In a recent interview with Nylon, indie artist Mitski spoke on the potential musicians have to be representatives and role models to listeners, especially the younger ones in the internet age, saying: “…it’s so valuable that kids confused about their identity can go out and be like, ‘I’m going to Google search this’ or ‘I want to look for other people like me.’ If they look hard enough they can find those communities online…” Anyone googling Mitski at the moment will quickly be directed towards her most recent single, “Your Best American Girl” and it’s accompanying video.

Mitski’s “Your Best American Girl”
 In the video, directed by Zia Anger, Mitski is contrasted with the stereotypical indie girl, who enters stage left in a flower crown and press-on tattoos to steal the video’s love interest away. It’s a timely comparison given that this year’s Coachella, a festival known for it’s outlandish and occasionally culturally insensitive outfits, is only just behind us. The video also comes at a time at which musicians are using their videos to communicate messages about identity, self-respect, and self-acceptance. Think: Beyonce and the anthem that is “Formation.” Even though the temptress wins “the All-American boy” as Mitski calls him in this video, her spirits aren’t so easily dampened. After some reflection, Mitski returns renewed and with a smirk shreds her guitar, as if to say ‘Sure, I lost the guy, but I also sold out the Bowery Ballroom in June and wrote an amazing new record.’ The song ends with Mitski concluding, “your mother wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me / but I do, I finally do” further cementing the message of self-love.

Modern Baseball’s Tripping in the Dark
 Modern Baseball’s personal, bare all documentary finds the band back on the East Coast writing their newest record Holy Ghost. After the success of Sports, the pressure is on to release another album of equal or greater success. However, before another note can play, the men of Modern Baseball must first put their own demons to sleep. Through interviews with guitarist Brendan, guitarist Jake, bassist Ian, and drummer Sean as well as with other members of the Modern Baseball family, the band’s history as well as their own struggles and the stories of how each occurrence fueled the record is retold in candid and honest detail. Modern Baseball has always been known for revealing songs, but “Tripping in the Dark” brings that candor to a whole new level.The four piece covers loss, mental illness, suicide, depression and other topics that less forthcoming musicians may not be as willing to discuss on camera. In doing this, Modern Baseball sets an example of sincerity and openness. They open the conversation up to include things that may otherwise be considered too heavy for public consumption. In short, they make it ok to talk about what you’re going through. They prove that you can be in a successful band and still struggle with things. And then still go on to write a great forthcoming album.

“Take This To Your Apartment” with Fall Out Boy
Over the course of the past decade or so, Fall Out Boy has gone from obscure Chicago-based emo band to stadium-filling, chart-topping bonafide rock band. Whether you like their various brands of -rock, you have to admit that they’ve made a name for themselves. When an editor at Alt Press discovered a post by Eva Aulicino, a mother from Pittsburgh, about her daughter Stefanie living in the same apartment where Fall Out Boy shot the album artwork for Take This To Your Grave back in 2003, she seized the opportunity to take the band back to their roots. The band’s return to their humble beginnings involved cramming into said apartment with a film crew to chat with it’s current inhabitants. For the majority of ‘Part I,’ Patrick, Pete, Joe and Andy mill about as if they were subletters on a tour of a possible home. It’s an almost comical to watch the men, some of whom are now fathers with their days of guyliner far behind them, point out which rooms each lived in and recount the various shenanigans from their time there. However, it is also a welcome reminder for any band currently living in a mice-ridden apartment, above a bar, somewhere in Chicago or some other city that there’s a chance that they may one day be brought back by Alt Press to tour their current digs.

by Zoe Marquedant