Fourth installment of the self-made quarantine music videos. Found this quote about Easter Island from a person named Judith Schalansky that I feel like perfectly summed up the whole point of the song so put it right at the beginning – “Whether an island such as Easter Island can be considered remote is simply a matter of perspective. Those who live there, the Rapa Nui, call their homeland Te Pito Te Henua, ‘the navel of the world’. Any point on the infinite globe of the Earth can become a centre.”
Just a simple one-shot video walking backwards on a wooded trail in my favourite orange vogue jumpsuit I found the other day and crocs, talking to myself via the lyrics of the song.
“Easter Island” is about wanting to be anywhere but where you are, but also deep down knowing that everything I’m looking for is already here. It’s kinda taken on a whole new meaning now with not being able to really go anywhere – I’ve been romanticizing everywhere but have no choice but to find it where I am.
I’ve been obsessed with the actual place Easter Island since I was a little kid, it’s so mysterious and one of the most remote places on earth – it’s always been a sort of mecca for me so I wanted to use that as the main symbol for the song.
Musically, I finally went full jazz on this one mixed with some 808 stuff at the end and I guess I’m almost rapping for the first time ? which just happened – I recorded all the music then held the paper with the lyrics, pressed record and this is what came out the first time.
Lancaster, PA’s Innocence Mission started out three decades ago as a dream pop band with an alt-rock backbone, but after drummer Steve Brown left for a culinary career, the group saw it as an opportunity to explore a more delicate, folkier side, beginning with 1999’s Birds of My Neighborhood. They’ve never looked back and have been all the better for it. See You Tomorrow is The Innocence Mission’s 12th album and one of their best, with Karen Peris’ heartbreaking voice as always the star of the show. Songs like the demure “At Lake Maureen,” “On Your Side” and “St. Francis and the Future” offer shards of dust-speckled light for that voice to ride upon, with arrangements that never overpower but also offer wonderful surprises, like when the strings and percussion kick in midway through opener “The Brothers Williams Said.” It’s a beautiful strain of melancholy that Peris imbues in these songs, tinged ever so slightly with nostalgia, like that first chilly night in August that has you reaching for a sweater, knowing summer’s days are numbered.
Alternative folk act The Innocence Mission first gained recognition in 1989, when they found chart success with their self-titled debut album. By the time the band released their third album, Glow, in 1995, they had earned a zealous cult following that remains loyal to them to this day. Their songs tend to be exquisitely crafted, featuring ethereally beautiful acoustic-based music and hauntingly introspective and thoughtful lyrics, all combining into a sound that is at once delicate yet intense. The band, led by married couple Karen Peris (vocals, guitar, piano, organ) and Don Peris (guitars, drums vocals), originated when they first met in high school. Now, more than thirty years later, they (along with bassist Mike Bitts) are preparing to release their twelfth studio album, See You Tomorrow (Thérèse Records), on January 17th. Speaking from their home/studio in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, they exude the same warmth and sincerity that can be found in their music.
Band Members:
Karen Peris – vocals, guitar, piano, organ
Don Peris – guitars, drums, vocals
Mike Bitts – bass guitar, vocals
As well as founding Fleetwood Mac, the late Peter Green was arguably the finest British blues guitarist, singer and songwriter of his generation. This 4-CD boxed set showcases his dazzling talent across numerous broadcasts, spanning studio performances for the BBC and live sets in San Francisco, Finland and Sweden. Capturing him at the peak of his powers between early 1968 and late 1969, it comes complete with a booklet containing background notes and rare images, making it an essential purchase for his army of admirers. Collection of Fleetwood Mac performances led by the late great Peter Green
Includes performances captured for broadcast on British, American and Scandinavian radio stations
Original Live Broadcasts 1968 BBC includes Top Gear, January 21st 1968: Top Gear, March 24th 1968: Saturday Club, April 13th 1968, Top Gear, June 2nd 1968: Top Gear, July 7th 1968:
Radio One O’clock, August 26th 1968: Top Gear, October 13th 1968: Top Gear, November 24th 1968: Live At The Carousel Ballroom, San Francsico,
8th June 1968, KSAN-FM, Live In Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland, 24th September 1969, Yleisradio Oy (Yle), Live At The Cue Club, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2nd November 1969, Sveriges Radio
Fuzz, the psych-rock project of Ty Segall, guitarist Charles Moothart, and bassist Chad Ubovich, have announced their first album in five years. Entitled suprisingly III, the eight-track affair is due out 23rd October through In The Red records.
“III” both active and reactive. Charles Moothart, Ty Segall and Chad Ubovich are Fuzz. Fuzz is three. and III has returned. songs for all, and music for one. III was recorded and mixed at united recording under the sonic lordship of Steve Albini. Keeping the focus on the live sounds of the band, the use of overdubs and studio tricks were kept to a minimum. Albini’s mastery in capturing sound gave the trio the ability to focus entirely on the playing while knowing the natural sounds would land. it takes the essential ingredients of “guitar-based music” and “rock and roll power trio” and puts them right out on the chopping block. it was a much more honest approach for the band. Three humans getting primitive, staying primitive. the goal was never to reinvent the wheel. sometimes it’s just about seeing how long one can hold on before getting thrown off. three points reflected in three mirrors; a pyramid of sonic destruction and psychic creation. Nothing people feed the roots while the freaks fly free in the treetops—blind to vines, eyes closed, stuck in spit, triumphing the returning of beginnings and ends returning while beginning to see the time collapse. Love is the only way to annihilate hate, and sketchy freaks live to bleed. all shades of colour, truth and lies,III is the pillar of unity and singularity. all is nothing, and only nothing can generate everything. log out, drop thought, turn up.
Speaking on Returning in a statement, Fuzz described the song as “an auditory meditation on the power of one and the different perspectives of one”, relating the song to the band’s long-awaited return.
“Whether it is the singular person looking inward, or a group of people coming together as a single unit. As the opening track of the record, it serves as a sort of mission statement or mantra for the album. Not only is it an echo of the return of Fuzz, but also a broader return to form – raw and empowered through vulnerability. In order to maintain a focus on the Fuzz’s live sound, Albini encouraged a minimum in overdubs and studio trickery.
This isn’t the first time that Segall and Albini have crossed paths, as the engineer also recorded Segall’s 2017 self-titled record. From the upcoming album “III”. Out 10/23/20 on In The Red Records. The third album the collaborative limbs of Ty Segall, Charles Moothart and Chad Ubovich as Fuzz. Strap in. To celebrate this ferocious release, we have produced a very limited, special edition on transparent green vinyl that includes a numbered A3 risograph poster, a custom petrol eggshell Fuzz sticker and guitar pick.
III by FUZZ is available for pre-order now through intheredrecords.com The trio have supplied a first taste of their latest album with the release of the single Returning .
The Experience’s first three releases were 45s on Track Records, the independent label owned by The Who managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. All three reached the top ten of the UK pop charts in early 1967: “Hey Joe / Stone Free” made #6 in January, “Purple Haze” #3 in March and “The Wind Cries Mary” #6 in May. Naturally, their TV appearances at this time were largely vehicles for promoting these records but the most unusual broadcast we feature here is a studio session recorded for the experimental Dutch TV show Hoepla, where the band was encouraged to perform extended versions of their songs. Sound quality ranges from excellent (Dutch, French TV) to acceptable (UK TV). This album shows us just how good they sounded as they transition from psychedelic pop group to stadium rock band.
Side One
1 Foxy Lady
2 Purple Haze
3 Purple Haze
4 Wild Thing
5 The Wind Cries Mary
6 Hey Joe
Side Two
1 Hey Joe
2 Stone Free
3 Wild Thing
4 Stone Free
5 Like a Rolling Stone
6 Purple Haze
Ultravox’s 1980 album ‘Vienna’ album is reissued for its 40th anniversary as a massive 5CD+DVD box set with plenty of unreleased material and Steven Wilson 5.1 and stereo mixes! Vinyl formats also available Ultravox‘s 1980 album ’s Vienna album is to be reissued for its 40th anniversary as an extensive 5CD+DVD box set that includes a plethora of unreleased material and Steven Wilson stereo and 5.1 mixes. Vinyl formats also available. The album contains 4 UK Top 40 singles; All Stood Still, Passing Strangers and Sleepwalk (which is being issued on 12” for the first time as part of Record Store Day 2020) and the title track ‘Vienna’ which reached No.2 in the UK and Top 10 in seven countries around the world. The single went on to sell over half a million copies in the UK.
Produced by Conny Plank, the album was the band’s first for Chrysalis and the first to feature Midge Ure on lead vocals. It originally peaked at number three in the UK album chart, with its title track famously thwarted from reaching the top of the singles chart by that song by Joe Dolce. ‘All Stood Still’, the final of four singles followed ‘Vienna’ into the top ten in June 1981.
The six-disc box set features 66 tracks, 44 of which are previously unreleased recordings or mixes. It comprises the following
CD 1 – Original 1980 album (newly mastered from production tapes)
CD 2 – New Steven Wilson stereo mix of album and B-sides
CD 3 – A-sides, B-sides, 12-inch mixes and live tracks
CD 4 – Cassette rehearsals
CD 5 – Live from St. Albans 1980 (newly mixed)
DVD – 5.1 Steven Wilson mix (+ 24/96 hi-res stereo of new mixes) + B-sides. Also hi-res stereo of original album and original mixes of B-sides!
This 5CD+DVD comes packaged in a 12″ x 12″ rigid slipcase and includes a 20-page large format booklet featuring notes from the band, unseen photos from Midge Ure’s and Chris Cross’ personal collection, four A4 art prints.
There is also a half-speed mastered 2LP vinyl set that features the original album on the first LP and a bonus LP that includes a pick ‘n’ mix selection of single versions, B-sides and live cuts. It also features a US promo edit of ‘Vienna’, never commercially released, which is exclusive to this vinyl (i.e. not on the CD box).
The official Ultravox store also features an exclusive 4LP clear vinyl box set, which is the 2LP package plus ‘Live from St. Albans’ across two further LPs.
Vienna is reissued across all formats on 9th October 2020. The 5CD+DVD box and the 2LP are available via the SDE shop using this link or the buttons below. Other purchasing options in the widgets.
Future Islands‘ romantic synth sound scales new heights with “On the Water”, the Baltimore trio’s most ambitious and fully realized statement yet. Built around a song cycle exploring love, loss, and memory, their latest album finds the band continuing to deliver pounding rhythms, swelling melodies, and undeniable hooks – but finding new ways to probe inner space and tug at hearts.
Convening in March 2011 in Elizabeth City, NC’s historic, waterfront Andrew S. Sanders House, vocalist Samuel T. Herring, bassist William Cashion, and keyboardist Gerrit Welmers lived together in a space that served as both studio and sleeping quarters. The band used this tranquil retreat to refine their most reflective and mature batch of songs to date, adding new material in the process.
What emerged is a lush yet visceral album about two parallel journeys–one physical and one psychological. “On the Water’s” narrator offers enough detail that their story feels personal, yet open enough that any listener can inhabit each twist and emotional pang as their own.
Travelling on foot, we seek something – an exorcism, an epiphany, an ending. Memories wash across us as in life: non-linear, linked by emotional resonance rather than conventional chronology. And so, the pain of letting go channeled by “The Great Fire” collides with a moment’s fleeting serenity in the Eno-esque “Open”; the triumphant rallying cry “Give Us the Wind, “ despite its confident declaration of individual strength, remains a mile away from final chapter “Tybee Island.” It is there the song cycle ends, and what is discovered in “Tybee Island” will be as different as the lives lived by each person who finds their way to this album.
On the Water may unearth aural memories as well. The mind may flash upon our first encounters with New Order’s “Ceremony,” David Bowie’s “Heroes,” or The Cure’s Disintegration, memories which, are continually reborn and re-imagined in the context of the here and now. And as the song-cycle’s narrator comes to terms with his own memories, his singular journey collapses into the collective experience of album-closer “Grease.” It is here that the “I” of the nine previous songs collapses into the “we” of Future Islands, now singing the literal journey of the people who came together by the ocean to deliver these songs into our ears. Far from just a narrative trope, the ocean played an integral role in On the Water’s creation. The bulk of the album was recorded with waves pounding sand mere feet away. The album opens and closes with field recordings made by the band on a nearby dock, and one pivotal track, “Tybee Island,” began with vocals recorded on the beach (subsequently fleshed out in the studio with additional instrumentation).
The ocean inhabits every note of these songs. On the Water is an addictive ride that demands repeat listens, eagerly awaiting the test of time. To produce these results, Future Islands fleshed out its sound with the additions of cello, violin, marimba, and field recordings. As with their 2010 breakthrough album In Evening Air, On the Water was produced by frequent collaborator Chester Endersby Gwazda, perhaps best known as producer of Dan Deacon’s Bromst. Noted guests include Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, who provides vocals on “The Great Fire,” and Double Dagger’s Denny Bowen on live drums and additional percussion.
For all its undeniable weight, On the Water is not a sullen concept album. Every track on the record works both as a contribution to the whole and as a stand-alone pleasure, evident in the insistent throbs, addictive melodies, and stirring vocals of tracks like “Close to None,” “Balance,” and first single “Before the Bridge.”
Make no mistake, On the Water is a record that aims to both break your heart and heal your wounds.
After taking 2019 by the scruff of the neck and making it their own with some great festival appearances, as well as a blistering trajectory in 2020, Sea Girls have come out all guns blazing with their emotionally charged, deeply personal, hook laden debut album “Open Up Your Head” – on Polydor. Featuring fourteen doses of memorable jagged guitar-pop brilliance, the LP was produced by Larry Hibbitt in London. It is no surprise that Sea Girls are confidently clear in who they are. This assertive stance on just what their style is, and what type of songs they are drawn toward bringing to vinyl, resulting in a collection of tracks that can’t help but draw an abundance of refreshed appreciation from fans and critics alike. Each time I’ve seen this band they just bring joy.
‘Transplant’ has been described as “the most Sea Girls song ever”, and it does follow the band’s established hit-song formula. The lyrics are brutal; Henry Camamile sings “your heart changed, mine stayed the same”, and the line can’t help but hit home for numerous fans listening along. The group effortlessly relate to their audience throughout the record, having spent years getting to know them with exciting and vibrant live sets.
We can weave together a rough story line, and there’s a humour in the description of two people being on the phone and unable to really hear each other. However, the comical situation becomes heartbreaking; the song is essentially a goodbye, and an ode to collapsing communications. A euphoric chorus greets us after the fierce build up, with vocals and guitars woven together in a howling few lines that truly do epitomize the band’s thunderous, almost-pop sound.
‘Closer’, ‘Call Me Out’, and ‘Violet’ are some of the pre-existing tracks that have made it on to the album track list, and slot in brilliantly with the new material. ‘Do You Really Know’ is the perfect summer anthem, with a boppy melody underlying slightly darker lyrics.
Though known primarily for indie-pop, ‘Lie To Me’ shows a Sea Girls experimenting slightly with style; it’s almost Western in the vocal style and clapping melodies underpinning them. “I cut my teeth on something that I shouldn’t eat” is one of their best lines yet, and leads in to the candid exclamation, “I’m a baby”. ‘Forever’ soon follows, as the product of year of tweaking and precise labour. Sharp, galvanizing guitars crescendo and beautifully compliment the huge vocal strength. Something about the song is just inextricably mammoth; there’s an immensity to it that many aim for, and not many reach.
Keen to also open up their tracks to gentler tones, the group have penned ‘You Over Anyone’; a ballad telling a universally relatable love story. It doesn’t quite live up to ‘Daisy Daisy’ – a soft track from their 2017 “Call Me Out” EP, but it is hard to imagine that much will.
Sea Girls, released the stunning new animated visual for their latest single, ‘All I Want To Hear You Say’, which is lifted from their forthcoming debut album ‘Open Up Your Head’, out on August 14th.
The animated video, directed by acclaimed Korean-Swedish duo Tjoff Koong Studios (Tezo Kyungdon Lee and Magnus Lenneskog), takes the viewer on an emotional rollercoaster.
“When I wrote this song I was trying to channel some emotional highs and lows of the likes of Kurt Cobain,” says lead singer Henry Camamile. “Full of visual adrenalin, it builds with rushes of excitement and lack of control. Someone build a rollercoaster through the city and we’ll get on it.”
The animated video, directed by acclaimed Korean-Swedish duo Tjoff Koong Studios (Tezo Kyungdon Lee and Magnus Lenneskog), takes the viewer on an emotional rollercoaster.
“When I wrote this song I was trying to channel some emotional highs and lows of the likes of Kurt Cobain,” says lead singer Henry Camamile. “Full of visual adrenalin, it builds with rushes of excitement and lack of control. Someone build a rollercoaster through the city and we’ll get on it.”
With tracks such as this, you forget that the core concept to the album is a traumatic head injury. The effervescent tunes catch in your own head, and skillfully glaze over the darkness that grounds much of the lyrical content. You dance along, joining in with the rose-coloured illusion of the songs themselves.
‘Shake’ and ‘Moving On’ also revert back to Sea Girls’ raucous roots, with the expected blazing chorus’ near enough begging you to see them live and sing along. The latter track in particular ends the album on a triumphant note; the message of acceptance and optimism towards a projected progress is glaringly forefront. Henry’s vocals flare and spark with an immersive buoyancy: the entire track is lifted through melody and tone. We see a lighter, unburdened band close the collection.
Band Members:
Henry Camamile, Rory Young, Andrew Dawson & Oli Khan
The band have also announced a run of intimate in-store shows for November
After two albums on Universal Republic, The Secret Sisters (aka real-life sisters Laura Rogers and Lydia Slagle) were dropped by their major label which put the fate of the band in question, but then Brandi Carlisle took them under her wing. She had them open for her and produced their third album “You Don’t Own Me Anymore,” which came out in 2017 on alt-country label New West Records, and this year the sisters and Brandi teamed up again for another record on New West, the gorgeous “Saturn Return”. The album is named after the astrological phenomenon that represents reaching full adulthood, and it followed some monumental life changes for the sisters; both became pregnant during the making of the album and they lost both of their grandmothers around that same time. “We were still just trying to figure out how you go forward in life without the strong matriarch,” Laura told The Boot.
You can hear how these life changes impacted these personal songs — which, unlike their previous albums, were written without co-writers — though Saturn Return also finds the sisters looking outside of themselves, like on the powerful “Cabin,” which was written from the perspective of a woman who has been assaulted, and was written around the time of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings. “This song was our way of saying, ‘We hear you, and we know it hurts…we know you’re not over it and that’s okay,'” said Laura. The power in the lyrics is matched by that of the music – warm, timeless Americana that would fit nicely next to anything from late ’70s Fleetwood Mac to the new Jason Isbell album.
Brandi’s production is the perfect match, and she also encouraged the sisters to break from their trademark close harmony style and each sing some songs on their own, which very much worked to their benefit. Fans of their harmonies need not worry though — there are still plenty of those, and they’re as lush as you’d hope.
Here is a video for my song “Wild Time” that was shot on 16mm pre-Pandemic, then edited together during isolation. Felt like the right time to let this video out into the world, seeing as we’re all getting saddled down by some pretty grim realities. This song is about yearning for wildness and Mother Nature in a time of chaos. It’s for sensitive people who worry about the fate of humanity and feel powerless to do anything about it.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking apocalyptic thoughts and realizing that won’t get you anywhere. What if the world has always been ending? What if the sprawl of our cities are just as wild as the forests? What if climate change and the destruction of our natural habitat is a reflection of the nature within us, however sublimely horrifying and hard to understand? We’re animals, we play out a very precarious drama of life, and we grasp for what’s left of the protective womb – but maybe the notion that we’re somehow separated from her is an illusion. Maybe it is, truly, a wild time to be alive. Maybe getting in touch with that as a culture and society would avert the worst case scenarios of ecological crisis and existential dread.
If you’ve gotten this far, wow, thank you for actually taking the time to read this. In other news, as you may have assumed, I am cancelling all of my headline shows for 2020, but I’m beginning to work on my next album that will come out in 2021- a different time, when hopefully we can see each other face to face once again.
xo
Natalie (aka Weyes Blood)
Weyes Blood “Wild Time” from Titanic Rising (April 5th, 2019)
The Fat Angel Sings 