#honeybee table at the butterfly feast

[lovejustforaday]

2022 Year End List - #15

Teen S****de - Honeybee Table At The Butterfly Feast

Main Genres: Lo-Fi Indie Rock, Indie Folk

A decent sampling of: Post-Rock, Emo, Slowcore, Dream Pop, Neo-Psych, Noise Pop, Folktronica

WARNING: Too many potential triggers on this one to make a proper list. It's even in the band name (which I am uncomfortably ambivalent about). If you are going through a very rough time mentally, this could either comfort you or make things worse. Proceed at your own discretion.

So I decided to start off my 2022 year end list with a little bit of back story as to how I discovered the album which ended up placing at number 15. There’s a fair bit of context that I want to explain first, so buckle in.

I have been a big fan of the often underappreciated electro pop / synth pop / trance / chillwave rapper/singer Kitty for a few years now. The unlikely Tumblr girl who rose to semi-prominence as an ‘internet’ rapper  — before such a phenomenon became widespread thanks to soundcloud rap and the rise of music streaming services — has often been ahead of the curve when it comes to fusing pop and hip hop with very online aesthetics and sounds.

Kitty is also married to Sam Ray, a prolific artist who has been making music since at least 2009 as part of nearly a dozen solo projects and bands such as Ricky Eat Acid, American Pleasure Club, The Pom Poms, and of course Teen S****de (not the literal band name, but please bare with me as I try to get this review past the Tumblr and Instagram filters). As part of these projects, Ray has made music that ranges anywhere from indie folk to stuff like ambient, industrial, and even miami bass.

As I follow Kitty's instagram, I was made aware of Sam Ray's hospitalizations last year due to chronic respiratory problems. At one point, his condition was considered potentially life-threatening.

Fortunately, Sam is still alive and kicking. As you could imagine, the events of last year significantly impacted the music on this new record.

I myself had not listened to a full-length release from any of Sam Ray's musical projects up to this point. But I was inclined to check this one out, especially since the man had clearly gone through so much hardship to reach its completion. As an added bonus plus, Kitty also sings backing vocals on some of the tracks, so that’s pretty cool.

Upon listening, I have this to say: Honeybee Table At The Butterfly Feast is not an easy record. It is a folksy, watery, haphazard mishmash of three or more indie subgenres per song, with transient reflections from a man who has come very close to death on (as it turns out) more than one occasion. It is a collection of songs that are tenderly pessimistic, at times embracing something more like a nihilistic bliss (From "complaining in dreams" : "Everything is everything is everything is nothing / And when they finally kill me, I hope at least they make it funny").

Dropping another disclaimer right here: this album is not at all congruent with where I personally am in my life right now. All things considered, I have had a pretty good 2022 (and 2021 for that matter). I am mostly past the messy depressive/anxious episodes that rocked my life in waves between the years of 2017 and 2019, and I have a modestly comforting sense of security in where I am right now with my life.

And yet, this still resonates with me emotionally. I may be far in my current state from sharing the grim outlook that this record maintains almost religiously, but like most good music, it manages to transcend whatever my current mood is and make me feel its affecting pulse in a way that resonates. Several of the songs in particular managed to not only resonate, but access deeper pockets of the emotional faculties in my mind.

“get high, breathe underwater (#3)” is a mesmerizing lament of neo-psychedelic piano folktronica. The piano riff floats somewhere above and around the listener while remaining mostly static, sustained in an awkward stasis that mirrors lyrics describing the feeling of being completely stuck in one’s life position.

“new strategies for telemarketing through precognitive dreams”, apart from maybe being the best song title of the year, is also another major highlight, with compressed lo-fi indie guitars churning and decaying into wounded howls.

The album peaks with "coyote (2015-2021)", a long instrumental trek of slowcore-post-rock through a forest of once-forgotten memories. I imagine myself growing very old over the course of the song, years of life becoming mere footnotes and chapters that are part of a longer story, where I’m the protagonist nearing the end of a tragic young adult romance novel.

“complaining in dreams” is a dreamy lo-fi lullaby, musically not unlike something by The Radio Dept. This one has a particularly defeatist attitude towards the future of humanity, but the words are expressed in a manner so leisurely and whisper-soft that it’s as if these musings are the typical end-of-day thoughts passing through your head right as you fall asleep, only hoping to wake up in some universe completely different from our own current version of reality.

I have to say that not all of this stimulates me musically as consistently and successfully as it manages to resonate with me emotionally. Sometimes I feel like Teen S****de are bringing new ideas and breathing new life into the well-established tradition of ‘slow sad indie with folk guitars and noisy lo-fi’, while other times it feels like this record is paying a lot of homage to those artists in a similar vein that came long before this record, such as The Microphones.

Still, I simply had to include this record on my 2022 list, even if it was a pretty darn close choice for number 15 between this and at least three or four other albums that I ended up omitting. At the end of the day, this one formed a stronger connection with me than those other records. Honeybee Table At The Butterfly Feast is an album meant to be appreciated by the deepest recesses of the right side of your brain, marked with murky paintings of the adult imagination and overflowing with profoundly uneasy sentiments needing to be felt as much as they are heard.

8/10

Highlights: “coyote (2015-2021)”, “get high, breathe underwater (#3)”, “new strategies for telemarketing through precognitive dreams”, “death wish”, “complaining in dreams”, “you were my star”

#ricky eat acid #sam ray #kitty #american pleasure club #year end list #2022 #album review #music review #aoty #best music #list #lo fi indie #indie rock #indie folk #honeybee table at the butterfly feast

[rockstarkiss]

"honeybee table at the butterfly feast" - Teen Suicide

The band Teen Suicide has released an album after six years. This album goes deep into a longing sensation. It portrays a sentimental, bittersweet theme throughout the album. The tie of heavy rock and psychedelic melodies is beautifully done. The melancholic, poetic feeling is ideal for the upcoming autumn season.

#honeybee table at the butterfly feast #band #music #new music #music blog #writers on tumblr #music review #indie music #writing #song review #good music #indie pop #indie rock #alternative music

[daegeseag]

my aoty is probably coma year by LIMBS. lots of other bands did great but that one spoke to me the most. dark sun (dayseeker) would've been better if it was longer and if the singles they put out didn't overshadow the rest of the record. my runner up is likely colour decay (tdwp) because i cried to it a lot. celebrity therapist (callous daoboys) was great but not the right thing for me right now. precedent (sonagi) was a major highlight in screamo. into the past (driveways) is probably their best effort by far in constructing an album. honeybee table at the butterfly feast (teen suicide) was an extremely welcome relatable surprise. otherness (alexisonfire) is a consistent followup and a pleasant gift with their reunion. above cirrus (pure reason revolution) is necessary listening obviously. heroine (thornhill) was somewhat disappointing. i can't remember what else came out this year. i hope to see more from hazing over (saw them live recently, they were as phenomenal as i remember three years ago) and probably a full record by the bunny the bear since playing with fire was a great single. the wonderful sensation of music

[underscoreastxr]

Albums that aren't necessarily concept albums but are so much better as a single experience:

Million Masks of God - Manchester Orchestra

Nothing's Real, so Nothing's Wrong - Kevin Devine

III - Bad Books

Between the Concrete and Clouds - Kevin Devine

Love and the Front Lawn - St. Arnaud

I Blew on a Dandelion and the Whole World Disappeared - American Pleasure Club

"In case I make it," - Will Wood

honeybee table at the butterfly feast - Teen Suicide

[8000000cherries]

My honeybee ass could never table at the butterfly feast

[rcmndedlisten]

Teen Suicide - “new strategies for telemarketing through precognitive dreams”

Photo by Sam Ray

“The taste of blood and the smell of rain / Hang around for a couple of days / I always knew I'd live to see the world start to end / But I thought I'd feel something when it did,” concludes Sam Ray on “new strategies for telemarketing through precognitive dreams”, a recent highlight from his resurrected Teen Suicide project’s new album, honeybee table at the butterfly feast, due out this Friday. Noise and nihilism are no stranger to Ray’s POV, though distancing his sound from its its most discordant aspects rears a strange peace between existential terror and going on with your life with ease. Blissed out punk music usually doesn't go down this easy, nor should the apocalypse, and yet, he’s found a way to indulge them the same way you might a morning cup of coffee.

Teen Suicide’s honeybee table at the butterfly feast will be released August 26th on Run for Cover Records.

#new music #teen suicide #run for cover records

[reportwire]

Teen Suicide Releases New Song 'death wish'

Teen Suicide Releases New Song ‘death wish’

Sam Ray has shared another single from his forthcoming Teen Suicide album, honeybee table at the butterfly feast. ‘death wish’ follows the previously unveiled songs ‘coyote (2015-2021)’ and ‘get high, breathe underwater (#3)’. Check it out below. “This new song ‘death wish’ was one of the first tracks recorded for the record, back in 2019,” Ray explained in a statement. “I recorded the demo of it…

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[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #17

17. Chaos For The Fly - Grian Chatten

Main genres: Indie Folk

A decent sampling of: Chamber Pop, Folk Rock

Grian Chatten is better known as lead singer of the Irish modern goth rock band Fontaines D.C., a group that's made significant waves in the British Isles ever since they came on to the indie/alternative scene.

Last year’s Skinty Fia appeared in a lot of publications' year end lists and only just barely got snubbed from my own by the #15 record I ended up going for, though it easily could’ve ended up anywhere between 15-13 since most of the stuff on the lower end of my lists are usually interchangeable in ranking. And frankly, I think I’ve probably since ended up spinning that one more times than Honeybee Table at The Butterfly Feast. The last two tracks "I Love You" and "Nabokov" were both particularly brilliant. But I digress.

Grian Chatten's natural charm as a figure in the world of indie music is hard to ignore. He's a brooding poet with a voice that is deep, homey, and rich, singing in an accent every bit as heavy as his regular talking voice. He embodies much of the same mythical cool factor and sensibilities of early 90s indie titans from the isles like The Stone Roses and My Bloody Valentine.

Likewise, the charisma is certainly there for him to venture out successfully as a solo artist, not to mention his strengths as a lyricist.

And this latest album is proof of concept. With his debut solo record Chaos For The Fly, Chatten paints new nocturnal worlds out of rickety old-timey and pastoral aesthetics, with a fair dose of cynicism and grim melancholy. He doesn't so much reinvent himself as a soloist, but rather takes elements of what already worked with his post-punk/goth rock band and distills them into a more intimate and folksy, singer/songwriter sound that retains some of his gothic roots.

I'm actually reminded a lot of folksier PJ Harvey records like White Chalk, Let England Shake, as well as this year’s I Inside The Old Year Dying which frankly, as a long time PJ fan, I fell this record outdid considerably. So props to him.

"The Score" was an excellent choice to ease in to the album's atmosphere, as the song ensnares listeners to a state of rest with an oddly seductive but wholly suspenseful folk guitar serenade. Chatten's whispers are gentle but firm and arresting, manifesting love as a contradictory force of benevolence and implied doom, all the while the plucking of the melody bends and resists resolution. Lots of subtle dualities happening here, which I'm a big fan of.

I knew that “Fairlies” was going to be one of my top tracks of the year the very moment I heard the chorus for the first time. It's a colourful feast for the ears; a fiery folk rock frenzy with all the mystique of a morbid fairytale, like a story of a werewolf hermit who bemoans and curses all of humanity. The whole piece feels like it should be accompanied by a really twisted old-fashioned wooden puppet show that combusts into dancing flames during the grand finale. That screeching fiddle towards the end in particular does everything it needs to in order to make this one hell of a memorable trip. A real stroke of genius.

"East Coast Bed" is a mild departure sonically, opting for a brighter, breezy sound still laced with melancholy and based heavily around a steady beat accompanied by warm chamber instruments, a flowery synth line, and a slight warbly dulcimer (or perhaps a sitar?). Fitting to its name, I feel as though I could lay back and start to float endlessly on the gusts of an oceanic wind.

The tender "Salt Throwers off a Truck" is the most traditionally 'folk' in composition piece on the album. This track really showcases Chatten's ability to conjure images that are deeply romantic and familiar yet forlorn. Not much else to say on this one - it speaks for itself. Makes me want to grab a pint and think about my life 10 years ago.

My one gripe with this album is "All Of The People", a somewhat under-cooked, spitefully misanthropic piano ballad. While it thematically fits within the record's general cynicism and poetics, the delivery in the lyrics is much too on the nose and (dare I say) almost banal, at least in comparison to what Chatten regularly demonstrates he's capable of. It ends up feeling really out of pace and disturbs the record's flow. I would've omitted this from the final version and relegated it to a bonus track. Hell, this LP probably would've made it a lot higher on my list if not for this hiccup.

But aside from the one considerable bump in the road, Chaos For The Fly was a standout project in 2023 for its clever songwriting and setting great atmosphere, and I for one am very excited for Grian Chatten to continue making solo projects. I would love to see an even more ambitious project in a similar vein to to this record. As it stands now, the man's already got me seeing will-o'-the-wisps over here whenever I listen to this bad boy at night.

So definitely check this one out, especially if Halloween-y is really your vibe.

8/10

Highlights: "Fairlies", "The Score", "Salt Throwers off a Truck", "East Coast Bed"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #2023 #indie folk #grian chatten #fontaines d.c. #chaos for the fly

[rcmndedlisten]

Teen Suicide - “get high, breathe underwater (#3)”

Photo by Sam Ray

Sam Ray almost died, and while dude has always envisioned the many ways of doing so through his music, be it the tumblr noise wonders Teen Suicide, its indie pub-appeasing predecessor American Pleasure Club, or his experimental fuse Ricky Eat Acid, an actual near-death experience brought on by a mysterious illness will change your view. “get high, breathe underwater (#3)″ -- the lead single from the return of his Teen Suicide project’s new album, honeybee table at the butterfly feast -- absorbs the sensation of drowning, but arguably for the first time, hears Ray decidedly fighting to keep his head above water rather than letting it win. Over a repetition of weight-planked pianos and nautical arrangements adrift, we hear Ray swirling over undercurrents of perpetual nihilism. “I don’t wanna die / I don’t really wanna live this way / It’s all the same,” he sings. While the end is inevitable for us all, he projects Teen Suicide’s resurrection with a new found purpose until that moment comes.

Teen Suicide’s honeybee table at the butterfly feast will be released August 26th on Run for Cover Records.

#new music #teen suicide #run for cover records