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Clipped Wings
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Ashton’s Top Releases of 2019
Chris Farren - Born Hot
One of my favorite things in the world is the juxtaposition between Chris Farren's online presence/stage persona and his lyrical content/actual personality. 'Born Hot' is the perfect example of everything I love about Farren starting with the music and going all the way down to the oven mitts and hot sauce that were released as part of his merchandise line. All jokes and bits aside, this record reminds you that it's ok to feel everything on the entire spectrum of emotions and that it's relation to you and the ones you love does not define your life- just that tiny moment in time.
The Band Camino - tryhard
Since I already touched on this EP earlier in the year, I'll just leave everyone with this: It is absolutely ridiculous how much I listened to this release this year (so much that The Band Camino topped my top artists on Spotify). These boys found exactly where they were meant to be this whole time while writing this EP and that alone has made these songs shine brighter than every star in the sky. It's been months and these perfect pop songs are still floating around my head on a constant basis.
Briston Maroney - Indiana
Last year's 'Carnival' (and a couple live shows) introduced me to Briston Maroney as 2018 came to a close, and as this decade is now wrapping up, I'm back again at his doorstep. Not often do I find a release that has me enthralled from top to bottom, but this release is the 2nd one in a row from Maroney that has done so. Many of the tracks on this project carry a slower tempo and a nostalgic tone, allowing you to fall deeply into the intricacies of guitar-driven melodies and heart-wrenching storytelling. I can't imagine my year, or my life, without these songs.
The Greeting Committee - I’m Afraid, I’m Not Angry
An absolute kick in the chest is the only way that I can think to describe this EP. A full range of sound and sanity is held within the tracks of this project, and every little detail leaves traces of who you were at the time and who you feel like you're becoming in your memory. I feel as though it's crucial to listen to this EP front to back every single time I'm reminded of it because the flow and production between each track and transition is impeccably executed and cannot be missed. The Greeting Committee has become one of my favorite bands for many a reason, and this EP is a huge one.
Renny Conti - The Horse
With 5 of his songs gracing my top listens of the year, it's safe to say that Renny Conti is one of my favorite songwriters that I've had the pleasure of finding in the past few years. 2018's 'People Floating' and this year's 'The Horse' offer a full spectrum of lovely, lonesome, and lively tunes, this time around being hosted by a full band arrangement. The varied tempos and complete lack of genre are the unlikely strings linking each track on this release; the variety simply adding to how genuine every tiny detail feels with each listen.
Nightly - Twenty Something
I don't have much to say about this track because my appreciation of it is simply overwhelming. If you've kept up with this site at all since it's creation 4 years ago, you've seen Nightly's name quite a few times, and that is obviously not going to end anytime soon (sorry not sorry). With a hypnotizing instrumental and lyrics that read like the transcript of a late night phonecall, this ambient-inspired track is one of Nightly's best efforts thus far. My personal biases aside, this is one damn good pop song.
Liily - I Can Fool Anyone In This Town
Liily is by far my favorite band that I have seen perform this year. End of story. This EP was their first collective release and was written during the band’s teen years, but now into their 20s, they’ve hunkered down and honed in on all of their successes and amplified them by 10 fold. It’s nearly impossible to throw this release on and not let it replay for days due to the consistent flow of energy between every track from start to finish. Although most of the songs from this release have already been phased out of the band’s live set, that doesn’t mean that they should be overlooked from this list.
Dayglow - Fuzzybrain
At this point in time, I don't think that any record has ever brought me as much joy just from it's integral sound than 'Fuzzybrain' has. The whimsy of this record is right in the surface from the start but is just one of the thousands of little things to love. The perspective of each track's lyrics is one not found in a lot of music- one of acceptance, calling out your own bullshit, getting a little sad from time to time, but knowing that's ok. Each song walks you through a feeling you know you've had in the past but maybe didn't know how to handle, and now you can take it in stride (or in dance due to how groovy this record is) and look towards brighter days.
Valley - MAYBE
One of the things I always look forward to when diving into a new record is the variety of tracks included, and 'MAYBE' gave me one of my favorite grab-bags of the year. Each and every track sounds like none other than Valley, but just as you can feel like a new person in a new outfit, they transform into a new band with each concept. With this record also including acoustic and orchestral versions of a few tracks, Valley really left no musical stone unturned with this record but still somehow stayed the course with their sound. This record (as well as 'Fuzzybrain') won my vote for "Most Fun Had While Listening".
SWMRS - Berkeley’s On Fire
Overall, I'd say that 2019 was a pretty angry year for the majority of people my age, and all that was summed up better than any of us could've done it with this record. SWMRS are always on top of social and political issues, but that doesn't mean my jaw will avoid falling to the floor every time they release a rock record for the gods using those themes. On top of the importance of the content of most of the songs, each one is crafted perfectly as to never leave your head or your car stereo. This record was one of my sleeper favorites of the year because I would go a period without listening to it, be reminded of one of the songs, then suddenly be swept back into the midst of the record for the next 3 weeks as if it had never gone away. SWMRS is one of the most powerful bands of our generation- this record and this year proved that.
#chris farren#chrisfarren#the band camino#thebandcamino#briston maroney#bristonmaroney#the greeting committee#thegreetingcommittee#renny conti#rennyconti#liily#swmrs#dayglow#valley#nightly#ashton carr#ashtoncarr#best of#album review#ftbt#ftbtmusic
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Black Beach @ Programme Skate & Sound by Ashton Carr
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Bones @ The Observatory (Santa Ana, CA) by Ashton Carr
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EYEHATEGOD @ The Teragram Ballroom (Los Angeles, CA) by Ashton Carr
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Lostboycrow @ The Regent Theater (Los Angeles, CA) by Ashton Carr
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Ashton’s Fall Playlist
The days are getting shorter and our sleeves are getting longer, so Ashton is back with another seasonal playlist! Here are their picks for all of your Fall adventures:
Cry Baby - The Greeting Committee
Storm - Leoniden
A Phone Call In Amsterdam - Valley
Hannah - COIN
Sepulveda Basin - Liily
Love Theme from “Born Hot” - Chris Farren
Adolescent - Lostboycrow
Haunted - The Band Camino
drive all night - joan
casual sabotage - Yungblud
FULL PLAYLIST
#The Greeting Committee#thegreetingcommittee#the garden#thegc#leoniden#valley#coin#liily#chris farren#chrisfarren#lostboycrow#lbc#the band camino#thebandcamino#joan#yungblud#ashton carr#ashtoncarr#playlist#ftbt#ftbtmusic
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The Band Camino @ The El Rey Theater *Night 1* (Los Angeles, CA) by Ashton Carr
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Bad Suns @ The Glass House (Pomona, CA) by Ashton Carr
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Interview with Liily
A park bench in Pomona hosted our interview with half of the band Liily- one of the most exciting bands to gain momentum in the LA area this year. We touched on literature and live tracking with Charlie and Max as the last show of their tour with Ultra Q and Bad Suns drew closer, and we are more than happy to share it with you!
The premise behind Brekfest was starting to build an accessible but high-quality music scene to all of the local acts you grew up with. Will this continue on in tandem with Liily’s growth as a band?
Max: Absolutely. We hope to expand it and get other bands that we think are cool and treat them with the respect they deserve. There will be another Brekfest next year and hopefully another one after that.
Charlie: As we grow our asking range kind of grows. The more credible we become, the more we can reach out to a lot of the bands that we love. We just want to be able to have bands that are not the same ones that are dominating festival lineups. It defies genre because we just want to have bands that have something genuinely cool about them and treat them well.
You’ve mentioned in the past that with your last EP you tracked everything, but with your upcoming music you’re recording it all live. What does this difference bring to the table when it comes to the sound/energy of your newer tracks?
Max: I think it also has to do with how we're writing songs now. We were writing the songs for our last EP when we were 15 and didn't record them until we were 18. We've grown in our musical taste in those 3 years and listen to a lot more things, which affects what we write. Everything is more drastic and expanded so I think that with a lot of stuff we listen to, we like when there's a feeling. When it's played live there's an intention and feeling that you can't always get when it's tracked. When we play certain things live there's a certain reaction and something specific comes through so we really want to capture that. In general though, I think that all of our songs are a lot different in the way we go about them.
Charlie: I think that the stuff we've been doing translates better live, and in turn, loses something when we track vocals and stuff. The whole point of it gets lost in the tracking process.
Max: We're trying not to overthink things in that way now because you can lose track of how things were in the beginning. We're letting ourselves do what comes naturally.
‘Wash’ is your most recent release, and it’s accompanying music video seems to stray a bit from the past visuals you’ve utilized. Is this something you were conscious of while creating the video, or are you not as concerned with linking visual media to music?
Charlie: Sam started dabbling in stop motion and claymation and we thought it looked super cool. Almost every music video we had done up to that point we hated, so we put a lot more attention into this one as opposed to less. The visual aspect of things is cared for a lot more now and it's looked at as an additive instead of something that has to be done. Sam's really stepped up in terms of creating a visual dialogue to go along with the musical aspect.
Max: I think we also just now know what we want to make as opposed to just saying "Well, here are some songs!". Now we're more focused on the visual aspect and how we can morph it into one thing with the music.
Your debut EP was titled ‘I Can Fool Anybody In This Town’ after a Charles Bukowski quote. The direct reference was to your upbringing in the LA area, but do you draw any inspiration from literature? Are there any elements of novels you’ve read or writers that you love that have seeped into your writing style as a band?
Charlie: Dylan writes all of the lyrics, so I can't speak on his behalf, but I personally get inspired by a lot of writers but not in the text setting. I think that Bukowski is a very interesting person because of who he is and how he says what he thinks. I like Hunter Thompson and Chuck Palahniuk a lot- just people that have creative minds as opposed to if they share the same discipline as me.
Max: Yeah, I get all my literature from him (Charlie).
The last stop of your 6-week run with Bad Suns and Ultra Q is tonight in Pomona. Although the city is considered far from your LA upbringing, do you feel like this show is going to be a bit of a homecoming? How do SoCal shows differ from playing on stages across the country?
Charlie: Definitely! We actually spent a lot of time in Claremont, so it does feel like we're home. This has been an interesting tour because the bands we've been playing with a very different from us. Last night in Phoenix felt like more of a LA show.
Max: It all depends on who you play with because that dictates who comes. Bad Suns is more of a pop band so you don't get people looking to mosh. If we were playing with a band with a different style, it'd be different. In Phoenix there were definitely some moshpits starting- and at other shows if people tried to start, other people would be like 'DON'T DO THAT'-but there was a huge pit last night. At one show some dude put a guy dancing around in a headlock and told him to calm down. But here it's more of people we know. Hopefully.
Charlie: Last night it felt like one of our shows in LA.
https://www.liilytheband.com/
Photos and Interview by Ashton Carr
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Billy Raffoul @ The Troubadour (Beverly Hills, CA) by Ashton Carr
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Bombay Bicycle Club @ The Mayan (Los Angeles, CA) by Ashton Carr
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Emily TV @ The Locker Room (Garden Grove, CA) by Ashton Carr
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The Greeting Committee @ The Mayan (Los Angeles, CA) by Ashton Carr
#the greeting committee#thegreetingcommittee#the gc#thegc#ashton carr#ashtoncarr#photos#ftbt#ftbtmusic
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Interview with Royaljag
San Bernardino sweethearts, Royaljag have finally come out of hiding with the release of their new EP, ‘I Don’t Know How I Got Here’. As they hit the stage for the first time in a few months, we caught up with them to learn a bit more about their new music and favorite 90s nostalgia.
The 'Chameleon' EP was more of a collection of songs, and now 'IDKHIGH' is a full body of work. How did the process of this EP's creation differ from the last?
Jay: With this EP it felt like we were writing /for/ the record. Even though we had ideas that lived before 'Chameleon', we were getting together now to actually hash it out. It felt like we were an actual band. We had a timeline for this EP because we booked a session for a single with Jesse Barrera then as soon as we finished it, he booked the EP recording session for the next year.
David: We finished 'Foreign Exchange' in July and he booked the session for March. We were like, "Uhhhh we don't have any ideas really, but ok!". He wanted us to do the EP with him so we did! We had come up with these songs all together with him as well.
You guys tweeted "Pay attention to the transition between 'Dangerous' and 'Division'", so are you also going to focus on transitions in your new live set?
David: I really want to! We have one for 'Afterglow' but we don't do that for all of them. We want to think about it, and it would definitely be cool if we could do it for every song.
Jay: That stuff is a cool idea that we would definitely want to do. With the album and stuff it'd be exactly how you heard it recorded in the live show. We love transitions, if we can make it sound cool, we're all about it.
For everything starting with '909', the VHS tape, the music video, the album art, etc. is extremely different from your past visuals. Did you pick the shift for a specific reason?
David: For the '909' music video, that mostly came from our love of the 80s/90s. We just love that time period because everything seemed happier and we wanted to make people feel happy. We also went back to that time period because there are so many great things to get inspiration from like music, dancing, and styles. We really wanted to channel that but in our own Royaljag way.
Are we going to get a neon Royaljag sign for the stage next?
Jay: That would be so tight!! We would love that!
David: Or a TV! We should put 'Space Jam' behind us!
Going on nostalgia, if you could describe this EP as one of your favorite 90s snacks, what would it be?
Roland: Bugles!
David: Fruit Roll Ups!
Jay: Nilla Wafers!
Is there anything specific about 'IDKHIGH' that you don't want fans to miss?
Roland: I think it's important that people see that this whole EP was based around our struggle of having to drive everywhere from San Bernardino. '909' was the perfect single because it talks about our experience of driving out then going back home then driving back out and so forth. A lot of the songs are about experiences we had while doing that so it all got tied together. We want people to kind of live that experience a little bit.
David: You can see through the EP art that this is kind of a record you're meant to listen to in the car. For the long trip to wherever you're going. Like he said, for us it's for nights like tonight where we're in LA but going back to San Bernardino.
Jay: We didn't really think of this as a concept record, but it kind of is? We want people to remember this EP as the one where we cut in and made something very different from what we had been.
David: To us, the title 'I Dont Know How I Got Here' is that feeling of when you zone out on your way home when you're so used to that commute that you don't even realize how you got home.
Jay: When David said that title, it all just made sense to us.
youtube
https://www.royaljagband.com/
Photos and interview by Ashton Carr
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The Shaking Hands @ All Star Lanes (Eagle Rock, CA) by Ashton Carr
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Introducing - Joey Maxwell
If there’s one quality that Joey Maxwell possesses in abundance, it’s his unfiltered honesty. Going Thru Changes is Joey’s debut - a self depreciating indie pop track that criticises destructive behaviour in the midst of an unstable relationship and how that spiralling crisis affects other aspects of your life. Featuring a saxophone on this first release creates a stunning contrast... a sunny type of sadness.
After lyrically laying yourself bare, most musicians retreat but stepping onto a stage for his first live performance; the London artist declares his nervousness before channelling his anxiety into a high energy gig that sets the tone for what’s to come. It’s this sincerity and proneness to say whatever comes into his head that makes Joey so endearing, he addresses you like a friend and you instantly feel at ease.
The 21 year old is no stranger to the music scene though, having fronted the band Indigo Husk for quite some time his experience with being able to work a crowd is evident. Especially when he manages to get the audience enthusiastic about participating during songs; even the ones by themselves hiding in the corners of the room.
With an EP on the way, the future looks full of promise. Not only is the emerging artist determined to have fun, but his lyrical content doesn’t shy away from truth or personal situations. In an age where everyone wants to share themselves with conditions and filters attached, we’re crying out for the quintessential Joey Maxwell experience.
youtube
https://www.joeymaxwell.co.uk/
Written by Aimee Thompson
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Hot Flash Heat Wave @ The Voodoo Room (San Diego, CA) by Ashton Carr
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