“Aviary” is an epic journey through what Julia Holter describes as “the cacophony of the mind in a melting world.” Released in October 2018 via Domino, it’s the Los Angeles composer’s most breathtakingly expansive album yet, full of startling turns and dazzling instrumental arrangements.
The follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2015 record, Have You in My Wilderness, it takes as its starting point a line from a 2009 short story by writer Etel Adnan: “I found myself in an aviary full of shrieking birds.” It’s a scenario that sounds straight out of a horror movie, but it’s also a pretty good metaphor for life in 2018, with its endless onslaught of political scandals, freakish natural disasters, and voices shouting their desires and resentments into the void
“Aviary”, produced by Holter and Kenny Gilmore, combines Holter’s slyly theatrical vocals and Blade Runner-inspired synth work with an enveloping palette of strings and percussion that reveals itself, and the boundless scope of her vision, over the course of fifteen songs. Holter was joined by Corey Fogel (percussion), Devin Hoff (bass), Dina Maccabee (violin, viola, vocals), Sarah Belle Reid (trumpet), Andrew Tholl (violin), and Tashi Wada (synth, bagpipes).
The Mount Moriah frontwoman’s solo debut. streaked with warm, yet wistful, Americana hues, it glowed throughout 2018. we’ve fallen even harder for her follow-up, ‘eno axis’.
Sonically, it’s an album shaped enormously by the atmosphere it was recorded in – the crew’s synergy & positivity, the proximity & presence of a band in a room playing with intention. structurally, it’s a group of songs inspired by the colours & tones of open tunings, by the sacrality of space & instinct. Stylistically, it’s folk-rock leaning into its curious experimental side & moved by the spiritual rawness of classic soul & the simplicity of earnest pop.
Narratively, H.C. McEntire’s Eno Axis is about finding direction in the natural world, and following love. Sonically, it’s an album shaped enormously by the atmosphere it was recorded in – the crew’s synergy and positivity, the proximity and presence of a band in a room playing with intention. Structurally, it’s a group of songs inspired by the colours and tones of open tunings, by the sacrality of space and instinct. Eno Axis feels like a confident and mature step forward from her debut album Lionheart – in tone, arrangement, production, and spirit.
Stylistically, it’s folk-rock leaning into its curious experimental side and moved by the spiritual rawness of classic soul and the simplicity of earnest pop.
‘eno axis’ feels like a confident & mature step forward from her debut album ‘Lionheart’ – in tone, arrangement, production & spirit. for fans of courtney marie andrews, margo price. joan shelley, first aid kit, the be good tanyas.
Don Giovanni Records is issuing, for the first time ever, a vinyl release of the 2013 long out of print cassette-only recording “Chalk Tape” by Screaming Females. Pitchfork called the EP “some of the hookiest, most melodic songs Screaming Females have ever recorded” in their original review of the EP. Screaming Females is a three piece rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey. We have been writing, recording, and touringwith one another for 13 years.
Initially released in a limited run of just 100 cassette copies, Chalk Tape was available and sold at only one show (at which it sold out immediately) in 2013, which was the first show back for the band after a six-month hiatus from touring and performing. It has not been available in any physical format since then.
The EP’s genesis came after an extended period of touring inactivity while guitarist/vocalist Marissa Paternoster was recovering from a severe illness. The band worked on the seven songs that would make up Chalk Tape as a writing and collaboration exercise to keep creative energy fresh, following up 2012’s Steve Albini produced 2xLP Ugly.
Chalk Tape has existed outside the official canon of Screaming Females’ catalogue since its release, though it is a unique document of a band concurrently writing, recording, and performing in real-time and capturing of their songs as they were being created.
This vinyl run of Chalk Tape is now exclusively available for a limited pre-order, and in the spirit of the EP’s initial limited release, will only be available via this pre-order until July 26th. Vinyl pressing time is unpredictable these days but these are projected to ship in late October/early November.
Pitchfork called Chalk Tape “some of the hookiest, most melodic songs Screaming Females have ever recorded” in their original review of the EP.
Initially released in a limited run of just 100 cassette copies, Chalk Tape was available and sold at only one show (at which it sold out immediately) in 2013, which was the first show back for the band after a six-month hiatus from touring and performing. It has not been available in any physical format since then.
Releases November 9th, 2020
This vinyl run of Chalk Tape is now available for a limited pre-order, and in the spirit of the EP’s initial limited release, will only be available to order until July 26th and we are only making as many as pre-ordered. Vinyl pressing time is unpredictable these days but these are projected to ship in late October/early November.
Cigarettes After Sex is an ambient pop collective led by songwriter Greg Gonzalez & is currently based out of Brooklyn, NY. “I’ve always avoided studios,” says Cigarettes After Sex frontman Greg Gonzalez. “There’s something special about recording out in the world, some kind of X-factor that comes from the character and atmosphere of wherever it is that you’re working that becomes essential to the feeling of the music.”
That marriage of sound and setting is the heart and soul of Cry, Cigarettes After Sex’s riveting sophomore album. Recorded in a stunning house on the Spanish island of Mallorca, the collection reflects the uneasy beauty, erotic longing, and stark minimalism of the space, all smooth lines and soft light. Energized by the fresh palette and setting, Gonzalez would write songs just minutes before recording them with the band—drummer Jacob Tomsky, bassist Randy Miller, and keyboardist Phillip Tubbs. He engineered and produced the sessions himself, with an emphasis on capturing live performances and exploring the material together in dialogue with the house and with each other.
Clocking in at nine songs, Cry is a compact collection, but its brevity belies its depth. While the band’s sound may be most associated with the romantic pop music of the late 50’s and early 60’s, Gonzalez pushes into more unexpected sonic territory on Cry, reaching back to his childhood in El Paso, Texas, to draw subtle melodic influence from 90’s Tejano stars like Selena and mainstream pop country artists like Shania Twain. Gonzalez pushes himself lyrically on the album, too, tackling sex with the graphic frankness of Henry Miller or Leonard Cohen as he renders unabashed, sometimes explicitly erotic scenes with a casual candor. Writing with a filmmaker’s eye, he captures tiny moments with a rich, cinematic detail that manages to locate the profound within the mundane.
Cigarettes After Sex return with their anticipated sophomore album – Cry via Partisan Records. Recorded during night time sessions in a mansion on the Spanish island of Mallorca, the album is a lush, cinematic meditation on the many complex facets of love – meeting, wanting, needing, losing…sometimes all at once. The album was self-produced and engineered by Greg Gonzalez, and mixed by Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs).
These three friends from central Indiana, each one a distinctive singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, had reached a point where years of hard work and creativity were just starting to pay off. They were hailed as one of the most inventive young bands around, with comparisons to Guided by Voices, My Bloody Valentine, and the Radio Dept., and that’s exactly when they broke up the band.
Following a short but necessary break, during which the Indiana band had the opportunity to explore their own creative endeavors, Hoops have reunited and announce their incredible sophomore album “Halo” today. Recorded at Bloomington’s Russian Studio and produced by the band’s friend Ben Lumsdaine, “Halo” is an album defined by musical exuberance, full of gratitude and generosity, and, simply, sounds like a lively conversation amongst close friends. Halo will be out on October 2nd via Fat Possum.
To celebrate their album announcement, Hoops share Halo’s lead single and first song the band has ever written together, “Fall Back.” Auscherman had started “Fall Back” about a long-distance relationship, but he fleshed it out with Krauter and Beresford, who added jangly guitars, a buoyant rhythm section, and a swooning chorus: “Fall back in my arms again, just the way it should have always been.” Like many songs on Halo, it wasn’t written specifically about his bandmates but nevertheless addresses similar emotions about their musical partnership.
Hoops released their critically-acclaimed debut album Routines in 2017, and, soon after, announced an indefinite hiatus. The trio – friends, singers, and multi-instrumentalists Drew Auscherman,Kevin Krauter and Keagan Beresford – had been making music together for almost half of their lives, but the band had begun to feel more like a burden than an outlet, so they decided to call it quits. “I think we had lost a lot of steam,” explains Krauter. “Hoops wasn’t moving forward organically. It was being dragged along.”
“They Say”, out now on Fat Possum Records. Reaching this point nearly destroyed the band, but Auscherman, Beresford, and Krauter emerged stronger and closer for their time apart. “This record is a more honest representation of our influences and interests as musicians,” says Auscherman. “We’ve grown a lot in four years, as people and as listeners. We’re starting to sound more like ourselves.”
As fierce as the inclement weather itself, the ethereal tones of Serbian-Canadian musician Dana Gavanski can stir a breeze and destroy like a storm. With her new covers EP “Wind Songs” Dana serendipitously brings focus back to her debut album, and shows an artist making the best of unfortunate circumstances and seeks comfort in the familiar strangers of her musical heroes.
The track list for Wind Songs will slowly be revealed over the coming months, kicking off with the official release of a cover teased back when Dana played her first session for Marc Riley on BBC 6 Music. “I Talk To The Wind” fit beautifully in Dana’s live shows around that time, and so when it came time for Dana to head back into the studio at the start of this year it became an obvious EP opener.
With multiple festivals and shows across UK, France, Germany, and North America on pause, Dana utilised solitude to form deeper connections with the artists who inspire her. With her Travis picking technique she has recorded her unique renditions of songs like a time capsule of her journey so far; from teenage years in Vancouver to kitchen table talk with her mother and grandma “baka” about love, life, sex, art, relationships, and psychology, and selling her records for a move to Montreal.
“I kind of forgot about King Crimson for some time. “I only got back into them early last year,” Dana says of her cover of their song. “Ian McDonald’s beautiful flute solos throughout the song, the mellow vocals and symphonic arrangements all come together to make it beautifully moody.”
The Wind Songs 12” – which includes I Talk To The Wind – is released on 14th August. Ltd Edition 12” including signed copies,
Adelaide’s Bad//Dreems perform for the latest edition of Rolling Stone’s ‘In My Room’,Session presented in partnership with the folks at Green Beacon Beers.
Bad//Dreems have served up a handful of intimate tracks, with the South Aussie outfit performing from the beachside suburb of Grange for the latest edition of Rolling Stone’s ‘In My Room’, a series in which artists perform from home while in quarantine. Presented by Green Beacon, the second episode in this special weekly series sees frontman Ben Marwe and guitarist Ali Wells joined by Dan Appleby (formerly of Archers) on bass and Hugh Black (Neighbours, and formerly of Archers and West Thebarton) on drums as they sit in for the group’s other members, who are Isolating currently over in Victoria
Bad//Dreems are just the latest in a line-up of massive artists set to appear on Rolling Stone’s ‘In My Room’ series. With Cub Sport kicking off the series last week, special performances from Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and Lime Cordiale set to follow thanks to a partnership with Green Beacon. “Green Beacon loves music and proudly supports Aussie artists,” the Queensland brewery explained. “We’re thrilled to be able to take this to the next level by teaming up with Rolling Stone Australia.
Kicking things off with the debut live performance of “Cannonball” from 2019’s Doomsday Ballet, the group showcase the talent that has seen them become one of Australia’s most beloved rock bands.
“I like playing that song; it’s a favourite of mine,” Marwe admits following the performance of their recent album track. “But I didn’t know the chords of ‘Cannonball’, because the last time we played it was in the studio.”
Powering into a slick version of “Chills” from their 2013 EP Badlands, the quartet wrap up their three-song performance with a powerful rendition of The Boys Next Door’s “Shivers”, making the Rowland S. Howard-penned classic their own.
“I can’t see us really us going overseas or anything,” Marwe says of the band’s immediate future as a live band. “It’s going to be interesting, I think the goal would be to travel as much regionally as we can, and do as many regional shows as we can. It’ll be good, it might create a really healthy Australian music scene – not that there wasn’t one already.”
Bad//Dreems recently returned to our ears with the release of their latest single, “Desert Television”, which was recorded before their UK tour was sadly cut short. There’s currently no word as to when they’ll release more music, or when their cancelled regional tour of Australia will be rescheduled, but there’s no denying their status as one of Australian rock’s finest.
Originally released in 1999, “My Beauty” was the second solo album from Dexys/Dexys Midnight Runners’ lead singer Kevin Rowland. The album was mostly unfairly received by critics at the time, but in the years since has come to enjoy cult status. This reissue is the first time “My Beauty” has been available on vinyl and on CD with its originally intended track-listing.
“My Beauty” comprises twelve cover songs, personally chosen by Kevin and adapted to make the lyrics more directly reflective of his life. The result was an autobiographical concept record about his battle and recovery from addiction, and his own struggle with self-esteem, exemplified by his incredible version of George Benson / Whitney Houston classic ‘The Greatest Love Of All’.
Kevin’s choice of style for this record was men’s dresses – in stark contrast to the prevailing mood in the late 1990s of British lad rock. The cover design was a radical look for the time – silk dresses, stockings and make up, not cross-dressing but a look that was undoubtedly feminine. The album was released on Oasis’ label Creation, after Kevin was signed by Alan McGee (who loved Kevin’s new look and labelled it “punk rock”). However, “My Beauty” was to be the last record released before Creation folded and the chaos that surrounded the label meant they hadn’t secured approval for the cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Thunder Road’. Despite its flowing, elegant music, the album was viciously savaged by most critics, with some focussing on Kevin’s choice of attire rather than the quality of the music.
Now in 2020, on the album’s 21st birthday, the world has changed and it’s high time to re-evaluate this modern masterpiece. Only ever previously released on CD, “My Beauty” has been remastered by original co-producer (with Dexys stalwart Jim Paterson) Pete Schwier and Marco Migliari. Two new videos have been filmed. The first – for ‘Rag Doll’ – is mimed by a young man in make-up, dressed in a gender fluid way. It’s a look that has become rightly incorporated into modern society, and by the end of the video, it’s revealed the man is Kevin’s grandson Roo, importantly closing the circle on what has been a painful experience for Kevin.
Over time, some music critics have re-evaluated “My Beauty” as a lost classic. Kevin has lived through all of this, and it was a painful experience to be outcast and dismissed. Now that attitudes have changed, hopefully the music can finally reach the audience it deserves and Kevin can tell his story.
Kevin Rowland’s brand new video for his interpretation of Rag Doll. Taken from the forthcoming reissue of My Beauty, out September 2020 on Cherry Red Records. Video directed by Jack Satchell. Original VHS footage of Concrete and Clay video kindly supplied by Daniel Cooke.
First time on vinyl for this long-overlooked classic and is a Limited Edition pressing on baby pink vinyl.
Dana Gavanski is a singer/songwriter currently presiding residing in London.
As fierce as the inclement weather itself, the ethereal tones of Serbian-Canadian musician Dana Gavanski can stir a breeze and destroy like a storm. With her new covers EP Wind Songs Dana serendipitously brings focus back to her debut album, and shows an artist making the best of unfortunate circumstances and seeks comfort in the familiar strangers of her musical heroes.
The track list for Wind Songs will slowly be revealed over the coming months, kicking off with the official release of a cover teased back when Dana played her first session for Marc Riley on BBC 6 Music. “I Talk To The Wind” fit beautifully in Dana’s live shows around that time, and so when it came time for Dana to head back into the studio at the start of this year it became an obvious EP opener.
The record is a co-production between Dana, Toronto-based musician Sam Gleason, and Mike Lindsay of Tunng and Lump. While Sam helped Dana bring out the tunes, Mike’s input marked ‘the beginning of developing a sound that was closer to what I had in my head’. Though excited by the other elements of a song introduced during production, Dana and Mike were keen on ‘finding essential things, not overblowing, keeping things bare and letting the elements speak for themselves’. Not that the sheer variety of sounds and instruments didn’t overwhelm.
The album shapeshifted as it passed through the hands of Dana, Sam, and Mike, taking on different tastes, feelings, and visions. When Dana performed the songs with a band, they found new form again. She was intrigued by performers like David Bowie and Aldous Harding, who inhabit different personalities on stage, physically tuning themselves to their music. ‘
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s sophomore album Sideways To New Italy around the clock since it’s release earlier this month via Sub Pop Records. We even got to interview them about the record, The Melbourne, Australia five-piece Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever released a new album, Sideways to New Italy, earlier in the month . Now they have shared a video for the album’s “Cameo.” Nick Mckk directed the video, which starts with the band’s Fran Keaney singing the song under a lone spotlight and in a black turtleneck, before the whole band eventually appears.
“This is a love song. It’s about reaching through time portals,” says Keaney in a press release. “The lyrics were pieced together over about a year like a little puzzle. I found the first pieces in Rushworth, and the last pieces in Darwin.” As for the video, Keaney says that Mckk shares their “vision for the earnest and the absurd,” adding: “This is our first video to feature skivvies, a wall of cardboard boxes, and a human-powered rotating stage.”
Mckk had this to say about the video: “Fran had the idea to separate each body part playing, disembodied like the famous Queen artwork. I think it was Tom who really wanted to dress like Molloy, the cat burglar from The Simpsons. White sneakers, black pants and a turtleneck. I was very for this.
“Because I’m a fool and I don’t know how to work a gimbal (stabilizer), I ended up shooting a lot of the clip on rollerblades, which let me zoom around the spinning stage. Set Designer Grace Goodwin and I created the big bricks that the band could smash through, representing the disintegration of memory and the rebuilding of recollection. I mean, it was that for me, I can’t speak for the band!”
Sideways to New Italy is Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s sophomore album and the follow-up to 2018’s debut album, Hope Downs, also released via Sub Pop.
Sideways to New Italy also includes “Cars In Space,” a new song the band shared in February via a video for the track co-directed by fellow Aussie musician Julia Jacklin with her regular collaborator Nick Mckk. “Cars In Space” . When the album was announced they shared another new song from it, “She’s There,” via a video for the single. Then they shared the album’s third single, “Falling Thunder,” also via a video for the track. Then the band released a video of them performing early single “Angeline” remotely and separately from their homes (the song is not found on either of their albums, but was released as a single back in 2013). Then they shared one last pre-release single from it, “Cameo,” .
Then the band teamed up with fellow Australian Stella Donnelly to cover “Deeper Water,” a 1999 song by Melbourne’s Deadstar. They did so in an empty cricket stadium as part of the six-part Australian series State of Music, put together by the state of Victoria during the pandemic.
The band features singer/songwriter/guitarists Tom Russo, Joe White, and Fran Keaney, as well as bassist Joe Russo and drummer Marcel Tussie.
The album’s partial namesake, New Italy, is actually a village near New South Wales’ Northern Rivers, which is an area Tussie is from. A press release announcing the album described the town: “A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pit-stop of a place with fewer than 200 residents, it was founded by Venetian immigrants in the late-1800s and now serves as something of a living monument to Italians’ contribution to Australia, with replica Roman statues dotted like souvenirs on the otherwise rural landscape.”
Keaney had this to say about the album in a previous press release: “I wanted to write songs that I could use as some sort of bedrock of hopefulness to stand on, something to be proud of. A lot of the songs on the new record are reaching forward and trying to imagine an idyll of home and love.”
In February 2019 Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever shared a new song, “In the Capital” released it as a 7-inch single via Sub Pop. The B-side, “Read My Mind,” was also shared in April 2019 via a video for the track , Neither song is featured on Sideways to New Italy.
The band celebrated father’s day with yet another clever music video, this time for one of the album’s (many) highlights, “Cameo.” It’s really well shot and does so much with a little, really highlighting the genius of the band even further for us.
