Show Us Yours #27: Mittenfields

We just recorded our mid-year review for CompCon with KoomDogg (here's part one), and we've been figuratively kicking ourselves because we failed to mention a terrific rock record from Washington, D.C. quintet Mittenfields. The band's long-player Optimists was released in late April and it has since become one of those go-to records for us, the kind of thing -- along with Beeef's tremendous Beeef EP, and Colleen's Captain Of None, and a couple others -- that we put on when we want to take a break for the hamster wheel of reviewing things and simply enjoy a listening experience. Optimists is big guitars and wall-to-wall hooks, and it is fraught with terrifically affecting, impassioned vocals the elongated vowels of which echo those of David Byrne. It's not really accurate to call Optimists an emo record, but the more we listen to it, the more appropriate the tag (meant to connote the modern, non-mallpunk sense of the term "emo") seems. But the thing that attracted us to Mittenfields' music is it can't really be pigeon-holed, and we especially love how it doesn't present overt "D.C.-ness." It's just a big rock record with tons of great melodies (driven home by the act's three-guitar attack), and is probably more like Built To Spill's Perfect From Now On than any release bearing the Dischord or DeSoto imprints. Pressed for additional RIYLs, we'd offer Dark Blue and The Boyfriends. But Optimists deserves to be met on its own terms, and we recommend heading directly to the album highlight "Telepathic Windows" -- and its heartbreaking, repeated assertion "you're never gonna get what you want" -- as a great introduction to the band.

Despite having just pushed out its full-length LP, Mittenfields has been around for seven years, its earliest germ springing from a Craigslist ad posted by bassist and singer Dave Mann. The lineup shifted for a couple years, but the act's three-guitar attack -- inspired by a particularly compelling Broken Social Scene show -- gelled around 2010, and now includes guitarists Sam Sherwood, Donald Seale and Michael Ball, as well as longtime drummer Brian Moran. After living with Optimists for several weeks we decided it was high time to get in touch with the band to learn more about how they do what they do and where they do it as part of our long, long suffering featurette Show Us Yours. All of the Mittenfields guys were super gracious with their time, so there's a lot of interesting stuff here, about gentrification, pie, and some upcoming tour dates. Oh, did we forget to mention that dudes practice in the back of a pie shop? Yeah, you read that right. Our advice? Click on the embed at the foot of the post, scroll back up here, and dig in.

Clicky Clicky: So why do you use this practice space? What makes a pie shop -- let me say that again for any readers who were like "wait, what?" -- a pie shop the best space for Mittenfields to practice in right now? This makes me wonder about the noise-dampening qualities of pie...

Sam Sherwood: One of the (many) side effects of the gentrification of so much of DC is that it's pretty tough to find a practice space at all: every commercial or industrial space in town is just waiting to become another small plates restaurant, and bands can't really compete with that rent-wise. And practicing in a house or apartment at the volume level we play at is a non-starter if you don't want your neighbors calling the cops every week.

Dangerously Delicious Pies has a solid rock and roll pedigree -- it was started in Baltimore over a decade ago by Rodney Henry, the frontman for the Glenmont Popes. They opened their first DC outpost a few years back on H Street NE (pretty much ground zero for the aforementioned gentrification), but the building was bigger than they really needed. Somebody had the excellent idea of putting up some soundproofing in the back rooms, setting up some PAs, and running the extra space as a full-time rehearsal studio. Pie Shop Studios pretty much checks all the boxes: good gear, plenty of nearby bars for pre/post-practice "band meetings", and sweet, sweet (or savory) pie.

CC: Is there an idiosyncrasy or quirk to the space that has affected the sound of one of your songs, or even the overall Mittenfields sound?

SS: The space itself is pretty straightforward -- we wish we had a story about how some weird reverb property of the room inspired the backwards guitar effect on "Doctor! Doctor!" but that would be a lie (I think). Sonically, the most notable feature is the presence of Supreme Commander, who've practiced in the same time slot as us pretty much the whole time we've been there. This is a major bonus. First, they're excellent guys. But also, we can get pretty bogged down in the minutiae of arranging parts for three guitars. When that gets frustrating, it's nice to step outside the room and hear the roar of Supreme Commander down the hall, just kicking ass and not arguing about major 7th voicings.

CC: You walk into your rehearsal space. What's the first thing that you smell?

Brian Moran: I do wish I could say delicious pies baking and just waiting to be eaten. Unfortunately, it's not quite so glamorous. The place is very well ventilated for a practice space, and the other bands are respectful, but sometimes you can't shake the smell of sweat from the walls. The load-in area is also in an alley, right next to some big dumpsters, so that smells don't make their way inside the space, [but] can still hang out for a while in your nostrils. But no pies. I think the baking is done in the morning anyways.

CC: I see you've got dates in Arlington, VA this month and next month -- and then a show somewhat randomly in Atlantic City, NJ in Aug. I think that is the first time I've heard of an indie rock show in Atlantic City. Have you played there before? Is there a scene there?

BM: My first show with Dave and Sam was actually in Atlantic City. I'm guessing at the very same venue that we're playing coming up. We had the name Mittenfields, but instead of Mike and Donald, we had a keyboardist and a trumpet player. It was a rather different time. But like many leads we get through Dave, I usually never get much of a grasp on how we gained this contact in Atlantic City. We're playing some sort of festival over there -- from what I understand, the guy runs two festivals a year or so. The shows aren't held in the champagne-of-beers casinos of Atlantic City, but in tiny little bars, just like everywhere else. From what I remember about the Atlantic City show 5 years ago, there was a strong sense of community. I think bands came from all over to play there, but everyone was real cool to each other. I imagine someone's gotta live and play music there though?

CC: We're a very big fan of Optimists here at the blog. The thing that I find curious about it is that there is nothing about it that very overtly screams "THIS IS A D.C. BAND!" While it is definitely noise-pop of a certain stripe, the music on Optimists doesn't betray a huge Dischord, DeSoto or Slumberland influence. Was that a conscious decision at some point, to not sound like "a D.C. band," and to sound more like, say, contemporary hitmakers Dark Blue or The Boyfriends or whatever?

Donald Seale: We didn't really set out to get away from or try to honor the classic DC sound. It's more that it isn't relevant to what we are doing. We all have a few points of musical intersection but we have fairly disparate tastes. We are more worried about the parts fitting together in a way that satisfies us than just following genre conventions. Genre is kind of nebulous anyway. We just want to make memorable music that will have an emotional impact and hopefully be of value to somebody. If we played a more traditional or regional kind of music then the indigenous styles would be more valuable reference points. I personally grew up on punk rock and have a soft spot for all of that stuff, but it was created by a bunch of pissed off kids almost thirty years ago. While we (or more accurately I) am still pissed off, we aren't kids who for some reason are adamant about not ever getting laid or having a drink or just giving it a fucking rest for a minute. That said, the DIY spirit is alive and well in the world of Mittenfields. We do just about everything in-house which allows us the luxury of doing things exactly how we want. In that sense there is a real influence. So I guess philosophically that spirit is alive and well even if isn't immediately, musically apparent. Although, there are still a few spots where banging out some barre chords at an absurdly fast speed speed is really the only viable option. If you listen you'll catch it. Also, I'm still just looking for an excuse to shove a Doc Marten up someone's ass. Maybe we need a more adversarial audience to bring out the punk rock spirit.

CC: We suppose it would be really fun here if your response to that last question was hurt disappointment, like, "Damn it, we were REALLY trying to sound like Nation Of Ulysses!"

DS: Sorry to disappoint you.

CC: So what does the rest of the year look like for Mittenfields?

Michael Ball: More shows, more music. We've got a few local dates lined up, and plan to head up to Atlantic City in early August for an indie rock festival. We are also putting together some dates in the south -- Raleigh, Atlanta, Oxford, MS, and Chattanooga -- in mid-September. Beyond that, there are a few other shows here and there we hope to pick up, but nothing firm just yet. We're already working on some new tunes and trying to keep the creative juices flowing. Don't want to go four years between releases again.

Optimists is available now in a limited edition of 300 vinyl LPs, as well as on CD or as a digital download, all of which one can avail one's self of right here at the Mittenfields Bandcamp. Stream the entire LP via the embed below. As noted above, Mittenfields have two pending live engagements, and details of those dates are noted below as well. Our thanks to all of the Mittenfields guys for playing along and making Show Us Yours 27 a pretty darn good one.

Mittenfields: Bandcamp | Facebook



07.11 -- IOTA Club -- Arlington, VA
08.08 -- The Boneyard -- Atlantic City, NJ

Previous Show Us Yours episodes:
Shapes And Sizes | Dirty On Purpose | Relay | Mobius Band | Frightened Rabbit | Assembly Now | Meneguar | Okay Paddy | Charmparticles | Calories | Sun Airway | It Hugs Back | Lubec | A Giant Dog | Bent Shapes | Krill | Golden Gurls | Earthquake Party! | Hallelujah The Hills | Seeds Of Doubt | The Cherry Wave | Coaches | Night Mechanic | Kindling | Julius Earthling | Hideous Towns

Today's Hotness: The Hush Now, Brunch

>> Boston dream-pop institution The Hush Now disclosed late last week that it will self-release its long-awaited fourth full-length, Sparkle Drive, next month. The act, now operating as a quartet, has issued to the wilds of the Internet an appropriately sparkling preview track, the mid-tempo strummer "Arthur Come On, Really You Can't Be Serious." The tune gives lead guitarist Adam Quane a turn at the microphone; long-time fans will remember Mr. Quane's vocal debut with The Hush Now was on the jaunty bouncer "Cameraphone," which graced the band's terrific third LP Memos, which we reviewed here in 2011. "Arthur Come On, Really You Can't Be Serious" carries Quane's characteristic quavering vocal and is anchored by rich bass tones and layer upon melodic layer of the band's big guitars. As strong as "Arthur" is, it isn't even the best Quane-sung tune on Sparkle Drive; the album opens with the darker, more ethereal composition "Panda" --which touts a spectacular, glistening outro in its final minute -- which we think will connect strongly with fans when the album is released Sept. 23. The Hush Now has been quiet, but not entirely quiet, in the three years since the release of Memos. Among other things, readers will recall founder Noel Kelly picked up his guitar to write a response to the Boston Marathon bombings, and more recently he memorably covered Neil Young's "Motion Pictures" to promote a show over the summer. Information about a proper Sparkle Drive release show has not yet been revealed, but you can watch the band's Facebook outpost for further bulletins. In the meantime, stream "Arthur Come On, Really You Can't Be Serious" via the Soundcloud embed below.



>> The Internerds went all aflutter a couple weeks back with the news that Krill's dearly departed drummer Luke Pyenson had joined a band in London, that the band was good, and that the quartet had a pretty great song in the fuzzy gem "Sea Toad." All of the above is, in fact, true. But by the time Brunch -- that's the name of the band -- dropped its self-titled debut EP last week, much of the Internerds had already moved on. Which is too bad, because it turns out *all* of the noise-pop upstarts' EP is terrific. "Sea Toad" is a fine calling card, yes, flexing scritchy riffage under a high and lonesome lead guitar and fronter Sean Brook's pliable and evocative baritone. However, the best tune of the short stack is its anthemic centerpiece "Tidal Wav." The tune touts an oversized and yearning vocal hook in the chorus, with verses that remind this reviewer of the patient plod of The Velvet Underground's "Lady Godiva's Operation," while the huge chorus echoes the more contemporary outsidery crunch of Dark Blue or even the shadowy London act Black Seas. The succeeding number "Cordial I" slows the tempo and thins out the sonic picture for quiet verses that set up the aggressive choogle of the tune's final 90 seconds. Surprisingly, Brunch plans to come to the U.S. in late September/early October (according to the act's Bandcamp page) to play some shows, and we're very hopeful we'll see the band right here in Boston playing with Krill, because, you know, that seems like a really obvious thing for them to do, and because we like rock and roll music. You should spend time with the Brunch EP, it's time very well spent, and if you pony up the £3 asking price for either the download or handmade CD, you'll be helping in an albeit small way to get the band across the pond for the aforementioned U.S. shows. Stream the entire EP via the embed below, and then click through to purchase.

Today's Hotness: French Leisure, Dark Blue, Fury Things

>> Following great bands pays dividends in a number of ways, and one of these is getting turned on, by association, to excellent record labels or other bands. Case in point is the French label Beko, which we first encountered sometime in the past year because of its releases by Mooncreatures and The Bilinda Butchers [zing! pow!]. Indeed, the label has been mining some serious quality recently, and thanks to the almighty push notifications of the indispensable Bandcamp we know that one of its latest releases is among its most thrilling to date. We speak of the single #2 from French indie rock trio French Leisure. Band principals Laurent, Elsa and Gaël previously played in the long-running and influential Parisian indie rock concern Acetate Zero, which split in 2011. The trio rotate instruments on the regular, apparently, and hail from various cities -- or have together moved around quite a bit -- as their brief bio notes the act is from "Paris, Nice, Brest, Montpellier, wherever... whatever." The A-side of #2 is the mid-tempo, crisp guitar-driven ballad "Curtains," which calls to mind the patient and melodic indie rock masterpieces of Bettie Serveert or Karl Hendricks Trio. The flip side is the peppy, seemingly Versus-inspired rocker "Inner Shark." It's no stretch to surmise that French Leisure derives a fair amount of influence from classic American indie rock: in a recent interview, the trio reports that its favorite albums include Pedro The Lion's Control, Bedhead's Transaction De Novo and the epochal What's Up Matador? comp from 1997. It is little surprise that French Leisure's first single was titled #1, but what is more surprising is that it was released by Beko only a month ago. Although the band bemoaned in the interview linked supra the slow pace at which they are able to complete material (or at least we think they do -- our command of the French language is abominable), it would seem they are working pretty rapidly to bring the rock music to the people. Beko released #2 May 28; both of its singles for French Leisure are download-only and are available for free, meaning there is really no reason for them to not be in your life. Don't be a dumbass.



>> There's a side of Philly that's never been kinder and gentler, that prides itself on never having been kinder and gentler. And although it is important to note that it is not its only side, perhaps nothing embodied that in the music scene of the City of Brotherly Love in the last decade more than provocative punks Clockcleaner. Confrontational, loved and loathed equally, the band -- which Wikipedia claims was named after a nasty batch of heroin -- nevertheless blazed a wide path over the course of a relatively prolific, six-year career that ended with mercurial fronter John Sharkey reportedly splitting for Australia unexpectedly in 2008. All of that feels long ago and far away, even more so now that Mr. Sharkey has returned with a thrilling new trio called Dark Blue, which appears to have sprung from the ashes of another project called Puerto Rico Flowers. Dark Blue is set to release via Jade Tree July 15 a terrific, sophomore single that is surprisingly reverent to certain postpunk sounds. The waste-of-breath shorthand we've seen on the band so far focuses on Sharkey's baritone and lazily compares it to that of Ian Curtis. But if we're going to make lazy comparisons, folks, let's at least come correct: Dark Blue sounds a hell of a lot like a tougher version of the excellent, Morrissey-approved but sadly defunct UK guitar pop combo The Boyfriends (ploing!), which released its only full-length in 2006. Dark Blue's Jade Tree single features the anthemic, midtempo basher "Just Another Night With The Boys" on the A-side, and a riveting cover of John Cale's "Hungry For Love" on the flip. Both tunes were recorded by Philadelphia's Jeff Zeigler, who seems to have touched every excellent sound recording that has come out of the city for the last few years; a full-length Dark Blue LP is planned, and we're hopeful that Mr. Zeigler's name will appear on the back of that one as well. You can stream both cuts from the single below; we highly recommend that you do. Pre-order "Just Another Night With The Boys" b/w "Hungry For Love" from Jade Tree as a 7" vinyl single or digital download right here. Dark Blue's debut single was issued by the Brooklyn-based label Katorga Works and it can be downloaded gratis right here.



>> Minneapolis-based fuzz-pop dynamos Fury Things have a gift for crafting big, glossy melodies (and also, apparently, covering Hole songs). On its new, three-song release simply titled 7", Fury Things make a dense and gloriously glossy racket. Shoegazy guitars on opener "Leave Winter Behind" shimmer and bend along the crest of a sturdy, tambourine-studded beat. The tune is equal parts sugar and crunch, and it gentle vocal harmonies -- which recall the cracking melodicism of Scottish indie heroes Teenage Fanclub -- work to accent the former. The tempo and energy level steadily increase across Fury Things' three tracks, such that closer "Follow" feels almost out of control, given its peppy pace. Despite the short set's title, we can find no information about a pending vinyl release of the three songs, which are all new. With hooks this sharp, a vinyl issue would certainly seem to be a solid idea, but presently the music is on offer only as a digital download. The aforementioned 7" is not Fury Things' first release: the threesome issued a demo EP in late 2012, and followed it up quickly with a second, self-recorded short stack several months later simply titled EP 2. We'll keep our eyes open for additional information about 7", but don't let the question of its availability keep you from its glorious bash 'n' dazzle: stream the entire deal via the Bandcamp embed below. Fury Things play St. Paul's Amsterdam Bar and Hall June 15 before heading across the border to Calgary for a few dates surrounding the 2014 Sled Island music festival.