The Fat Angel Sings

The Third Sound release second single, ‘Wasteland’, from upcoming album ‘Most Perfect Solitude’. Out April 26th on CD/Vinyl

The Berlin psych/post-punk band The Third Sound are today releasing the second single, ‘Wasteland’, from their upcoming studio the follow-up to 2022’s ‘First Light’ is also supported by newly-announced European tour-dates. Talking about the primal psych-rock drone ‘Wasteland’, surely a soon-to-be live favourite, front-man Hakon Adalsteinsson says: “‘Wasteland’ is one of the heavier songs of ‘Most Perfect Solitude’. Repetitive fuzz guitar and hypnotic drums are combined with a nightmarish vision of a city in ruins.” The single is accompanied by suitably distorted, monochromatic visuals courtesy of Methadrome Media / Alexander Schipper.

Talking about the album, Hakon Adalsteinsson adds: “After touring “First Light’ heavily and releasing our Fuzz Club Session LP last year – a career-spanning, retrospective document in a way – this album feels like starting with a clean slate. There is a certain warmth to some of the songs that has not been there before, but they still flicker between light and shadows, kind of like a slow motion audio version of Brion Gysin‘s Dreamachine.

The Berlin based psych/post-punk band The Third Sound have released the second single, ‘Wasteland’, Talking about the primal psych-rock drone ‘Wasteland’, surely a soon-to-be live favourite, front-man Hakon Adalsteinsson says: “‘Wasteland’ is one of the heavier songs of ‘Most Perfect Solitude’. Repetitive fuzz guitar and hypnotic drums are combined with a nightmarish vision of a city in ruins.” The single is accompanied by suitably distorted, monochromatic visuals courtesy of Methadrome Media / Alexander Schipper

In support of the release of ‘Most Perfect Solitude’, the band head out on a string of recently announced dates this year, with more tba, including a performance at Fuzz Club Eindhoven on May 3rd at The Effenaar, Eindhoven

Night Beats’ self-titled 2011 debut album re-issue, a vinyl reissue of Night Beats’ 2011 self-titled debut album. Long out of print, the album is back on wax at last and landing June 21st!.

A modern garage-rock classic in the Texan thirteenth-floor tradition, Danny Lee Blackwell’s R&B-inspired Western Psychedelic sound on this 12-track set is a reckoning, a shoot-out at dawn, the ear-splitting peel-out that leaves nothing but a cloud of red dust in its wake. There’s a splatter vinyl LP available on the Fuzz Club store with a fold-out poster, Levitation have an exclusive sunburst LP and the purple LP can be found in all record good stores.

Following early releases in the shape of the ‘H-Bomb’ 45 and a split 10″ with UFO Club (a collaborative project between Blackwell and The Black Angels’ Christian Bland), the ‘Night Beats’ LP was the first full-length introduction to the band and propelled them to the forefront of burgeoning contemporary psych scene in a blaze of scuzzy rock’n’roll release.

releases June 21st, 2024

Prolific singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams and recently re-invigorated troubadour Dan Willson (aka Withered Hand) are to release a collaboration album tiltled, “Willson Williams”.

“Willson Williams” witnesses the meeting of two likeminded musicians who’ve built their successful, independent careers on inventive folk instrumentation, reflective and sincere lyricism, and not a small amount of self-deprecation. Their modest confessionals, written poetically and over nostalgic and atmospheric melodies, are as relatable as ever, and together they find new ways to unpack their feelings.

One overarching theme on the album is that of grief, when the writing process saw them both, tragically, in mourning for separate loved ones; Dan for his brother Karl and his friend Scott Hutchinson of Frightened Rabbit, and Kathryn for her friend, comedian and BBC Radio 4 presenter Jeremy Hardy. They explain that “the initial premise and starting point for us was discussions and open conversations on bereavement.

We’d both recently lost friends who were also in the public eye, and we talked about the strange place between personal loss and the communal grieving of a public figure”. Contrastingly, the music on “Willson Williams” is warm, heartfelt and even cheerful, an opposing nature that is completely in keeping with both their humour and candidness.

Taken from upcoming album “Willson Williams” out 26th April

As an archive of outtakes, alternate versions, rediscovered recordings and abandoned track listings emerges, the new issue of Uncut explores the secret history of David Bowie’s sartorially outrageous, extra-terrestrial rock star, “Ziggy Stardust”.

To accompany these fresh revelations, the issue comes in a printed presentation bag with a special Collectors’ Cover and a double-sided fanzine documenting Bowie’s essential Ziggy-era singles that folds out to a beautiful A1 poster on the reverse.

The new Uncut is on sale from Friday, March 29. As well as our glittering Ziggy celebrations, the issue also features new interviews with The Black Keys and Beck, St Vincent, Richard Thompson, Kamasi Washington, Brett Anderson, Roseanne Cash, Vini Reilly, Iron & Wine, Neil Finn, Pete Wylie and Myriam Gendron.

Plus the essential album, film and book reviews for the month ahead – including new releases from Jessica Pratt, Vampire Weekend, Alice Coltrane and Broadcast – as well as a free, 15-track CD showcasing the best of the month’s new music.

Black Sabbath will revisit their oft-overlooked Tony Martin era with the upcoming “Anno Domini 1989-1995″ box set. Martin served two stints in Black Sabbath: first from 1987 to 1991 and later from 1993 to 1997. Despite fronting the band during its commercial nadir, he remains their second-longest-serving frontman behind Ozzy Osbourne.

Martin’s recording career with Sabbath concluded with “Forbidden”, their last album until 2013’s Osbourne-fronted “13”. Iommi has long sought to improve the sound of “Forbidden”, originally produced by Body Count guitarist Ernie C. (Ice-T also guests on “The Illusion of Power.”)

“I was never happy with the guitar sound, and Cozy [Powell] was definitely never happy with the drum sound … so, I thought it would be nice to do it for him in a way,” Iommi said in a statement. “I just felt that, without changing any of the songs, there was an opportunity to go back and bring out some of the sounds and make it more what people would expect Sabbath to sound like.”

The collection arrives on May 31st in four-LP and four-CD configurations. It will feature newly remastered versions of 1989’s “Headless Cross“, 1990’s “Tyr” and 1994’s “Cross Purposes“, plus a new version of 1995’s “Forbidden” that guitarist Tony Iommi remixed specially for the collection.

“Anno Domini” marks the vinyl debut of several of these albums, while the CD version contains three exclusive bonus tracks: the B-side “Cloak & Dagger” and the Japan-only songs “What’s the Use” and “Loser Gets It All.” The box set also includes a booklet of photos, artwork and liner notes, as well as a Headless Cross poster and replica concert book from the Headless Cross Tour.

Deep Purple’s 1972 album “Machine Head” will be reissued as a 3CD+Blu-ray+LP super deluxe edition next month.

The English rock band’s sixth studio album was famously due to be recorded at Montreux Casino before it burnt to the ground. The band ended up setting up the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio in the nearby Grand Hotel which was closed for the Winter, Overlook-style. These events were depicted in the classic track “Machine Head” has been reissued many times, so what new content does this super deluxe edition offer? Well, Dweezil Zappa has remixed the record in stereo and in Dolby Atmos. The new stereo mix features on the coloured vinyl LP (“opaque white with hints of purple”) which is included in this super deluxe and on the first CD in the five-disc set, which is also home to a 2024 remaster (two versions of the album on one CD). The new stereo and Atmos remixes also include ‘Never Before’ B-side, ‘When A Blind Man Cries’., which starts side two of the vinyl version of this album.

The two CDs both include live performances. The first, recorded on 9th March 1972, at the Paris Theatre in London, captures the group on their “Machine Head” Tour. The second is previously unreleased; it was recorded in April 1971 at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland (yes, the same one that burned down eight months later). This is an “audience recording” which covers songs the band recorded prior to “Machine Head“, including ‘Child In Time’ (from 1969’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra), ‘Speed King’ (from 1970’s “Deep Purple in Rock”), and ‘Strange Kind Of Woman’ (from 1971’s “Fireball” ).

The blu-ray audio features the new Atmos Mix, and the original 1974 US Quad Mix and three tracks in 5.1 Surround Sound. The new stereo mix is not listed amongst the content (go figure) and why the whole album, rather than just three tracks, isn’t included in 5.1 (from the old DVD-Audio) is a mystery.

The super deluxe edition includes a 60-page book with new sleeve notes and the usual archive and rare photos.

A huge new box set from Parlophone Records will chronicle David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era from the origins of the character in 1971 through the recording of 1972’s “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust” and the numerous promotional appearances and live performances that followed.

The 5-CD, 1-Blu-Ray collection “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star!” is set to feature 29 unreleased tracks spanning early demos, outtakes, alternate versions, and live recordings.

Highlights include a alternate version of “Lady Stardust,” a previously unheard version of the deep-cut rarity “Shadow Man,” and an uptempo rendition of the Who’s “I Can’t Explain,” which Bowie later covered on his 1973 album “Pin Ups”.

The audio-only Blu-Ray disc contains the 2012 remaster of the original album alongside “Waiting in the Sky (Before the Starman Came to Earth)”, an album of recordings from the famous 1971 Trident Studios sessions that will also be released as a limited-edition vinyl LP for Record Store Day on April 20th.

There are two books included in the set, a 112-page collection of liner noters, photographs, and interviews and a 36-page reproduction of Bowie’s personal notebooks from the era.

David Bowie’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star!” is a 5CD and 1 Blu-Ray Audio set that explores David Bowie’s journey from February 1971 through the creation of the Ziggy Stardust character, the recording of the iconic “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars” album, and captures the international mania that surrounded the Ziggy phenomenon in the form of UK radio sessions and TV performances, as well as live tracks from Ziggy and the Spiders’ 1st October 1972 show at the Boston Music Hall.

“Rock ‘n’ Roll Star!” contains 29 unreleased tracks, covers early song writing demos, recordings from David’s band, The Arnold Corns, rehearsals at Bowie’s then-home, Haddon Hall, BBC sessions, singles, live performances, plus outtakes and alternative versions from the original album recording sessions, which have been newly mixed by original album producer, Ken Scott.

“Rock ‘n’ Roll Star!” also contains two books. The first is an extensive 112-page book with detailed liner notes, memorabilia, contemporary reviews and articles, rare photographs from Barrie Wentzel, Michael Putland, Mick Rock, Sukita and Alec Byrne, as well as brand-new notes and interviews with Ken Scott, Mark Carr Pritchett and David’s plugger from the time, Anya Wilson. Accompanying the main book is a 36-page compiled reproduction of David’s personal Ziggy Stardust era notebooks.

Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and composer Julia Holter releases her new single “Evening Mood” today ahead of her forthcoming sixth studio album “Something in the Room She Moves“, out March 22nd on Domino. With “Evening Mood,” Holter had in mind invoking the love hormone oxytocin, with Dev Hoff’s portamento fretless bass lines and Beth Goodfellow’s soft mallet heartbeat-like drums as foundation. Over the heavily-filtered rhythm section, an array of sparkling voices swim: Holter’s gliding vocals, Chris Speed’s soaring birdlike clarinet, and bright Prophet pads by Tashi Wada.

The “underwater” production style was informed by a heavy dose of Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo, her daughter’s favourite movie at the time, about a fish that turns into a little girl. “I was inspired by the transformability of creatures, and how this malleability works alongside our capacity for love. I wanted everything to feel very liquid,” she says of the song, which features a “heavily filtered ultrasound heartbeat” sent through a phaser. “I wanted it to sound like it was inside the body.”

“Evening Mood” comes via a video by Dicky Bahto featuring dancer Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta.

This is not your average Fat White Family song, with Lias Saoudi detailing his “big brother Tamlan’s circumcision at age 5 without anaesthetic in the mountains of Algeria.”

The video was shot by Tamlan on location in Maillot, the small town from which the Saoudi dynasty hail.

Giving some background to the track, Lias said:

I was sat with my family at xmas. My whole immediate family. My long-divorced parents and their respective partners. My big and little brother. Two dogs. One cocker spaniel named Jarvis, and a French Pitbull called Pepe. Me and my little brother had managed to tidy away our long running blood feud just long enough so that we might enjoy this bi-annual festive reunion. The idea for this reunion – which we refer to as Legends of the Fall after mum’s favourite film, a film about warring brothers that slip in and out of exile – occurred not long after my big brother was deported from China, after having called it home for 15 years. There was a sense of rallying round at that time. Of making an effort to make Tam feel at home. My parents divorce wasn’t pretty. You’d have bet your life at the time that no further Xmas together was remotely possible. I’m proud that as a bunch, we can let by gones be by gones, even if only once twenty years or so has passed.

Both previous times Legends of the Fall has taken place, it’s ended in a serious breakdown of some descript. Usually tearful, with occasional threats of violence and bodily harm. That’s why we opted for bi-annual. You need a fallow year. You need to let the engines cool. This December just past all of the drama occurred off screen, in the preamble to the event itself. Endless crsis talks about the beef I’m having with my little brother. Xmas was a song of peace, as a result. We’d burnt ourselves out already. Anyway, on the second night we’re all sitting around eating sugar watching Rocky IV and this tune came up. Today You Become Man. My big brother started harping on about it. This got me nervous, as I hadn’t (still haven’t) played it to my old man. Tam asked if we could stick it on, I told him I didn’t have the album link. File’s expired. I then sank into a kind of dread, what being a little hash stoned, running it around in my head over and over: did I just make all that up? Fuck. Have I gone too far here? I must have sexed up the dossier at least. Surely. I’m forever sexing up the dossier. This will be the end of it. Out of the will levels. Cheerio Bashir. Fuck.

Before long, in lieu of the recording, my big brother started recounting his experience in full. This was a relief. We’d get straight to the bottom of it.  No festering anxiety to spoil what’s left of Rocky IV. This was earlier than my big brothers usual slot time with the circumcision anecdote. Usually you have to wait until you’re deep in the session before he brings out the big gun. Once you’re lucidly enjoying your night, around 3 or 5am, once you’re totally relaxed, that’s usually when he’ll strike. A matinee performance for the whole family it was then. To my absolute joy, his version matched up to mine almost perfectly, with nominal protest from my dad as to the details. Then a deeper joy, a continuation of the tale which I’d not yet heard. A post script from hell. Several years after the olde worlde, anaesthtic-less gential mutialion/enhancement of my big brother, he was a guest at the ceremony of our younger cousin Amine. According to Tam, after they slice off the mini neck warmer, they place it into a little satchel. Tam made it his business to get a hold of this satchel right after Amine’s moment of truth, then to dance around the room flailing it up above his own grinning head in celebration of this newly minted manhood.

I can think of few weirder things that might happen to you at age five then getting shipped form northern England to Kabyle for this. It’s kind of like alienation squared. Once you rotate back to Huddersfield, who have you got to share your experience with? At least the little lads in Maillot have got each other, they’re brothers of the olde worlde chop. The chop is part of their collective identity. It doesn’t mark you out as utterly unique, as somehow outside everybody else. My brother is one of those people that turn everyhtng into a joke. His sense of humour is abstract in the extreme. Sometimes I wonder if he’s pathologically incapable of taking anything seriously. Reality is there to be laughed at, and little else. That’s not to say he’s devoid of empathy, it’s just his basic way of computing the world is through ridicule. There’s no off button. I wonder if his making abstraction his homeland truly began with the absurdity in the high Atlas? And in turn, given that I only became an artist pretty much because my big bro told me to when I was 11, is it where a large part of my own leaning into the strange begins? What made Tam inevitably made me, growing up in umpteen different places, one constant was your big brother. I tried to emulate him in everything. Maybe I’m clutching at straws there. Appropriating his suffering. I don’t know. I’m certainly commodifying it. One’s thing for sure though, if you had to choose one of the three Saoudi brothers with whom to fight a war, you’d choose Tam each time. If we’re talking a frontline roll, at least.

New album “Forgiveness is Yours” is out April 26 via Domino Recordings.