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Honus Honus is perhaps best known as the frontman for the similarly alliterative Philadelphia-based experimentalists Man Man, but with the release of his debut solo record, Use Your Delusion, in 2016, he’s also a solo artist. The album — founded via PledgeMusic — is a fascinating, dramatic piece of work: less manic than Man Man, perhaps, but no less theatrical than his “main” project. We’re delighted to premiere the video for new single “Will You?”, which features Pauly Shore as a washed-up TV actor. We find him backstage on the set of some unspecified Japanese TV show, and watch as he hits forlornly on his make-up artist, and then stares silently into a mirror — as Honus sings, “Will you blow your brains out on a Sunday?/ Or will you slag it off until the moon goes down and do it Monday?” It’s a short, unsettling piece that captures the mood of the album all too well. WATCH HERE…

 

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The finality of death often spurs a reevaluation of life. For 8-Inch Betsy’s Eli Burke, the loss of bandmate Meghan Galbraith to illness was both shocking and devastating, but the record they made together, The Mean Days, proved to be a vehicle for the catharsis of grief.

8-Inch Betsy has been scraping by in the underground for more than a decade. The erstwhile Chicago queercore band toured with the likes of Gossip, Marnie Stern, and Jucifer, but never really had quite the impact outside of Chicago that they did at home. By the time Galbraith became ill last fall, The Mean Days was already recorded — the process had started in 2010 — and the band had even re-tracked the drums after their drummer quit for a second time.

But it was during a hospital visit from Burke, in which Galbraith gave the go-ahead to make the final push to release The Mean Days, that the album came together in earnest. When Galbraith’s condition didn’t improve and she passed in January of this year, the release took on new significance for the people she left behind. “At that point, it was like, ‘It has to happen now, I need to do this,’” Burke says. “Then grief kicked in, and it was really hard for me to let go of it. I knew I had to release it, and I wanted to. It was really important for me and her family and Steve Albertson, who’s one of her best friends, to get it out there. But I was having this sort of… once I get it out there, it’s over. And I don’t have that.” READ MORE…

Despite a barely premature leak of an anticipated album, the scariest news this week has been Trump-related, with the Donald set to make his SNLdebut this Saturday, sharing a stage with takes-no-shit musical guest Sia.

In terms of new music, though, there was a plethora of exciting new options to choose from, but we managed to narrow it down to five of our favorites. There’s a new single from a promising young Def Jam MC, some South American vibes from an ascendant DJ/producer, an oddball supergroup reissue, and new blessings from the goddess known as Grimes. But first, a posthumous release from some influential Chicago scenesters:

8 Inch Betsy — “Get in the Van”

Chicago queer punk outfit 8-Inch Betsy certainly put in the time in their hometown scene, and after more than a decade together, are releasing their final LP, The Mean Days, next Friday, November 13. They’re the last 8-Inch Betsy recordings from singer and songwriter Meghan Gailbraith, who passed away earlier this year from a year-long illness. “Get in the Van” is a bouncy, crunchy pop-punk jam with a dark premise, a bittersweet triumph. LISTEN HERE…

Athens, Georgia’s Grand Vapids are a throwback to indie rock’s not-so-distant past. I hear multiple musical scenes in the corners of their songs, from mid-career Wilco to Elephant 6 band Beulah to Built to Spill to Kurt Vile. If you’ve kept up with guitar music over the last decade or two, you’ll likely find something to enjoy within Grand Vapids’ music. And if you’ve made the transition from going to school to working for a living (so most of us here, I’d say), then you’ll probably relate to Grand Vapids’ “Losing,” which Flavorwire is pleased to premiere below. LISTEN HERE…

Nashville has no shortage of promising rock bands, but The Wans are one to keep an eye out for well outside of Music City. Hell, you may have heard them already: they’ve opened for Pearl Jam and Beck, and been featured on a number of TV shows and sporting events (including, yes, Nashville).

On the band’s debut album, He Said, She Said (out September 9 and produced by alt-country’s new favorite producer, Dave Cobb), they mix the well-trodden influences of Black Sabbath and Jimmy Page, combining them with grunge’s most thrashing elements, and ending up somewhere between Queens of the Stone Age and the Dead Weather. Flavorwire is pleased to premiere “Tired,” a cut from He Said, She Said in which unrelenting percussion reiterates singer Simon Kerr’s frustrated scream. LISTEN HERE…