Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

FONTAINES D.C. – ” A Hero’s Death ” (Live at Home for Later… with Jools Holland)

Posted: July 2, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Barely a year since their debut Dogrel earned them a spot as one of the most acclaimed new bands of 2019, Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. will return with “A Hero’s Death” on July 31 via Partisan Records. Arriving battered and bruised – albeit beautiful – the album is anything but a re-hash of the swaggering energy from their first record, instead the music is patient, confident, and complex – heady and philosophical takes on the modern world and its great uncertainty. The album serves as a conscious effort to subvert expectations, to challenge themselves and their listeners, and to sacrifice one identity in order to take on another – one that is fully their own.

We’re giving away handwritten lyrics by Grian for ‘I Don’t Belong’ & ‘A Hero’s Death’ and also a signed 7″. Pre-save ‘A Hero’s Death’ and follow us on Spotify by Monday 6th July for a chance to win fontainesDC.lnk.to/contest

Irish rockers Fontaines D.C. came out swinging on their debut album Dogrel—it became one of the years favourite albums of last year thanks to its propulsive rhythms, Grian Chatten’s mesmerizing speak-sing and their satisfying blend of post-punk, garage and surf sounds. After cementing themselves as one of the most exciting new bands of 2019, excitement began to swirl when news started circulating about a quick follow-up album that was recorded in Los Angeles and influenced by The Beach Boys. I figured an album full of surfy tunes like Dogrel highlight “Liberty Belle” and 2017 b-side “Winter in the Sun” was on the way, which I undoubtedly would’ve devoured, but that’s pretty far from what we’ll actually receive at the end of July.

A Hero’s Death is decidedly not perky—it’s full of somber, gothic numbers, slow ballads and a few very on-the-nose nods to Brian Wilson (but this is dejected Pet Sounds era Beach Boys—not the carefree “Surfin’ U.S.A.” Beach Boys). It’s not what many will expect from the group, but it’s a noticeably more mature second chapter that pays dividends with each listen. Sprinkled with ’60s armchair pop and ’80s post-punk references, this is a gloomy outdoor stroll record—but a very special one at that.

Fontaines D.C. perform A Hero’s Death Live at home for Later… with Jools Holland.

LIZA ANNE – ” I Wanna Be There “

Posted: July 2, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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What makes Liza Anne an especially talented songwriter, are the many different ways in which she delivers her messages of empowerment and self-realization amidst clouds of depression. 2018’s Fine But Dying was one of the year’s sneaky best albums, and Bad Vacation sees Anne flowering out of the dark places she found herself in back then. She’s freely electrifying on “Devotion,” keeps her wits about her on the tongue-in-cheek “I Shouldn’t Ghost My Therapist,” glistens on the sparkling pop of “I Wanna Be There” and stares her darkest demon in the face—herself—on the gorgeous melancholy pop of “Terrible Discovery.” Anne has always come across as carefree, yet impactful, and when addressing one’s own mental health, her music is sure to help others find brighter skies ahead as well.

With her bold and bracing new album, ‘Bad Vacation,’ Liza Anne hasn’t just shaped her liberation, she’s completely reinvented it. The record is defiant and thoughtful, showcasing a remarkable confidence as it tackles destructive habits and finds Liza at her most self aware yet. “I was writing what I needed to hear,” Liza explains. “I was writing what I needed to feel. I was quite literally writing a stronger, more empowered version of myself into existence.”

New Liza Anne album, ‘Bad Vacation,’ out July 24th:

 

PERFUME GENIUS – ” Set My Heart On Fire Immediately “

Posted: July 2, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“Mike Hadreas has confidently dropped an intense album of brilliantly realised pop songs. As the quivering vocals mirror that synthesiser bouncing from from one ear to the other, the opening few seconds of opener Whole Life announces “Set My Heart On Fire Immediately” to the world.

The nom de plume of US singer/songwriter Mike Hadreas, Perfume Genius continues to flourish in his element as a genre-defying, expectation-destroying catalyst for modern pop.

No Shape, Perfume Genius’s remarkable fourth album, marked a bold leap for Mike Hadreas—stuffed with eye-popping pageantry, panicky swarms of violins, and incandescent, sun-drenched pop. Its follow-up, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, instantly overwhelms the senses in much the same way. Hadreas hasn’t lost his flair for the cinematic, and Set My Heart sways from one musical style to another so casually you’ll feel the urge to stop and catch your breath.

That makes for a rewarding sonic journey, but underpinning Hadreas’s fearless versatility is striking self-analysis and vulnerability. Opener “Whole Life” is a glimmering 1960s waltz, but it’s also a grim reckoning with the passage of time. Likewise, while Hadreas’s vocals and a tiptoeing harpsichord initially command attention on “Jason,” his intimate, colourful recounting of a one-night stand, they elevate the song to something greater. Instantly accessible and technically impressive, Set Your Heart on Fire Immediately quickly earns your admiration, but its raw emotional weight is what keeps you coming back.

While many artists in Hadreas’ field openly struggle with their transition out of the prototypical “young pop star” motif, Perfume Genuis pushes the envelope as he always has, and continues to bring truth, emotion and raw sincerity to everything he does.

From Perfume Genius’ new album ‘Set My Heart On Fire Immediately” released on May 15, 2020 on Matador Records.

FEAR OF MEN – ” Into Strangeness “

Posted: July 2, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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It seems an age since we saw or heard anything from the duo Fear Of Men playing at SxSW in Austin, and that was before they took a four year hiatus after the release of their sophomore album Fall Forever. With a new track ‘Into Strangeness’, our first song and video in 4 years We made the video ourselves during lockdown, co directed by Mikael Johansson. It’s inspired by 16th Century British witchcraft, uncanny dreamscapes and feminine power.

They are back with a new song, Into Strangeness, a sub-3 minute salvo tightly wound with a post-punk energy that recalls the likes of Section 25 and AR Kane. The song opens up with disorientating atonal saxophone, inspired by the opening credits of 70’s neorealist film Fear Eats the Soul, before Jessica Weiss’ vocals paint an ominous picture of tension, possession and affliction.

The band are donating their first week of sales via Bandcamp to The Audre Lorde Project, supporting LGBTQ+ People of Colour in the New York area.

Released July 1st, 2020
Words and music by Jessica Weiss and Daniel Falvey.
Drums by James Davies.

TY SEGALL – ” Segall Smeagol “

Posted: July 2, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Ty Segall has released an album of Harry Nilsson covers called Segall Smeagol.

I wanted to cover Nilsson Schmilsson for years, so I used the opportunity of being at home to cover my favourite cuts from the record. So here it is free on Bandcamp – “Segall Smeagol” Love To Everyone – Ty Segall

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Released March 31st, 2020 Ty Segall, Nilsson Schmilsson covers album Segall Smeagol.

FONTAINES D.C. – ” Televised Mind “

Posted: July 2, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Fontaines D.C.’s second album is out at the end of this month, which means the promo trail is giving us new songs from the record to hear as we approach.

So far, we’ve heard two very different songs from the record. ‘I Don’t Belong’ is a slower Whipping Boy-esque opening track while the title track is a looser take on the kind of thing that won that much praise on album one.

‘Televised Mind’ is coming from a different place, with a more psych-rock edge on a song they say, is inspired by The Brian Jonestown Massacre, which is about the echo chambers people have made for themselves – “how personality gets stripped away by surrounding approval.”

“This song is about the echo chamber, and how personality gets stripped away by surrounding approval. People’s opinions get reinforced by constant agreement, and we’re robbed of our ability to feel wrong. We’re never really given the education of our own fallibility. People feign these great beliefs in order to appear trendy, as opposed to independently arriving at their own thoughts.

We were listening to a lot of The Prodigy and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, specifically their song “Open Heart Surgery”. I was interested in extrapolating those types of chord progressions and capturing this droning, hypnotic feel. That last line repeated over and over [“What ya call it”] is a buffer expression that people used here in Dublin. It’s sort of like “umm” or “well…” – it’s what people say when they’re distracted.

“Televised Mind” taken from the forthcoming album ‘A Hero’s Death’ out 31st July on Partisan Records.

LAURA MARLING – ” Song For Our Daughter ” Best Albums Of 2020

Posted: July 2, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Laura Marling’s exquisite seventh album “Song For Our Daughter” arrives almost without pre-amble or warning in the midst of uncharted global chaos, and yet instantly and tenderly offers a sense of purpose, clarity and calm. As a balm for the soul, this full-blooded new collection could be posited as Laura’s richest to date, but in truth it’s another incredibly fine record by a British Singer Songwriter who rarely strays from delivering incredibly fine records.

Taking much of the production reins herself, alongside long-time collaborators Ethan Johns and Dom Monks, Laura has layered up lush string arrangements and a broad sense of scale to these songs without losing any of the intimacy or reverence we’ve come to anticipate and almost take for granted from her throughout the past decade.

The album came out 6 months early, but since buying it’s been a constant and companionable listen. Maybe her most intimate, certainly her maturest work. Hints of Joni Mitchell on the opening duo help, but this is her work. A simple basic backing band that delights on the uptempo shuffle of “Only the Strong”, with tasteful addition of chamber music on “Blow By Blow”, title track, “Fortune”, choir on “The End of the Affair” , & steel on “Hope”. “For You” a great climax.
Taking much of the production reins herself, alongside long-time collaborators Ethan Johns and Dom Monks, Laura has layered up lush string arrangements and a broad sense of scale to these songs without losing any of the intimacy or reverence we’ve come to anticipate and almost take for granted from her throughout the past decade.
Absolutely gorgeous, amazing voice, beautiful songwriting, and I absolutely adore it.
Released April 10th, 2020

GORDI – ” “Sandwiches “

Posted: July 2, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Australian musician Gordi (real name: Sophie Payten) has just shared this shimmering new single which he says is a tribute to her late Grandmother. The song was produced by Bon Iver collaborators Chris Messina and Zach Hanson at Gordi’s family home in Canowindra, Australia. “Her whole life was in Canowindra,” say Gordi of her grandmother. “We made it in a house that’s a hundred meters from her house.” She’ll be on tour with Of Monsters & Men this spring.

The Australian musician Gordi, moniker of Sophie Payten, shares the new single, “Sandwiches,” and its accompanying Justin Ridler-directed video. “Sandwiches” It is a soaring, post-new wave anthem, and a tribute to her late grandmother. One of the first true Gordi “guitar songs,” it shimmers with the lush-yet-fragile momentum of The Cranberries’ classic “Dreams.” “Sandwiches” follows “The Cost,” a track released last month in support of the Australian Bushfire Relief efforts, and is Gordi’s first new recording since her 2017 debut album, “Reservoir”. Gordi has also recently collaborated with Troye Sivan, toured with Sam Smith, Julien Baker and Fleet Foxes, performed at Eaux Claires alongside The National, Bon Iver and Big Red Machine, and finished her medical degree to become a qualified doctor.

Her late grandmother was, in Gordi’s words, “a great feeder of people.” So when she fell ill, Gordi and her mother took it upon themselves to nourish the visitors gathered around her hospital bed. As they passed around sandwiches, “someone called out that she was gone.”

The gravity of the moment was poignant for its softness and mundanity. Gordi approaches the totality of a loved one’s life as measured in the small memories that stay with us. She sings, “When I think of you a movie-reel of moments plays / We’ll be in the car or after mass on Saturdays / You’ll be walking down the driveway, you’ll be in your chair / You’ll say ‘See you round’ or ‘Say your “Three”’ / And now you’re everywhere.”

Gordi called on long-time collaborators and Bon Iver production duo Chris Messina and Zach Hanson to make “Sandwiches” at her family home in Canowindra, Australia — an old cottage littered with some of Sophie’s favourite pieces of musical arsenal combined with some flown in from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The tiny farm town where her family has lived for over a century, Canowindra, and the heart of the matriarch, is embedded in this song, and where the video was filmed. “Her whole life was in Canowindra…we made it in a house that’s a hundred meters from her house.”

“Sandwiches” by Gordi, out now on Jagjaguwar Records..

NAT VAZER – ” Is This Offensive And Loud? “

Posted: July 1, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“Is This Offensive And Loud?” is a deviously clever album. In that tiny, momentous window when live music seemed on the way back in, Nat Vazer and her band played a show and instantly captured the hearts of her audience.

Is This Offensive And Loud?is a deviously clever album which offers neither insult nor decibels, but somehow is effortlessly satisfying to all who hear it.

Reminiscent of Cat Power and Angel Olsen, Vazer takes glistening guitars over slightly distorted vocals to create beautiful pieces of audible art. It’s a supremely crafted and perfectly paced album that makes listeners want to hit the replay button the second it’s all over.

Official video for Nat Vazer’s single “Like Demi”, from the debut LP ‘Is This Offensive And Loud?’, released May 29th on Hotel Motel Records:

MARGO PRICE – ” That’s How Rumors Get Started “

Posted: July 1, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The new album, produced by Sturgill Simpson, commits her sky-high and scorching rock-and-roll show to record for the very first time. Whether she’s singing of motherhood or the mythologies of stardom, Nashville gentrification or the national healthcare crisis, relationships or growing pains, she’s crafted a collection of music that invites people to listen closer than ever before.

Margo Price’s take on classic sounds is at once familiar and daring, an infectious blend of Nashville country, Memphis soul, and Texas twang.
On May 8th, Margo Price will release “That’s How Rumours Get Started”, an album of ten new, original songs that commit her sky-high and scorching rock-and-roll show to record for the very first time. Produced by longtime friend Sturgill Simpson (co-produced by Margo and David Ferguson), the LP marks Price’s debut for Loma Vista Recordings, and whether she’s singing of motherhood or the mythologies of stardom, Nashville gentrification or the national healthcare crisis, relationships or growing pains, she’s crafted a collection of music that invites people to listen closer than ever before.

Margo primarily cut That’s How Rumors Get Started at Los Angeles’ EastWest Studios (Pet Sounds, “9 to 5”). Tracking occurred over several days while she was pregnant with daughter Ramona. “They’re both a creation process,” she says. “And I was being really good to my body and my mind during that time. I had a lot of clarity from sobriety.”

While Margo Price continued to collaborate on most of the song writing with her husband Jeremy Ivey, she recorded with an historic band assembled by Sturgill, and including guitarist Matt Sweeney (Adele, Iggy Pop), bassist Pino Palladino (D’Angelo, John Mayer), drummer James Gadson (Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye), and keyboardist Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers). Background vocals were added by Simpson on “Letting Me Down,” and the Nashville Friends Gospel Choir, who raise the arrangements of “Hey Child” and “What Happened To Our Love?” to some of the album’s most soaring heights.

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Margo Price and her steady touring band – Kevin Black (bass), Jamie Davis (guitar), Micah Hulsher (keys), and Dillon Napier (drums) – will perform songs from That’s How Rumors Get Started at dozens of shows with Chris Stapleton and The Head & The Heart this spring and summer, in addition to festival appearances and more to be announced soon. Find all dates here and below.

That’s How Rumors Get Started follows Margo’s 2017 album All American Made, which was named the #1 Country/Americana album of the year by Rolling Stone, and one of the top albums of the decade by Esquire, Pitchfork and Billboard, among others. In its wake, Margo sold out three nights at The Ryman Auditorium, earned her first Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, and much more.

Releases July 10th, 2020

 

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