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Savage Hills Ballroom

The Top 30 Records of 2015

Music ListTransverso MediaComment
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3. Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars

Thank Your Lucky Stars acts as both an extension of and pivot point for Beach House’s career as a whole. Many may want the band to actively change in a progressive way, but the band chooses to continually broaden their sound in the most familiar and microscopic ways possible instead. Perhaps one of the best integration of all five preceding albums, you hear the metronome, drums are crisper, individual instruments are audible, and Victoria Legrand’s lyrics are unexpectedly discernible at certain points. It's what works for them, and its afforded Beach House the ability to carve out a dream-pop legacy (and avoid becoming a caricature) on their own terms.

 

2. Majical Cloudz - Are You Alone?

Are You Alone? takes off where the Montreal duo’s preceding Impersonator left off; a paradox of bare-bones, minimalist soundscapes ebbing with lush depth that are somehow simultaneously tranquilizing and uplifting. Welsh’s immaculately vulnerable monologues and unflinching vocals are gently bold, and they drive their synth lullabies forward with severe care. It's Welsh at his most overbearing, and yet his tight grip is irresistible. Calculatedly organic, passionately controlled, it’s a journal reading in a dream.

 

 

1. Tame Impala - Currents

Currents is the most adventurous, interesting, and well-produced collection of songs Kevin Parker has created thus far, sitting atop Tame Impala's discography as the most mature and painstakingly crafted iteration in their twisted psych-pop world. From the lush synth tracks that bubble through the mix to his effortless, washed out vocals, every sound is rendered with the utmost care. Currents proves Parker is unable to stick with a certain sound, forever looking for new ways to evolve his ideas and push his project beyond what was expected when Innerspeaker first hit the shelves.

 

"The Knower" Is Elderly Arsonist in New Youth Lagoon Music Video

New MusicSean McHughComment

In what has become a growing string of ocularly stimulating and thematically fascinating visual companions for Youth Lagoon’s recent Savage Hills Ballroom LP, Trevor Powers has now followed up "Highway Patrol Stun Gun" with a new, Lucas Navarro-directed video for “The Knower."

The video follows a mystifying old woman wandering about what looks to be an animated nursing home filled with vibrant adornment that serve as purposeful symbolism or deliberate misdirect.

The video scans various parts of nursing home life– a bingo hall, a solarium walkway, someone’s hand sliding off of a cane – that eventually leads to the illumination of the building’s name as the “Savage Hills Retirement Home.” Could this video provide context to the origin Trevor Powers’ choice of album title?

More setting passes and then we’re met with the tired eyes of an elderly woman, meandering across a swimming pool deck, in total and complete solitude. Another shot of the cockatoo and then a match igniting into flame, and all of a sudden, the Savage Hills Retirement Home ballroom is set ablaze as the elderly woman turned arsonist watches in quiet tranquility.

The silent, lifeless shots seen at the beginning of the video are now disrupted with fits of flame and frenzy, when all the while, our favorite elderly arsonist ambles out of the ballroom with only the slightest sense of urgency. Amidst the tumult of the inferno, the cockatoo breaks out of its cage, perhaps symbolizing Powers’ coming to grips with the death of a friend, or maybe even utilizing the allegorical connection of a cockatoo being a sign of spiritual providence. Who knows?

Our favorite elderly arsonist is last seen dancing amongst the flames of the Savage Hills Retirement Home ballroom, with the cockatoo flying past in escape. “The Knower” certainly offers up some powerful imagery in its visual counterpart, but Powers’ true intention behind the video is shrouded I the same stimulating imagery, which makes the experience all the more lush.

Savage HIlls Ballroom is out now via Fat Possum Records

Youth Lagoon Expands Sound And Soul On 'Savage Hills Ballroom'

Music ReviewSean McHughComment

If ever there were any doubt that Trevor Powers’ efforts as Youth Lagoon presented his own inner-workings in a genuinely vulnerable light, Savage Hills Ballroom acts as a visceral offertory to the remaining doubters.

Powers took up a two-month residency with Bristol, London based producer, Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, She & Him), recording and adapting his solitary narratives into more relatable motifs than albums past. It suggests an emotional actualization brought upon by the drowning of a close friend in Powers’ native Boise, Idaho in 2013. Understandably so, the death had great effect on Powers, propelling him to cancel a string of dates.

Where Youth Lagoon’s first two albums, The Year of Hibernation (2011) and Wondrous Bughouse (2013), played into the solitude of Powers’ being, Savage Hills Ballroom presents a more extrinsic aspect of Powers’ psyche. SHB’s opening track, “Officer Telephone” initially acts as a misdirect for the album’s course. The Wurlitzer-y ambling paired with Powers’ noticeably post-production-less vocals harkens to Youth Lagoon days of old with a slight twist. A minute into the track, however, Powers turns the track on its head in the best of ways with a psych-folk rock breakdown and layered vocals ushering in an irrefutably divergent Youth Lagoon, only marred by an abrupt fadeout come far too soon.

“Highway Patrol Stungun” continues the startlingly in-your-face emotionalism that would seem to be the SHB norm. Powers offers unfamiliarly inclusive lines, such as “remember when no one danced the same / we all had a voice/we all had a name.” The composition of the track mimics the expressive lyricism, with less post-production wizardry and more warmth from strings and keys.

Other songs on SHB continue the remarkable deviation from introspective opining to highly associative accounts of what can only be assumed to be aspects of Powers’ emotional navigation since his friend’s passing in 2013. “The Knower” offers particularly familiar tones of sorrow and personal delusion: “oh, everybody wants to think they’re good at heart when they’re full of hate/oh, everybody wants to think their luck will change, when there’s no such thing.” Disconcerting realities of the everyman are prevalent throughout, but none more familiar than the opening line of “Rotten Human”: “How are we supposed to know what’s real?” Whether or not Powers’ intentions for lines such as the one referenced are intended to be highly relatable or not, the motif is beguiling nonetheless.

Appetizing lyrical and composition departures aside, SHB is not without the familiar dream pop musings that garnered Youth Lagoon its praise. Songs like “Doll’s Estate” and album closer “X-Ray” offer highly introspective glimpses into the soul of the album, despite both songs’ lack of lyrics.

Savage Hills Ballroom is an excitable coping mechanism framed with universal themes and existential crises. It is Youth Lagoon at its core, but vigorously distinct from preceding records. The change is good, if not grand, presenting Powers’ musings and idiosyncrasies in a more performative state.   

Youth Lagoon Gets Bitter In Third Single, "Rotten Human"

New MusicWeston PaganoComment

Trevor Powers, AKA Youth Lagoon, continues the rollout of his forthcoming third record Savage Hills Ballroom with "Rotten Human," his bitter third single behind "Highway Patrol Stun Gun" and "The Knower."

Showcasing increasingly dynamic and vulnerable vocals juxtaposed with a still introspective yet more unwavering drive, Youth Lagoon has newfound conviction but is still just as dissatisfied, itching to set the record straight over a cruising tide of dark melodies.

When asked what the new song means to him, Powers told Nerdist,

“Throughout the process of writing this album—about two years—I’ve gone on this spiritual journey to learn more about myself and my faults and all this stuff that I’ve tended ignore for a really long time. It’s so much easier to go through each day and forget the previous day or forget the hurtful things you said to someone or whatever it might be, just the shitty parts of your life. This song is addressing that. It’s really examining what it is that makes me who I am, and what parts of that are disgusting.”

"You are the habit I couldn't break," Powers laments later on in the track. As excited as we are for the new LP, I think we could say the same about him.

"Savage Hills Ballroom" in stores September 25, 2015 iTunes: http://smarturl.it/ylshb LP/CD: http://smarturl.it/YLSHB-preorder

Savage Hills Ballroom is out September 25th via Fat Possum. Check out Youth Lagoon's tour dates here.

Watch Youth Lagoon Play With a Gold-Masked Man in New "Highway Patrol Stun Gun" Video

New MusicWeston PaganoComment

Youth Lagoon has previously released "The Knower" from forthcoming record Savage Hills Ballroom, and now the second single "Highway Patrol Stun Gun" is here with a new music video directed by Parisian filmmaker Kendy Ty.

The video shows Trevor Powers and a gold-masked accomplice with whom he is seen bowling, going out to eat, and generally gallivanting around New York City, while the track itself layers Powers' mousey vocals and melodic keys over dark, driving synth pulses.

Powers explained the concept via Fader, saying,

“[It’s] this idea of having this extension of yourself. We go down these life paths and we feel like we’re always alone, but we have those different aspects of our personality that are essentially grounding us; we’re not quite alone, because we have our spirit. It was that idea, combined with the idea of losing someone and having them still be alive throughout your day to day—because I think that’s a very real thing. Anyone who’s experienced any sort of loss, you know you go out on a windy day you feel the wind on your skin and you feel like they’re still there.”

Watch the video below.

Savage Hills Ballroom is out September 25th via Fat Possum. Check out Youth Lagoon's tour dates here.

Youth Lagoon Announces Tour Dates

Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

Now you may get to see Savage Hills Ballroom in an actual ballroom.

Youth Lagoon, AKA Trevor Powers, has already released "The Knower," the first single from his forthcoming record due out September 25 via Fat Possum Records, both physically and online. Now he has announced the dates for his tour in support of it.

Below you can check out the official photo release and the dates typed out as well, just in case one time wasn't exciting enough.

Youth Lagoon Tour Dates:

09/10 – Bozeman, MT @ Filling Station
09/11 – Missoula, MT @ Top Hat
09/12 – Boise, ID @ Egyptian Theatre
09/21 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
09/24 – London, UK @ XOYO
09/26 – Paris, FR @ Cafe De La Danse
09/28 – Brussels, BE @ Rotonde Botanique
09/30 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet
10/02 – Berlin, DE @ Magnet Club
10/04 – Copenhagen, DK @ Jazzhouse
10/15 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
10/16 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
10/17 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
10/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
10/20 – Milwaukee, MN @ First Avenue
10/21 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
10/23 – Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar
10/25 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
10/29 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
10/30 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
10/31 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
11/01 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
11/03 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
11/04 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
11/05 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
11/06 – Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry’s
11/07 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
11/09 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Studio
11/10 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
11/11 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
11/13 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
11/14 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
11/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
11/18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
11/20 – Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
11/21 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge