Indie Rock Hit Parade Live Session: Speedy Ortiz 2018
Joining us in the studio for this Indie Rock Hit Parade Live Session is a band that visited us back in 2015 when their last album was released. In the years since Foil Deer, Speedy Ortiz and its leader, singer/guitarist Sadie Dupuis, have kept rather busy. In addition to releasing a solo album as SAD13, Sadie relocated to Philadelphia and revamped her main band with a few new friends. Joining Sadie in the studio for this session are founding drummer Mike Falcone, guitarist/keyboardist Andy Molholt (also of Philly’s Laser Background), and bassist Audrey Zee Whitesides (whose credits include stints with Mal Blum and Lucky Cat). Speedy Ortiz dropped by our studios before they opened a sold-out show with Liz Phair at Union Transfer to perform songs from their newly released third album, Twerp Verse.
As Sadie has described in interviews, her band’s new album was the result of a post-2016 election reexamination of her goals as a songwriter. Scrapping an entire album’s worth of material, the final songs are bold, personal and cathartic. Opening the set is “Buck Me Off,” which also serves as the album opener. The track is a thunderous salvo, with alternating segments of guitar fury and hushed vulnerability. Next is “Lucky 88,” whose sample-heavy arrangement hearkens back to Sadie’s solo output. With Audrey’s vocal counterpoints, the chorus is one of the session’s most thrilling moments. “You Hate the Title,” and its fabulously processed drum sound, is next. Acting as the album’s closer, the song features some of Sadie’s sliest and wryest lyrics. Finally, there’s “I’m Blessed,” which we’ve been told will be getting its own music video very soon.
Listen to Speedy Ortiz perform all these songs below, and check out Taylor Johnson’s photos from the studio. Also, catch Speedy Ortiz at the First Unitarian Church on 11/28 and see Sadie read from her new book of poetry, MOUTHGUARD, this Monday at Tattooed Mom.