All week long, we've been celebrating the release of Braid's new EP, Closer to Closed, the band's first release in over a decade. To conclude "Braid Week" here on Mixtape Muse, we have an interview with Braid vocalist/guitarist Bob Nanna. Bob was nice enough to take some time and answer some questions, talking everything from the tag "emo" to growing as a songwriter to the future of Braid.
Bob Nanna and Chris Broach of Braid recently sat down with Rdio for a quick interview and shared a playlist of some of their favorite songs. Hear the mix below (via Rdio).
Braid's brand new, MM-approved EP, Closer to Closed, came out yesterday -- just in case you didn't know. We've already shared the opener "The Right Time," and now thanks to the kind folks at RCRD LBL we can share the EP's closing track, "Universe or Worse." It begins in a casual yet pensive manner and increases in scope just before the midpoint of the song, with guitars ringing out notes and drums sounding bigger and bigger. Eventually, it swallows you whole, pulling you into a canyon of percussion with an undertow of reflective tones.
Continuing on with "Braid Week," today we have some great live footage of the band from back in the '90s. If you're like me and never had the chance to see the band live (back in the day), then you'll be grateful for these pretty good quality videos -- and you'll thank the Indie Rock gods for YouTube. Of course, if you live in or near Illinois, then you have a chance to catch the band live on August 27th at The Metro in Chicago and/or on September 24th at the Highdive in Champaign as a part of the Pygmalion Music Festival. For the rest of us spread around the globe, let's enjoy these videos below, and hope that maybe they'll play some out of state shows down the road.
It’s been over a decade since seminal ‘90s emo/post-hardcore quartet Braid released Frame and Canvas, their last studio album of all new material. Not only has a great deal of time passed, but a great deal has changed in the musical landscape that they were once a part of and helped define, as well. Many bands of the emo/post-hardcore classification have risen and faded in this time, bands that have cited Braid as an influence. Outside of a short reunion in 2004, the Champaign, IL band has remained inactive, but they certainly have not been forgotten.
It's been 12 years since seminal '90s emo/post-hardcore outfit Braid disbanded -- and 13 year since they released their last album, 1998's excellent Frame and Canvas. My introduction to Braid was through, if I recall correctly, Epitonic when I downloaded "Killing a Camera." The song came from what has now become one of my favorite albums of all-time: that swan song of an album. I was rather late to the Braid party, having really only educated myself on their back catalog over the past few months. Nevertheless, "Killing a Camera" was one of the first songs that introduced me to indie rock back in high school. It's been a slow build, but, needless to say, Braid hold a special place in my heart.
To celebrate the band's return along with the release of a brand new EP full of new material, this week will be "Braid Week" here at Mixtape Muse. It only seemed fitting I make the background of the site the cover art for Frame and Canvas.
In high school, I discovered this thing called "indie rock," and then went on to discover all of its multiple subgenres. One of the first band names tied to this special genre that I happened to read or hear was Braid. To this day, I know about as much about Braid as I do about my high school emotions -- which is to say, enough to get by. Semi-abstract, failed attempts at humor aside, Braid was a band that held, and continues to hold, special significance in the world of indie rock -- this I know. While they were active from 1993-1999, their output was primarily deemed "post-hardcore" and also labeled with the often unfavored tag of "emo." All I can tell you -- and all you probably need to know about that period of their existence -- was that it was raw, hard, and beautifully emotive.
Polyvinyl will be reissuing Braid's first two albums (1995's Frankie Welfare Boy Age Five and 1996's The Age of Octeen) along with Movie Music Vol. 1 and Movie Music Vol. 2 on April 13th.
The making of Frankie Welfare Boy Age Five was an exercise in the DIY ethos of the early '90s punk/indie scene. Andrew Bedinni, a friend of the band, was just learning how to engineer records and offered up his services. For months, Bedinni and Braid were holed up in a Urbana, Illinois house chipping away at the band's immense 26-song debut.
Following the completion of the album, the band managed to pay for 500 pressed copies of the album but were not able to afford album jackets. Instead, they went to Goodwill and bought mounds of old records, painting over the jackets and hand-screening their own artwork over top of the original covers (as seen below).
original (left), reissue (right)
this original copy was printed over Zeppelin's IV cover (!)
reissue
For the reissue, John Golden (Nirvana, Melvins, Sonic Youth) remastered all 26 songs. The album has been pressed on 180-gram white vinyl (limited to 700 copies) and 180-gram black vinyl.
To coincide with the reissue of Frankie Welfare Boy Age Five, Polyvinyl is also reissuing Braid's 1996 follow-up, The Age of Octeen. This reissue was also remastered by Golden and is finally available after being out of print for over a decade. The Age of Octeen will be available on 180-gram blue vinyl (limited to 700 copies) and 180-gram black vinyl.
Movie Music Vol. 1 is also being released along with the reissues. The album compiles all of Braid's 7" and split 7" material from the band's six-year existence. Aside from three full-length albums, the band released nine (count 'em, 9) 7"s along with numerous songs for compilations.
And for those looking for Braid's compilation work, you'll be happy to learn that there is Movie Music Vol. 2. The album compiles all of the band's compilation work and cover songs. The release will also feature an additional five songs that have never been released.
Both volumes are available for the first time as 2xLP releases. Not only have they been pressed on 180-gram black vinyl, they have also been pressed on colored vinyl. The color for each album's limited edition colored vinyl was chosen to match its cover: red for Vol. 1 and orange for Vol. 2.
Oh, and that's not all (I said it was epic, didn't I?). Braid's most popular 7", I'm Afraid of Everything, is being repressed on mixed color vinyl.
Phew. So, to recap the reissues available April 13th:
Frankie Welfare Boy Age Five
The Age of Octeen
Movie Music Vol. 1
Movie Music Vol. 2
I'm Afraid of Everything 7"
BUY: You can now pre-order all the above here on vinyl or CD.
Braid - "Hugs From Boys"
from Frankie Welfare Boy Age Five
