#hardly art

[nofatclips]

French Poet by Protomartyr from the EP Old Spool and Gurges 1

#music #protomartyr #joseph kevin barry casey #alex leonard #greg ahee #scott davidson #joe casey #hardly art records #hardly art #sub pop records #sub pop #Bandcamp

[bandcampsnoop]

5/3/24.

Chris Cohen (Richmond, California) has returned to the Bay Area and settled into a life of producing, playing and making music. There's probably more time spent producing and playing. He's been a part of recent releases from Weyes Blood and Kurt Vile.

Now comes his third full length LP - this one for Sub Pop offshoot Hardly Art. "Damage" is the only song currently available and it definitely sounds like Cohen - his voice is unmistakable as is the clear and upfront bass. This song has a jazzy feel that recalls the sounds of Murray Lightburn. And while he doesn't appear to be making any new music, J Fernandez still serves as a touchstone.

I knew this release was coming up, so not only have I been listening to Cohen's previous solo work, but I've been listening to The Curtains and his work with Deerhoof.

#Chris Cohen #Richmond #California #J Fernandez #Murray Lightburn #Weyes Blood #Kurt Vile #The Curtains #Deerhoof #Hardly Art #Bandcamp

[sinceileftyoublog]

Shana Cleveland Live Show Review: 4/27, Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Thursday night at Old Town School of Folk Music, Shana Cleveland and her band brought Manzanita (Hardly Art) to life. As promised, Luke Bergman and Will Sprott’s respective pedal steel and synth playing provided a “thick eeriness.” They contrasted the tactility of Cleveland’s plucked guitars, whether Cleveland’s picking was by itself introducing a song or playing an interlude, or hovering atop the textural, foggy hum of the backing band. Drummer Geneva Harrison provided thumping fills on “Faces in the Firelight”, pounding might on “Walking Trough Morning Dew”, and subtle brushwork almost everywhere. Her shaking percussion on songs like “Mystic Mine” emulated the creepy naturalism that inspires so much of Manzanita. At the center and barely in front was Cleveland’s effortless voice, sandwiched in timbre among the instruments, telling the stories that contextualize the songs’ instrumental vignettes.

Though the lines between La Luz and Cleveland’s solo work are, according to Cleveland herself, certainly blurring a bit, she has very much refined a solo artistic voice. A song such as Night of the Worm Moon’s country ballad “I’ll Never Know” was purportedly originally written for La Luz but “didn’t make sense” for the band; you can hear its siblings in the “Paint It Black” guitars of “Night of the Worm Moon” and Spaghetti Western aesthetic of “Face of the Sun”. Manzanita’s songs have doubled down on Cleveland’s pseudo cinematic vibe, from the whistling pedal steel of “Mystic Mine” to Richard Brautigan tribute “Mayonnaise”. When performing the latter, as she sang the line, “I’ll write a thousand songs before I’m done,” Cleveland mimicked a slit throat, the type of darkly humorous and strange mood that oozes from Manzanita just as much as the instruments themselves. If those thousand songs continue to reflect Cleveland’s ever-shifting perspectives and sense of self, we’re in for a treat, sonic and literary.

#live music #shana cleveland #old town school of folk music #hardly art #manzanita #luke bergman #will sprott #geneva harrison #la luz #night of the worm moon #spaghetti western #richard brautigan

[abductionradiation]

Orlando, FL -- tofusmell, the project of Rae Chen, shares their new single “Shower Song” as part of Hardly Art’s 15th Anniversary Singles Series. The track spans just under 3 minutes long and listeners can hear the influences of 90s folk/singer-songwriter. Chen’s soft murmuring vocals are set perfectly with the gradual build of the track, really giving the track an Elliot Smith-esque feel.  “Shower Song” is an introspective track that’ll send shivers down your spine with the emotion carried in each of the lyrics. 

hardlyartrecords · tofusmell - Shower Song

On the track, tofusmell shares “‘Shower Song’ is about how it's impossible for me to have a shower that doesn't, in some way, feel like some sort of ritualistic examination of my body. Not necessarily critical, but there is always an undeniable attention to my body in relation to my gender. The song is pretty straight forward in describing a scene of me in the shower, looking down at myself and imagining the water rolling down along a silhouette that better reflects how I wish to be seen.“

Connect with tofusmell:

Twitter | Instagram

#tofusmell #hardly art #folk #indie #indie folk #Rae Chen #orlando

[fuckyeahcolleengreen]

Colleen Green - Natural Chorus

#youtube #music #video #alternative #indie #pop punk #pop #colleen green #natural chorus #hardly art #hardly art records

[chris-burden]

The Beets at Muchmores (2013)

#The Beets #Juan Wauters #Muchmores #Brooklyn #2013 #Captured Tracks #Hardly Art

[possiblyunhinged]

Amen.

#hunx & his punx #hardly art #shannon and the clams #music #bby #Youtube

[bixels]

Rewatched 1978 Superman and remembered how much of a total dreamboat Christopher Reeve is, both as Clark Kent and Superman.

#my art #superman #clark kent #dc comics #fanart #character design #he's two flavors of himbo in one man #maybe my only celeb crush. rip christopher reeve #i'm hardly a superhero fan but imo new superman stuff needs to learn more into him also being a klutzy loser officer worker in his 30s

[chubs-deuce]

Alastor may dislike new age tech but that doesn't mean he doesn't have his sources lol

#hazbin hotel #alastor #velvette #hazbin hotel velvette #hazbin hotel alastor #digital fanart #digital art #fanart #art #my art #I just like the idea of Velvette keeping him in the loop with online drama and new age lingo #you can hardly manipulate people effectively if you can't fucking understand half of their slang after all #Velvette likes that he can keep up with her wit and is just as much of a judgy gossip as she is - Alastor finds her brash attitude amusing #he also has sources she doesn't so it's always nice to exchange information every once in a while over some tea/coffee #plus it's funny to hang out with your roommie's main source of hateboners bc he's actually pretty chill

[bluegiragi]

new moon (part 2)

early access + nsfw on patreon

#working hard or hardly working simon #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #captain john price #kyle gaz garrick #cod mw2 #ghostsoap #monster 141 au #giragi art

[bandcampsnoop]

2/4/23.

Dick Stusso. The original release - "Nashville Dreams/Sing The Blues" - that chronicled the travails of Dick Stusso was released on cassette by Vacant Stare. I was enthralled (and still am) by the sounds and story. Dick Stusso then released "In Heaven" - which was good but not nearly as interesting.

Now comes S.P. (Hardly Art), and the feel from the original album returns. The sounds are diverse and the story thread of Dick Stusso returns. But this time, the character is in a downward spiral.

Nic Russo (Oakland, California) is the genius behind this project. He's enlisted his father, Marc Russo (saxophonist for The Doobie Brothers), and has put together a great diversity of sounds and feels.

In 2016 I mentioned Bingo Trappers, John Lennon and The Nectarine no. 9 as touchstones. I still feel those apply, but maybe in the loosest of ways.

#Dick Stusso #Nic Russo #Marc Russo #Vacant Stare #Hardly Art #Bingo Trappers #John Lennon #The Nectarine no. 9 #The Doobie Brothers #Bandcamp

[sinceileftyoublog]

Shana Cleveland Album Review: Manzanita

(Hardly Art)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

On “Mystic Mine”, the whistling psychedelic folk tune from her third album Manzanita, Shana Cleveland sings, “I feel so relieved to be back in the country,” the last four words delivered in harmony with electric piano and whizzing synths. The singer-songwriter’s music has often occupied this reflective mood, whether embedded in the garage pop of La Luz or the abstract pastoral nature of her solo records. Yet, as they say, this time, it’s personal. The songs on Manzanita were written during the sort of major life changes many songwriters metaphorically describe as a move: relocating to rural California, and becoming pregnant with and giving birth to her first child. In a sense, many aspects of the album are literal, from the album title’s namesake California-endemic evergreen tree to references to the exploited natural areas and their resulting ghost towns. Moreover, Cleveland grounds you in the audible scrapes and squeaks of her close-miked fingerpicked guitar, getting you lost in the earthly sounds of fingers hitting strings at different angles. Still, Manzanita is a self-described “supernatural love album,” rich, lush, and as unmistakably strange as the country itself.

Many of the songs on Manzanita see Cleveland finding commonality between her own pregnancy and childbirth and her surroundings. Metaphysical opener “The Ghost” was inspired by her realization that pregnancy is a “psychedelic experience;” atop a Mellotron and acoustic guitar sway, she sings, “When you wake up in the night, I’m lying next to you / Can I come through?” She could be singing to her child in utero, or her life partner Will Sprott, who plays keyboards, dulcimer, glockenspiel, harpsichord, and synth on the record. “Faces in the Firelight” is addressed to both of them, its genesis a moment where Cleveland was watching Sprott tend to a burn pile in the distance and thinking he looked like the image of her ultrasound. Lilting guitars, crisp, relaxed drums, and golden hour synths soundtrack the multi-faceted question that buoys Manzanita: “Do you love me like I do you?” Her pause before “you” suggests Cleveland also recognizes the importance of self-love, as someone about to undergo a major life change, needing to balance her needs with her devotion to her family. And the shaky “Babe” revels in the strangeness of it all. When Cleveland sings, “Look at that beautiful babe,” the song breaks from its shuffle and atonally tiptoes to an off-kilter melody, calling back to the idea that being pregnant is psychedelic, indeed.

Yet, Manzanita is also an album of contrasts, Cleveland admitting that she’s imperfect, and so is the the living, breathing country. On “Gold Tower”, accompanied by Olie Eshleman’s melancholy pedal steel, she feels, and wants to give only. “If I let you down, bury me in the ground,” she sings, continuing, “I want to be yours totally.” Meanwhile, the presence fire does not always symbolize the ember of possibility. The minute-and-a-half spoken word track “Ten Hour Drive Through West Coast Disaster”, with its descriptions of “Cattle farms out of horror films” and “flames and fire planes” gives Cleveland doubts as a person and a parent. “Will you find a way to love this world?” she asks. The beauty of her fingerpicked guitar on “Quick Winter Sun” and “Sheriff of the Salton Sea”, recalling the likes of Jansch and Basho, is subsumed by the cloud of instrumentation beneath. Final track “Walking Through Morning Dew” describes spring bloom as not a picturesque view to fawn over but a time when the bugs come inside. “The wasps are crawling in our rooms,” Cleveland sings over instrumentation that sounds like your ear’s up to their hive. It’s a fitting end to an album that peels back the layers of life and travel experiences that some will tell you are nothing but idyllic. Manzanita knows better.

#album review #shana cleveland #hardly art #manzanita #la luz #will sprot #olie eshleman #bert jansch #robbie basho

[abductionradiation]

Los Angeles, CA -- This week, ill peach shared their new single "HEAD FULL OF HOLES," an epic track spanning just under 3.5 minutes long. The gradual instrumental build on the track adds to the catalytic nature of the track. "HEAD FULL OF HOLES" blends elements of electronic pop with alternative pop into a track that seamlessly coalesces both genres together. Jess Corazza's vocals have a wispiness to them that captures the wistfulness that often comes with thinking about the past.

On the track, ill peach shares “HEAD FULL OF HOLES is about our obsession with nostalgia. This urge to have a tight grip on certain memories.  Sometimes the beautiful and the painful ones get distorted because we want to remember them a certain way.  We both had experiences like that in therapy this past year.  It’s part of the healing journey to decipher between how much of the past is real and how much of it is how we embellished it in our minds.  We started writing HFOF when we took our first trip to London.  We were listening to a lot of Coldplay, My bloody Valentine and Radiohead there.  Naturally. And we heard Radiohead talk about the infinite climax in a song so this is us trying that out.”

Connect with ill peach:

Instagram

#ill peach #hardly art #los angeles #pop #alternative #alternative pop #Youtube

[hollis-art]

women !!

#my favorite kind of generbends are the ones that hardly even change the characters #fem!kirk is a butch in my heart and soul but someone said she'd like how much skin is showing w/ the skirt uniform and i agreed #i am particularly proud of flannel kirk <3 please stare at her <3 <3 ignore the kirk in the bottom right though. she looks odd #fem!spirk #wlw spirk #genderbend #spirk #star trek #star trek fanart #the original series #star trek the original series #star trek tos #tos #spock #jim kirk #art #fanart

[thebrainrotsreal]

Different ghost king outfits! (o^ ^o) Always adored the au as soon as I heard about it, but I never tried to design what it would look like until now! Left outfit is where I tried inverting Danny's usual ghost fit as jumping point, the middle is going ham with more a space/ecto theme, and the last is focusing more on Danny's ice core/powers! The middle's cape, hood, and ruffles near the belt-like bit are all pieces of void/portals, reaching through can pull out anything, and it can shrink or expand to his will!

#danny fenton #danny phantom #phanart #ghost king danny #ghost king au #danny phantom fanart #dp fanart #dp danny #i like to think considering how venomously against danny would be in actually being a ghost king or prince #the somewhat sentient jewerly and/or royal outfits would try being appealing to him by becoming space themed #since he does love space! #if you're wondering why he doesn't wear a crown in the other ones it's because I can hardly see him wearing one personally! #my art! #BEHOLD! an art tag for my art :]

[strelitzien-gewaechs]

something about new-age poetry

based on this post by @vapemaster42069 because everytime ive tried to fall asleep my mind kept playing she etho on my slab on repeat <3

#etho #ethoslab #what to i tag this with #secret life spoilers #uhh #yeah. the og post has not left my mind since i read it over a week ago #strels art #2024 strel art #eye strain #anyway penis? i hardly know her