{"id":689,"date":"2011-07-14T18:00:34","date_gmt":"2011-07-14T22:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nowthissound.com\/ntsib\/?p=689"},"modified":"2011-07-13T21:00:04","modified_gmt":"2011-07-14T01:00:04","slug":"july-video-challenge-the-used-pretty-handsome-awkward-empty-with-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nowthissound.com\/ntsib\/2011\/07\/14\/july-video-challenge-the-used-pretty-handsome-awkward-empty-with-you\/","title":{"rendered":"July Video Challenge: The Used, Pretty Handsome Awkward \/ Empty With You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reasons I love Pretty Handsome Awkward<\/em>: 1) the percussive guitars and roaring drums and 2) it sounds like one-half of every rage-fueled break-up conversation ever, the one you probably shouldn’t have with the actual person you are leaving \/ has left you because you might sound a tiny bit unhinged, but good lord does it ever feel good to vent your spleen.<\/p>\n

As it happens I heard it for the first time in the aftermath of a split. I wasn’t angry so much as numb, overwhelmed, and directionless, and in many ways it was like a big blinking arrow that said When In Doubt, Follow The Sound of the Electric Guitar.<\/em> Not long afterward I fell face-first (back) into rock and roll and, well, suffice it to say, I feel a lot better now.<\/p>\n

The Used<\/a> have been a band since 2001; Pretty Handsome Awkward<\/em> is from their third record, Lies for the Liars<\/em>, released in 2007. They are currently label-less, but still working on their fifth record, which may possibly be out later this year.<\/p>\n

Other things to know: Pretty Handsome Awkward<\/em> coincided with singer Bert McCracken’s blond period, and when he is blond, he looks startlingly<\/em> like Kurt Cobain. It can be a little bit dislocating, so, you know, brace yourselves. Also, embedding is (again) maddeningly forbidden, but you can watch it here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Alternatively, you can watch this one for Empty with You<\/em>, which is from their last record, Artwork<\/em>, released in 2009. The guitars are just as killer, and McCracken looks like himself again!<\/p>\n

The Used - Empty With You (Official)<\/div><\/div>
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