{"id":622,"date":"2008-04-13T23:05:09","date_gmt":"2008-04-14T04:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hightwo.com\/ht\/?p=622"},"modified":"2008-04-13T23:05:09","modified_gmt":"2008-04-14T04:05:09","slug":"bitter-bitter-weeks-featured-at-aquarius-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/bitter-bitter-weeks-featured-at-aquarius-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitter bitter weeks featured at Aquarius Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aquarious Records has posted a great review of Bitter Bitter Weeks’ album Peace is burning like a river<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\"album BITTER BITTER WEEKS<\/strong>\"\" Peace Is Burning<\/em><\/strong>\"\" (High Two) \"\"cd \"\"16.98<\/strong>\"\"
\nIt’s weird. We can describe some stuff like nobody’s business, dark drones and buzzing black metal, freaky folks and found sounds, harsh noise and weirdo electronic music, but for some reason, pop\u00a0 music seems the hardest to review. Which might be what makes the best pop music so timeless. It’s some ineffable something that in some ways is actually impossible to describe, the music contains\u00a0 some mysterious magic, it’s what makes songs stick in your head. And your heart. Some impossible chemistry, there’s a moment when the drums and the guitars, the bass and the vocals, the voice and\u00a0 the melody, just click, and suddenly, what is just a regular old rock band, and just a plain old song, is transformed into a piece of music, that stirs your soul and that can stick with you\u00a0 forever, whatever is going on in your life, right at that moment, is somehow fused to the music that accompanies it. That record you loved when you broke up with the love of your life, 10 years\u00a0 later it still makes you weep, that first song on the mixtape given to you by someone special, still gives you a little thrill, the first music that made you want to start your own band, the songs\u00a0 that got you through the tough times\u0160 there’s a reason people NEED music.
\n\"\"And the more music you listen to, the more you realize that the best pop music is the simplest. No amount of overdubs, or\u00a0 crazy psychedelia, or far out production or instrumental prowess can disguise a mediocre record. Granted that stuff can definitely be mixed in such a way, that a record can be total ear candy, but\u00a0 without the songs and the hooks, candy is all it is, sweet and fizzy and then it’s gone.
\n\"\"We first discovered Bitter Bitter Weeks a few years ago, aka Brian McTear, an engineer and producer from Philadelphia, and\u00a0 we’re sort of kicking ourselves for only getting BBW on the list now, not sure what exactly kept us from reviewing any of those records, especially considering that the first two discs were on\u00a0 constant rotation. Still are actually. That’s the problem with so many records to review and only so many hours in the day. But we’re finally trying to make it right. The first two BBW records were\u00a0 mostly acoustic affairs, just McTear and an acoustic guitar, it was all about the songs and the voice, the vocals so emotive and intense, warm and familiar, a high, almost falsetto (slipping into a\u00a0 full on falsetto here and there), but rich and rough, and the songs\u0160 so so gorgeous, perfect indie pop, hell perfect pop period, just so goddamned good, that we were convinced that McTear\u00a0 HAD to be a guy from some other band that we knew, but nope, he was an engineer, and BBW was his first real project. This latest record finds McTear expanding his previously solo outing to a full\u00a0 band and as hard as it is to believe, considering how much we loved those stripped down discs, it sounds even better.
\n\"\"The songs are still simple and spare, but manage to be lush and layered, clouds of jangle guitar, wrapped around McTear’s\u00a0 gorgeous voice, the melodies lilting and perfect, subtle harmonies everywhere. The first song alone is worth the price of admission. A killer main riff, that manages to be heavy and crunchy, but\u00a0 without losing any of its jangle, a cool dark smoky twang in the guitar, intricate but understated drumming, the whole song propulsive and intense, the vocals soaring and lovely, the main hook\u00a0 absolutely unforgettable. This is where writing about music all falls apart, where words begin to fail to describe something that is essentially magical, not sure what else to say. Catchy, lovely,\u00a0 a bit rocking, emotive, lilting, jangly, by now you probably know if this is your cup of tea or not. Listen to the first sound sample, if you’re not sold after that, then you have a black black\u00a0 heart devoid of pop and we pity you! The closest comparison we can come up with is maybe My Dad Is Dead, that same sort of dour beauty, minor key melancholia, a definite nineties indie rock \/\u00a0 college rock jangle vibe, but at its core, just timeless and practically perfect pop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aquarious Records has posted a great review of Bitter Bitter Weeks’ album Peace is burning like a river: BITTER BITTER […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_eb_attr":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[78,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bitter-bitter-weeks","category-headlines"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","acf":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":506,"url":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/bitter-bitter-weeks-peace-is-burning-like-a-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":0},"title":"Bitter bitter weeks – Peace is Burning Like a River","author":"admin","date":"June 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Bitter bitter weeks Peace is Burning Like a River 2007 CD, Mp3 Download","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bitter bitter weeks - Peace is burning like a river","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hightwo.net\/two\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/ht011-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":578,"url":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/lo-res-by-bitter-bitter-weeks\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":1},"title":"“Lo-res” by Bitter bitter weeks","author":"Daniel Piotrowski","date":"May 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Click to Play From the album Peace is Burning like a River, available June 12, 2007 on High Two Records (hightwo.com).Video footage by Quentin Stoltzfus and Scott McMicken. Edited by Conrad Zimmer.","rel":"","context":"In "Bitter Bitter Weeks"","block_context":{"text":"Bitter Bitter Weeks","link":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/category\/bitter-bitter-weeks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":704,"url":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/high-two-to-release-new-bitter-bitter-weeks-cd\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":2},"title":"High Two to release new Bitter Bitter Weeks CD","author":"Daniel Piotrowski","date":"April 5, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"High Two is proud to announce that we will be releasing the third album from Bitter Bitter Weeks. Titled Peace is Burning Like a River, the album has Brian McTear morphing his solo project into a full-fledged rock band. Featuring members of Apollo Sunshine, The A-Sides, The Novenas, Audible, Velvet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ht011 cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hightwo.com\/htwo\/images\/albums\/ht011.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18,"url":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/new-bitter-bitter-weeks-album-available-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":3},"title":"New Bitter Bitter Weeks album available now","author":"admin","date":"April 5, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"High Two is proud to announce that we will be releasing the third album from Bitter Bitter Weeks . Titled Peace is Burning Like a River , the album has Brian McTear morphing his solo project into a full-fledged rock band. Featuring members of Apollo Sunshine, The A-Sides, The Novenas,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ht011","src":"images\/albums\/ht011.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":128,"url":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/ht011\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":4},"title":"Bitter bitter weeks: Peace is burning like a river","author":"Daniel Piotrowski","date":"June 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Once and for all Writing letters [download#17#nohits] [download#17#image] Lo-res Terrified Oxbow Lake Syndrome Peace is burning like a river Lion has his pride Hanna Sincerely, the last century Brian McTear: vocals, guitar Ric Menck: drums Mike Fleming: bass, backing vocals Brian Christinzio: piano, organ, glockenspiel Jesse Gallagher: organ, backing vocals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bitter bitter weeks - Peace is burning like a river","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hightwo.net\/two\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/ht011.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2189,"url":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/new-bitter-bitter-weeks-live-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":5},"title":"New Bitter Bitter Weeks live-in-studio concert video","author":"Daniel Piotrowski","date":"December 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gDSgLAjI2xs Weathervane just posted a new live video (recorded in 2019) of Brian McTear performing some of our favorite Bitter Bitter Weeks solo. The set includes a number of songs from the 2007 High Two release Peace is Burning Like a River. December 6, 2019 was indeed a very special\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bitter Bitter Weeks"","block_context":{"text":"Bitter Bitter Weeks","link":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/category\/bitter-bitter-weeks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/gDSgLAjI2xs\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hightwo.net\/two\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}