“Submarine Bells” is an album by New Zealand group the Chills, originally released in 1990. This was the band’s first album on a major label, as Martin Phillipps signed to Warner Bros. Records subsidiary Slash Records, to release the album in the U.S. The album reached No#1 on the New Zealand album charts and had significant support from American college radio. The Chills’ second album from 1990 is their much-praised major label debut. A rich tapestry of sound with a nod to Postcard, early Teardrop Explodes and a host of indie pop legends.
On a major label for the first time, Phillipps crafted a lovely record indeed, a mere thirty-six minutes and not a second wasted. Lead-off track and single “Heavenly Pop Hit” remains the most famous track and deservedly so, over a rapturous keyboard/rhythm combination, Phillipps sings just that, an inspiring lyric with a soaring chorus, aided by additional backing vocals from guest Donna Savage. From there it’s one high point after another, never losing the sense of elegance and drive that characterizes the band’s work. Phillipps’ at-once strong and amiably regular-guy vocals and astonishingly intelligent but never overly obtuse lyrics are both wonders, while Andrew Todd’s excellent keyboard work provides both energy and lovely shading. Add to that a fine rhythm section in bassist Justin Harwood and drummer James Stephenson, and it’s no wonder this version of the Chills succeeds as it does.
One fantastic example of their work together is “Singing In My Sleep” with Phillipps giving heavy tremolo treatment to his guitar as everyone else creates something that’s not too far from Neu!’s motorik throb, in a gentler pop vein. More such Krautrock-inspired chug has plenty of echoes on Bells, following in the same vein as “I Love My Leather Jacket” — check out the brisk delivery on “The Oncoming Day” or the skipping intensity of “Dead Web.” Otherwise, there’re hints of the gentle folky/medieval touches they enjoy on “I SOAR” and “Don’t Be–Memory” and more straightforward rocking out on the sharp “Familiarity Breeds Contempt,” where Phillipps’ New Zealand burr comes through with intensity. The title track, with serene orchestration filling out the grand arrangement, is a note-perfect way to conclude such a fantastic release.
The Chills distilled post-punk with the sweet delivery of Phillipps, making it sound like The Fall paying homage to Prefab Sprout. Something that rare.” Perfect Sound Forever Built around Martin Phillipps’ off-kilter vocal; all accent, all attitude, it reels around folk-like couplets with brusque punk swagger fed through psychedelic hues; so timeless it still simmers beautifully. It includes the effervescent, euphoric opener ‘Heavenly Pop Hit’.
The Bangles are one of the greatest all-girl bands in rock history, renowned for their song writing, harmonies, and chops. “Doll Revolution” is the fourth studio album by American pop rock band the Bangles. It was originally released in March 2003 in Europe and Japan, and in September of that year in the United States. It was the first album by the group since their 1998 reunion.
And yet “Doll Revolution”, one of their best records, has never been out on vinyl. that’s because it fell into that late ‘90s/early 2000s gap when vinyl was considered dead (ha)! now, with full support of the band, real gone music brings Doll Revolution to its rightful format for the first time with a streaked-pink pressing limited to 1500 hand-numbered copies, exclusive for record store day/black friday. a 2-lp set brought to you in sumptuous gatefold packaging with insert. features one of our favourite bangles songs, “Ride the Ride!”
Including 15 songs, it is the group’s lengthiest album. All tracks were co-composed by members of the band, with the exception of “Tear Off Your Own Head” which was written by Elvis Costello and had previously appeared on his 2002 album When I Was Cruel. Some songs had been already released in the 1990s by band members on other bands they worked with after the band split: “Mixed Messages” and “The Rain Song”, both written by Vicki Peterson, had been released in the Continental Drifters albums, while “Ask Me No Questions” was released by Debbi Peterson with her band Kindred Spirit. “Nickel Romeo” and “Between The Two”, while never released, had been debuted by Michael Steele with her band Crash Wisdom in live shows in 1994.
The album spawned three singles. The lead single, “Something That You Said”, reached No. 38 in the UK, and was a minor hit elsewhere in Europe. “Tear Off Your Own Head(It’s a Doll Revolution)” and “I Will Take Care of You” were next released as singles, the latter reaching No. 79 in the UK. All three songs had lead vocals by Susanna Hoffs.
In the US, an edition with a bonus DVD with interviews and the video to “Something That You Said” was released. In Japan, the group included as bonus tracks both songs from their first 45 single released in 1981, “Getting out of Hand” and “Call on Me” (the first time they had been released on CD), as well as an alternate mix of “Something That You Said.”
The year 1973 came and went without Joni Mitchell releasing a record, the first year she’d skipped since her debut five years earlier, and when 1974 arrived, January brought “Court and Spark”, adorned by a sophisticated sonic sensibility that would define her career from that moment forward. Joni Mitchell was an emblem of female empowerment, Mitchell has always retained publishing rights to her music and has produced, often solely, her own albums. Though primarily considered a pop artist, the songs she wrote carried a signature folk rock sound with a jazz influence. Mitchell’s success as a solo songwriter and singer in the 1970s music scene certainly gets us going.
As a woman, as an artist, Mitchell engages with and pushes against the norms of the industry, all the while retaining a singular sound and reputation.
“Court and Spark” the 1974 album, Mitchell’s sixth album release, a concentrated effort for a hit record. This analysis pushes Mitchell toward the pop star image, but the album retains her signature influences from rock, including guest performers, as well as folk and jazz; the electric guitar features just as strongly as wind instruments. Court and Spark reached second spot in the United States in March of 1974, eventually receiving double-platinum certification. “Help Me,” “Free Man in Paris” and “Raised on Robbery” all became hit singles.
The construction of the album’s songs is complicated—and sounds it. Contoured, carefully interlocked arrangements provide inviting frames into which sober, pretty poetry nestles, masking sharp lyrical edges that emerge upon deeper listening. Backed by Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, the popular “Help Me” shows how it’s done, cloaking a heady contemplation of love and loneliness in an alluring sway. Mitchell scatters memorable refrains across its lyrical structure, with repeating bookends in each verse of, “Help me/I think I’m falling” to one side, and variations on “But not like we love our freedom” on the other.
Though over 40 years old, this album is surprisingly relevant today. For anyone sequestered in their home but still trying to navigate the online dating scene, “Help Me” resonates. The narrator frets about falling in love too quickly, while “hoping for the future/And worrying about the past.” We cannot help but think of the future and how good it will be—to wander outside, to sit in a bar, to hug someone—but we’ll never get to live in our future, post-COVID-19, the way we lived in our past. The catchy chorus finishes with “We love our lovin’/But not like we love our freedom,” which in this crisis I interpret as the collective freedom we will achieve when the spread of disease slows, which will happen faster if we refrain from breaking quarantine to date.
What lies between is decorated tastefully by the cool ring of Joe Sample’s electric piano and soft, punctuating inlays of Larry Carlton’s electric guitar. Engaging and plush, the arrangement ascends into a billowing bridge capped by an affirming “Didn’t it feel good,” wherein Mitchell’s singing entrances with percussive traces amid a shifting-yet-certain rhythm. Busy and finicky as it may be, the assembly has a natural flow and hits the ear beautifully, right down to the bass drum taps placed curiously high in the mix during its fadeout. “Help Me” would prove the biggest hit of her career, reaching as high as No#7 on the singles chart.
In relation to “Same Situation”Mitchell’s lyrics call for “somebody/Who’s strong and somewhat sincere,” suggesting a much more nuanced, if embittered, plea for partnership. The perennial search for love in music does not always call to mind the sacrifices we anticipate in the continual bargaining of partnership. The chorus ends with “Caught in my struggle for higher achievements/And my search for love,” echoing the dichotomy faced by countless women who have given up careers and other personal achievements in exchange for a partner and family in the decades before and since Court and Spark. In Mitchell’s lyrics, the female voice and figure receives a more nuanced, complicated, and bittersweet appraisal than one is accustomed to in comparable records of the time.
This also applies to “Raised on Robbery,” which is sonically different than most of the album. The opening bars are played on the electric guitar. Mitchell’s voice, supported by back-up vocalists, cuts in, in a style reminiscent of the vocalists of World War II-era songs like Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” or “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” I’ll describe it as sharp, harmonized vocals with understated instrumentals in the background. In Mitchell’s case, this style shortly gives way to a more contemporary style. Meanwhile, the lyrics quickly subvert the upbeat music with the sad tale of a woman struggling to make rent after a male relation drinks away the money that was supposed to help them survive. If anything, the fast-paced music, which adopts a jazz-folk feel, is indicative of the woman’s resolve in light of her unfortunate circumstances. Far more direct in every way is the crowd-pleasing “Raised on Robbery,” which lightens the album’s tone with its fun, funny yarn-spinning atop a propulsive groove for which Robbie Robertson’s electric guitar etchings are an ideal complement.
The craft on display in the song, “Free Man in Paris,” is equally noteworthy. Opening with a segue that sounds like an extension of “Help Me” (the album is among the most seamless ever assembled), “Free Man in Paris” establishes a complex yet airy structure richly decorated by the electric guitars of Carlton and Jose Feliciano, with background vocals from David Crosby and Graham Nash as polished support. It’s catchy and agreeable—the tribute to her friend David Geffen would chart as high as #22—and offers insight into Mitchell’s process. Its cadence never quite settles down, and she keeps it off-kilter on purpose, as when she jams “unfettered” into a line whose meter it doesn’t quite match, prioritizing the specific term over a concession to any number of two-syllable words that would have fit more comfortably.
The album is a deeply personal experience, a dance into the confessional softened by artful twists of observation. The subject matter aligns with sparse piano melodies like the one beneath the clear-eyed musing on romance “Same Situation.” The horn-dressed “Car on a Hill” is peppered with small flourishes, many of them murky, as it makes a haunting choral ascent for which Wayne Perkins’ electric guitar provides a sharp edge. Mitchell inhabits each turn with a worldly, matter-of-fact vocal approach, bringing a gently rendered urgency to the title track as she tells a story that purposefully avoids closure by song’s end.
One of Mitchell’s gifts is for lyrics that seem to be part of a stream of consciousness until they hit a punchline that makes them coalesce. “People’s Parties” is a dense 2:15, loaded with ideas and images like the clever reduction of its characters to owners of “passport smiles.” Evocative imaginings spill from the supple “Just Like This Train,” an easygoing jazz reminiscence on lost love that is equal parts sweetness and bite. “Down to You” is like a lengthy exhale. A mesmerizing contemplation of isolation summarized in the lyric “Everything comes and goes/Marked by lovers and styles of clothes,” it is a gloomy, utterly lovely piece of work, with climactic moments delivered in a tempo akin to sobbing. Tracing a lustrous piano melody across 5 ½ minutes, it resonates on multiple levels. It would earn an award the following year for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist, to mark the first of Mitchell’s nine Grammy wins.
The album’s closes by changing directions, in a pair of songs that share mental infirmity as a core concept. The first of them, “Trouble Child,” is a slinky shimmer punctuated by Chuck Findley’s cool trumpeting, John Guerin’s slender drum rattle and a mood-imposing electric guitar line from Dennis Budimir, which combine to create a ruminative flow that aligns with the tone and structure of the rest of the record. Less characteristic of the collection, and arguably anything in Mitchell’s catalogue, is a sprightly cover of the 1952 Annie Ross/Wardell Gray song “Twisted,” whose amusing personality (which includes a cameo from Cheech and Chong) and springy vocalese structure send off the record with a lively bounce.
The album was received warmly by critics and the marketplace, where it reached as high as #2 on the album chart, and would in the long term rank as the best-selling record in Mitchell’s catalogue. It also served as a signpost, highlighting an artist intent on following her muse wherever it might lead, which soon would entail far more experimental paths. As much as it sounds on its surface like an easy-listening jazz-pop record, Court and Spark was a significant pivot point, angling toward a future in which its creator would champion experimentation, and defy expectation.
May we all strive to achieve Joni Mitchell’s level of career power and lyrical grace.
There’s a new Rilo Kiley covers compilation titled No Bad Words For The Coast Today: The Execution Of All Things Covers Comp, out today via Bandcamp. The compilation features Sad13, Mannequin Pussy, Diet Cig, Adult Mom, Lisa Prank, Anika Pyle, Gladie and more. Half of the proceeds will go to the artists and the other half will go to G.L.I.T.S., a NYC-based non-profit, social justice, advocacy and service organization addressing the health and rights crises faced by transgender sex workers.
No Bad Words For The Coast Today: The Execution Of All Things Covers Comp is a compilation featuring 14 artists, celebrating Rilo Kiley and their seminal 2002 album.
Earlier this year, Los Angeles noise pop band Dummy shared their debut release, “Dummy EP”, via Pop Wig Records. Now the group has put out their second release “EP2”, Last month, they shared “Pool Dizzy”—the first taste of EP2. Their debut was rooted in krautrock and synth-laden noise pop, and they even threw in a foggy folk tune and an eight-minute new age-esque closer. EP2, on the other hand, leans more on hypnotic synths than driving guitars—apart from “Pool Dizzy.” The track’s throbbing beat, murky guitars and retro keyboards are rejuvenating, and their heavenly, overlapping vocals are the cherry on top. It’s the sound of droning pop euphoria.
Dummy returns five months later with “EP2”, their second release of 2020. Featuring a mix of screeching feedback-laden pop songs woven with non-sequitur ambient soundscapes, “EP2” sees the band further developing their drone-pop style with inspiration taken from kosmische, Japanese ambient, new age, and video game music. Recorded mostly at home using freeware and a smartphone, the six tracks forgo polished production in favour of a kaleidoscopic collage of improvisational sketches.
Available on cassette from Born Yesterday Records.
Dummy – Dummy EP2 Thursday Morning 00:00 Pool Dizzy 04:35 Nuages 07:31 Mediocre Garden 10:38 Second Contact 14:52 Prime Mover Unmoved 17:04
When it comes to volume, Sarah Tudzin likes to keep listeners on their toes. “Kiss Yr Frenemies”, was her debut album as Illuminati Hotties, playfully leaps between a variety of decibel-dictated sonic moods from the indie-pop canon. Hushed acoustic reveries give way to knife-sharp stabs of guitar; contemplative, finger-picked tranquility crescendos to giant slabs of post-rock feedback and trumpet fanfare. “You only like me when I’m sad,” she sweetly sings during a quiet interlude on “Pressed 2 Death,” an otherwise boisterous rambler that’s dotted with kiss-offs.
Tudzin—who is technically Illuminati Hotties’ sole permanent member, although she records with a full band—is a veteran studio rat, and it shows in the album’s dynamic sounds. In addition to working as a production and engineering assistant to big-time indie producer Chris Coady (Beach House, TV on the Radio), she’s logged studio time with acts ranging from Porches to Macklemore and worked on the sound design for the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton.
Her expertise gives her own tracks a funhouse-like quality, with an eruption of noise, six-stringed squeal, or purposely lo-fi effect around every corner. Even without knowing that additional vocals on the album are credited to “Everyone at Jesse’s Party,” you get the sense that she had fun making this record. Tudzin describes the sound of Illuminati Hotties as “tenderpunk,” and that feels right. Every emotional abrasion and pang of longing on Kiss Yr Frenemies is conveyed with just the right mix of sadness and acerbity. On the single “(You’re Better) Than Ever,” she confesses, “All the baddest words I knew came pouring out/When I heard you feel better/Better than ever.” Along with stylistic forebears Los Campesinos!,
Tudzin’s sound sometimes recalls indie-pop lifer Rose Melberg’s many projects, as well as 1990s Vancouver punks Cub—all acts that have regularly challenged the common notion that indie pop is all cloying sentiments and bookishly restrained instrumentation.
Painted Zeros is Katie Lau’s recording project. Her debut full-length album “Floriography” was released 10/30/2015 on Don Giovanni Records, and demonstrates the breadth of her musicality while being unmistakably punk at heart. Lush strings colour the spaces between melodic guitar hooks and Lau’s dreamy (often buried) vocal delivery, offering the listener an intimate look inside a world that echoes the heyday of shoegaze and demands that they listen closely–and loud. Based out of Brooklyn, NY, the band is a trio live, and in concert Lau’s songs burst to life with the help of two of her best friends. Love the fuzzy sound, and the guitar work is wonderful. I wish I had better words to describe how much I enjoy this album. Despite, or maybe because of, the subject matter throughout, this album often feels like the beginnings of a triumphant breakthrough to the other side.
Her new album “When You Found Forever”, her first project to be released in five years under the Painted Zeros name. It’s an uncompromising journey into a person stricken with a battle of the psyche, overcoming a tumultuous relationship with alcohol and breaking free from the clutches of an old love (see “”). Lau is fearless in showing the pains of addiction mixed with the beautiful colour palette that returns once its been abandoned. On her latest single that we’re thrilled to premiere, “I Will Try” Lau takes the various shades that make up ourselves to create an anthem endowed with a restored affirmation in her identity and making the best of the future.
Written, performed, engineered, and mixed by Katie Lau
Drums played by Jared Kaner on tracks 3 & 8 Bass played by Jim Hill on tracks 3 & 8
And how about Pylon? You remember Pylon, right? Oh lord. Pull up a chair… While the B52’s were the first to break the seal on Athens, Georgia as a hotbed of artistic intrigue in the late-70’s, and R.E.M. would become the cities most famous sons, Pylon were arguably the city’s favourite band and deepest influence on their emerging peers.
In the late 1970’s Athens, Georgia was buzzing with a raw but sophisticated music scene.
The turn of the decade began producing new sounds from bands like the B-52’s, R.E.M. and art-rock luminaries, Pylon. before they were a band, Pylon were art-school students at the university of Georgia: four kids invigorated by big ideas about art and creativity and society. in 1980 the band released its first record, “Gyrate” and began touring across the country in support of the release. they would soon develop a following across the country. shortly thereafter, Pylon went back into the studio. they gleefully pulled their songs apart and put them back together in new shapes, revealing a band of self-proclaimed non-musicians who had transformed gradually but noticeably into real ones. Now more than three decades later, both studio recordings have been remastered from their original audio tapes and are set for release on New West Records
Athens, Georgia may have been the breeding ground for the B-52’s, but in 1978 it was, for the most part, still a sleepy college town with few places for bands to play when Pylon began to cohere. (It’s worth remembering that the B-52’s had almost exclusively played house parties before moving to New York and becoming a sensation.) Like more than a few great and original groups, Pylon came together without much of a support system or many first hand influences; they were young people creating their own art and making their own fun with it. While it wasn’t their first release (the epochal “Cool”/”Dub” single preceded it by seven months), 1980’s Gyrate caught Pylon on tape when they were still clearly fascinated with their own creative possibilities, though they were tight enough to sound elemental and straightforward rather than amateurish. The skittery chiming of Randy Bewley’s guitar and the expressive whisper-to-a-scream report of Vanessa Briscoe Hay’s vocals give this music plenty of brains, and the lean, minimal rhythms generated by bassist Michael Lachowski and drummer Curtis Crowe lend it all a strong, muscular body; at a time when America was just falling out of love with disco, Gyrate was a reminder that there was more than one way to make music for dancing. As smart as this music was, it was also fun and engaging in a way that many of their peers and followers were not.
Gyrate is full of joy and subtle, surreal wit, and if it sometimes sounds like the work of arty grad students, they’re still grad students who want to cut loose and get in the groove, and that’s exactly what they do. Gyrate is a classic touchstone of the American underground scene of the ’80s, and it sounds as fresh, challenging, and exciting as the day it was released. R.E.M. would become a lot more famous, but Pylon were the band that made the world aware that there was something remarkable happening in Athens, and this was their first triumph.
It will likely turn a few heads that ‘The Mirror’, a dark, brooding track around halfway through this latest from Hey Colossus, features an appearance by the one and only Mark Lanegan. A bonafide alternative rock titan, his reputation for collaborative work is well known, but so are his exacting standards. Only working with the best, the fact he’s even here says volumes about where this shapeshifting, hardcore-cum-post punk noisemakers are at.
Dances / Curses is loud when it needs to be, for example the growling riffs of Tied In A Firing Line, or the stadium-filling, doom-laden frenzy of Dead Songs For Dead Sires, but isn’t afraid of intimacy either. Stylites In Reverse’s delicate melodies, or Blood Red Madrigal’s hazy, woozy, melancholic air. A broad brushstroke that confirms Hey Colossus are among the most vital we’ve currently got.
Hey Colossus is an English rock band formed in London in 2003. Since its inception, the band has undergone several line-upchanges, revolving around founding members Joe Thompson and Robert Davis. Longterm Hey Colossus fan Mark Lanegan makes an appearance amidst the languid and sun-soaked denouement of ‘The Mirror’, the existential gravitas of his tones entirely at home in these revelatory surroundings.
The band is characterised by its ‘heavy’ sound, DIY ethic, prolific output, and stylistic experimentation.
New double album ‘Dances / Curses’ on Ltd Clear 2LP/2CD/DL released on November 6th via Wrong Speed Records (UK/Euro) & Learning Curve Records (US).
Before they were a band, Pylon were art-school students at the University of Georgia: Just four kids invigorated by big ideas about art and creativity and society. Pylon was less a band, however, and more of an art project, which meant they had very specific goals in mind as well as an expiration date. while their time together as a band was short lived (1979-1983), Although just a few years as their time together Pylon had a lasting influence on the history of rock and roll. Throughout their brief history, they were able to create influential work that would help foster the post-punk and art-rock scene of the early 80s. influencing artists like R.E.M., Gang of Four, Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, Interpol, Deerhunter and many more claim inspiration from the band. in 1980 the band released its first record, “Gyrate” and began touring across the country in support of the release. The band would soon develop a following across the country and specifically in the bustling music scene in New York City. One of their earliest gigs was opening for the Gang of Four in the big apple. Following the critical acclaim of their debut release, Pylon went back into the studio. while in the studio they gleefully pulled their songs apart and put them back together in new shapes, revealing a band of self-proclaimed non-musicians who had transformed gradually but noticeably into real musicians. The resulting album, “Chomp” was barely off the press when Pylon were booked to open a run of dates for a hot new Irish band called U2 (after previously playing two arena shows with them in the month leading to the album release). Most bands would have jumped at the opportunity, but Pylon were skeptical. at a critical point in the life of Pylon, they opted to become a cult band rather than stretch their defining philosophy too far. “We fully intended Pylon to be an almost seasonal thing that we were gonna do for a minute and then get on with our lives,” says Curtis Crowe, drummer for the band. “but it just never went away. it still doesn’t go away. there’s a new subterranean class of kids that are coming into this kind of music, and they’re just now discovering Pylon for the first time. that blows my mind. we didn’t see that coming.” New West Records is proud to partner with Pylon to reissue “Chomp” back into the masses. beautifully remastered from the original audio sources and pressed on vinyl for the first time in over 30 years.
Pylon’s 1980 debut album, sounded like the work of the best sort of enlightened amateurs, musicians who were still fairly new to what they were doing and making the most of their simplicity, which worked brilliantly in their favour. 1983’s Chomp was a somewhat different affair; Pylon were a more accomplished group with far more practical experience under their belts, and instead of the streamlined hands-off production of Bruce Baxter, the second album was produced by Chris Stamey and Gene Holder of the dB’s, and engineered by Mitch Easter. As a consequence, Chomp sounds fuller and less minimal than Gyrate, with Vanessa Briscoe Hay overdubbing vocal harmonies on some tracks, keyboards popping up here and there, and Randy Bewley adding some new flash to his James Brown-style chicken scratch guitar. However, if Pylon were capable of doing more on Chomp, they also knew what not to do. The textures are more complicated, but the music still feels efficient, with no wasted gestures in the songs or performances. The grooves are as potent as ever, with bassist Michael Lachowski and drummer Curtis Crowe anchoring this music with lean, funky rhythms that sound edgy while still filling the dance floor.
The added production polish and instrumental niceties add atmosphere without weighing down the songs, and reinforce how tuneful the material is despite their clean surfaces. “Crazy” is a beautifully ominous pop song that Pylon lacked the sophistication to pull off when they made Gyrate; if their early music was full of sharp angles, “Crazy” showed they could create something more accessible without compromising their vision in any way. Pylon would break up the same year Chomp was released, and it’s fascinating to speculate where their broader musical range and studio smarts would have taken them if they’d stayed together (they would periodically play reunion shows, and even cut a third album, Chain, in 1990.) However, if Chomp closed the book on Pylon’s first era, it was a grand finale, an album that stands apart from their debut yet is just as brilliant in its own ways.
The Fat Angel Sings 