Band: NOUVEAU
Genres: Punk / Post-Hardcore / Screamo / Post-Metal / Experimental / ProgRelated artists: Not For You.
Country: Chicago, Illinois USA
Years Active: 2013-present
Song: "River House"
Album: "Langour"
Year: 2014
For fans of: These Arms Are Snakes, City Of Caterpillar, Angel Eyes, A Day In Black And White, Brighter Arrows, Ladder Devils, Die Princess Die and Shahman.
Label(s): Self Released / Coffin Boner
This post's artist is from the June 2016 Mix. This is track #8.
This post's artist is from the June 2016 Mix. This is track #8.
NOUVEAU rocks like no other. Truthfully, thought, I spent waaaaay too much time rummaging through my band files trying to find similar matches to NOUVEAU's music and pretty much came back empty handed. I mean, sure, there are glimmers of These Arms Are Snakes, City Of Caterpillar and A Day In Black And White, but NOUVEAU just sounds like NOUVEAU. If I had to describe their sound with no band comparisons, I would probably say something to the effect of, "grungy, atmospheric and dark post-hardcore." If I had to describe 'Langour' in a few words I'd go with "dirty" and "dark" while for the new 'All Narrows Unsutured' I'd go with "tribal" and "grooving". Both EPs are the same and different. Both are obviously NOUVEAU and have parts that could end up on either release, while the atmosphere and underlying foundation of the music contrasts. In early 2016 the band also released "Cursory" on a four-band split cassette released by the fellas in Shahman. This new song is 5:25 in length and is a paranoid, uncomfortable romp through tripped out post-hardcore...and it's pretty dang good, although if you've never heard NOUVEAU I wouldn't start there.
Released in 2014, the six-song EP 'Langour' is a dark and treacherous hike through raw, caustic post-hardcore with a fair amount of These Arms Are Snakes overtones, although I was told by guitarist/vocalist Zach that he was listening to a lot of screamo when the EP was written, so I dunno what I'm talking about. The massive opener "Annapurna" is a great track, especially when coupled with the unreal track three entitled "River House" that will forever be my NOUVEAU jam cuz that's the song that got me hooked...and it's fucking crazy good. Jam it and listen to the insanely catchy yet intricate guitar work and those pounding drums, it's a goddamn clinic I tell ya. Overall, the debut is solid but seems to lack a certain cohesiveness to it and therefore falls a tad short.
On the 2015 five-song EP 'All Narrows Unsutured' the band corralled a new bassist Ryan who really meshes with the band and brings in phenomenal bass lines to tie down the crazy guitars, sporadic yells/screams and those extremely unique and mesmerizing drums by the beast that goes by Michael. That lack of cohesiveness I mentioned earlier is now a sticky, sexy and fused amalgamation of awesomeness. The opening bass and drums on the opener "Terminal Formative" is one of the catchiest things I heard all of last year. The soft, serene sections of "Dead Language" and their subsequent explosions make this the keeper of the EP and it can most definitely be likened to a new version of "River House". Another song worth mentioning quickly is "Five Hundred" which has some really cool effects on the guitars, anguished screaming, killer rolling basslines and unrelenting drums as well as an awesome jammy bit in the middle.
Earlier this week (July 13th, 2016 to be exact) I was lucky enough to put on a NOUVEAU show for the second straight year here in Hamilton. Closing the night to a few passionate fans, Zach, Ryan and Michael absolutely killed it. Playing an eclectic mix of stuff, they had the crowd immersed in their wall of groovin', evil and dark post-hardcore with "Cursory" from the split, "Terminal Formative" and "Dead Language" from the new EP and the almighty "River House" from the first EP, which was played because they know I fucking love that song. For all of the videos from said show please scroll down underneath the discography section. The band has a bunch more shows, so I've listed the entire tour schedule and included the poster as well.
7/8 Chicago, IL @ Dollhouse7/9 Port Huron, MI @ Schwonk Sound Stead
7/10 Detroit, MI @ Hybrid Moments
7/11 Elyria, OH @ Blank Slate
7/12 Toronto, ON @ Smiling Buddha
7/13 Hamilton, ON @ Doors Pub
7/15 Montreal, QC @ The BOG
7/16 Burlington, VT @ Battery Street Jeans
7/17 Bangor, ME @ The Central Gallery
7/20 Syracuse, NY @ Westcott Community Center
7/21 Stratford, CT @ The Noise House
7/22 Brooklyn, NY @ The Barbershop
7/23 Providence, RI @ tba
7/24 Philadelphia, PA @ The Pharmacy
7/25 Richmond, VA @ Kung Fu Dungeon
7/27 Montclair, NJ @ 73 Art Gallery
7/28 Toledo, OH @ tba
7/29 Columbus, OH @ Cafe Bourbon St
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DISCOGRAPHY
2014 - Langour cd/cassetteEP (stream/donate/download here) [buy cd here & tape here]
2015 - All Narrows Sutured cassetteEP (stream/donate/download here) [buy tape here]
2016 - Family Force 4 split cassetteEP (w/Davega Bike, Shahman and Radradriot) [buy tape here](stream/donate/download here)
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(2014) NOUVEAU - "River House" (from 'Langour')
(2015) NOUVEAU - "Dead Language" (from 'All Narrows Unsutured')
(2015) NOUVEAU - "Terminal Formative" (from 'All Narrows Unsutured')
(2016) NOUVEAU - "Cursory" (from 'Family Force 4' split)
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July 13th, 2016 NOUVEAU Hamilton show review!
JESSE & THE DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR
This is Jesse Stratton. He plays drums in The World That Summer. Apparently he also does solo stuff, but I only found out about it after Sarin had to drop from the bill. Jesse & The Delusions Of Grandeur (aka Jesse singing and playing the geeeetar) did about six covers including two big ole' rockers (only two because those were the only two I knew) such as "Holly Hox, Forget Me Nots" by Saves The Day and "Animal" by Osker. I look forward to hearing more from him, as his voice is even better than I had realized because he doesn't do all that much singing in The World That Summer. He even dedicated this song to me. Love you, Jesse.
JONCRO (aka TROUBADOUR)
Next was Troubadour, who recently changed their name to Joncro. The two-piece were super stoked to play the show and that always make me hella happy. Playing a very raw and diverse set, I couldn't even tell you who they sound like. Some songs were pretty much straight up punk while others had a very wide variety of rock, hardcore, post-hardcore and some experimental stuff, such as very obtuse and imaginative song introductions. For a very young band with only two members I was impressed with their set, albeit it was a little long. The song I have included here was right before we turned up Daniel's mic so you can't hear the lyrics of "Judge Judy" so well but everything else comes through great.
TERRY GREEN
My boys. My friends. My go to screamo band from the surrounding Hamilton area. In fact, I didn't even need to ask them to play this show, they came to me on behalf of Nouveau as they two bands were doing a string of three shows together (Toronto, Hamilton and Montreal). As per usual the band continues to improve and build on that sexy, sassy screamy hardcore/emo sound they've been incubating for the past three years. They have also tracked drums for an upcoming 12"LP on Zegema Beach Records and this song, "Rick Rubin" will be on there. It's gonna be sick. Terry Green will be playing at the next ZBR show on July 25th with The Reptilian! Here is the facebook link for that show.
NOUVEAU
Goddamn. Seriously. Goddamn. NOUVEAU sound great on record, but fucking own any show they play. The mixture of screamy post-hardcore and jazzy, jungle, experimental rock will take hold of any audience and have them bobbing along with the wall of atmospheric destruction and heavy ass grooves. As noted above, the band played at least one song off of every release they've put out including the absolute fucking banger "River House" and a brand spankin' new song! I've posted all the videos below in the order they were played so enjoy!
1 - Terminal Formative
2 - River House
3 - New Song
4 - Dead Language
5 - Cursory
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NOUVEAU additional links
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~killer photo of NOUVEAU courtesy of Daniel G. Wilson
~killer photo of NOUVEAU courtesy of Daniel G. Wilson
Great band! Love the bassy production on Languor. (kinda forgettable band name tho)
ReplyDeleteYo Dave, the obvious comparison point here has got to be Unwound! I said this when I saw them in Richmond and the guitarist told me they were one of his favorite bands and a huge influence on him--so I'm not just pulling this out of my ass! --Drew (registered on blogger as my old deadname blog, whee what a bummer)
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