Today we’re thrilled to announce a new EP from Wombo!, The weird world of Wombo is a stitched-together tapestry of avant pop and angular post punk that’s generated industry buzz and led the band to open for now-labelmates Dehd as well as White Reaper and the Nude Party. Out digitally & on cassette, new EP “Keesh Mountain” is a snapshot of Wombo’s wide-ranging aspirations that criss-coss post punk, avant pop and wonky indie with a sky’s-the-limit approach to translating the mundanity of regular life into their own high-frequency language.
To mark the announce the band are sharing single “Dreamsickle” alongside a self-produced video the trio created at home in Louisville, Kentucky featuring cosmic animations that adapt the band’s aesthetic imagery with a mercurial quality that has its own sense of playful, adventurous allure. They explain:
“Dreamsickle is about the frustrating yet comforting truth that no one can ever see or feel exactly what you experience in a dream. How no amount of explaining can be done to put an image from your dream into someone else’s mind. The visual was roughly based off “A trip to the moon.” We wanted a whimsical video that complements the dreamy feeling of the lyrics. Also we wanted something that looked very tactile with the textures of the fabrics and clouds to feel like a children’s story book.”
Wombo’s New EP Keesh Mountain is Out May 28th, on Fire Talk Records
It has been eleven years since Cathal Coughlan committed his voice to record – and the moment you hear it, you will be painfully aware of how much you have missed it. He has a voice like no-one else, expressive and sullen while somehow not coming across as grumpy. Originally from Cork, Ireland, Cathal Coughlan is the co-founder and singer of acclaimed 80s/90s groups Microdisney and Fatima Mansions, and widely considered to be one of Ireland’s most revered singer/songwriters, beloved by fans of caustic literate lyricism and erudite songcraft.
Although I still prefer his work in Microdisney together with Sean O’Hagan to his Fatima Mansions and solo records, the new album is certainly the best thing he has made since those days.
Maybe the renewed inspiration is related to the fact that Coughlan was instrumental in reforming Microdisney for a number of concerts, Not only do some of his old mates appear on this record; the songs are great, there is lots of drama in the arrangements, and the intense lyrics are filled to the brim with chaotic pictures expressing the life of alter-ego Co-Aklan.
The high point on the album is probably ‘The Knockout Artist’, what a pop song! It is also great to hear Sean O’Hagan contributing some synth on it. O’Hagan reappears on the closing track ‘Unrealtime’, this time on vocals.
A real keeper.
Recorded in London, the album features contributions from members of long-time collaborators the Grand Necropolitan Quartet as well as Luke Haines (The Auteurs, Black Box Recorder), Sean O’Hagan (Microdisney, The High Llamas), Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti), Eileen Gogan and Aindrais O’Gruama (Fatima Mansions).
Former Pains of Being Pureat Heart bassist Alex Nadius leads Los Angeles band Massage whose debut album, Still Life, was produced by Jed Smith (My Teenage Stride) and will be out June 25th. Opening cut “Half a Feeling” has a definite Jesus & Mary Chain vibe to it.
The kind of music Massage makes — sunny, bittersweet, tender — is less a proper genre than a minor zip code nested within guitar pop. Take a little “There She Goes” by the La’s, some “If You Need Someone” by the Field Mice; the honey-drizzled guitars from The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love”, a Jesus & Mary Chain backbeat, and you’re almost all the way there. Indie pop, jangle pop, power pop—whatever you call it, pushing too hard scares the spirit right out of this sweet, diffident music, and Massage have a touch so light the songs seem to form spontaneously, like wry smiles.
Still, on their sophomore effort, Still Life, they manage to take a quantum leap forward in song writing, production, and depth, all somehow without seeming to try. These 12 deft songs are full of late-summer sunlight and deep shadows, pained grins and shared jokes, shy declarations of love and quietly nursed heartbreak. Still Life resurrects a brief, romantic moment in the late-’80s, right after post-punk and immediately before alt-rock, when it seemed like any scrappy indie band might stumble across a hit.
The result is the finest batch of songs they’ve ever produced. From Naidus’ velvet-lined JAMC tribute “Half A Feeling” to Ferrer’s Let It Be-era Replacements-tinged lament “The Double” to Romano’s “In Gray & Blue,” these are gold-standard indie-pop gems from emerging masters of the form. The lyrics are downcast, empathetic, and quiet, little sketched portraits of evanescent feelings. “I got half a feeling/you’re not the one who’s really alive,” Naidus sings on first single “Half A Feeling,” while overdriven guitar churns up dirt clouds and the do, do-do, POW drumbeat sends the song racing towards sunset. “At the end of the world/Where were you?” he wonders on “At the End or the World,” a simple, affecting plea for pure companionship and love as structures large and small crumble outside.
Nashville-based rock and soul singer-songwriter Maggie Rose is unveiling a trilogy of music videos to be released accompanying her forthcoming album “Have A Seat”, due out on August 20th via Starstruck Records. The first clip is for the gospel-charged single, “What Are We Fighting For” which was produced by Jared Rauso/Bolo Brothers and directed by Ford Fairchild.
Ahead of a pair of socially distant shows in Denver, “rock n soul” singer Maggie Rose has shared a new music video for “What Are We Fighting For.”
The tune is bolstered by B-3 organ as well as Rose’s belting vocals, and fans can hear it alongside 10 other tunes on her forthcoming LP Have A Seat. These songs were written during a contentious time, and there are undertones to the lyrics that are influenced by the state of our world politics and the politics of the music industry. The title Have a Seat is responsorial, placing an emphasis on inclusivity — like, ‘Here, sit down. Let’s try talking to each other.’ One of the most loving things we can do is listen and make others feel heard give people the space to speak their mind and be themselves. However, there’s also an intended meaning to the title that points to the power in occupying the seat that’s designated to you: I am claiming a seat I believe is rightfully mine, and I want others to do the same. I can’t wait for you to hear it front to back, but until then, the first single, “Do It” is available now.
The album is Rose’s third full-length and was produced by Ben Tanner of Alabama Shakes at the iconic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals,. In a series of pre-pandemic sessions, Rose recorded live with a line-up of heavy-hitters that includes bassist David Hood of the Swampers (the group of session musicians who played on records from legends like Aretha Franklin and Etta James) and guitarist Will McFarlane (Bonnie Raitt, Levon Helm), along with her long time bandmates/collaborators Larry Florman (background vocals/percussion), Alex Haddad (guitars), and Sarah Tomek (drums) of Them Vibes, as well as guests such as Marcus King, among others.
On April 28th, Rose will host her podcast Salute The Songbirds as a live concert event at City Winery in Nashville, TN. The event, presented by Osiris Media, will feature performances from Elizabeth Cook, Jillette Johnson, Kalie Shorr, Nicole Atkins and Nicki Bluhm. Fans can also tune in to live stream the show via Mandolin A portion of proceeds from the event will benefit Women in Music and can be purchased HERE.
Micro-legendary DIY Garage-Pop-Psych provocateurs! The Prefab Messiahs Evolutionary genre grinders practicing art-damaged power pop, rock, crunch, jangle and general mind-infiltration.
Pandemics rage, the climate boils, politics putrefy, economies rot, and mass culture crumbles. Luckily, The Prefab Messiahs ring in their 40th(!) anniversary with a timely new batch of mind-expanding, genre-twisting sonic nuggets to distract us — and with any luck, to help inspire some fair turnabout. ‘Music For Concerned Citizens’ — the perfect prescription to pop your brain’s socially-distanced bubble!
Last year Joni Mitchell and Rhino stunned fans with the announcement of the Joni Mitchell Archives, an ongoing series of releases that look back at the career of the multifaceted songwriter, singer, producer, and visual artist.
Joni Mitchell and Rhino announced the next volume in the series: “The Reprise Albums (1968-1971)”, to be released June 25th, just fifty years and three days after she released the classic album “Blue” on June 22nd, 1971. This 4-CD or 4-LP set collects her first four albums, which feature some of her most enduring work:Song To A Seagull (featuring the essential tracks “Cactus Tree” and “Marcie”), Clouds (“Chelsea Morning” and “Both Sides Now”), Ladies of the Canyon (“Big Yellow Taxi,” “The Circle Game,” “Woodstock”) and the timeless Blue (featuring “River” and “A Case of You”), which recently landed on Rolling Stone‘s list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Joni Mitchell released Blue, concluding her prolific four album run for Reprise Records with an album considered by many to be one of the greatest of all time. Its stirring, confessional songs have been celebrated by music lovers and critics alike for decades while inspiring a wide variety of artists as diverse as Prince and Taylor Swift. Even today, its stature as a masterpiece continues to grow. Just last year, the album was named #3 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” To celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary, Rhino is releasing “The Reprise Albums (1968-1971)” the next installment of the Joni Mitchell Archives series, featuring newly remastered versions of Blue (1971) and the three albums that came before it: Song To A Seagull (1968), Clouds (1969), and Ladies Of The Canyon (1970).
In the case of Song To A Seagull, the original mix has been recently updated by Mitchell and mixer Matt Lee. The cover art for “The Reprise Albums (1968-1971)” features a previously unseen self-portrait Mitchell sketched during the time period. The collection also includes an essay by Grammy winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, another artist who’s been influenced greatly by Mitchell.
All the music on The Reprise Albums (1968-1971)has been newly remastered by Bernie Grundman and it also premieres a new mix of “Song To A Seagull” by Matt Lee and Joni Mitchell. In interviews, Joni has applauded her producer David Crosby’s choice to keep her songs sparse as in her live shows, but also expressed dissatisfaction over the chamber reverb that it had been said was baked into the tapes. The new mix honours the sonic fingerprint of the original while dialling back some of that reverb. For fans, it will be a whole new way of experiencing Joni’s first artistic statement.
The box set is handsomely packaged in a deluxe slipcase and adorned with a newly discovered self-portrait of the artist from the era. You’ll also find new liner notes by Brandi Carlile, a friend and admirer of Joni Mitchell and 6-time Grammy winner in her own right. If you purchase directly from Joni Mitchell’s online shop (in the U.S. or through the new EU storefront launched today), you’ll get a 7″x7″ print of the album artwork – one per copy purchased, no matter the format. But vinyl enthusiasts will want to act quickly on this one, as the LP edition of The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) is limited to just 10,000 copies.
And speaking of Mitchell’s online store, today marks the launch of the first official Joni Mitchell merchandise line. You’ll find a plethora of exclusive Joni Mitchell Archives-emblazoned memorabilia, as well as album cover T-shirts.
As for the vault material that fans are craving? Joni and Rhino promise that Joni Mitchell Archives Vol.2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) will follow later this year with a wealth of unreleased studio and live recordings. “Mitchell continues to be intimately involved in producing these collections, lending her vision and personal touch to every element of the projects,” Rhino representatives said in the press release. “Future releases in the Archives series will arrive in a similar manner, with a boxed set focused on studio albums from a specific era, followed by an official Archives release looking at unreleased audio from the same period.”
As Brandi Carlile writes in her notes, “No matter what we are dealing with in these times we can rejoice and know that of all the ages we could have lived through, we lived in the time of Joni Mitchell.” The four albums on The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) remind us how lucky we are with a stunning portrait of an artist finding her voice.
The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) arrives on 4-CD, limited edition 4-LP, and digital on June 25th. You can pre-order your set from the links below and preview the set with the new remaster of “A Case of You.”
Joni Mitchell,The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) (Rhino, 2021)
Rock ‘n’ roll is often hard to define, or even to find, in these fractured musical times. But to paraphrase an old saying, you know it when you hear it. And you always hear it with The Wallflowers. For the past 30 years, the Jakob Dylan-led act has stood as one of rock’s most dynamic and purposeful bands – a unit dedicated to and continually honing a sound that meshes timeless song writing and storytelling with a hard-hitting and decidedly modern musical attack. That signature style has been present through the decades, baked into the grooves of smash hits like 1996’s Bringing Down the Horse as well as more recent and exploratory fare like 2012’s Glad All Over.
But while it’s been nine long years since we’ve heard from the group with whom he first made his mark, the Wallflowers are silent no more. And Dylan always knew they’d return. “The Wallflowers is much of my life’s work,” he says simply. That life’s work continues with “Exit Wounds”, the brand-new Wallflowers studio offering. The collection marks the first new Wallflowers material since Glad All Over.
Exit Wounds, which, true to its title, is an ode to people – individual and collective – that have, to put it mildly, been through some stuff. “I think everybody – no matter what side of the aisle you’re on – wherever we’re going to next, we’re all taking a lot of exit wounds with us,” Dylan says. “Nobody is the same as they were four years ago. That, to me, is what Exit Wounds signifies. And it’s not meant to be negative at all. It just means that wherever you’re headed, even if it’s to a better place, you leave people and things behind, and you think about those people and those things and you carry them with you. Those are your exit wounds. And right now, we’re all swimming in them.”
“I’m the same writer I’ve always been—I was just also writing during a time when the world felt like it was falling apart,” bandleader Jakob Dylan said in a statement. “That changes the way you address even the simplest things, because you have panic in your mind all the time. You have anxiety. And you also have hope. And it’s all in there.”
The band debuted the album’s lead single, “Roots and Wings,” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Thursday night (April 8th).
Exit Wounds is slated for a July 9th release New West Records.
Next up on Levitation Sessions: Acid Dad! On the heels of announcing their upcoming LP “Take It From The Dead”, New York’s Acid Dad transports us to another realm via their green screen studio and the visuals of Webb Hunt. The setlist features some fresh takes on Acid Dad classics + the live debut of new tracks from their album. “Take It From The Dead” features an array of different influences ranging from 90’s neo-psych, modern post-punk and 70’s rock-n-roll. Acid Dad has crafted a record that sounds new, yet feels nostalgic. In contrast to their earlier work, they make use of slower tempos and expand their sound to include songs that are both more intricate and more hypnotic. To accompany the new record, the band spent the last year collaborating with video artist Webb Hunt, producing psych and glitch art videos that form a visual counterpart to the dreamy distortions of their sound.
This was our first attempt at shooting and performing in front of our blue screen rig we made in our studio in Queens. We’ve always talked about doing a blue screen shoot where we could be totally encompassed by CGI FX, but wasn’t until quarantine and not having the option to play shows to finally execute the idea. It’s hard to tell, but it was about 110 degrees in there with all the lights going so there is that authentic show time sweat.
Our visual artist, Webb Hunt, did an amazing job doing all the FX and different CGI looks for the session. It took weeks to edit and create, but it was totally worth creating this swimming pool of feedback and colours. We wanted to make a session that no one else was doing look wise. Something familiar but different and extremely psychedelic.
– Acid Dad
The live album is being pressed up on a limited edition vinyl edition. These pressings will only be available as part of the stream. The album will be released digitally worldwide on May 14th.
Set List: 1. Contact 2. BBQ 3. Die Hard 4. Dissin’ 5. Living With A Creature 6. Bada Bing 7. Marine 8. RC Driver 9. 2Ci 10. Don’t Get Taken 11. Mistress 12. Mr. Major 13. Djembe
On the heels of announcing their upcoming LP “Take It From The Dead”, New York’s Acid Dad transports us to another realm via their green screen studio and the visuals of Webb Hunt. The setlist features some fresh takes on Acid Dad classics + the live debut of new tracks from their upcoming album. “This was our first attempt at shooting and performing in front of our blue screen rig we made in our studio in Queens. We’ve always talked about doing a blue screen shoot where we could be totally encompassed by CGI FX, but wasn’t until quarantine and not having the option to play shows to finally execute the idea. It’s hard to tell, but it was about 110 degrees in there with all the lights going so there is that authentic show time sweat.” “Our visual artist, Webb Hunt, did an amazing job doing all the FX and different CGI looks for the session. It took weeks to edit and create, but it was totally worth creating this swimming pool of feedback and colors. We wanted to make a session that no one else was doing look wise. Something familiar but different and extremely psychedelic.” “We reworked a bunch of our older songs with newer tempos and parts to create unique compositions for LEVITATION as well as debuting some newer songs from our upcoming album. It feels strange being off a stage for so long but it’s really exciting being able to attempt to recreate that experience in a multimedia virtual space.” -ACID DAD
In April 2021, Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner will publish her first book, a memoir titled “Crying in H Mart”. If the titular essay, originally published in a 2018 issue of The New Yorker, is any indication, it will be a moving depiction of Zauner’s relationship with her family, food, and Korean heritage. Zauner will also share a new Japanese Breakfast album, a much-anticipated follow-up to 2017’s “Soft Sounds From Another Planet”. In the meantime, check out pop songs 2020, an EP Zauner made with Crying’s Ryan Galloway under the name Bumper.
From the moment she began writing her new album, Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner knew that she wanted to call it ‘Jubilee’. After all, a jubilee is a celebration of the passage of time—a festival to usher in the hope of a new era in brilliant technicolor. Zauner’s first two albums garnered acclaim for the way they grappled with anguish; ‘Psychopomp’ was written as her mother underwent cancer treatment, while ‘Soft Sounds From Another Planet’ took the grief she held from her mother’s death and used it as a conduit to explore the cosmos. Now, at the start of a new decade, Japanese Breakfast is ready to fight for happiness, an all-too-scarce resource in our seemingly crumbling world.
Michlle Zauner has been making waves in the indie music scene for a year now with her alter ego Japanese Breakfast but she’s not quite there yet in the first row of indie pop superstars (you know, the Tame Impala/Phoebe Bridgers level). But now she returns with her entry ticket and what might easily the best pop song of 2021 so far. Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing helped her writing it and I told you before that this man is an expert when it comes to catchy 80s-infected pop hooks. “Be Sweet” is such a song – a much needed overdose of positive vibes, including a chorus that will stuck in your damn head for the rest of the day, week and maybe year. “After spending the last five years writing about grief, I wanted our follow up to be about joy,” Zauner says about her forthcoming record “Jubilee” which is out in June and will be a ‘bombastic’ experience according to her.
“Posing in Bondage” the new song by Japanese Breakfast from the album ‘Jubilee’, out June 4th on Dead Oceans.
‘Jubilee’ finds Michelle Zauner embracing ambition and, with it, her boldest ideas and songs yet. Inspired by records like Bjork’s ‘Homogenic’, Zauner delivers bigness throughout – big ideas, big textures, colours, sounds and feelings. At a time when virtually everything feels extreme, ‘Jubilee’ sets its sights on maximal joy, imagination, and exhilaration. It is, in Michelle Zauner’s words, “a record about fighting to feel. I wanted to re-experience the pure, unadulterated joy of creation… The songs are about recalling the optimism of youth and applying it to adulthood. They’re about making difficult choices, fighting ignominious impulses and honouring commitments, confronting the constant struggle we have with ourselves to be better people.”
Throughout ‘Jubilee’, Zauner pours her own life into the universe of each song to tell real stories, and allowing those universes, in turn, to fill in the details. Joy, change, evolution — these things take real time, and real effort. And Japanese Breakfast is here for it.
Writing a profound pop song is an art form – and this is a great example for it.
OSEES on Levitation Sessions! Full set recorded out in the desert with the hits from the crypt! +7 tracks never performed live before + some old favourites and tracks off their new album:. The incredible live performance premiered on Saturday, September 26th, 2020. You can buy their music from the levitation sessions on: https://ohsees.bandcamp.com/album/lev…
Osees taped a full band show for Levitation fest’s virtual series that was streamed back in September. It was also released digitally as a live album, and now the Levitation Sessions are getting a vinyl release on March 5th with proceeds going to support independent venues.
There are three different coloured vinyl editions, and each one benefits something different: one pressing benefits NIVA, the National Independent Venue Association; another benefits Austin’s Hotel Vegas; and the third benefits Los Angeles’ Zebulon. Each one comes with a bonus 7″ featuring the last song of the set, “Block of Ice.” All three editions of Levitation Sessions
OSEES have shared “Stinking Cloud” from their upcoming Levitation Sessions II streaming show and live album. It’s a deep cut from 2011’s ’60s-psych-pop influenced Castlemania and not the typical ripper you associate with the band but it sounds pretty great. It’s so deep that it’s the first time it’s ever been played in a live band setting. The ‘Levitation Sessions II’, which was shot in “a cavernous Los Angeles factory,” promises more where “Stinking Cloud” came from with a “handful of never-before-played-live tunes & some new surprises,.
It will also be available as a live double album, with a few different variants and merch packages available, including a signed poster which was designed and illustrated by John Dwyer. Proceeds from that are being donated to Elizabeth House, East LA Women’s Center, St Francis Center, Downtown Women’s Center and the Hollywood Food Coalition. OSEES are donating their proceeds from the show to the same charities.
Meanwhile John Dwyer is dipping a toe into the world of NFTs — and no, it doesn’t seem to be an April Fools joke. He has put two NFTs up for auction that are related to the Levitation Sessions II streaming show and album.
THE TEXT This piece uses a lenticular process to bring John Dwyer’s original mixed media painting to life. Sound tracked by a radioactive live version of “Opposition”. The tendrils of flowers and foliage grow and wilt while we gaze at our screens through empty eye sockets, taking in the vast glory of the information superhighway.
John Dwyer’s painting comes to life in a hypnotic infinite zoom loop. Sound tracked by a live cut of “Stinking Cloud”, taken from the band’s upcoming Levitation Sessions II live album. “Vol 4” is being released an 1/1 NFT, while “THE TEXT” is in an edition of 13. Both NFTs also come with a stream ticket, signed screen print and the 2xLP shipped worldwide.
“Osees pine for our fans and friends out there in the world, so we have come together for another stream with the mighty Levitation.
I personally got stoned and stuck my face into the muck of our past catalog to bob for some dusty tumescent gems. There will be some oldies, and some mouldies and some surprises along the way. I’m quite happy with how this one turned out. Shot in an insane old factory warehouse in Los Angeles (it looks like a fight scene set from Point Blank or the John Wick trilogy 🙂
If you had told me a year ago we’d be doing these streams now i would have thought you were crazy, but, egg on my face, and here we are. I’m so glad to have this little thing to share a moment with y’all until we can meet face to face on the field of battle again.
Mastered this time in advance of the stream by the Guru JJ Golden, it will hopefully turn some frowns inside out and upside down….grossssss” – JPD Releases
April 23rd, 2021 The live album from OSEES Volume II of Levitation Sessions.
The Fat Angel Sings 