Hull / Leeds-based shoegazers bdrmm follow their hugely acclaimed debut album “Bedroom” with “The Bedroom Tapes”, a limited-edition 12” EP that rounds up remixes and lockdown live sessions. The first side features stripped-down versions of “Gush, A Reason To Celebrate” and “Forget The Credits” from the album, plus a version of 2019 single “Question Mark”. Originally recorded at home by the band’s Ryan and Jordan Smith for various radio sessions, these versions feel fragile and expose the feelings that are buried under the noise of Bedroom.
The flip features Andy Bell’s radical reworking of “A Reason To Celebrate” under his GLOK guise, which finds the previously unexplored middle ground between the late Andrew Weatherall and underrated 4AD outfit Ultra Vivid Scene. It is joined by Ditz’s dynamic deconstruction of If.… and International Teachers Of Pop’s almost obscenely cheerful ‘de-mix’ of Happy.
October 2020 brings the release of “Splintered Metal Sky”, is the long-awaited new installment in the ever vast musical cannon of White Hills. The album takes the listener on a post-punk, psychedelic ride fuelled by industrial-strength fuzz and propelled by powerful beats where songs weave in and out of each other to imitate the rhythm of the city the band calls home. Splintered Metal Sky is about oscillation and evolution. It’s metamodern music looking at human existence in relation to technology and the hyper-driven architectural reshaping of a city. The music was largely inspired by the drone and roar of machinery pulsing through New York City, which is in a never-ending state of demolition and reconstruction. Dave W. (guitar & vocals) and Ego Sensation (bass & vocals) took to the streets, gathering field recordings of sounds from the subway, drills, jackhammers, people in parks, traffic, mayhem and the occasional silence.
These recordings were then manipulated and constructed into rhythmic lines that were used as the basis for songs. The music, mixing noise with disciplined beat, embodies the paradoxical nature of the city: the grimy littered dead end alley just steps away from the sleek luxury skyscraper; the half eaten chicken bone being devoured by a rat on the subway tracks just beneath the glittering facade of the Chrysler building; the endless milling about of the 8 million people who call this slab of land home on their way to and from everywhere and nowhere.
Informed by industrial innovators Einstürzende Neubauten and SPK, the avant garde post-punk of Tuxedomoon and the dub-electro of Cabaret Voltaire, the album vibrates with the energy of a sensually feral, raw beast.
The band recorded and mixed “Splintered Metal Sky” at Studio G in Brooklyn with producer/engineer Jeff Berner (Psychic TV). White Hills previously worked with Jeff for the Valley King Records release of the single Putting On The Pressure. The album features numerous guest appearances. The idea to recruit collaborators came after a meeting between Ego and fellow Only Lovers Left Alive alumni, Lebanese singer, Yasmine Hamdan, while she was in NYC recording with former Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley.
The band asked her to add vocals to a song and she jumped at the opportunity, which led to a stunning vocal performance on the track Rats. Energized by the collaboration, Dave & Ego decided to approach other cohorts to join in. This led to guest appearances by filmmaker and musician Jim Jarmusch (ambient guitar on c:Construct & Illusion), Simone Marie Butler of Primal Scream (vocals on Honesty) and former Cop Shoot Cop and current member of Human Impact Jim Coleman (synth on Numbers & c:Construct).
Each person added their own flavour and perspective, pushing the songs to places not before imagined by the duo. Running with the idea of collaboration, Dave decided to work with someone on the cover concept. In came longtime friend of Dave’s Johnny Brewton, who has quite a resume of his own in the art world, having worked with and for Mark Motherbaugh at Mutato Muzika, Tom Waits, Hunter S. Thompson and Charles Bukowski to name a few. He is the man behind XRay Book Co, who produce art publications like XRay Magazine, and Bagazine. Upon the two discussing the concept of Splintered Metal Sky, Johnny went to work cutting up images and constructing the concept visually through the medium of collage.
Returning to the intimate acoustics of his debut, Keaton’s fourth album as a singer-songwriter is a devastating meditation on loss, brought to life with all the pain and beauty that has been his art form for the last 10 years.
It was from a remote outpost in the english countryside that Keaton finally felt ready to confront the decades long illness, and imminent death of his father, who passed two days before he finished recording the album. Keaton: “i made it at home, mostly alone, to the sound of birds and rainstorms, at strange hours of day and night. once the bones were recorded, i was somewhat unexpectedly joined by an amazing group of people, who came to musically lift me on their shoulders, and take these unsaid feelings to another plain in terms of sound.”
“Monument” released through Play It Again Sam is Keaton’s first album since 2016’s Kindly Now. Keaton Henson’s new album “Monument” is a rare thing. It is an album about loss, and dealing with losing the ones we love, but told, in incredibly candid detail, through the aspects of our lives that surround the trauma itself, about love, ageing, recovery, life, seen through the prism of grief. With the posting of an enigmatic and cryptic goodbye in 2016; Epilogue, Henson’s next project ended up becoming Six Lethargies, a complex and ambitious symphony for string orchestra, dealing with the minutiae of mental illness. He put away the guitar and retreated to his home for three years to compose it. Monument now finds Keaton re-emerging with an album of songs about grief, and how it permeates our lives.
The record began when, having recovered from both Six Lethargiesand the circumstances that inspired it, Henson moved from London to the wilds of the English countryside, spending long days outside chopping wood, tending to the grounds, and watching birds of prey soaring above. It was from this remote outpost that he finally felt ready to look at a subject he had been avoiding for his entire song-writing career; the decades long illness, and imminent death of his father, who passed two days before he finished recording the album.
Prayer, a performance. taken from the upcoming album Monument, out 23rd October 2020.
“Eel Drip” is a 4 track EP on digital and solid white 12″ vinyl https://hth.lnk.to/eeldrip“‘Eel Drip’ Is about honouring the dead, the passing of lives within you and beyond you” Trappes explains. “It’s about physical or emotional change, acknowledging fears, and being true to yourself… reaching your full potential.” Eel Drip sees fragile arpeggiated electronics and hazy vocals swell to a celestial hallow. It sets a delicate, unhurried sense of peace that flows throughout the EP’s four tracks – both sparse and gentle, yet rushing with light and emotion. The accompanying video was directed by Agnes Haus and inspired by artist Francesca Woodman’s 1970s series of nude self-portraits with Eels.
Of the video, Trappes comments: “In the process of changing and shedding past notions of myself, there is another world between the past and the future. An eternal state, unknown, warped, slippery, free. Submitting to change, dying… being reborn.”
‘Eel Drip” sees fragile arpeggiated electronics and hazy vocals swell to a celestial hallow. It sets a delicate, unhurried sense of peace that flows throughout the EP’s four tracks – both sparse and gentle, yet rushing with light and emotion. She is a shapeshifter known for being a goddess of war and battle, the cycle of life and death, and is also associated with wisdom and prophecy, magic and the land. Often portrayed as a trio of sisters who appeared as a crow, she was the keeper of fate, teller of secrets and purveyor of prophecy.
Of the video, Penelope comments: “In the process of changing and shedding past notions of myself, there is another world between the past and the future. An eternal state, unknown, warped, slippery, free. Submitting to change, dying… being reborn.”
if this were any further up our street, it’d be in our living room! Trappes‘ brooding dreamscapes are just impossible to resist.
summoning the great ghosts of vintage 4ad and kranky, the Australian singer and producer makes inky dream pop that’s as heavy and welcoming as a weighted blanket in winter. ‘Eel Drip’ is referencing the celtic goddess of war and death, Morrigan, the phantom queen. she is a shapeshifter known for being a goddess of war and battle, the cycle of life and death, and is also associated with wisdom and prophecy, magic and the land. often portrayed as a trio of sisters who appeared as a crow, she was the keeper of fate, teller of secrets and purveyor of prophecy. …in her tales and prophecies there were crows, ravens, wolves, vultures, eels and cows. fans of grouper, Hilary Woods and Cross Record will love this.
Helen Ballentine’s emotional folk reveries will delight fans of Phoebe Bridgers, Tomberlin and Dana Gavanski – it’s an absolute free for all of lush melodies. Skullcrusher is, by all accounts, an exploration of the ways you become yourself when you aren’t looking – and how that feels once you start paying attention. It’s a quiet power; a hushed celebration of the tiny, understated subtleties that culminate into knowing yourself. On her debut EP, songwriter Helen Ballentine offers an airy, intense, and unflinchingly open collection of songs written about – and from – one of life’s in-between gray areas, a stretch of uncertainty and unemployment, and the subsequent search for identity. Here, as Skullcrusher, Ballentine grapples with how to communicate her private self to an audience.
The four dark, dreamy songs on her debut EP were influenced by a strange-but-fitting amalgamation of media consumed in the immediate aftermath of quitting her 9-5. There’s Valerie and her Week of Wonders, the Czech new-wave film that went on to inform Skullcrusher’s aesthetic. There’s Ballentine’s love of fantasy and surrealism, her appreciation of the way fantasy novels juxtapose beauty and violence.
Skullcrusher’s understated energy radiates with the atmosphere of waking up to the quiet terror of shapeless, structureless days, but it finds power in eschewing the pressures of careerism and a vapid culture of productivity. Instead, as Skullcrusher, Ballentine has the audacity to be comfortable enough with herself, and to simply accept the unknown as her life.
“Lift” the new Radiohead cover by Skullcrusher, out October 19th on Secretly Canadian.
On her debut ep, songwriter Helen Ballentine offers an airy, intense, and unflinchingly open collection of songs. the four dark, dreamy numbers were influenced by a strange-but-fitting amalgamation of media consumed in the immediate aftermath of quitting her 9-5. Skullcrusher’s understated energy radiates with the atmosphere of waking up to the quiet terror of shapeless, structureless days, but it finds power in eschewing the pressures of careerism and a vapid culture of productivity. instead, as Skullcrusher, Ballentine has the audacity to be comfortable enough with herself, and to simply accept the unknown as her life. “forget the name, the la artist’s debut ep is a welcome, tender collection” 4/5 – nme.
Loma’s “Don’t Shy Away”, their incredible and absorbing second album, will be available Friday, October 23rd worldwide through Sub Pop Records. The eleven-track effort, which features lyric videos for “Homing” and “Ocotillo” and official videos for “Half Silences,” “Don’t Shy Away,” “I Fix My Gaze,” and “Elliptical Days,” was produced and recorded by the band at Dandysounds in Dripping Strings, Texas—except for “Homing” , which was produced by Brian Eno. MOJO says of Don’t Shy Away, “Loma’s music unspools in vivid panoramas – sometimes downbeat and rainy, sometimes splashy and urgent, reminiscent of the mid-‘90s school of Bowery Electric post-rock. Yet the trio ensure all the glitches and layers (clarinet, brass, guitar) add bright pin-sharp accents not blurry textural flab, Cross’s voice glinting through ‘Blue Rainbow’s’ electro-cabaret judder or the Morphine-like rumble of ‘Ocotillo’ (4/5).” Exclaim! says: “Don’t Shy Away is ultimately as gratifying as it is ambitious. Brian Eno was right: Loma are the real deal (8/10).
Uncut praises the album’s’ “Atmospheric melodies” and how “Cross’ otherworldly vocals blend to absorbing effect (8/10,” while Secret Meeting raves, “Bigger in scope than the three piece’s self titled debut, “Don’t Shy Away” is on a whole other sonic level. It encourages us to not just exist in the spaces that we inhabit, but to find every possibility they could offer. As second records go, they don’t come much more mesmerically splendorous than this.” And Stereogum, in a glowing track review of “Elliptical Days,” says “Loma are making some gorgeous, otherworldly music.”
And today, BBC’s “6 Music” has made Don’t Shy Away its “Album of the Day.”
In celebration of the album’s release, Loma is presenting the “Don’t Shy Away” Sessions, a week-long series of live performances of songs from the album (and an interview with the band). The sessions via IGTV and Loma’s YouTube channel and were recorded in June 2020 in Dripping Springs, Texas.
Loma was conceived on the road, but the band was born in Dripping Springs, a slice of Texas Hill Country outside Austin with a population just shy of 5,000. Cross and Duszynski landed there seven years ago, when Cross happened upon an 18-acre ranch on Craigslist. Although Cross recently moved to the southern coast of England, the Dripping Springs locale still functions as a fully-outfitted recording studio and a home to Duszynski, Meiburg, and a brood of furry friends.
The ranch is situated next to an aviary, and the squawking birds who live there have offered uncredited contributors to both of Loma’s albums for Sub Pop: 2018’s self-titled debut and its recent follow-up, Don’t Shy Away. “You wake up to the sound of hundreds of parrots and macaws screaming their heads off,” Meiburg says, adding that the yelps and clucks of donkeys, peacocks, and chickens round out the ranch’s layered sonic character. Don’t Shy Away feels dark and warm and teeming with life, as if it were exclusively made in the hours when humans are quiet and wildlife chatters on. “The album is a lot about the beauty and the force of nature,” Cross says “That never loses relevance, no matter what’s happening, and maybe it is more relevant now.”
Emily Cross is the voice of Loma, but the group’s mercurial sound is a product of her work with recording engineer Dan Duszynski and Jonathan Meiburg of indie vets Shearwater. Cross and Duszynski, who used to be married, previously recorded experimental folk under the name Cross Record, and the duo opened up for Shearwater on tour in 2016. “I just never got tired of watching them,” Meiburg tells me. “I had this super music crush on them, so I said, ‘What if we made a baby together?’”
On Don’t Shy Away, elements of ambient, folk, free jazz, and pop dissolve into a singular sound that is deeply collaborative. Each member of Loma collectively shapes its songs; Meiburg writes the majority of the lyrics, but their delivery is molded by Cross and Duszynski. If Meiburg and Duszynski compose a melody, it is often Cross who contorts it into something grimier and more shadowy.
It’s a decade since The Staves self-released their first EP and a lot has happened since then. Their third album “Good Woman” was written and recorded amid major upheaval, heartbreak and bereavement. The new-found boldness, loudness and lyrical directness on this record are indicative of lives forced to become a serious concern. In early 2020 the band resumed touring, unveiling their expansive and exhilaratingly powerful new sound, and previewing these emotionally affecting songs in intimate venues across the country; with tickets selling out in seconds. They ended the tour with a triumphant homecoming appearance at the BBC6 Music Festival.
The Staves’ first album in five years is an accumulation of everything that life has thrown at them in that time. Emily: “You find strength in the vulnerability and you find beauty in the sadness and magic in the despair. We lost so much, but we found so much. And while the album is not all about mum, something shifted in us when she died that made us make the record in the way that we made it. We became more fearless.” Camilla: “It feels more about trying to take ownership of these events and not letting sadness or trauma rule you.” Jessica: “It’s a record about sisterhood, motherhood and daughterhood; love, loss, change and trying to be a good person, a good woman.
The Staves have their first new album in six years, “Good Woman”, which will arrive on February. 5th via Nonesuch Records. Following the release of “Nazareth” and “Trying,” the trio shared the album’s title track.
Our new album ‘Good Woman’ released 5th February 2021.
Following his spiritual and artistic rebirth, and hot on the heels of his incredibly well received release, ‘Mona Bone Jakon’, Cat Stevens unveiled his second album of the year in November 1970 … and it was to become one of the defining musical statements of the new decade. ‘Tea For The Tillerman’, not only consolidated Cat’s success in the UK and forged him a glittering new career in the USA, it also set him on the road to global superstardom and gave the world songs like ‘Wild World’, ‘Father & Son’, ‘Where Do The Children Play?’ and many more.
To commemorate the album’s 50th anniversary comes this definitive super deluxe box set of Tea For The Tillerman’. With the songs’ messages as powerfully relevant today as they were in 1970, the original album is represented here on CD by a brand new 2020 remaster at Abbey Road Studios by Geoff Pesche, overseen by original producer Paul Samwell-Smith, as well as a new 2020 Mix on CD by David Hefti. It also includes, in full, Yusuf’s September 2020 reimagined ‘Tea For The Tillerman 2’ album featuring new interpretations of the classic originals. The box also includes an exclusive fourth CD of outtakes, alternate versions and demos, and a fifth featuring 25 live performances from 1971 including some recorded at the legendary LA music venue The Troubadour.
Alongside the 5CDs and gatefold vinyl LP the box also comes with a live 12” vinyl E.P. of the Troubadour recordings and, on BluRay, the original promo video of ‘Father & Son’, plus live performances, and the HD audio of the new ‘Tea For The Tillerman’ 2020 Mix. Also included is a 98-page beautifully illustrated hardcover book with extensive new sleeve notes. Finally housed in a card envelope within the box is a ‘Pick Up A Good Book’ bookmark, a Yusuf / Cat Stevens designed ‘Miles From Nowhere’ print, a reproduction handwritten lyric sheet for ‘Miles From Nowhere’, a fold-out ‘Live From The Troubadour 1970’ poster, and a ‘Tea For The Tillerman’ sticker.
Seven months after Mona Bone Jakon, Stevens released Tea For The Tillerman. The multiplatinum album cemented the artist’s reputation and included some of his best-known hits, including “Wild World,” “Father and Son,” and timeless classics like “Where Do the Children Play” and “On the Road To Find Out.” The deluxe 50th anniversary box packs in 5 CDs, a Blu-ray, an LP, and an etched 12″. CD 1 includes the 2020 remaster of the original album mix, while CD 2 houses the 2020 remix (also on LP). The recent album “Tea For The Tillerman 2″ is reprised on CD 3, while CD 4 contains demos, alternate versions, and unreleased tracks. Among them are “Can This Be Love?” “It’s So Good,” “Love Lives in the Sky,” “The Joke,” and “Honey Man,” a duet with Elton John. Also featured are “If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out” and “Don’t Be Shy” from the still-absent-from-CD soundtrack to Harold and Maude. CD 5 is filled with 25 live recordings from The Troubadour in L.A. (also on an etched 12″), KCET also in L.A., the BBC In Concert performance, Beat Club, various French TV appearances, and four songs recorded at New York’s Fillmore East. The BluRay includes the promo video for “Father and Son,” TV appearances on KCET, a trio of songs from the BBC, and performances on Beat Club and French television. If that weren’t enough, there’s also high-res audio of the 2020 remix of Tea For The Tillerman.
Slimmer editions include a 1-CD standard edition book set with the 2020 remaster of the original album mix and a 2-CD deluxe edition with the remaster and a selection of demos and live recordings.
In all it’s a fitting celebration for these landmark albums that not only brought Cat Stevens/Yusuf newfound attention worldwide, but also cemented a sound that would take hold in the ’70s and continue to influence musicians to this day. The 50th anniversary editions of Mona Bone Jakon and Tea For The Tillerman are available for pre-order now, due to ship close to the December 4th release date. You can peruse the track listings and place your orders below! And check out the new singles, “I Want Some Sun” and “Can This Be Love,” to whet your appetite.
Back in 1970 and following a period of illness and recuperation, singer-songwriting troubadour Cat Stevens re-emerged with a new record deal with Island Records and a spiritual and artistic rebirth. ‘Mona Bone Jakon’, his first album for Island, showcased a markedly different change in direction for Cat, unveiling with it a remarkable set of new compositions that included classics like ‘Trouble’, ‘Maybe You’re Right’ and the UK hit single ‘Lady D’Arbanville’.
To commemorate the album’s 50th anniversary comes this definitive super deluxe box set of ‘Mona Bone Jakon’. Sounding as fresh as the day it was recorded, the original album is represented here by a brand new 2020 remaster of ‘Mona Bone Jakon’ by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road, overseen by original producer Paul Samwell-Smith 2020 on CD, as well as a new 2020 Mix by David Hefti on both CD and LP. The set also includes an exclusive third CD of previously unreleased demos, and a fourth featuring 18 live performances from 1970/71.
This box is rounded out with a live 12” etched vinyl E.P. of a rare audience recording of ‘Live At Plumpton Jazz & Blues Festival’ from August 1970, and with a BluRay disc featuring the original promo video of ‘Lady D’Arbanville’, plus eight live TV performances, and the HD audio of the new Mona Bone Jakon 2020 Mix. Also included is a 98-page beautifully illustrated hardcover book with extensive new sleeve notes. Finally there’s also a selection of memorabilia including Island Records press kit, two Island press photos, a replica 1970 Plumpton Jaxx and Blues flyer, a Cat Stevens tour sticker and ‘dustbin’ greetings card and pop art print in a card envelope.
Hitting shelves that day will be 50th anniversary editions of Mona Bone Jakon and Tea For The Tillerman. Released within 7 months in 1970, these albums saw Stevens redefining his sound. Following a battle with tuberculosis and a lengthy stay at in the hospital, Stevens had begun looking inward, exploring literature and meditation, and reflecting on who he was as an artist. Beginning on these two albums, he stripped away many of the production excesses of his late-’60s Deram albums in favour of a more soulful, introspective sound that would dovetail with the burgeoning singer-songwriter movement. This metamorphosis began with Mona Bone Jakon, produced by ex-Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith and featuring long time collaborator Alun Davies on guitar along with John Ryan on bass and Harvey Burns on drums.
The 4-CD/Blu-ray/LP 50th anniversary box set edition of Mona Bone Jakon features a new remaster of the original mix (overseen by Paul Samwell-Smith) on CD 1, a 2020 remix by David Hefti on CD 2, and on LP, unreleased demos on CD 3 (including the new single “I Want Some Sun”), and 18 live performances on CD 4. Among the live performances are legendary television appearances on French TV, Beat Club in Germany, and two different BBC sessions. Another highlight is a 6-song set from the Plumpton Jazz and Blues Festival in August 1970 which sees Stevens tackling songs from Mona Bone Jakon, the as-yet-released Tea For The Tillerman, and even “Changes IV,” which would appear on Teaser and the Firecat in 1971. The Plumpton set is also featured on an etched LP in the set. Rounding out the Mona Bone Jakon box is a Blu-ray disc featuring high-resolution audio of the 2020 mix, plus the original promotional video for “Lady D’Arbanville,” television appearances on Pop Deux and other French TV programs, as well as “Maybe You’re Right” from BBC’s In Concert series and “Lady D’Arbanville” on Beat Club.
Finally, it wouldn’t be a deluxe box set without some memorabilia. Inside the Mona Bone Jakon box you’ll find a replica Island Records press kit, two Cat Stevens press photos, a replica flier for the 1970 Plumpton Jazz and Blues Festival, a tour sticker, greeting card, and a pop art-inspired dustbin print.
Slimmer editions of Mona Bone Jakon will also be available. The 1-CD standard edition will feature the 2020 remaster of the original album mix housed in a book set. A similarly presented 2-CD deluxe edition pairs this remaster with a disc of studio demos and live highlights.
In celebration of Record Store Day , Keith Richards has released a new video for “Hate It When You Leave,” a track on his second solo album “Main Offender” which was first released in 1992.
“The video portrays that the simplicity of life is what is most beautiful about the world and pays homage to people and places one loves, particularly at a time when family, friends and lovers have been kept apart,“ stated a press release. Directed by Jacques Naudé, the video begins with an empty road which leads into a collection of different moments of people working, at play, and interacting with one another.
On Record Store Day, June 12th, 2021, Keith Richards will release a limited edition (3500 units) red vinyl 7″ single ‘Wicked As It Seems‘, including two previously unreleased live tracks from Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos.
Recorded in December 1995 at the Town & Country Club, Kentish Town, London, as part of the Main Offender Tour, are a live version of ‘Wicked As It Seems‘, plus a live version of the Rolling Stones classic ‘Gimme Shelter‘. This specially curated single also includes newly created sleeve artwork based on the Main Offender album art.
Richards is also releasing a limited quantity vinyl on Record Store Day which according to a press release includes “track ‘Key To The Highway’ which only ever saw release on the Japanese version of the album Main Offender, along with ‘Hate It When You Leave.’”
Get ‘Hate It When You Leave’ and the rare Keith Richards track “Key To The Highway” (which only ever saw release on the Japanese version of the album Main Offender) on a red vinyl 7” single on Record Store Day.
