Brett Newski
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US Milwaukee – Acoustic Rock / Punk / Rock
Brett Newski

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Label / Release Type Year
Brett Newski
Ab67616d0000b27307e7a2ea0c6b77ec6d3d6a14 Dirt (Original Saigon Version) Single 2022
Ab67616d0000b273b938ae1a4a5e3ed7c86bc401 I'll Go Under the Weather to Get You over the Moon Single 2022
Ab67616d0000b2733be5c776460490d203684992 If We're Gonna Breakup, Let's Make It Take Forever Single 2022
Ab67616d0000b273af1a44d79f799f9e235f6d85 Nevermind, Not Nirvana Single 2022
Ab67616d0000b273f949576425ab13a5c36d2c15 Stars (Live at Anodyne) Single 2022
Ab67616d0000b273a35f78e3f90f4db46d2ecc96 In Between Exits: Lo-Fi Recordings Made Around Asia (10th Anniversary Edition) Album 2022
Ab67616d0000b273a05ab6a3b063ba31e79ed0e4 Fight Song (Cabin Version) Single 2021
Ab67616d0000b273fbbf82b0ccd4ac05d9064f07 Ride (Unplugged in a Kitchen in Germany: Hamburger Küchensessions) [Live] Single 2021
Ab67616d0000b273bb10d996ff35266f5a1eae6b Seek Asylum from Myself Single 2021
Ab67616d0000b273d6521ba9bc47be552701b751 It's Hard to Be a Person: Soundtrack to the Book Album 2021
Ab67616d0000b273426a38b6d644b99a2a1ca108 American Folk Armageddon Album 2014
NOMAD UNION
Ab67616d0000b27330b2aa97370fa785fadac87c New York Apartment (US Stereo Version) Single 2022
Ab67616d0000b273690151d31307a38702d67f3e Dead To Me Single 2021
Ab67616d0000b273b1d5b1d267f6b6dc6ac6d3b3 Kiss Off (Unplugged in a Kitchen in Germany: Hamburger Küchensessions) Single 2021
Ab67616d0000b273e2ef5f1497eefe9508326555 Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down Album 2020
BRETT NEWSKI
Ab67616d0000b273c8aa67001de0b2ca1ee34ed5 Why Even Bother? Single 2022
Ab67616d0000b273344805eb14ab85498bd36b47 Going Solo Is Better Than Being Alone: Live in Wisconsin Album 2019
Ab67616d0000b273bdf646986bca2a72366f7e0b Life Upside Down Album 2018
Ab67616d0000b2738e74a7a68d27abb73d4c81ea Land Air Sea Garage Album 2016
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How do you feel when someone starts playing on their phone while you’re talking to them?

It’s a dark moment. It’s a seemingly small, yet significant moment when we realize we’ve got work to do as both individuals, and as a species.

BRETT NEWSKI’s fourth studio album Don’t Let the Bastards Get you Down is a call to arms against whatever destructive forces we may find ourselves battling, from our individual struggles with toxic relationships, low self esteem, loneliness, and apathy to the more global challenges facing us in 2020: The erosion of face-to-face human connection, the breakdown of the proverbial village, the destruction of the planet, and the myriad ways in which our social media addictions amplify these problems. Depression and anxiety are at all time highs, with many, if not most of us, struggling to preserve our optimism.

So how do we regain control and stay hopeful in the face of these challenges? Perhaps it’s less screen time. Perhaps it’s changing the way we approach our tiny pocket TVs. Perhaps it’s discovering or recommitting to our passions. Perhaps it’s getting our hands dirty in pursuit of real solutions to our problems (instead of just complaining online). Perhaps Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down can shed some positive insight.

In Last Dance (cowritten with Grammy nominated songwriter Pat Macdonald, ‘Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades’), Newski lays bare the highly relatable challenge of trying to stay informed and engaged while simultaneously staying afloat psychologically: “I ain’ t trying to build the ark, I just really wanna learn how to swim / Thru a sea of plastic bottles, all the refuse, the mess we are in.” In Grow Your Garden, Newski issues a wake-up call from the hypnotic, numbing effects of living with our eyes glued to our screens: “If I was the dirt beneath the sneakers on your soulless feet / I’d nudge you far from the mirage so you could see the water”.

In Lousy T-Shirt, Newski describes the traps of social comparison in these “tiny TV times”, in which we so often compare ourselves to the “greatest hits” of others’ lives. (“I ain’t making any headlines / It’ s a failures parade / I drove all the way to Hollywood and all I got’ s this lousy t-shirt.”) He doubles down on this theme in Buy Me a Soul, singing “Step out from behind these little screens that rule our lives / I’m sick of highlights / Cause we’re an empty shell and we’re on earth but we’re in hell / Can anybody hear me? / Is this a permanent bad dream? Or is it too much reality?”

What could topically threaten to amount to “too much reality” for the listener is buoyed by Newski and collaborator Spatola’ssignature blend of largely up-tempo, guitar-driven alternative with splashes of what they describe as “Geek Rock”, “Happy Punk”, and “Diet Grunge”. The band has had a busy few years, playing alongside acts like PIXIES, Courtney Barnett, Violent Femmes, Better than Ezra and Manchester Orchestra, and will be touring extensively in 2020 in support of this latest release.

“Newski's live shows are part rock n' roll, part stand up, and part therapy. In the end, the room is won over,” says Jim McGuinn of The Current in Minneapolis.