New video from The Meaning of Life (and more!)

Brooklyn three piece (and Hearts Bleed Radio favorites) The Meaning of Life released a video just before the holidays and I wanted to make sure you guys didn't miss it. "I Want To Do With You What The Spring Does With Cherry Trees" (a nod to Pablo Neruda for all you South American lit. majors out there) is dream pop with a danceable bass line and metronomic drumming that feels right whether you're the type who likes to shake your ass, or stand in the corner staring at your shoes. Punctuated by ringing guitars and smooth, echoey, ethereal vocals, the track is classic TMOL with a slight rhythmic twist. A step in a new direction, yet you wouldn't mistake them for another band.

Whatever is behind that door is kept safe by TMOL

The video itself is a mix of eye candy, symbolism, absurdism, and flat out rage. Shot throughout NYC and featuring some local musicians, the visuals lock in with the driving beat and bass line. The smashing of instruments is becoming a theme throughout TMOL's video work, and personally I love the contrast between their sweet and pretty tunes, and this unrestrained act of aggression. Check out the video below.

Eastern Hollows release video for "Summer's Dead" and hit the studio!

Eastern Hollows are a great local band who are hopefully poised for gaining more popular and critical attention. It seems to be a busy spring for the Brooklyn-based quintet; we were lucky to have them perform at showcase #12 (3/14/14) and hopefully will get them again for a show in the future. Easter Hollows sounds part shoegaze, part C86, and part post-punk. Imagine a poppy guitar driven British band the 80's and add more washy reverb, and better/more modern guitar pedals. They are familiar, but not stale. Interesting enough, but simple enough to be catchy. Jeremy and Travis were nice enough to exchange some emails with me regarding their newest video, which was released last week.

                                 

Hearts Bleed Radio: This starts out with very muted colors, cuts of the city... I was preparing myself for another "band on a roof" video, but it really takes off and becomes colorful and exciting. Where did the inspiration come from? How did the concept evolve?

Jeremy (drums/percussion): The concept and idea evolved naturally from the aesthetic that we have followed on all of our artwork to date - colorful images always involving flowers. The design and artwork all came from Cassandra Gibbons (she is also the unnnamed hooded figure in the video placing the flowers). She is a great artist and has been responsible for all art direction by offering up different samples and concepts for us to choose from. This video was her idea that she developed along with the director, Julian Kauffmann. "Giant paper flowers that grow and eventually take over the entire city" was the main idea.

HBR: The song is titled "Summer's Dead," which I assumed meant "Summer IS Dead." Upon watching the video, I guess it means, "The Dead belonging to Summer." Correct? What is the song about? (and thanks for inadvertently teaching me a grammar lesson)

Travis (lead singer/rhythm guitar/lyric writer): "Well, it was meant as "summer is dead." Not ownership. I thought it could be either depending on the context. Maybe I need a grammar lesson. It was loosely about a Smith's lyric I had always heard wrong and about the time of writing the song. Summer was just ending, getting sentimental about a great summer and that lyric. [Smith's] lyric is: "I want the freedom and the guile"---I always thought it was guide and not guile. This is in "I Won't Share You" I loved the idea of wanting both freedom and guide because that's how I feel all the time. Wanting freedom but then unsure what to do with it.

HBR: How long did it take you guys to shoot? Any interesting stories from production?

Let's listen to Let's be Loveless

  What do you want out of a band? Do you ever just, like, think what you're asking the from the artist? I think most people would declare a passive relationship with music. I think they log into Pandora (or whatever), and the tunes either grasp them... or they don't. When you write about music, you have to go at it with a scalpel; you have to open it up, climb inside its chest cavity with a geiger counter, a divining rod, and a ouija board, and take your data, superstitions, and gut influences back to your laptop, and figure it all out.

  

Let's be Colorless

  

  Anyway, Let's be Loveless is a joy to take apart and study. The four piece consists of Abby Camaya (keys/vox), Eric Arikian (guitar/vox), Christopher Whalen (bass), and Gary Elliot (drums), and released an airy and highly textured self-titled EP last spring. I've seen them perform live many times (they're a lot of fun, check them out!), and was immediately drawn to Arikian's guitar playing. But upon deconstructing the EP, I find it to be an extremely bass-driven work. Whalen's bass playing brings together the shoegazey reverb laden guitar and Elliot's poppy tight drumming. The bass adds to the melody, or strengthens the rhythm, depending on what the moment calls for. Camaya's soft, yet soulful voice hovers slightly above the mix, and her minimalist keys add a layer of depth, but still allow the other instruments space to operate.  

  Video Song, opens up the EP. The track fades in, which always leads to me turning up the volume and ending up playing it louder than I meant to (by the time the track is at full volume.) Nice trick guys. "We all just put on make-up/and try not to fuck up..." is the line that's stuck in my head after listening to this one. I love it when the shaker kicks in after the first refrain.

  Motivational Speaker starts up with a big guitar riff and driving bass line, and brings the overall volume and aggressiveness up a notch. After the intro, the song breaks into straight up arpeggio-laden indie pop. "Don't look behind you/This time get it right." Cayama's advice is worth taking. She comes off as pessimistic, but also strong and determined, regardless of her doubts.