Adventures / Run Forever, “Split” EP

cover - adventures run forever splitPairing Adventures with Run Forever is such a ridiculously perfect idea, it’s basically one of those “shut up and take my money!” releases. Adventures’ dreamy indie pop has a certain angular melodicism to it that hints at part of the band’s involvement with Code Orange Kids. It especially comes out in the feedback-drenched ends to their songs.

Run Forever, however, works it a little differently. Rather than fading out their songs, they opt for epic intros, leading into harmonies suited perfectly for lifted hands and heartfelt sing-alongs. The bands compliment one another, and they’re both on the rise, so why wouldn’t the two acts come together?
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Mixtapes, “Ordinary Silence” LP

NSR093The longer Mixtapes has been around, the more I appreciate them. The group has an innate ability to write pop songs that rock. The harmonies on Ordinary Silence can certainly be sugary-sweet, but offset by lyrics like those in album-opener “Bad Parts,” when Maura Weaver sings “I want to break their fucking heads.” It’s a band that traffics in contrasts.

Just for example, Ryan Rockwell‘s vocals get a little nasal, but they counter Weaver’s nicely on the dual harmonies, smoothing out as they do her voice, which cuts like a clarion. Both singers, however, manage to sing softly and sweetly on acoustic tracks such as “gravel (interlude).”
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The Casket Lottery, “Real Fear” LP

cover-casket-lottery-real-fearWhen a band returns with their first LP in a decade, the expectations are high. The Casket Lottery‘s Real Fear — out today via No Sleep Records — is their first all-new full-length since 2002’s Survival Is For Cowards. It’d been teased earlier this year, when “The Door” was released as a 7-inch in August.

That single showed many of the familiar Casket Lottery tropes: the quiet-loud-quiet-screaming-breakdown dynamic that served them well over their career, but also teased at electronic flourishes and a wider sonic range than their last LP. One can’t help but think back to a few years ago, when the Casket Lottery’s Kansas City brethren the Get Up Kids released their Simple Science EP as a precursor to There Are Rules, which was their first full-length in almost seven years.
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Adventures, “Adventures” 7-inch

cover-adventuresAdventures seem to get more press because 3/5 of the band (Jami, Reba and Joe) are 3/4 of Deathwish hardecore quartet Code Orange Kids. Rarely do they ever get mentioned in terms of their music, but that’s a situation that ought to change with the release of the their self-titled 7-inch on No Sleep Records.

Sleepy, yet emotional is the name of the game on this little bit of vinyl. The vocals are passionately yearning, but the instrumentation jangles and swirls dreamily. You’re tempted to describe it as classic indie rock, but the harshness of the final “I have never been so scared” on “Like Seed” brings it to modern times.
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Coalesce, “Chain Smoking”

cover-give-them-rope-remasteredCoalesce‘s double-disc reissue of their 1998, Give Them Rope, is out now on double-LP courtesy No Sleep Records (it’s also available as a double-CD from Relapse). It’s got new art and liner notes from guitarist Jes Steineger, as well.

The disc contains the remastered original recordings on one disc, as well as the 2002 remix and remaster, Give Them Rope She Said V2.0 on another. Needless to say, it’s complicated. You can get a lengthy explanation (and buy the record) from No Sleep. That being said, you can take a listen to “Chain Smoking” below.