Phoebe Bridgers recorded two tracks for the Spotify Singles series. First, she’s shared a new version of her “Punisher” single “Kyoto,” now featuring iconic singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. The second offering is a cover of John Prine’s “Summer’s End,” featuring backing vocal from Maria Taylor. Hear both songs on Spotify.
At the end of 2020, Phoebe Bridgers released some reworked Punisher songs on an EP called “Copycat Killer”. That EP is now being pressed on vinyl, and you can pre-order the 12″ on ‘Mountain Blast’ green in the BV Store, the songs Kyoto, Savior Complex, Chinese Satellite and Punisher, all given a luscious revamp that is sure to delight any fans of Phoebe’s album and serve as perfect gateway for new listeners into what makes her one of the most special artists of 2020 and beyond.
The Copycat Killer versions of the songs were recorded with arranger and string player, Rob Moose, who has also also worked with Bon Iver, Paul Simon, Alabama Shakes, Taylor Swift, The Killers, Moses Sumney, FKA Twigs, Antony & The Johnsons, Regina Spektor and more. Rob also previously worked with Phoebe on “Georgia” from Stranger In The Alps, which by the way we also have in limited quantities along with Punisher and the new EP (along with the new Julien Baker record that Phoebe also appears on).
Bridgers recently sang “Kyoto” with Jackson Browne at the 2021 Tibet House US Benefit Concert. And, last year, she played a solo acoustic version of “Summer’s End” for a Sirius XMU Session.
Phoebe Bridgers was up for four Grammys this year, including Best New Artist, Best Alternative Album (for Punisher), and Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance (both for “Kyoto”).
Phoebe Bridger’s Copycat Killer EP, out November 10th on Dead Oceans.
Hey hey, happy Spring! This is Julia from Ratboys, writing to you with some very exciting news to share…Next month, we’re celebrating our 10th Anniversary as a band! That’s right: 10 years ago this April, Dave and I put out our first EP, “Ratboy”, on Bandcamp. The EP was 5 songs that we recorded in our dorm rooms and bedrooms during spring break that year, and we didn’t really have any expectations or hopes when we put it up online… just that our friends might hear it and hopefully enjoy it. When we heard back from our friends, that they did in fact like it, we were able to start playing some shows that summer, and boom! the rest is history. Now that a full decade has passed (absolutely insane), we’re gonna celebrate this milestone with a one-of-a-kind full band concert, which we filmed/recorded live on the floor at Schuba’s Tavern in Chicago. This 10th Anniversary Show is unlike anything we’ve made before, and we are just so absolutely thrilled to share it with you live, April 29th at 8PM central.
The show itself features 10 songs from across our discography plus some excellent archival footage plus the four of us reminiscing on ridiculous tales from the road, meeting by chance, and figuring out how to be a band together.
We recently announced that we’d be helping Ratboys celebrate their 10th anniversary as a band by presenting a new virtual performance. However, that’s not the only way Ratboys are marking the decade: they’ve now released a surprise new album, “Happy Birthday, Ratboy”, ten years to the day after their first EP, 2011’s Ratboy, came out.
Happy Birthday, Ratboy features new recordings of all five songs on the 2011 EP, which they recorded as a duo, before expanding their line-up and signing to Topshelf Records, as well as five more of the band’s college-era tracks, and most recent single “Go Outside” (which is on the record, but not the Bandcamp stream). The new versions sound fantastic, freshly polished and fleshed out takes on songs that very much hold up, and you can see the cover art and track listing,
10 years ago this April — April 1st to be exact — Chicago’s Ratboys put out their first collection of songs. “The RATBOY EP”, consisting of five indie-folk dorm room recordings, was free to download on Bandcamp and humbly passed around to friends on social media.
Ratboys would normally be celebrating their 10-year anniversary on the road, playing a mix of songs from their very first release to their most recent, last year’s critically-acclaimed Printer’s Devil. Instead, just two weeks after the album’s February 2020 release and mere days before heading out on their first headline tour, the COVID-19 pandemic forced all touring to a halt. Despite not being able to play in-person shows for the past year, Ratboys has managed to stay busy by performing their music online via their own Virtual Tour series and by finding a different way to celebrate their first decade of being a band.
Lots of time at home last year gave Ratboys a chance to hit the studio, which has led to Happy Birthday, Ratboy, a surprise party of a new album featuring 10 brand new recordings of the band’s earliest songs + a newly-written bonus track entitled “Go Outside.”
The Band:
Guitar, vocals – Julia Steiner Guitar, pocket piano, ukelele, lap steel – Dave Sagan Bass – Sean Neumann Drums, percussion – Marcus Nuccio
James Weber Jr. started writing the songs that would make up Keen Dreams‘ debut album after reading Daisy Hildyard’s The Second Body. The book-length essay makes the case that humans have one corporal body and one less tangible body, something more spectral. It is not, by all accounts, a book that reaches simple conclusions — “bewilderment struggling towards expression,” according to one review — which in itself might help to explain the dreamy and uncanny nature of Weber Jr.’s songs on a record that borrows its name and structure from Hildyard’s book.
Keen Dreams, completed by drummer Eric Martinez and bassist Shana Applewhite, make sprawling, dreamy pop music that echoes and maybe most importantly wanders around. The trio experiments with new age improvisation and the sort of spacey indie rock melodies mastered by bands like Spiritualized. The Second Body’s wilder detours are immediately lit up by sunny harmonies or straight-up riffs so, while the record is heady, it absolutely doesn’t feel inaccessible. (In that sense they’re a perfect fit on the excellent Brooklyn-based label Whatever’s Clever, home to Ben Seretan, Office Culture, and Caitlin Pasko.)
The latest single from the album is “PInks & Reds,”. It’s one of the more shoegazey songs on The Second Body, held together by Applewhite’s rolling bass and Martinez’s quietly busy drums. Weber lets his guitar and his lyrics fly around: “The park’s all Pinks & Reds / You wish you had a twin, and you bite your / Lovers’ thumbs too deeply.”
Taken from the New Orleans dream pop band’s debut, “The Second Body“, Out May 14th, 2021 from Whatever’s Clever and Strange Daisy Records
Frankie and the Witch Fingers live album for their “Levitation Session” is out now!, The “Levitation Sessions”: the Frankie and the Witch Fingers simulated reality prototype! Plug it into your brain and experience a deep fried, multi-coloured, sensory invasion featuring 11 of their latest jammers. A psychedelic rock meltdown in the 4th dimension.
“We spent a full week in the desert shooting our session – it was really more of a space mission than anything else, a self-contained artistic ecosystem. Everyone had been so restless in quarantine that when we came back together again in a giant, hot, hangar in the desert, there was five months of pent-up adrenaline that ignited between the band and our team.
We were lucky enough to have our friend, Caster Black, break down his entire studio and set it back up for us to record. Shitshow Dave brought a spaceship’s worth of AV gear, and went vastly above and beyond engineering the lighting, projections, video-capture, and electrical for the show – he also photographed us, fed us, and tattooed us out there too! And, our good friend and visionary video artist, Railroad Bill, captured it all on tape and spent countless hours editing and making it into something I’ve never seen before: a video game where you get to be inside the show as a simulated guest. I hope all the love that went into it is apparent when you see it, and that you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.” – Frankie and the Witch Fingers
The Live album from Frankie and the Witch Fingers’ “Levitation Session”, Our mission at Levitation is to be a platform where the art and music we love can thrive. Levitation Sessions are our way to support the bands and keep the music going. Just like a regular show, the majority of every dollar you spend goes to the artists we’re presenting. Thank you for supporting these artists!
Intended to capture their explosive and hugely popular live set in the studio, “A Different Compilation” sees Buzzcocks, led as ever by Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle, re-visit 24 of their best loved songs, bringing a new energy to those familiar tunes.
Performed with all of the energy and pace of a live show, and captured in a raw and uncompromising state, ‘A Different Compilation’ sits as a perfect companion to the original recordings, and was a huge hit among fans on its original release. All of these songs in their original studio versions. It was a brave thing for Buzzcocks to revisit these old songs and give them a new coat of polish, but it works nicely. Pete Shelley mentioned that many of the earlier recordings sounded like demos, and he is right to an extent. However, the original recordings sounded crisper and less ‘muddy’. Some of the songs have a new slant, others are faithfully reproduced, but all in all this makes for a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience. It’s refreshing to hear these newer live versions. Production is more grungy and heavier sounding. Apart from that they have not attempted to embellish them which is good. Noticeable tracks are Boredom sung by Shelley and Love is Lies which is more electric than the original acoustic version.
“A Different Compilation” sits as a perfect companion to the original recordings, and was a huge hit among fans on its original release. Now available on vinyl for the first time, and spread across two glorious pink LPs, this is the perfect opportunity to revisit some old friends and see how well they’ve grown!
Now available on vinyl for the first time, and spread across two glorious pink LPs, this is the perfect opportunity to revisit some old friends and see how well they’ve grown!
ALL THE HITS AND CLASSICS, RE-RECORDED FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
INCLUDES ‘EVER FALLEN IN LOVE’, ‘ORGASM ADDICT’, ‘WHAT DO I GET’, ‘HARMONY IN MY HEAD’ AND COUNTLESS OTHER ANTHEMS FROM THE BAND’S EXTENSIVE BACK CATALOGUE.
The core of Trapeze can be traced back to Midlands band Finders Keepers in the late 1960s, featuring future Whitesnake guitarist Mel Galley, future Judas Priest drummer Dave Holland and the mercurial talents of Glenn Hughes on bass and vocals. After being discovered by The Moody Blues, they were snapped up for their own label, Threshold Records. Trapeze would record three classic albums for Threshold; the self-titled “Trapeze” in May 1970, “Medusa” in November 1970 and “You Are The Music We’re Just The Band” in 1972.
By the time of their second album, Trapeze had scaled down to the classic power trio of Galley, Holland and Hughes, finding their definitive sound with a unique blend of blues, soul and hard rock, earning them plenty of fans in America.
One of Trapeze’s major strongholds in the States was Texas, so we’re lucky to be able to present a complete 1972 show from Houston recorded live in concert to promote their third record. Featuring ‘Way Back To The Bone’, ‘You Are The Music’ and ‘Keepin’ Time’ from “You Are The Music We’re Just The Band”, the remainder of the set was taken from second LP, “Medusa”. This double live LP includes truly epic renditions of ‘Jury’, ‘Seafull’, ‘Your Love Is Alright’ and the title track of “Medusa”.
Glenn Hughes would leave Trapeze to join Deep Purple in 1973, with Mel Galley and Dave Holland carrying the Trapeze banner for the remainder of the 1970s, periodically reforming this classic three-piece line-up. Glenn would eventually form Hughes / Thrall Band, join Black Sabbath, enjoy a successful solo career, collaborate with artists as varied as Gary Moore, Joe Lynn Turner and the KLF, founding Black Country Communion and California Breed, and currently fronts The Dead Daisies.
Released through Cherry Red Records, 12th June 2021 Limited Edition 180 Gram Gatefold Double LP
Brooklyn alternative-pop duo Overcoats have announced a new EP, featuring a new single with fellow pop innovators Tennis. “Used To Be Scared Of The Dark” features contributions from Middle Kids, Lawrence Rothman, and Ryan Hahn of Local Natives. The EP is based on self-growth and the quest for stability, and all of the collaboration was done remotely to show how trust transcends physicality.
“The Hardest Part” is a summery folk-pop jam aided by Alaina of Tennis’ buttery-smooth vocals and sparkly keyboards to create immersive harmonies that are easy to get lost in. Reflecting on the making of the song, the Overcoats said:
This song is about coming to terms with a relationship being over. And the hard reality that you may never know where that person ends up or what they do. It’s about letting go. We brought this song to Tennis because it needed their nostalgic retro pop sound to help tell this story. And it needed to be cooler.
“Used To Be Scared Of The Dark” is out June 4th via Loma Vista.
The band will be launching Overcoats – Spotlight Sessions, a series of conversations about each song with their collaborators. You can catch the first episode featuring Tennis on April 14 via Spotify.
Amongst all of the many Record Store Day2021 announcements, among the most exciting has to be Island/Mercury’s announcement of an unreleased Elton John album finally seeing the light of day: 1968’s “Regimental Sgt. Zippo”, due on the June 12th, 2021 RSD Drop.
After the rapturous reception for Jewel Box, Rocket/UMC/EMI are honoured to announce a strictly limited one-off bringing together of Elton John’s fabled Regimental Sgt Zippo album that was slated for release in 1968, but ultimately shelved.
One of the best box sets of last year was Elton John’s “Jewel Box”. Among its 8 CDs were three discs of rarities spanning 1965-1971. Perhaps the most intriguing tracks included were those intended for an unreleased album entitled Regimental Sgt. Zippo. Recorded at Dick James Studios in London in late 1967 and early 1968, the new partnership of composer John and lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote this group of songs under the influence of The Beatles but in their own unique and developing style. A total of twelve psych-pop songs were intended for the album and it was given its title with a nod to Elton’s real name of Reginald, his father’s military service, and once again, The Beatles. But for reasons lost to time, the album was shelved and the world would have to wait until 1969 to hear a full album of John and Taupin songs with Empty Sky. Regimental Sgt. Zippowas largely forgotten about as the duo’s careers hit the stratosphere, other than some of the songs leaking out on bootlegs. Cut to last year with the “Jewel Box” which published a track listing for the final LP and presented versions of most of its songs.
The songs from Regimental Sgt. Zippo were spread out among the CDs on Jewel Box and some of them were in demo form, not in the versions that would have been heard on the final album. Now, the entire LP will be released as originally intended. The title track of an unreleased debut album, this track captures Elton and Bernie in full 60s psychedelic mode. Recorded and produced at the DJM studios, the same building that housed the Beatles’ publishing company, Northern Songs, the song is an affectionate nod to Sgt Pepper and the era. Within six years of this May 1968 recording Elton John would be a superstar the size of the Beatles, and close friends with John Lennon, something that would have been hard to predict at the time Regimental Sgt. Zippo was recorded.
This means that several of the songs will be heard in their completed versions for the first time. (The press release indicates that five are in their finished versions for the first time, but there were only four songs labelled as demos in the Jewel Box: “When I Was Tealby Abbey,” “And the Clock Goes Round,” “Angel Tree” and “A Dandelion Dies in the Wind,” so it is unclear which other song will have a new version. It could be the song “Nina,” which has a different title on the album’s track-listing, but that is just conjecture.) Also, “You’ll Be Sorry to See Me Go,” the lone RSZ track not included in any form on Jewel Box, is making its debut here.
If you would like to grab a copy of what would have been Elton John’s first album, head to your local record store participating in RSD on June 12tgh. There’s no word as yet on a digital or CD presentation of Regimental Sgt. Zippo,
The LP will be limited to 7,000 copies and will have a flip-back laminated gloss sleeve.
The last week belongs to Lana Del Rey. We were blown away by her last album. “Chemtrails” which only builds on her success we couldn’t be more pleased for her.
Though its release date has been delayed a few times now, all signs point to the acclaimed songstress’ seventh studio album surfacing soon, with the official pre-order and video for the title track . In the meantime, lead single “Let Me Love You Like A Woman” offers more than enough to whet our appetites for the new project, which its creator describes as “folky … beautiful … super different from Norman F**king Rockwell!”.
Fame and Del Rey’s disregard for it is a recurring theme on her seventh album ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’. On opening track ‘White Dress’, she explores her longing for a time when she was yet to find success; she delivers it in a rasped whisper so urgent it sounds like she’s trying to transport herself back there. “I felt free because I was only 19,” she sings of days and nights spent waitressing and listening to jazz, Kings Of Leon and “White Stripes when they were white hot”.
Perhaps it’s a case of the grass always being greener – pre-fame Lana surely wouldn’t have imagined achieving all she has and wanting to be back bussing tables – but she closes the song rationalising her desire to go back: “Because it made me fee… like a god/ It kind of makes me feel like maybe I was better off.”
The sublime, dreamy float of the title track is similarly nostalgic, calling back to a time where “there’s nothing wrong, contemplating God / Under the chemtrails over the country club”. It’s gorgeous and idyllic, distilling a scene of quintessential Americana into its most poetic form. Del Rey even manages to make the most mundane of chores and activities sound magical: “Washing my hair, doing the laundry/ Late night TV, I want you only”.
Conversely, on the romantic waltz of ‘Wild At Heart’, she’s in the here-and-now, evoking a scene of being chased by the paps, fingers on the shutter. “The cameras have flashes / They cause the car crashes,” she sighs, with an important distinction to make lest anyone get things twisted: “But I’m not a star.” ‘Dark But Just A Game’, which shifts from brooding trip-hop atmospherics to brighter folk licks, was inspired by a party at Madonna’s manager’s house and finds Del Rey explaining she doesn’t “even want what’s mine / Much less the fame”.
Later, she shares a lesson she learned from watching those who came before her: “We keep changing all the time / The best ones lost their minds / So I’m not gonna change; I’ll stay the same.” Rather than whinges about the privilege of being rich and successful, these are sharp observations on buying into your own celebrity and the impact of society’s thirst to know everything about our idols.
The LA-based musician’s last album, 2019’s ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell!’, saw her hit a career-high with a record that instantly cemented its place as an all-time great. Yet with ‘Chemtrails…’ Del Rey follows it with ease, riding that record’s creative high but looking further back into her past to tie her whole story together in one place.
On first listen – and especially after the more organic sounds of ‘NFR!’ – ‘Tulsa Jesus Freak’ might come as a shock. Del Rey’s voice is fed through Auto-Tune and vocal processors, aping the production of the mumble rappers she declared her love for on her last album cycle. Incorporating elements of hip-hop into her timeless pop is nothing new for Lana – she’s been doing it since her ‘Born To Die’ era – but it’s exciting to hear her invention and refusal to be restricted.
There are plenty of Easter eggs littered throughout the record, connecting it to past releases. On the title track, she sings, “You’re in the wind, I’m in the water”, harking back to ‘Brooklyn Baby’’s “I think we’re the wind and sea”. She repeats ‘Mariners Apartment Complex’’s assertion that she “ain’t no candle in the wind” on the quiet fingerpicked folk of ‘Yosemite’ and ‘Tulsa Jesus Freak’, while ‘Wild At Heart’ brings back the character of Joe, who previously appeared on ‘NFR!’’s ‘How To Disappear’ and her spoken-word poem ‘Never To Heaven’.
As well as paying tribute to herself, on ‘Chemtrails…’ Del Rey carves out space for her heroes and current favourites. ‘Breaking Up Slowly’ finds her swapping verses with country singer Nikki Lane. “I don’t wanna live with a life of regret / I don’t wanna end up like Tammy Wynette,” Lane sings at one point, before Del Rey references the vintage star’s third husband George Jones: “George got arrested out on the lawn / We might be breaking up after the song.”
The album ends with a poignant cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘For Free’, which features Arizona rising singer-songwriter Zella Day and Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering. On the penultimate track ‘Dance Til We Die’, Lana sings, “I’m covering Joni and I’m dancing with Joan / Stevie is calling on the telephone.” It’s a reminder that, more than just being influenced by the likes of Joan Baez and Stevie Nicks, she’s now on a par with them. Lana Del Rey is at the peak of her game – just don’t expect her to come down anytime soon.
Lana Del Rey has been one of the most successful and influential artists of the last decade, without ever making a great album. Her brooding ballads, dipped in faded Hollywood glamour, have helped to shift the landscape of modern popular music
I’d never heard of Brooklyn’s Cassandra Jenkins before her latest album, but she’s well-credentialed. She was set to tour with Purple Mountains before David Berman’s suicide and has also worked with The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn and The Fiery Furnace’s Eleanor Friedberger. Berman is referenced on ‘New Bikini’ – “After David passed away/My friends put me up for a few days/”
“An Overview on Phenomenal Nature” sounds dubious on paper, an indie-folk record that celebrates nature, adds monologues about how men have lost touch, and incorporates the kind of new-age textures you’d expect on a 1980s Van Morrison record. But it’s lovely in practice, pretty and warm. Jenkins’ vocal is intimate and she’s a good enough lyricist to keep things interesting, casually dropping the word “panoply” into ‘Crosshairs’ and titling a song ‘Ambiguous Norway’.
Jenkins’ main collaborator is producer and multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaufman. Kaufman’s a member of the amazing Bonny Light Horsemen and who has worked with The National, Taylor Swift, and Josh Ritter. The arrangements are often key with lovely woodwind parts, while the dual lead guitar parts on ‘Ambiguous Norway’ are gorgeous.
A gorgeous, shimmering set of songs that combines ultra-smooth pop sounds (recalling the softer moments of Destroyer’s “Kaputt”) with sweet ambient textures. Fantastic song writing work, as well. A joy to listen to, and a clear early contender for 2021’s album of the year.
For UK Dinked special edition, go here: dinkededition.co.uk/cassandra-jenkins-an-overview-on-phenomenal-nature
The Band of Musicians:
Cassandra Jenkins– vocals, guitar Josh Kaufman– guitar, voyager, harmonium, banjo, synth, bass, piano, organ ~and~ JT Bates– drums, auxiliary percussion Eric Biondo– drums Michael Coleman– synth Stuart Bogie– flutes, saxophone Doug Wieselman– sax Oliver Hill– violin, viola, string arrangement Annie Nero– bass Aaron Roche– synth Will Stratton– guitar Ben Seretan– drone
All songs written and performed by Cassandra Jenkins Produced and mostly engineered by Josh Kaufman at The Boom Boom Room, Brooklyn, NY
The Fat Angel Sings 