Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

FRUIT BATS – ” Gold Past Life “

Posted: January 30, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

Image may contain: possible text that says 'gold past life'

If you listen to a band for 18 years, you’re bound to have more than “A Lingering Love” for them. With Gold Past Life, Fruit Bats reach new heights that have significantly increased not only their quiver of amazing songs, but also their fan base.

Chicago-based alt-folk band Fruit Bats released a case study in B-roll for their newest single, “Gold Past Life.” At the center of the bizarre music video stands the proud proprietor of a mail-order stock footage company, who is aiming to sell selections from his catalog by showing off his newest satisfied customers:

Fruit Bats (who else could it possibly be?). The proprietor’s Sunset at Beach (with Zoom), Seasonal Bird in Oven and Desperate Businessman Discovers Future clips, and other assorted footage are scored by the band’s easy, buoyant single, some of which include frontman Eric D. Johnson as The Drifter, Desperate Businessman and the Beach Bum.

http://

released June 21st, 2019

All music and lyrics by Eric D. Johnson 
Published by Furry Good Horns / BMI

Fruit Bats is Eric D. Johnson – words, vocals, various
with
Josh Adams – drums
David Dawda – bass
Josh Mease – guitar
Thom Monahan – sounds, percussion
and featuring
Trevor Beld Jimenez – drums
Neal Casal – guitar
Meg Duffy – guitar
Greta Morgan – vocals
Tim Ramsey – pedal steel

EVE OWEN – ” So Still For You “

Posted: January 30, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: ,
0

Image may contain: 1 person, outdoor and closeup

Eve Owen is a singer-songwriter based in London. “‘So Still For You’ is about how fleeting love can be, but how permanent words are,” explains Owen. “By sharing my love in a song, it lasts forever.” Of the video, Hannah Owen says, “We had a clear idea of what the song meant to us but we were equally really in love with the idea of seeing what came naturally once a camera was put in front of Eve. It’s so lovely to work as a two-person team. Every idea is valid and a strong contender—we can just play and follow whatever feels fun. The song is led by a delicate balance of vulnerability and wild power. I think for the video we just wanted to explore both themes honestly and see where it led us visually.” Eve is also known for having lent vocals to The National song “Where Is Her Head” from the band’s most recent album, I Am Easy To Find.

From the forthcoming album Don’t Let The Ink Dry, out May 8th on 37d03d.

THE JUST JOANS – ” The Private Memoirs and Confessions of The Just Joans “

Posted: January 30, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

Image may contain: text

Acerbic yet winsome Scottish indie poppers The Just Joans return with the dazzlingly maudlin The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans, a deeply personal collection of songs that hazily recall the past and contemplate the futility of the future..  The title alludes both to James Hogg’s gothic novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner but also the memories, however vague, of songwriter David Pope, and his increasing awareness of “the onset of middle-aged ennui”.

Thematically, the latter pretty much sums up the theme album’s opener ‘Hey Ho, Let’s Not Go’ with David sounding perfectly justified in wanting to just watch Match of the Day whilst fellow vocalist, his sister Katie, reminds the album’s narrators of the old times and nights out in the battleground of town. If the song’s lyrics are negative and insular, however, that’s a counterpoint to the bold brass that opens the album – a deliberate choice by the band to open up their sound, by roping in multi-instrumentalist Arion Xenos and keyboardist Alison Eales (from fellow Glaswegians, Butcher Boy).

Second track ‘Who Does Susan Think She Is?’ is hilariously cynical, focusing on that one friend who suddenly decides to go to art school and turn vegan, whilst ‘Wee Guys (Bobby’s Got A Punctured Lung)’ contemplates acts of violence involving lads on the street.

The album’s middle section contains its most heartfelt tracks, dominated by Katie’s winning vocals. Ranging from ‘Dear Diary, I Died Again Today’ – a lush string-laden ballad, and ‘When Nietzsche Calls’ – a sort of twisted torch song with a growing brass section, to ‘The One I Loathe the Least’, a minor key lilt whose stand-out lyric refers to the population as “subhuman scum”.

So far, so sophisti-pop, but there’s C64 cred here too, with the squelchy synths and guitar wash of ‘My Undying Love For You Is Beginning to Die’, the dating disaster synth-pop of ‘Another Doomed Relationship’, until the album closes with the echoey Visage vocals of ‘Like Yesterday Again’, which sounds like the album sweetly expiring under the weight of its own efforts. There’s also pop-rock in the form of ‘The Older I Get The More I Don’t Know’ and the Ben Folds-y ‘Holiday’, whilst the album still has space for a nostalgically baroque tune in the shape of ‘People I Once Knew’.

http://

Named for the agony aunt Joan Burnie, and her ‘Just Joan’ column in The Daily Record, it’s appropriate that The Just Joans may not necessarily tap into your best emotions – but they certainly make you feel a lot better about having them. For a band whose lifespan now stretches to four albums, it’s impressive that the cynicism, the bitterness and, most damning of all, the optimism of life as an outsider are still felt as strongly. It may say more about this writer’s age than the album, but there’s something reassuring about knowing you’re not the only one having a tough time and The Just Joans capture that feeling just so.

Released January 10th, 2020

The Just Joans are David Pope, Katie Pope, Chris Elkin, Fraser Ford, Arion Xenos and Jason Sweeney.
All songs written, recorded and produced by The Just Joans.

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of The Just Joans is out now via Fika Recordings.

PAUL REVERE and the RAIDERS – ” Just Like Us ! “

Posted: January 30, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , , ,
0

Image may contain: 3 people, child

It Was 54 Years Ago Today, January 29th, 1966, Paul Revere & The Raiders release their “Just Like Us!” album. Although “Just Like Us!” was Paul Revere & the Raiders‘ fourth album overall, it marked a number of firsts. It was their first album to appear since they had become TV stars (and therefore AM radio staples and teenage magazine heartthrobs, especially Mark Lindsay) as a result of their weekly appearances on the ABC TV show “Where the Action Is!”; it was their first album to be produced entirely by Terry Melcher, a powerful influence and significant contributor to their sound; it was their first Top Ten album and their first to go gold.

Actually, it’s only a gradual development from their previous album, the half-live (in the studio) Here They Come! The group still had a tough R&B edge and still favored R&B covers like “Night Train,” “Doggone,” and, by way of England, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and “I’m Crying.” (Melcher was already steering a stylistic course for the Raiders between the Rolling Stones and the Animals.) Even the two hit singles, “Steppin’ Out” and “Just Like Me,” were intense, bluesy rockers.

Unlike later albums, “Just Like Us!” highlighted the whole band — guitarist Drake Levin, bassist Phil “Fang” Volk, and drummer Mike Smith each took turns on lead vocals. (That would change as Lindsay’s profile rose in the band.) Each was competent and entertaining, but Just Like Us! was still an album by a group feeling its way from the dancehall circuit to the different and more creative demands of mass popularity.

Here are a couple of lines from the review Billboard Magazine gave “Just Like Us!” in their “Album Reviews” column from their publication issued on January. 29th, 1966: …”the rockin’ group can’t miss with this pulsating discotheque package. Watch this LP hit with impact.” “Just Like Us!” would peak at #5 on the Billboard Album Charts spending 43 weeks on the charts, four weeks in the Top 10. The LP would be certified US Gold (sales of over 500,000) in Jan 1967. One of my fave songs on the LP is the Raiders‘ scathing garage-punk version of the Big Joe William’s “Baby, Please Don’t Go” featuring a scintillating rare lead vocal by by bassist Phil “Fang” Volk. 

No photo description available.

DEF LEPPARD – ” The Early Years 79-81 “

Posted: January 30, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Def Leppard are digging deep into their archives for their latest release: it’s a comprehensive box set covering the group’s first three years together.

“The Early Years 79-81” covers this Sheffield group’s first studio recordings and unheard live performances. The band’s debut and sophomore studio albums, 1980’s On Through The Night and 1981’s High N’ Dry, have been newly remastered for this collection by the band’s longtime engineer Ronan McHugh, and will be paired with three bonus discs: a previously unreleased, newly mixed live show from a 1980 gig in Oxford, a collection of studio material and B-sides (including the group’s first EP from 1979 and two unreleased performances from a studio session with Thin Lizzy/Marillion producer Nick Tauber), and a disc of live recordings by the BBC (including a controversial set at the Reading Festival in 1980). (For the many fans coveting just the new remasters of the two albums, they will be available on CD and vinyl!)

Formed from a group called Atomic Mass that featured guitarist Pete Willis and bassist Rick Savage, Def Leppard (which also included lead singer Joe Elliott, guitarist Steve Clark and teenage drummer Rick Allen) earned early acclaim when “Getcha Rocks Off” from their independently-released debut EP (recorded with session drummer Frank Noon) was given heavy rotation on the BBC by John Peel. While On Through The Night reached the Top 15 in the U.K., some felt that the band was more concerned with breaking into the American market; Sounds asked “Have Def Leppard changed their spots?” in a headline. (This article may have led to the band’s rough reception at the Reading Festival, where the crowd threw beer cans at the band.

But one person who was not deterred by the band’s status in England was Robert John “Mutt” Lange, producer of AC/DC’s Back In Black. Def Leppard recruited him for the sessions to High N’ Dry, and a video for “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak” garnered early airplay on MTV. This, of course, set the stage for the band’s increased success throughout the ’80s, culminating with the bestselling Hysteriain 1987.

The Early Years 79-81 features new notes from MOJOand Classic Rock writer Paul Elliott (not related to Joe) detailing the band’s first steps toward success alongside rare photos and scans of memorabilia. It’s a fine preview for the band’s summer stadium tour alongside a newly-reunited Mötley Crüe, Poison and Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. The box set and remasters will be available March 20th.

MARGARET GLASPY – ” Killing What Keeps Us Alive “

Posted: January 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: ,
0

Image may contain: 1 person, possible text that says 'MARGARET GLASPY devotion AVAILABLE MARCH 27 ATO Recends'

Since her 2016 debut album Emotions And Math, Margaret Glaspy has stunned us with her commanding guitar work and penchant for amorous songwriting. In fact, we adored that debut record so much we named it one of the best of 2016, and Glaspy one of that year’s best new artists. Two years later, she followed up that indelible release with an EP called Born Yesterday.

Now Glaspy has announced her new album titled “Devotion” that comes out in March. There’s a palpable sense of evolution demonstrated by lead single “Killing What Keeps Us Alive,” which finds her playing with more diverse and digital instrumentation. The track opens up with a roughly distorted vocal stack that rises with edgy synths, which suddenly evaporate to allow for a softer sound to emerge. Piano tones add a syrupy dimension to an already viscous experience. It’s a really sweet song that nestles in somewhere between ode and confessional, which is only enhanced by this super satisfying acoustic drum groove that comes in with the last chorus. Director Alex Chaloff’s music video captures some of that sentiment, which starts out in black and white as color is slowly added back in.

My new album, ‘Devotion’ will be available March 27th and the first single off the album, “Killing What Keeps Us Alive,”
⁣
“Devotion’‘ is very different from the last record. It’s not about being righteous or all-knowing, it’s about letting love in even when you don’t know what will happen when you do. It’s about devoting your heart to someone or something, against all odds. ⁣

“Killing What Keeps Us Alive” is the first single on Margaret Glaspy’s new album ‘Devotion’ out March 27.

OKAY KAYA – ” Psych Ward “

Posted: January 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , ,
0

Image may contain: 1 person

Psych Ward is an irresistible slice of slacker-indie that is notable for it’s resigned, literal lyrics, and was inspired by Kaya Wilkins’ own experience in a mental health institution. Kaya’s Jagjaguwar debut, “Watch This Liquid Pour Itself”, due on 24th January 2020, is filled with images of pools of sweat, oceans, and other forms of wetness. On her first single, Kaya has been playing music since she was a tween, learning songs on her acoustic guitar and listening to Cody Chesnutt. And, being from originally from Norway, she also played in a black metal project. Although she remains at the center of her artistic process,

http://

Psych Ward’ from ‘Watch This Liquid Pour Itself’ by Okay Kaya, available January 24th, 2020 on Jagjaguwar Records. Released January 24th, 2020.

CHASTITY BELT – ” “It Takes Time / Elena “

Posted: January 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

Acclaimed Seattle band Chastity Belt have returned with their first new music . This heartfelt new record, simply titled Chastity Belt, from Hardly Art records and Milk! records (Australia and New Zealand). Chastity Belt was co-produced by the band and Melina Duterte aka Jay Som.

The music video for “It Takes Time” from directors Claire Buss and Nick Shively. In the spirit of earlier music videos like “Different Now” and “Cool Slut,” this new clip finds the band flexing their comedic chops, with members Gretchen Grimm, Lydia Lund, Julia Shapiro, and Annie Truscott inhabiting multiple roles, including a nightclub lounge act. As Grimm explains, “We had the idea for a video set in a jazz lounge for a little while and we’re very grateful to Weird Dog for helping us bring it to life. We’re all huge fans of jazz and pasta. We have a special pasta dish that we cook when we’re together called La Vasta. It’s our famous dish, we’ve been making it since college and have shared many fond memories slurping it down together. Before we dig in we join hands in the prayer: When you’re here, you’re family.”

Seattle’s Chastity Belt have just shared a new song from their self-titled album, released September 20th. “Elena” is placid and dreamy, with layers of tranquil guitars and complementary vocal parts. “Over the past year, we all read and loved Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels,” says bassist Annie Truscott. “We individually related to the ways in which the main character’s sense of self is inextricably linked to her desire for love and validation both from lovers and friends. The overlapping voices on top of the whimsical wave-like instrumentals captures the universal feeling of having a conversation with yourself about yourself.”

Chastity Belt will be touring extensively this fall in Europe and North America in support of the record, and just announced a new run of North American tour dates

LALA LALA – ” Legs Run “

Posted: January 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , ,
0

Screen Shot 2018-05-31 at 3.28.36 PM.png

Fresh off a sold-out performance at the Tomorrow Never Knows festival in her native Chicago, Lala Lala aka Lillie West has shared a new digital single, “Legs, Run,” available to stream or download worldwide today. The song was written and performed by West, with production by Yoni Wolf of WHY?. Additionally, Lala Lala has debuted an accompanying music video from production house Weird Life that homages a familiar late ’90s favorite.

What happens at the end?? New song for you. Legs, Run. Preview of what’s to come, or something like that. Video homage to The Truman Show. See you in the multiverse

MIDWIFE – ” Anyone Can Play Guitar “

Posted: January 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , ,
0

Midwife. Photo credit: Alana Wool

As Midwife, Denver based multi-instrumentalist Madeline Johnston plays what she describes as “Heaven Metal,” or emotive music about devastation. Johnston began developing the experimental pop project in 2015 while a resident of beloved Denver DIY space Rhinoceropolis. The venue/co-op started in the early aughts and nurtured local artists until 2016, when its doors were shuttered due to high tensions surrounding the safety of DIY spaces (not coincidentally following the horrific Ghost Ship fire in Oakland).  Residents were displaced around Denver and artists like Midwife were forced to start over.

However, it was at Rhinoceropolis that Madeline became close with Colin Ward, an artistic confidant and friend to whom her new album, Forever, is dedicated.  Madeline comments, “He was my roommate and was the embodiment of that place [Rhinoceropolis] in a lot of ways. We became really close friends there. I was always learning so much from him, about life and being an artist. He was an amazing teacher and friend to me.”  When Ward passed away unexpectedly in 2018, she turned towards sound to express the indescribable feelings that partnered with her grief.

These mournful sounds ultimately developed into her new album, Forever.  The 6-song LP is a latticework of soft focus guitars and precise melodies– anthems of light piercing through gray clouds of drone. On the track “C.R.F.W.,” we hear Colin Ward reading a poem that speaks of a leaf falling from a tree in autumn: “imagine the way a breeze feels against your leaf body while you finally don’t have to hold on anymore.” Johnston responds with slowly radiating tones, branches stretching out to hold the leaf one last time.  “I wanted to write him a letter. I wanted to make something for him in his memory,” Madeline says of Forever.

On Forever, Midwife combines ambient and dream pop into nuanced, reverb-soaked music that is equally haunting and moving.  Look for the album to be in stores on April 10th via The Flenser and see Midwife performing at Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands following its release, as part of the Flenser 10 Year showcase.

“Forever” Out April 10th and released by The Flenser

Older Entries
Newer Entries