Only Run - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (2014)

The term “blog rock” refers to a unique moment in the early 2000s where the proliferation of streaming music and independent web sites (remember web sites?) led to a generation of bands that could succeed largely without labels and corporate support.

CYHSY were one of those early on. Their 2005 self-titled debut was one of the best of the era, and got tons of attention despite being released without a label.

Of course, times changed. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Those music writers consolidated to publications or had to find something else to do. Digital music distribution settled down to a few main channels, allowing people to self-release but at a huge disadvantage, and it’s probably harder now than it was in 2005 to gain a grassroots following despite the fact that everyone is so much more online than they were 20 years ago.

The band had changed by 2014 into basically singer Alec Ounsworth’s studio project. That isn’t always a good thing but in this case it was a pretty seamless transition to a pretty excellent rock record.

Tracks I Liked

Coming Down - features The National’s Matt Berninger, but would be an excellent song whether or not it involved one of my favorite bands.

Only Run - The clearest example of this band as a modern day populist arena rock hero

Beyond Illusion - Sounds like someone digitally filtered out the paranoia and claustrophobia from Radiohead’s Idioteque