Today, Keta Ester, the solo project of Bruiser and Bicycle guitarist and vocalist, Keegan Graziane, shares the music video for “Singer of the Rock Song”. In February, Graziane shared his debut album under the project titled Love Apple, a collection emblematic of the beloved pop facets and responsive traditions of storytelling that the New York-based artist uses to piece together a sincere and unique profile within a single song.
“Singer of the Rock Song” begins with a sense of warm anticipation, standing on a doormat as a colorful synth and Graziane’s inviting cadence fall into the knocking rhythm that lets you in. “Am I a singer / I am the singer of the rock song”, becomes a back and forth as Graziane puts a mirror up to the creative process, exploring what it means to be a musician on his own terms. And as the instruments grow in their deliverance, and the textured patterns shed light on bits of constant reflection, Graziane holds onto each line of the final chorus, not out of any need to savor it, but a reminder of the patience, care and joy that goes into creating something genuine.
About the track, Graziane shares, “from the outside, the title of the song seems very tongue-in-cheek, but it’s written with sincerity and a deep appreciation for music and performing. There is intentionally some humor within the idea of the track, but it’s also inspired by watching musicians hone their craft over a long period of time and form their own singular expression—something that can only happen over from making music over the course of many years.”
Watch the music video for “Singer of the Rock Song” here.
You can listen to Love Apple out now as well as snag a copy on CD and cassette.
Today, Asheville-based singer-songwriter Sean O’Hara shares a brand-new music video for his song “Day by Day”. O’Hara released his debut album under his own name titled somewhere back in 2023 but had released an extensive catalog under the name nadir bliss tracking back to 2015. Released earlier this year on a split tape with Jackson Fig, “Day to Day” finds O’Hara slowing down, leaning into his inviting production, and taking into account of what’s around him.
Through all the noise, the loose distortion, the meaningful sonic spells and the interchangeable fidelities that play to their own strengths, Sean O’Hara offers songs that stick to you like the hair from a dog, where each piece is picked off one at a time with the care and attention it needs. “Day by Day” feels full from the start, where the weight of heavy distortion mingles with the lo-fi synths that have made this track feel like home. “Take it day by day / don’t be easily dismayed”, O’Hara sings, patient yet sincere in his delivery. And as it goes, the guitars grumbling and light electronics tinker away, O’Hara creates a spacious piece that leaves room for both personal growth and self-reflection while still filling the void of unanswered questions with the warmth in his production.
Watch the video for “Day by Day” made by Ethan Hoffman-Sadka here.
About the song, O’Hara shares, “Day by Day” is a song I wrote about trying to be present when life is difficult & an attempt to remind myself to take things one step at a time, embracing change with a positive mindset. The music video was shot and edited by Ethan Hoffman-Sadka (from Trust Blinks) at & around Shakedown Kava Lounge where I hang out a lot, capturing a regular day chilling with friends, & also exploring the constant way my imagination & perspective turns to music to stay grounded.”
Today, New Orleans-based staple Sleep Habits, the recording project of Alan Howard, is sharing his new single “Antique Mall” as well as its accompanying music video, premiering here on the ugly hug . “Antique Mall” is the first single from Sleep Habit’s upcoming EP titled Mourning Doves, out on May 10th via Kiln Recordings. As a whole, Mourning Doves finds Sleep Habits in a very reflective state, bringing old songs up to a new light, one of warmth and maturation, as Howard continues to push himself as a deliberate and enduring songwriter.
Setting its own pace, “Antique Mall” fills the room with warm, layered strings, reserved drum fills, chicken pecked piano notes and noticeable deep breaths as Howard leans into the open space that him and his collaborators occupy. Written years ago, it feels fitting as this track was dusted off and given new life, something resembling a piece of who he was, as Howard learns in real time how to accept the memories that feel so distant. The music that comes from Sleep Habits has always been a point of reflection and curiosity, but “Antique Mall” is very absorbing, redefining the sounds, feelings and beings that we can take inspiration from in our own daily experiences.
We recently got to ask Howard a few questions about “Antique Mall” and its accompanying music video, discussing the weight of memories and what it means to mature.
I know you’ve been sitting on these songs for quite a while now. How does it feel to have “Antique Mall” be the first track in this collection to see the light of day?
You know, it feels nice. It feels interesting to put out songs that, at this point, I almost have personal and emotional detachment to because they’re so old. It’s been interesting revisiting this song in a new frame of mind. I think I’m able to see it a bit deeper, to see more meaning out of it than I thought I was even when I wrote it.
A bit wiser now, huh?
I guess, I don’t know [laughs]. I have almost an outside perspective on it at this point. I think I learned, this song especially is a good example, that a common trope I use in my songwriting a lot is using a physical space as a symbol or a metaphor for something bigger. This song to me, what I was getting from it listening and recording it years later, was making me think about how being in some certain physical spaces can trigger certain memories and evoke things in you that you might have forgotten were even there. It’s a comforting feeling to realize that they’re still a part of you, even though you have to kind of move on from them and make space for new stuff as well. To me, an antique mall symbolizes that in-between spot, where you’re simultaneously holding onto stuff and getting rid of it.
To me, the word antique either resembles preservation or shelved and forgotten. Now that you’re a bit wiser, did returning to this song reframe the way that you approach these memories and the way you feel and experience?
Yeah, it actually has for sure… I’ve kind of been able to move away from the nostalgia-ness of it, where, like before, I was thinking about how I’ll never get to experience that again and how sad that kind of feeling of wishing I could go back can be. Whereas now it’s great that that had such an impact on me and shaped who I am now, and I’m thankful that I even had those experiences at all. I guess that’s just how maturing is a little bit.
With this EP specifically, you’re experimenting with some new recording techniques. Were there any bits of that new experimentation that helped to push this song along?
Definitely, I think that just collaborating with other people definitely helped. The setting that I chose to record in was such a chill environment. I was just hanging out with friends pretty much, but we were working on recording this song. Tyler [Scurlock], who lives in Gentilly, has this beautiful house with this living room that has wooden floors and panoramic windows and a nice acoustic piano. I intentionally chose that spot because I knew that it would just have the vibe that I wanted to be in. I knew that I wanted to be in a space that would add some kind of sonic character to the recording, and also Tyler’s just chill and down to help whatever vision I have come to life.
Tell me about the music video and the idea behind that. Is this a familiar place to you? Have you been to this antique store?
The footage is actually from a bunch of different antique stores. They’re all places that I had been to before, and the idea behind it was just wanting to incorporate that. What I love about antique malls is how they have homed all these little things, almost like dioramas, set up unintentionally. There’s just all this shit together in a way that I find so cool. It kind of made me think of I Spy, because I love those books a lot and I wanted to try translating that idea into a video. I’ve never been great about coming up with a video that has a story or anything like that, and I don’t feel super comfortable behind the camera, so this felt like something that I could really achieve.
You can listen to “Antique Mall” out everywhere now and can soon pre-order Mourning Doves via Kiln Recordings.
Today, LA-based group Marguerite has shared with us the new music video for their song “larger now II / current”. This song sits as the endcap to their most recent EP things we found released back in 2024 via partnering with Pleasure Tapes. The music video for “larger now II / current” resembles a narrative based on singer and songwriter Katya Urban after she traveled back to her hometown of New York City. Finding a bike on Randalls Island, Urban then bikes all the way to the other side of the city to Coney Island, bringing light to growth after grief and how presence and memories can be intertwined in the process.
“You should know I’m larger now I’ve come to see / Even when you’re far away you’re here with me” lingers with a commanding vulnerability as “larger now II / current” plays with a steady hand, showcasing a band that can utilize both harsh tones and layered textures as Marguerite pushes forward with thought out and enduring melodies. But as the song breaks off, following a timeline set between two distinct markers, where she is now and the memories that she holds close, Urban and co. play to the tension and release of those two ends as they are being pulled closer together with each searing guitar and dynamic intuition.
About the video, the band shared, “throughout her journey, she is followed by a larger projection of herself on the horizon, literally “larger now” than her current self. When she completes her journey, she is greeted face on by the large version of herself and she settles on the sand to reflect and surrender to the water. By revisiting familiar places tied to different moments in her life, she comes back to herself and finds solace in her surroundings, despite navigating grief. This video is an ode to her late father, who taught her the great gift of how to ride a bike on Randalls Island, and the city that shaped her early life.”
Watch the music video for “larger now II / current” here!
You can listen to things we found out everywhere now, as well as order a cassette tape via Pleasure Tapes.
With pronounced earnestness and vision, Slake has shared their debut single “bonecollector” with us last week, along with an accompanying music video. Previously writing and releasing songs under their own name, California-based songwriter Mary Claire has unveiled a new moniker and a new sonic direction to embrace. As a DIY solo artist since 2018, with two self-recorded albums to show for it, last summer Mary Claire traveled to Hudson Valley, New York to record Slake’s debut album Let’s Get Married, set to be released June 20th, with Ryan Albert (Babehoven) and a collection of other talents that help bring this new project to life.
As steady guitars lay out ethereal tones and each vocal part motivates the track’s movement with both beauty and empathy, “Bonecollector” becomes a moment of tension and release, as Mary Claire steps out of their comfort zone in more ways than one. We recently got to ask Mary Claire some questions about the new project and to take a deep dive into the single and music video for “Bonecollector”.
ugly hug: “Bonecollector” is your first release under the new moniker Slake. What parts of this song feel like a new beginning to you?
Mary Claire: I feel like everything about this song is representative of a new beginning. I wrote this song after a dream i had. It was kind of scary, kind of prophetic, and it just didn’t let up. it kind of bled out into my real life, all that dream stuff from that time. There was a time before the “bonecollector”, and there was a time after. I was in-between worlds then, I was at a major crossroads of my life. i’m happy i got this song down during that time.
“bonecollector” touches on how we learn skills in order to survive, how we develop ways of being in the world so that our experience can be livable, maybe even bearable, maybe even good. but sometimes, these skills or defenses or attributes we’ve built up and gotten so good at start to become detrimental to us as our lives change – because the war we were fighting is over, the people are all different people, the town is new, the everything has shifted. so, we have to develop some newness, some new useful skills, and likely say goodbye to the old skills. and that unknown can be insanely scary and even feel threatening to the parts of you that desperately want to stay but are holding you back, that aren’t serving you, that are hurting you.
“bonecollector” is a little message in a bottle urging listeners to look at our ways of being and give them a little dusting off, a refresh, or some time in the sun in order to change into something new that aligns with your shifting life. and say thank you to your old skills too. because if you’re like me, the old skills won’t go down without a fight.
“bonecollector” is all about the guardian at the threshold before change. i guess “bonecollector” is entirely about newness. and i feel like the fullness in its production, the additions that come from collaboration, and the richness and rise & fall in its sonic story line are representative of that.
uh: Your previous two releases were both self recorded and self released, but Let’s Get Married brings in a whole cast of collaborators. What was it like shifting this process and what did you learn about yourself as an artist by working with others?
mc: i loved recording, mixing, and mastering this album with other people. bridge oona and lil made me feel very safe and supported and special while we recorded this album. ryan is an incredible producer and engineer. i’d never worked with a producer before and it just makes so much sense to me now – it really works with my brain to have someone like that there. i have a lot of big ideas and big feelings but sometimes i get stuck because i don’t know how to do what im envisioning. trusting others with my little world was very hard and vulnerable and rewarding, and made me more open and trusting to collaborating in general. i tend to have a pretty strict but not always clear vision of what i want to do artistically, so working with everyone on this record made me see better. i can be a little controlling about what i want or what i think i want with my art, but during this experience i just told myself to say yes as much as possible. and it was always always worth it. and so if i didn’t like something, i had to really know why i was saying no. and that is a helpful exercise. i learned how to work with others more efficiently and fully and openly. i’m not perfect at it, but i learn a little bit more every day. i’ve got dreams too big to try and do them alone. i’m glad everyone i worked with believed in my dreams and believed in me and believed in themselves.
uh: What was the vision for the music video and how did it come together?
mc: literally my only motivating factor was to get a bald guy in this video. i had a million different ideas that ranged from getting like one hundred different and unique bald people in a bar to having a super lonely barfly at the jukebox. then i saw this regular at a karaoke bar in san francisco give a very earnest and moving performance, so that was it. i initially thought id just have the video be of him singing in the bar, but talking to seth the DP of the video, he convinced me it needed more. eventually, i warmed up to the idea of including more in the video. i was reluctant at first because i really just wanted my bald man to be the only one. but seth wondered what might be playing on the karaoke TV, and then a world of possibilities opened. we kind of thought we’d do like a shot for shot remake of george michael’s careless whisper to have as the karaoke backing video, but i was walking around berlin on my birthday listening to the song and i thought it’d be more fun to be in tights. so that’s where the jazzercise thing came from. obviously seth was down. there’s so much awesome 80s female bodybuilding stuff that helped inspire the video. and when the day of the shoot came and two of my friends dads and one stranger from craigslist arrived, it felt like a perfect amount of bald men.
i’d never worked on such a professional video before and i felt very taken care of by all the guys on set. once again, i just said yes to as much as i could and opened myself up to being vulnerable.
i often too feel like when you have a big sad song, it can be hard to have a big sad video to go with it – you have a real opportunity to get through to people in a new and entirely different way through the visual medium of your music video. it’s incredible to me. so i wanted to do something funny, because even though i write kind of serious grief-laden emotional music, i would consider myself pretty funny. hopefully my friends think so too. it was a nice opportunity to express myself and my sense of humor, and see if the song could stand up to all we threw at it. i feel like it did, and im proud of it.
uh: What can listeners expect from this new project Slake?
mc: that’s a good question, one i don’t fully have an answer to. it’s changing a lot, but my creative life feels bigger and more alive than it ever was. it’s kind of overwhelming. i really want to push myself and create with discipline and get out of my comfort zone. right now this looks like trusting other people to collaborate with, and it’s been totally awesome and hard and worth it. the band is big and full, and I’m hoping to walk the dynamic line of earnest storytelling and lyrically forward songwriting with a larger louder performance. i like to world-build. Slake listeners can expect to be in my big little world.
You can listen to “bonecollector” out everywhere now. Let’s Get Married is set to be released June 20th via Cherub Dream Records.
Written by Shea Roney | Featured Photo Courtesy of Slake
Step aside, OK Go. Claire Ozmun’s “Dying in the Wool” is about to dethrone “Here It Goes Again” for most iconic music video of all time, and it doesn’t even have any treadmills. What it does have is a concrete bowl that skaters have been dropping into since 2014. The Soul Bowl has been well-known and equally as beloved in the skating community for a decade, since it was poured by hand in the backyard of an unassuming Brooklyn apartment building. Multi-talented percussionist Immanuel Pennington of such acts as Poolblood and Captain Tallen & the Benevolent Entities holds it down there now.
On the day of the shoot, the band had just gotten back from the first leg of a two-week tour. Shows in Brooklyn, Philly, Poughkeepsie, shot the video, then left for the second leg 48 hours later. We loaded the car with gear and hit the road west-bound for shows in Cleveland and Chicago. (“We” because I got to play roadie-for-hire. Please hire me.)
To create the effect of the crowd moshing in slo-mo as they played, the band had to learn to lip-sync and play their instruments at double speed. During every take, director Ellie Gravitte reset the song and played back a double-fast sped-up version. While this had potential to feel like a quasi-Speedy Gonzalez cartoon (and it totally did at first), after everyone got used to it two takes in, the overarching crowd-feel quickly shifted from comedic to “Holy hell this is even cooler than we thought.” Seeing the band so tight even at 200% speed was wildly impressive. Keyboardist Catey Esler noted how solid the whole band felt playing “Dying in the Wool” at future live shows after having gotten it down at double-speed for the video.
Gravitte’s visionary, experimental camera angles are the product of insanely impressive balance and athleticism. She and her team balanced perched on top of the skate bowl wielding heavy camera equipment to get these shots. At the same time, Gravitte’s hurling necessary artistic directions like “Can you guys smile less? You all look like you’re having a blast, but this is supposed to be cool,” and “Just mosh like you’re all on ketamine.” (The whole crowd said “ohhhhh.”) Indeed, everyone in the bowl knows each other and loves each other and cares about each other’s lives, and it was a genuine challenge to not over-smile. A few weeks before, the same group chat of friends that sends “what’s poppin 2nite” texts gets a casting call like, “Hey we’re shooting a music video and we want you to all be in it. There’ll be pizza and beer.” And everybody came and it ruled.
Watch the video for “Dying in the Wool” premiering here on the ugly hug!
Ellie Gravitte, the video’s director, shares in a statement, “if you’ve been to a COB show, you know it’s all about community. Claire Ozmun loves her friends harder than anybody I know, so we thought it was only right to make a video with the homies at the center of the action. Throw in some Brooklyn skater vibes and you’ve got yourself a taste of that retro punk scene that this EP so beautifully evokes. We put this together in a single day in a backyard skate bowl in Bushwick, instructed all our pals to wear their best goth looks from 2009, and moshed our little hearts out. We hope it inspires you to do the same.”
Not only can Claire Ozmun write a generational battle cry, but she can also apparently serve face even at double speed. It takes a sturdy person with A Good Song to be able to sing into a camera and make it look not only natural but unbelievably cool. Watching her here feels like the first time a fourteen year old watches Kurt Cobain speak to an interviewer and feels that deep inner stirring. She is the icon this new generation of rock n rollers has been hungry for – assuming the position left empty by predecessors Kim Deal, Chrissie Hynde, and Grace Slick.
This video is an amalgam of supremely talented artists. But, the actual shooting came with minimal direction, because the entire cast had trained for this role with months or even years of method acting. We all knew how to shake ass at a COB show. Attend one show yourself and you’ll find it’s impossible not to start movin. The videographers put us in the bowl and just said “mosh” and we knew what to do. A few takes actually had to be redone because we had to dial it back from the level of enthusiasm that was our natural reaction/instinct to deliver. Everyone wanted to take an elbow to the chin for this band. Months later, everyone on set still refers to this shoot as “dying in the bowl.”
Ozmun’s “Dying in the Wool” video showcases the electric, thriving music community alive in Brooklyn, New York in 2024. This is a truly special, ageless capture of a time and place where a lot is happening and all of it is good – especially COB and their music. Melomaniacs worth their chops (or at least worth their CD collections) should keep their eyes on The Claire Ozmun Band.
Today the Chicago-based songwriting duo of Samuel Aaron and Noah Roth share a music video for their most recent single “Squirrels in the Walls.” This track comes from their new collaborative EP titled Two of Us out this Friday. Each with their own respective songwriting projects, Aaron and Roth sat down to write and record this EP in one day, offering a refreshing project lost amongst the intimacy, intuition and grace of collaboration and friendship.
Like the lingering ring on the table from a warm cup of coffee lifted for a sip, “Squirrels in the Walls” is a sign of life. Rambling with reserved rhythmic joviality, the duo bring out the best in each other, playing to their strengths with endearing lyricism and the definitive characteristic of storytelling that brings a lasting charm to this track. “Once I read that lyric out loud, the rest of the song “Squirrels in the Walls” poured out like water from a faucet,” Aaron shares about the song, continuing, “we wrote the whole thing on Noah’s couch in that one sitting, giggling to ourselves about how delightful it was to sing so plainly about life, love, and rodents.”
Watch the music video directed by Devon Thomas below!
Two of Us is set to be released this Friday February 21st via Austin-based label Happen Twice. Aaron and Roth will be hosting a release show on Friday February 21st at The Hideout in Chicagoand then will depart on a brief Midwest tour. Check for dates and locations here.
Today, Massachusetts-based duo Taxidermists return with a new single, “Does The Wind Know”, the second track from their upcoming record 20247 out March 7th via Danger Collective Records. As childhood best friends who first met on Myspace in 2007, Cooper B. Handy (aka LUCY) and Salvadore McNamara have since expanded their relationship into building their own unique world of DIY creativity and label pushing sounds as they continue to look ahead into what is possible.
With the click of the drumsticks, Taxidermists barge in with brash tones and a running progression as the duo drives forward with simplistic coverage and a charming intensity – pushing their gear to the limit with a type of reciprocating dance brought out by the heart of the song. With short, choppy chants, a repetition of the very question, “does the wind know”, bouncing between verse and chorus with charged excitement, the duo takes on this post-punk antiquity with the grace of two friends who are in it for the love of the game.
Listen to “Does The Wind Know” below!
20247 is set to be released on March 7th via Danger Collective Records. You can pre-order the record now as well as a vinyl and CD copy.
Written by Shea Roney | Featured Photo by Harry Wohl
Built upon a vivid display of collaboration and curiosity, Amigos Imaginarios is an experimental duo composed of Arbol Ruiz (Paris via Columbia) and Caleb Chase (Worcester, MA), whose blend of stylized structures, pressurized electronics and sweet flavored twee had offered quite the impression on their first two records, Pick Flowers (2021) and El Jardin Encantado (2022), both released via Bud Tapes. Now Amigos Imaginarios announce their forthcoming LP titled Ice Cream, and to celebrate have shared the first single from the cycle called “Voy corriendo”.
In just 90 seconds, “Voy corriendo” is both a subtle and sweet affair amongst the electronic tinkerings and unruffled harmonies that Ruiz and Chase use to create a green patch of charm and sustainability within its bizarre, and almost dilapidated presence. With a title that roughly translates to “I’m running” or “I’m on my way”, “Voy corriendo” flows with this whimsy of wonder, remaining both playful yet poignant in its short, and oddly charming life – like a beloved children’s toy at the end of its battery life, whose charisma is wearing down despite remaining true to its colorful demeanor and purposeful responsibility for play.
Ice Cream marks the first Amigos Imaginarios project that was made in person, having been a fully collaborative project only through email up to this point.
Along with the single, Amigos Imaginarios also shared a music video featuring a 2000% saturated video with a collection of adorable dog clipart. Watch “Voy corriendo” here!
Ice Cream will be released January 10th via up and coming Brooklyn tape label, TV-14 Recordings. You can preorder a cassette now. Check out the rest of TV-14’s catalog here.
Today, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Avery Friedman shares her long awaited debut single, “Flowers Fell”. Having frequented bills with artists such as Sister. and Dead Gowns for the past year, Friedman has consistently left an impression on those that have caught her sets, oftentimes performing solo, creating a space in which her vivid imagery and tender melodies greet new ears with welcome and understanding. Produced by James Chrisman (Sister.) and with contributions from Felix Walworth (Told Slant, Florist), “Flowers Fell” plays to the in-between moments as Friedman defines new beginnings.
Photo by Mamie Heldman
“Flowers Fell” begins in a reverberated haze, rearing guitars and diluted vocals hold their breath, awaiting that very first line that Friedman drives out— “The flowers fell off when I was asleep / But it’s okay ’cause now its all green” — blindsided, but not disappointed. Soon the chorus becomes definite, Friedman’s vocals wield both strength and tenderness as the melody leads with its whole chest and instrumentation follows in a potent groove. “How long can you mourn for something that was always supposed to blossom into something stronger?” Friedman asks in a statement — a combination of both grief and vitality. As the song begins to close out, the ghosts of distortion and the swarming of sonic fixations underneath begin to blend, holding the surrounding static accountable as a full picture begins to clear up.
“Flowers Fell” is accompanied by a music video, directed, filmed, VFX, and handwritten lyrical text by Nara Avakian. Watch it here.
You can stream “Flowers Fell” on all platforms now.
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