full-length debut Stop Being On My Side [review]. Gear issues plagued the opening number, as Mitch Stewart’s bass died almost immediately. Fortunately, Darl from Speedy Ortiz stepped up with a loaner bass and the show went on. Infinity Girl played selections from both Side and Lovers after announcing from the stage that the show was in fact their last for a while, and the set felt like a sort of farewell by the end. The quartet closed with an earth-shaking, nine-minute version of Stop Being On My Side's "Cannons." In its final minutes the song shed its languid groove and climaxed into a titanic cavalcade of noise and feedback, with drummer Sebastian Modak driving the tempo faster and faster as Mr. Stewart stabbed at his bass and fronter Nolan Eley pogoed as he exorcised feedback from his guitar, ultimately sliding his guitar back and forth across the stage by its strap. The players embraced after the cacaphony subsided.

The New Highway Hymnal had the unenviable task of following that set, but made short work of seizing the crowd's attention with its focused, harrowing live renderings of songs from the recently released long-player Whispers. Between the hypnotic groove of the trio's formidable rhythm section, fronter Hadden Stemp's possessed stage persona and spine-tingling yelps, and the shifting psychedelic light show, The New Highway Hymnal was able to skillfully transport the crowd at TT's with its dark, hip-shaking tunes. -- Dillon Riley, Correspondent

Review: Infinity Girl | Just Like Lovers EP

[UPDATED] Boston shoegaze behemoth Infinity Girl with its latest EP of cacaphonous dream pop puts a big exclamation point on a break-out year for the quartet. It's easy to forget that a year ago the band was just getting off the ground, and as recently as seven months ago few even knew who these guys were. But with the unexpected materialization of its brilliant full-length debut Stop Being On My Side last spring, Infinity Girl began a meteoric rise into the vanguard of the city's guitar bands. Just Like Lovers, given the relatively short time it germinated and how closely it comes in the wake of that long-player (although most if not all of its songs are already live staples), is a surprisingly large and well-defined step forward for Infinity Girl, one that suggests the band may only be beginning to tap a great potential.

Opener "Untitled (July)" commences with a My Bloody Valentine-esque swirl of guitars and a stuttering beat. Lush, effected guitars drape over everything, burying the drum kit and threatening to levitate up off the rhythm tracks altogether as they sensuously shift across one another like layers of diaphanous tulle. "Taking Nothing" touts gentle vocals that recall Brooklyn's late, great Dirty On Purpose, but the most compelling aspect of the tune is the crushing loud-quiet dynamics that move drummer Sebastian Modak's steady work behind the kit to the fore as he powers tidal waves of drop-tuned guitars spangled by guitarist Kyle Oppenheimer's helical leads. EP closer "Not My Hang," featuring what we believe to be the first recorded lead vocal by Mr. Oppenheimer, is blurry, bending and beautiful, and perhaps I-Girl's most sophisticated composition to date. The song's final moments when rendered live are cataclysmic; the mayhem is necessarily reigned in on the recorded version to non-ear-bleeding levels, but nonetheless is both quite affecting and a suitable end to a collection of songs.

Like the first Ringo Deathstarr EP, Just Like Lovers is so very enjoyable and brief you will just play the thing over and over, until the songs just play over and over in your head. Just Like Lovers captures the sound of Infinity Girl reaching farther, with more crystalline production highlighting arrays of guitars deftly arranged around soft or spectral vocals. With the impressive progress the band has logged in such a short period, fans can only hope that its development won't be arrested by the temporary departure of Mr. Modak, who will be out of the drum stool for much of 2013 while he pursues other interests. Infinity Girl self-releases Just Like Lovers tomorrow; our friends at WFNX.com premiered it in its entirety earlier this evening. The EP is being feted tomorrow night with a killer show at TT The Bear's that includes sets from the mighty Soccer Mom, Speedy Ortiz and The New Highway Hymnal; all the details are at the Facebook event page right here.



Selected Previous Infinity Girl Coverage:
And Then This Happened: Infinity Girl, Young Adults Blitzkrieg TT The Bear's
Forever Now: The Infinity Girl Interview
Review: Infinity Girl | Stop Being On My Side

Infinity Girl: Internets | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube

On Giving

It's folly to even attempt to make a comprehensive accounting of all the good, as in altruistic, things people are doing to help others within and without the Boston music scene right now. While it isn't played up so much as to be in your face, and while we have very mixed feelings about awards shows, even tonight's Boston Music Awards serves a charitable function: proceeds from the event go to a local car salesman's Music Drives Us Foundation, which provides funding for music education programs. Music education: that's certainly something we feel is worth-while, something that pays dividends for kids long into the future (and something we support through an annual gift, in honor of our aunt, to the Chester Children's Chorus). The Boston Music Awards is a big, high-profile production with lots of media support, but there are smaller efforts here in Boston as well. Take the grassroots effort to help Cambridge-based electronic music luminary Andre Obin get back up and running after an electrical fire at his apartment left him homeless and without a lot of his gear. Vanya Records is selling an 18-song comp, a tidy documentation of a slice of the scene here in Boston, with all proceeds going directly to Mr. Obin; stream the comp Friends Of Andre via the embed below, and click through the purchase. Another local effort is Sleepover Shows' annual charity auction, that ends today, making our reference to it here something of a "day-late-dollar-short" situation. But theirs is an *annual* charity auction, so remember to look for what they've got on offer when next year rolls around.



There's Boston Band Crush's Holiday Spectacular, which plays host to four bands Dec. 14 at Brighton Music Hall. The event includes a toy drive being run by Boston Emissions' Anngelle Wood. As the esteemed Richard Bouchard of BBC states here, "[The toy drive's] biggest need is presents for teens, so gift cards, music, stuff like that, and they serve people of all ages, so toys and games are good too. Please, if you can, bring a new, unwrapped gift to the merch table, Anngelle will get it where it needs to go." So, instead of buying that extra round of drinks this week or next, why not put the money toward a toy that will give a kid looking at the prospect of a sub-optimal Christmas a reason to smile. Here's the Facebook event page for the Boston Band Crush Holiday Spectacular.

As we mentioned supra, good deeds are being done everywhere, you needn't look hard, although perhaps you'd have to look a little further afield to find this one. Turn your focus for a moment, if you will, to our friends at the classy disaster of a record label Audio Antihero. We will bet you whatever you'd like to bet that the proprietor of the esteemed London-based indie label has donated over the last few years 10 times more money to the various charities he supports than the label has taken in as revenues. This year proprietor Jamie Halliday has put together a compilation titled The Hüsker Doo​-​wop EP. The short set is available here for a limited time only and features exclusive and rare music from the Audio Antihero stable of artists. Proceeds from the sale of this collection go toward Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The comp opens with Nosferatu D2's Ben Parker talking about eating glass and pissing the bed, and it gets even better from there. The EP also includes a creaking freak-out from the equally genius Benjamin Shaw (whose record There's Always Hope, There's Always Cabernet was our second favorite album of 2011), as well as a throbbing rocker from Watford, England-based grunge messiahs Wartgore Hellsnicker. Stream the entire EP via the embed below. And while you're doing that, take some time to think about what you might be able to do this winter to help people in your community who are struggling to get by. Whatever you do or don't do, our larger point is this: if you've got the gumption, you don't have to look far to find opportunities to help out while getting your rock fix this year. So come on.