{"title":"Hardly Art Releases","description":"\u003cp\u003eBrowse our Hardly Art Releases collection. Best Price.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"this-is-not-an-exit","title":"THIS IS NOT AN EXIT","description":"\u003cp\u003eHere’s the thing about ill peach: this band exists because they are too weird to not exist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seed of ill peach was first planted in the recording studios of New York City where Pat Morrissey and Jess Corazza were working together as professional songwriters, collaborating with artists like Icona Pop, SZA, Weezer, Pharrell, Big Freedia, and others. Then came the day they were offered their own publishing deal. Cool, right? Well, about that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e “Everyone kept saying, ‘The stuff that you’re writing is slightly too left-of-center—weirdo stuff,” remembers Morrissey. “Why don’t you start your own project?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThus ill peach, a pop band with a punk streak and a taste for both the rotten and the sweet, with an approach to making music that goes something like: “Do you want to pick up a guitar and do you want to be on this water jug and we’ll record it on the iPhone and create some weird drum pattern?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing a series of well-received EPs on their own Pop Can Records (a record label and artist collective Morrissey and close collaborator Jesse Schuster run with friends), a digital single for Hardly Art’s 15th anniversary series, and some colorful music videos that crystallized the band’s visual aesthetic along with their sound, ill peach’s “weirdo stuff” comes to fruition on first full-length THIS IS NOT AN EXIT: a collection of anthemic songs built out of bright pop and gritty experimental elements (Morrissey names the sculptural use of distortion on the final albums by Low as an inspiration), punctuated with hooky choruses ready to be screamed along to in the safety of your own bedroom or with a bunch of friends at one of ill peach’s intense live shows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf ill peach first blossomed in New York, it took quarantine in Los Angeles for the project to ripen. Corazza describes it as a time when “the veil of the music industry fell down—you couldn’t put on a facade anymore because everything was too fucking real.” The end of the world turned out to be what ill peach needed to get real with themselves. “It helped us creatively to zone in and removed us from the [industry] side of things to where we could just be like: this is our new identity, let's jump with both feet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTHIS IS NOT AN EXIT’s title is a reflection of something Corazza realized during a period of personal and familial crises. “I kept walking into buildings and I’d try to exit somewhere and the sign would be like, ‘This is not an exit,’” she says. “It just felt like a metaphor for a hopeful thing—don't give up yet.” The combination of hope and anxiety is all over This is Not an Exit, reflected in a sonic palette (Alternative! Electronica! Indie! Radio Pop! Coldplay!) as eclectic as it is unpretentious.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOpening track “BLOOM” is a euphoric song that tempers dream pop-like ethereality with New Order-ish synthesizers and propulsive breakbeats. Next is driving “BLAH BLAH BLAH,” an angsty pop song about language losing its meaning in the face of information overload, a real “flip the couch” number, if you will (just try not to sing along when the chorus hits.) Then comes the dynamic “HUSH,” a buzzing loud-quiet-loud rock anthem that you’ll swear has been on the radio since 1995, ill peach’s very own “Rage Against the Machine song,” as Morrissey puts it. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe softer side of ill peach comes to the fore on “HEAD FULL OF HOLES,” where Corazza and Morrissey blend electronic and rock elements on a trip-hop indie pop track about the dangers of living in the past. On the soothing “CAPILLARY BED,” which was made primarily on an OP–1 synthesizer, Corazza’s vocals sound more angelic than ever as she uses the metaphor of blood vessels delivering nutrients to the body to describe the magic of human connection. (“Weirdo stuff,” remember?)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUltimately, says Corazza, THIS IS NOT AN EXIT is a record about healing, a process often spoken about in New Age-y terms but one that in reality can be really confusing and, yes, weird. But it is the beautiful strangeness of being alive that ill peach capture so well on This is Not an Exit. The band’s unabashed embrace of their own zany impulses enhances the honesty at the heart of their songs, because what is zanier than unpredictability of human emotions in the face of life’s challenges? What is more beautiful than coming out the other side with greater wisdom and compassion for yourself and others? As Morrissey says: “You can't run away—you gotta just face these things.” That’s a song worth singing along to.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ill peach","offers":[{"title":"Color LP","offer_id":49049108218041,"sku":"wlk1788118587383","price":16.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49049108250809,"sku":"let1788118587384","price":8.28,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49049108283577,"sku":"jba1788118587385","price":7.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/4666\/3865\/files\/this-is-not-an-exit_1.jpg?v=1788118592"},{"product_id":"if-i-were-a-real-man-i-would-be-able-to-break-the-neck-of-a-suffering-bird","title":"if i were a real man i would be able to break the neck of a suffering bird","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Most of ‘if I were a real man I could break the neck of a suffering bird’ was written and recorded in January 2022 during my residency at the LungA Land program in Seyðisfjörður Iceland. Seyðisfjörður is a town of approximately 650 people on the east coast of Iceland, and during winter the sun never enters the fjord. Some of the acts the other residents and I took part in throughout the program included; making knives, backpacking in a blizzard, learning about Icelandic herbs, geology, history, having a lymegrass themed dinner party, sleeping outside. I also made field recordings of the environment around the town - ice, grass, water, rocks, snow, animals, people.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI had never considered making an instrumental album, nor was it my intention while taking these field recordings. Thus the process felt very natural, organic, almost private. I hope that the music is able to invoke the rhythm, sway, and connection I felt with the landscape in Seyðisfjörður, as well as my ongoing attempt to communicate with the divine.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lillie West","offers":[{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":49049110905017,"sku":"wvz1788118657172","price":6.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49049110937785,"sku":"orm1788118657173","price":7.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/4666\/3865\/files\/if-i-were-a-real-man-i-would-be-able-to-break-the-neck-of-a-suffering-bird_1.jpg?v=1788118685"},{"product_id":"heavyweight","title":"HEAVYWEIGHT","description":"\u003cp\u003eForming after a stint at SkinWalker Ranch in Gusher, UT, the grit-pop duo comprised of members Jess Corazza and Pat Morrissey fuse together experimental sounds with ethereal vocals. They’re enamored in future tech melding with art, yet they also place moments of nostalgia and snippets of everyday life in their tracks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJess says \"’HEAVYWEIGHT’ feels like when you have an extra 100 pounds on your back; the heaviest of heavy. It’s an attempt to shed those layers and come to feel the lightness. We’ve had a very hard year with grief and a lot of pain and this is about the tumultuous journey of healing.\u0026amp;nbsp; Using art and putting these stories into music has been a powerful tool for that.\u0026amp;nbsp; We’re just after making things that can be deeply felt.\u0026amp;nbsp; This one is definitely a gut punch.\u0026amp;nbsp; We wrote it with one of our favorite people to write with, Steph Jones. It might be our personal favorite right now.\u0026amp;nbsp; I think the song has provided all of us with a cathartic release. You have to sit in the heaviness first to reach the joy. And also a good cry.\"\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ill peach","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49049111396537,"sku":"pma1788118689518","price":0.61,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/4666\/3865\/files\/heavyweight_1.jpg?v=1788118694"},{"product_id":"wolf-like-me","title":"WOLF LIKE ME","description":"\u003cp\u003eLos Angeles duo ill peach have shared a dynamic cover of TV On The Radio’s song “WOLF LIKE ME.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eill peach says of this new song: “Last year, we got asked to do a cover for the “Meet Me in The Bathroom” documentary soundtrack.  The doc is about the music scene in New York during the early 2000s.  Quite possibly, all of our favorite bands are all in this one doc;  Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, TV On The Radio, The Strokes, etc.  The soundtrack fell through, and it felt weird to let this one sit on a hard drive. We used to see Tunde Adebimpe all the time outside of our studio space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  Felt like the right band to honor.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ill peach","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49049116737721,"sku":"hwl1788118980691","price":0.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/4666\/3865\/files\/wolf-like-me_1.jpg?v=1788118984"},{"product_id":"taquero","title":"Taquero","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eRaised in part on the sounds of salsa in his San Francisco home, Marinero’s Jess Sylvester had no trouble with the music of “Taquero”—with horns sailing above and cascading down propulsive percussion, piano crisscrossing between it all until the song smears into a psychedelic wash. The trouble, though, was the lyrics: How could he say something surprising and even a little irreverent with the form? The answer comes in the form of his come-on to the taco slinger with the hottest salsas and deepest flavors in town. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Taquero! Taquero! Te quiero mi amor,” Sylvester, who loves a good pun, sings in an enthusiastic vow of carnal and culinary love. “It’s flirtatious, with all that talk of ordering food,” Sylvester says. “I wanted to give people the opportunity to dance, a liberating feeling, and mix that with humor.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Marinero","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49049117982905,"sku":"fce1788119008574","price":0.72,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/4666\/3865\/files\/taquero_1.jpg?v=1788119013"},{"product_id":"carsick","title":"Carsick","description":"\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“Carsick” confesses a tendency to overdo things, all with a charming frankness. Yearning for the sweetness of self-control yet unable to stop the car, Nick pushes forward into the ills of excess. Their clever self-deprecation takes the edge off as they admit to indulgent and, at times, self-destructive patterns. Not without nuance, they wonder if there’s ever an end in sight while acknowledging how immoderation feeds their own self-assurance. Llobet grounds these themes in faded memories of a past road trip with a lover as they come to grips with being a better partner, shaking off frenzy, and finding restraint.\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"youbet","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49049119555769,"sku":"ise1788119053969","price":0.79,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/4666\/3865\/files\/carsick_1.jpg?v=1788119058"},{"product_id":"way-to-be","title":"Way To Be","description":"\u003cp\u003eNick Llobet (they\/them) was ready to throw in the towel. Llobet, who grew up in South Florida, learned to play guitar at a very young age, dabbling in everything from classical, blues, classic rock, and flamenco. They’d spent much of their early 20s searching for their voice as an artist and as an individual, as well as for a musical community. Llobet would eventually move to Brooklyn, but after three years of looking for a hopeful artistic breakthrough, they spent much of their time in seclusion, consumed by social anxiety and imposter syndrome—and they were considering abandoning songwriting completely. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne day, while commuting through Penn Station and en route to their partner’s family home in Virginia (that would also lead to the crucial purchase of a secondhand Tascam cassette recorder), they noticed Patti Smith sitting alone, waiting for a train. The typically shy Llobet decided to approach the icon, who was, in turn, delighted to see that Llobet was carrying a guitar. At the end of their interaction, Smith offered some parting wisdom: “She wished me luck and said, ‘Practice hard, Nick.’” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLlobet took her advice to heart, and this chance encounter kicked off a personal and artistic rebirth. They started performing as youbet, a play on their last name, and began “changing [their] vision for what a song could be.” Eventually, this journey resulted in youbet’s latest record, Way To Be. Across 12 delightfully off-kilter tunes, Llobet uses wordplay and tongue-in-cheek humor to obliquely explore dysfunctional relationships, regret, self-confidence or the lack thereof, queerness, and self-discovery. Fuzzy at the edges and filled with playful, kinetic arrangements, Way To Be is a bridge into the entrancing world of youbet. You won’t want to leave.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWay To Be arrives four years after youbet’s debut, Compare \u0026amp; Despair, a delightful gem of a record that showcases Llobet’s propensity for freewheeling whimsy and emotional intensity. In May 2019, they were inspired by a song-a-week writing group that produced Compare \u0026amp; Despair. Llobet decided to helm a second club in which contributors would upload that week’s song to a private Bandcamp. Invigorated by this small musical collaboration, the feedback, and the accountability, Llobet wrote 18 songs throughout the duration of the club (Twelve of these songs became Way To Be). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter this songwriting marathon, Llobet spent 2020 focusing on instrumental guitar work and political engagement. By the summer of 2021, they were ready to revisit the Way To Be tracks. Over the next year-and-a-half, Llobet worked on the record relentlessly, refining the lyrics, recording, and arrangements from their apartment. Llobet self-produced Way To Be and describes the process as an enormous, labor-intensive undertaking that felt akin to “making a whole film.” Along the way, Llobet was joined by collaborators, including Julian Fader (Ava Luna), Adam Brisbin (Buck Meek), and Daniel Siles. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLlobet is also an abstract storyteller, preferring to structure songs around snapshots of their life. Take “Carsick,” Way To Be’s lead single, which dances around Llobet’s frustration with their own addictive personality. “I tend to do things in excess, I like to party, sometimes a little too hard,” they say, “I wish I could be more in control of myself, hence the lyric ‘Knowing when to stop\/It must be sweet.’”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMany of these songs touch on the duality of self-love and self-loathing, like on the downcast “Nurture.” But even when the subject matter is heavy, playfulness is an intrinsic part of Way To Be. Across the album, darkness is regularly softened by Llobet’s inclination towards lightheartedness. “Seeds of Evil,” a topsy-turvy study of self-criticism, plays with this contrast, pairing a lovely melody with devilish lyrics about losing perspective. “It’s choose your own adventure music,” Llobet says. “I like to keep listeners on their toes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIndeed, the songs on Way To Be are unpredictable, and each listen offers the opportunity to dig into a new aspect of the album, from Llobet’s distinctively high voice to their complex guitar playing. “Peel,” which combines the Flamenco guitar techniques Llobet studied as a teen with a rhythm inspired by Maybelle Carter, is especially invigorating. The most labor-intensive track on the album, Llobet says that “Peel”’s lyrics—“I tried a dream\/And took it too far”—reflect their exasperated mental state during the writing process. Through its nods to Llobet’s musical education and Miami beaches, “Peel” connects their past and present. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan id=\"docs-internal-guid-0b0f8224-7fff-9acf-57e8-4e6b4aef71aa\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLlobet concludes, “Every song I birth is an opportunity to reinvent myself and gives me a chance to perform through a different spiritual filter. Each song is like a creature that lives within the depths of my soul, waiting to be written. I have this growing collection of spirit demons that keep me company in my creative life.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"youbet","offers":[{"title":"Color LP","offer_id":49049120506041,"sku":"mjr1788119093537","price":16.33,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49049120538809,"sku":"irm1788119093538","price":7.68,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49049120571577,"sku":"rss1788119093539","price":7.2,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/4666\/3865\/files\/way-to-be_1.jpg?v=1788119098"},{"product_id":"heavyweight-feat-madi-diaz","title":"HEAVYWEIGHT (feat. Madi Diaz)","description":"\u003cp\u003eHardly Art band ill peach has released a reworked version of their song \"HEAVYWEIGHT\" from their 2023 debut album, THIS IS NOT AN EXIT. The new version of the song features Madi Diaz on guest vocals, who is currently nominated for two 2025 Grammy Awards, Best Folk Album for her 2024 album Weird Faith and Best Americana Performance for \"Don't Do Me Good\" with Kacey Musgraves. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrontperson Jess Corazza from the band shares:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Right at the start of 2024, my dad’s health began to decline, and everything changed. The months that followed were spent in Florida, living in his home with my sisters as we cared for him the best we could. In July, he passed away, and the grief has been all-consuming. Losing a parent is unlike anything else—there’s no way to truly prepare for it. I know this is a loss I’ll carry with me forever.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy dad was my biggest cheerleader, but he was also a country guy through and through. He wanted so badly for me to follow that path, to be a country artist. Of course, I stubbornly resisted. But in his honor, it felt right to give him just a small piece of what he always wanted. That’s why reimagining Heavyweight felt so personal and necessary. Collaborating with our dear friend, Madi Diaz, a brilliant artist, to re-release this song was a step toward healing—a nod to my dad saying, “This one’s for you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrief is strange—it’s heartbreaking and transformative all at once. There’s beauty and tragedy in death, and I’m grateful for the anchors I have—art, music, and the people I love—to keep me steady on this journey.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ill peach","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49049121620153,"sku":"bhb1788119121186","price":0.79,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/4666\/3865\/files\/heavyweight-feat-madi-diaz_1.jpg?v=1788119126"},{"product_id":"deny","title":"Deny","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNick Llobet says of the single, “Normally, youbet songs start on the nylon string, but this time I was inspired to write on the electric guitar. While driving around last spring we listened to a ton of Polvo, Autolux, and Boris, just to name a few. ‘Deny’ was written last April after we got home from supporting Mary Timony on tour. I was inspired to create a song that captured the energy of that time. In this way, touring is such a great learning experience. Getting in front of new audiences last year helped us develop a new sound. We fed off of the energy. I would say this song is an experiment- trying to explore some new stylistic terrain. A lot of the new songs we’re writing live in this world - \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e‘Deny’ is a bridge.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"youbet","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49049121882297,"sku":"npc1788119128222","price":0.71,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/4666\/3865\/files\/deny_1.jpg?v=1788119133"}],"url":"https:\/\/grabstyleboutique.shop\/collections\/hardly-art-releases.oembed","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}