a thread for the North Carolina twangy indie-rock band Wednesday

They need their own thread because their new album Rat Saw God, out April 7, is *terrific*. It's going to get great reviews and they're going to get a lot of attention. (They already have/are.)

Twangy, noisy, shoegaze-y indie-rock from Asheville, North Carolina. Singer Karly Hartzman writes the songs. Guitarist is Mark Lenderman, whose most recent solo-ish album (under the name MJ Lenderman) was one of 2022's very best: https://mjlenderman.bandcamp.com/album/boat-songs

The album:
https://wednesdayband.bandcamp.com/album/rat-saw-god

Singles so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTi7e9gEpN4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MawIv5pDFE

Good stuff. Shame they're making themselves known around the time of that awful Netflix meme show.

Will check this out, for some reason I thought Wednesday was the name of an early 00s emo band

lol that would be thursday

Hahaha ooh okay that's where I got that

i like wednesday but i love the mj lenderman solo album. i'm not big on no alternative/twang rock but that album also sounds like a throwback DIY/lofi indie album in ways that are catnip to me, and the lyrics are good too

even for wednesday, i like their noisy rock songs (e.g. bull believer) more than their twangy songs

Yeah, enjoyed their album from last year -- wrote about it for Shfl the other week -- and looking forward to this new one.

xxp yes, the Lenderman album is better than anything Wednesday has done so far, though i do think that's notable, because Wednesday is a good band.

it's just that Boat Songs is "best album of 2022" good.

if you haven't checked out all his older stuff on Bandcamp, do so. heavier Jason Molina vibes back there, and more noisy/lo-fi stuff.

their last album was a pleasant enough indie rock album but nothing at all special. last year's mj lenderman album was really good though. the new one seems to be getting quite a push so i hope it lives up to the hype

this mj lenderman record is great, vibe reminds me a bit of some 90s arty garage/roots weirdos like the ass ponys or jack logan

i assume Lenderman isn't going to make the ILM albums poll currently being rolled out, is it? i haven't been paying attention to nominations, chit-chat, etc., but i *do* know what this place is like in general.

i assume not though i did give it my top position in a weighted poll

I just can’t believe anyone over the age of 19 can relate to this garbage but then again I feel that way about most new popular music. Sounds like they took the sound of 90s alternative radio and stripped it of everything anthemic, leaving the style but none of the substance. Listened to the lead off single but when she got to the part about having a nosebleed while her friend played Mortal Kombat I finally had to switch it off, I guess I’ve assumed my final form as a crotchety old man but I can accept that if it means I never have to hear this band again.

the mj lenderman didn't quite make my ballot (came very close though) but i wouldn't really be surprised either way - could have gone just enough under the radar here to miss out but well-executed indie rock is hardly verboten here

This is definitely getting a major push from the publicists though so I’m sure we’ll find the same people who write off grunge convincing themselves that this is a breath of fresh air.

Haven't really clicked with Wednesday yet, but came to this thread for the MJ Lenderman talk. His album from last year was fantastic, I also hear a lot of Neil Young in his guitar playing, which is a huge plus in my book.

the cover art for boat songs cracks me up, it looks like it's going be some abstract minimal techno

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/63a48323a795af62e49c5c39/1:1/w_450%2Cc_limit/MJ-Lenderman-Boat-Songs.jpg

Woops, just posted to the shoegaze thread without looking up their own thread. I *really* like some of their songs. Like if Adult Mom fronted Brief History era Lilys

new album is quite good

Hoping to see them here next month! Will have to check the dates again.

This is terrific.

We'll make a shoegazer out of you yet.

between this and Lenderman's solo catalog, we have a new indie-rock power couple, fo sho.

Like

I gave this a few listens; "Quarry" would be my keeper track. Didn't care for the rest of it too much (or the vocals at all).

i love everything about this album except the singing. just a little too flat and affectless.

quarry verse melody owes a lot to waterloo sunset

like this album a lot but (first listen caveat) boy is it backloaded!

i didn't perk up until "chosen to deserve," but from then on out, it's all gold, esp. "quarry" and "turkey vultures"

i don't understand the complaints about the singing, i think it's lovely

ok second listen and i'm not sure how i dismissed "bull believer," dang

i'm ok with the singing on a song-by-song basis, it starts to grate over a full album - like i said it's the flat tone, combined with the faux-country/indie singer hiccup (? i don't really know what to call this). it gets old fast.

"bull believer" is my favorite bc the screaminess balances out the flatness

the vocal twang isn't really an issue, doesn't feel "faux" to me, just a byproduct of a north carolina upbringing.

"quarry" def does evoke the "waterloo sunset" melody

I'm less enamored of the album when it slows down.

If this album had been released in ‘95 it would have been in the bargain bin by ‘96

Mixing in this kind of twang with alt-rock would have been downright heresy in '95, never would have existed. I like this and I do like the slower songs too, "Formula One" is great.

I saw someone refer to these guys as "bootgaze", which is funny but also kind of makes sense.

Mixing in this kind of twang with alt-rock would have been downright heresy in '95, never would have existed.

I don't think it's necessarily in a totally different dimension from stuff like Geraldine Fibbers and The Grifters(?)

i don't really hear much shoegaze in this, it just seems like a trendier influence to cite than alternative rock (not addressed at anyone on this thread so much as the dj i heard describe the album as shoegaze last week)

there were a few songs on the last album that were pretty shoegazey (more than anything on this album) but they're hardly a shoegaze band

This album has grown on me, btw (...still not the vocal so much, but that's ok)

I just listened to the band's 2021 album, Twin Plagues, and would say it def has more "shoegazey" elements than the current one.

-gaze is just becoming shorthand for "has noisy/distorted electric guitars" unfortunately

listened to the new one again yesterday and it was hitting a lot harder for me. the lyrics are good. it's oddly a great gym album.

these cats know how to whip up a pretty good racket, and yet they also show a lot of restraint with it. that's one thing i really like about them.

the end of the Mortal Kombat song is pretty bad but I like this pretty much

welp ... this album keeps getting better, i think.

I just came across the term "countrygaze," which I think Wednesday may have made up to describe themselves and related acts. If that's a genre, it seems like Mojave 3 would be the pioneers.

glenn has it covered, I see: https://everynoise.com/research.cgi?mode=genre&name=countrygaze

if you're loo-kinnnng
foooorrrr meeee,
i'm in the baaaack offff annnn
S
U
V,
doinnnn iiiit innnn some cullll-
de-sac,
under-neeeeeeeeeeeeath a
dog
wood
tree

the new(ish) Lenderman single is terrific

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb47lqqF-v0

lenderman live album was a lot of fun. reminded me of the "ear bleeding country" of dinosaur jr.