She/Her/Hers. The band — who just released a brand new EP through Don Giovanni Records — is more than ready to bid farewell to boy bands on “Kill the Boy Band,” and it’s about time. The delightfully catchy pop punk tune tackles the fucked up continuance of all-male bands, and roars back at their continued dominance of tour lineups and industry favor. And thanks to the inclusion of horns, some unruly guitar noodling, and both shouted and spoken annoyance with “boy bands,” the single might be just enough to help you get through the remainder of this day. At the very least, it’s one helluva tune to dance, and shout, along to.
She/Her/Hers is Emma grrrl and sometimes friends. Sad grrrl pop-punk.
Gender is Boring. Kill The Boy Band
With Lizzy Goodman’s recent in-depth account of the life and death of Jonathan Fire*Eater—among many, many other tales of drama in NYC’s garage rock revival scene spanning the mid-’90s to the mid-’00s—many of us have become aware of just how influential the Stewart Lupton–led band was on the rebirth of palatable rock music in an era of perverted grunge and jaded nu metal. Despite giving rise to bands like The Strokes, Interpol, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (and without Lupton, going on to form The Walkmen with Hamilton Leithauser), the group’s three years’ worth of music has regrettably gone virtually unheard in the present day.
As usual, this is where Jack White and Third Man Records come in, who’ll be restoring and re-releasing the band’s 1996 EP “Tremble Under Boom Lights” next month. In addition to the record’s five mostly unheard tracks, the package will include five more almost entirely unheard recordings, offering up the original EP’s opener “The Search for Cherry Red” ,which marks the first time ever it’s been made available digitally. It will also be the first time in over 20 years that it’s been pressed on vinyl.
The forthcoming reissue will feature five bonus cuts, including the previously unreleased ‘In the Head’, which is believed to be the last record Jonathan Fire*Eater ever recorded together before they disbanded in 1998. Third Man will also be dropping a book of the late Lupton’s poems, featuring intros from JFE and The Walkmen’s Walter Martin and The Kills’ Alison Mosshart.
Both items are out October 18 via Third Man Recordings.
American singer-songwriter and The Byrds founding member Gene Clark’s 1974 solo album “No Other” is to be reissued by 4AD Records in November as a lavish box set which features no fewer than three SACDs, a blu-ray and an 80-page hardcover book!.
Originally released on Asylum Records, a year after the Byrds shortlived reunion, Clark’s psychedelic rock, folk, country and soul record cost a small fortune to make and despite being well received critically, it was a flop. It is said that Clark never really recovered from this blow. Since then, the album has gained greater prominence via a few reissues and has become recognised as a great album of its era. Recorded at the Village Recorder in West Hollywood and produced by Thomas Jefferson Kaye, “No Other” was originally released in 1974 on Asylum Records, Reaching for the stars, Gene delivered a visionary record of psychedelic rock, folk, country and soul which famously cost a small fortune to make (“It took a lot of time in the studio before we could actually get the songs to the point we wanted them,” Gene said in 1977). Although warmly received by critics, No Other was a commercial failure and was subsequently deleted shortly after.
However, as The New York Times wrote around the record’s 40th anniversary in 2014, “hindsight has burnished No Other, as it has redeemed other albums that went on to be reconstructed as rock repertory, like Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers and Lou Reed’s Berlin,” with No Other now being increasingly recognised as one of the greatest of its time, if not all time. Another sign of the album’s enduring charm came that year when feted Baltimore duo Beach House decided to “spread awareness”of Gene’s master work by enlisting friends – most of whom weren’t born when No Other was released – from bands such as Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear and The Walkmen to tour the album note-for-note in both the UK and the US.
Five years on from then andNo Otheris finally getting the reappraisal it deserves. The original tapes have been remastered at Abbey Road, a stunning 5.1 Surround mix of this album created for the first time (done by Neil Wilkes & B.J. Cole at Opus Productions), and both the in the studio and promotional photoshoots have been located. Furthermore, all the studio takes have been forensically worked on and mixed by the duo of Gene Clark aficionado, author and Long Ryders frontman Sid Griffin and John Wood, More than just bonus material, these tracks offer fans an insight in to how Gene approached recording No Other; no track has been edited or composited in any way, allowing for things to be heard exactly as they went down in the studio and before any overdubbing took place.
4AD have remastered the eight-track album at Abbey Road and are reissuing it on CD and vinyl, There will also be an ‘extremely limited’ deluxe box set which contains the album on silver-coloured vinyl, three SACDs, an exclusive seven-inch single, and a blu-ray disc – which includes HD versions of all tracks, a 5.1 surround mix of the album, the original 1974 vinyl master and an exclusive documentary by Paul Kendall (the director of the 2013 film, The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Gene Clark) – and a hardbound 80 page book which features essays, extensive liner notes and previously unseen photos.
All the studio takes have been worked on and mixed by the duo of Gene Clark aficionado, author and Long Ryders frontman Sid Griffin and John Wood, the producer famed for his work with the likes of Fairport Convention, Nick Drake & Sandy Denny. No track has been edited or composited in any way so what you hear is exactly what went down in the studio before any overdubbing took place.
All the SACDs are hybrid, meaning you can play the stereo audio on normal CD players. The first (multi-layer) SACD is presented in an exclusive Japanese vinyl replica sleeve and features the eight-track album and the 5.1 surround mix, while two further SACDs offer 18 session tracks and a couple of seven-inch edits. Amongst the sessions is a recording of ‘Train Leaves Here This Morning,’ an Eagles hit in 1972, written by Gene and Eagles founding member Bernie Leadon.
Coming on the eve of Gene’s 75th birthday, this reissue serves as both a celebration for fans and an introduction to soon-to-be fans. There really is no other like No Other.
Roger Daltrey did not mince words when sharing his excitement for the Who’s upcoming LP. “I think we’ve made our best album since Quadrophenia,” the legendary singer proclaimed during a recent Q&A with fans. The Who will release ‘WHO’ their first studio album in thirteen years, this November.
Mentioning the new material in the same breath as the band’s vaunted 1973 concept album is high praise, indeed. The comment also represents an about-face for the Who frontman. The eleven-track album features the talents of long established Who musical stalwarts Zak Starkey (drums) and Pino Palladino (bass) along with Simon Townshend, Benmont Tench, Carla Azar, Joey Waronker and Gordon Giltrap. The record was co-produced by Pete Townshend & D. Sardy with ‘vocal production’ by Dave Eringa (best known perhaps for his work with Manic Street Preachers).
Earlier this year, guitarist and cofounder Pete Townshend revealed that he didn’t even get a response from Daltrey after sending the singer 15 demos. “Just silence from Roger,” Townshend said. “I had to bully him to respond, and then it wasn’t the response I wanted. He just blathered for a while and in the end I really stamped my foot and said, ‘Roger, I don’t care if you really like this stuff. You have to sing it. You’ll like it in 10 years time.'”
Even after giving the new music his attention, Daltrey only felt a connection with a handful of tracks. “When I first heard the songs I was very skeptical as I didn’t think I could do it,” the singer explained. “I thought Pete had written a really great solo album and I said to him, ‘Pete, what do you need to do this for? Release it as a solo album, it’s great.’ But he said he wanted it to be a Who album.
The artwork is of course immediately recognisable as the work of Sir Peter Blake,The Who’s relationship with Blake actually pre-dates that period; they met him in 1964 at a taping of the legendary TV show Ready Steady Go. Sir Peter also designed and contributed a painting to the sleeve of The Who’s album Face Dances in 1981.
Pete Townshend is refreshingly candid about the new work and his and Roger’s place in the world in 2019. He says:
“This album is almost all new songs written last year, with just two exceptions. There is no theme, no concept, no story, just a set of songs that I (and my brother Simon) wrote to give Roger Daltrey some inspiration, challenges and scope for his newly revived singing voice. Roger and I are both old men now, by any measure, so I’ve tried to stay away from romance, but also from nostalgia if I can. I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Memories are OK, and some of the songs refer to the explosive state of things today. I made new home studio demos of all these songs in the summer of 2018 using a wide collection of instruments old and new. We started recording as The Who in March 2019, and have finished now in late August just in time to make some vinyl………maybe even some cassettes……ready for release in November”.
“So I took the songs away and I listened to them, and listened to them some more, and I had some ideas. [Pete] let me have a bit of freedom with changing a few things, changing the tenses of songs and other little things. And he gave me complete melodic freedom. And I gotta tell you that after being very skeptical I’m now incredibly optimistic.” “I think we’ve made our best album since Quadrophenia,” he continued. “Pete hasn’t lost it, he’s still a fabulous songwriter and he’s still got that cutting edge, man.”
The band is in the midst of their orchestral ‘Moving On’ North American tour. Townshend only agreed to the trek, which keeps the group on the road through October, on the condition that the Who release a new album. The as-yet untitled LP will be the band’s first new studio material since 2006.
The Cars‘ frontman Ric Ocasek has died at 75. The Cars formed in Boston in 1976 and released six albums between 1978 and 1987 delivering 13 top 40 singles in America including top ten hits ‘Shake It Up,’ ‘You Might Think,’ ‘Drive’ and ‘Tonight She Comes’.
The band were always commercially more successful in the States than in Britain, but Heartbeat City‘s ‘Drive’ peaked at number four over here in 1984 after re-entering the chart as a result of the song being played against footage of the Ethiopian famine during the Live Aid concert. That song was written by Ric but sung by bassist Benjamin Orr, who co-founded the band with Ocasek.
Orr died in 2000 from pancreatic cancer but the remaining members were reunited for one final album in 2011, Move Like This. Ric Ocasek released seven solo albums (two issued before The Cars split in early 1988) but it was his work as a producer that kept him most busy. His credits in this area included Weezer, Hole, The Wannadies and The Cribs. Ric also remixed three tracks from Lloyd Cole and The Commotions‘ 1984 Rattlesnakes album, for the American version of the album. Heartbeat City album is a beautiful new wave classic. The title track and ‘Why Can’t I Have You’ being a highlight.
The songwriter/guitarist/lead singer for The Cars, was found dead in his Manhattan townhouse at the age of seventy-five. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame just last year. It was a tough weekend for ’70s/’80s rock giants, as Eddie Money also passed away on Friday.
Ocasek wrote pop songs that you never got sick of hearing at the grocery store because they were so infectious, full of pomp and vigor and joy. Although the band released only seven albums total, from 1978 to 2011, the radio singles “Just What I Needed,”“Shake It Up,” “You Might Think,” and “Drive” were both enormous hits then and ubiquitous earworms now, Ocasek wrote all of them. He also went on to release seven solo albums after The Cars disbanded, from 1982 through 2005,
When The Cars were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year, Brandon Flowers of The Killers described them succinctly, perfectly: “a slick machine with a 340 V8 under the hood that ran on synergy, experimentation and a redefined cool. They had it all: the looks, the hooks, Beat romance lyrics, killer choruses.”
Ocasek’s voice—part deadpan, part droll sex appeal—is irreplaceable (just listen to how he sings “you kept it going ’til the sun fell down…you kept it…going” on “You Might Think”).
Everyone from The Killers to Weezer to Beck have paid tribute to Ocasek on social media. RIP to a real one.
Very proud to announce my new album ‘Best Of Billy Bragg at the BBC 1983 – 2019’, set for digital and CD release September 20th, and vinyl release November 15th. The compilation album features classic performances of mine at the BBC from the early 80s through to the present; fully remastered, featuring many previously unreleased tracks plus selected highlights from sessions for John Peel, David Jensen, Janice Long, Phill Jupitus, Bob Harris, Tom Robinson & more, which I hope you will enjoy.
The 38-track collection is ‘fully remastered’ and features 38 tracks compiled from the BBC archive spanning 1983 – 2019. Many are apparently previously unreleased.
Speaking about this set, Bragg says: “Work in progress. That’s how John Peel thought of his evening sessions, offering artists the opportunity to try out new songs in a studio environment. That’s how I looked at them too. …The songs were so new, you can hear I’m still feeling my way into them. Several were conceived and written the night before the session. In one case, I actually composed a song from scratch while the show was on air. That rawness was always a key component of my BBC sessions, the thrill of putting something out there for the very first time. And here I’ve collected all the best moments across 36 years of my ongoing work in progress.”
Wished Bone is the DIY-folk project of Ohio-based songwriter, Ashley Rhodus. Constructing music in her basements with, “borrowed instruments and broken tape machines”, Ashley’s songwriting creates a deeply human world of warm-afternoon sunshine and having nowhere to rush to, the sound of the small moments that make a life well led. Wished Bone’s second album, “Sap Season” is due out in November, and this week they’ve shared the first single from it, “Hold Me” the lovely lead single and opening track from her forthcoming new self-released record Sap Season, coming this fall. The swaying “Hold Me” once again displays what makes Rhodus such an intriguing and unique songwriter; she has a gift for making the ordinary feel poignant and profound, through her sort of effortlessly wry turns of phrase and low-key poetic non sequiturs, delivered warmly but matter-of-factly over a verdant bed of lilting folk-pop.
On first listen you could mistake Hold Me for something quite stripped back, there’s a gentleness and intimacy to it normally associated with acoustic-troubadour’s, yet scratch the surface and it’s a lot more interesting than that. The track is largely propelled by the glacial-paced bass-line, around which guitars, keys and gorgeous wood-wind flitter, like hummingbirds buzzing around a sloth. There’s nods to the likes of Cate Le Bon or Hand Habits, yet somehow Ashley’s musical vision shines beyond her influences, as the best songwriting always does. This instantly feels like an introduction into Wished Bone’s universe, a hand reaching out and guiding you to somewhere, don’t worry though, there’s no rush, music this good seems to have all the time in the world.
Based out of Asheville in Carolina, Alexa Rose, is an Americana songwriter in the truest sense, combining elements of folk and country music from across the entire landscape of the USA. Teaming up with the Big Legal Mess label,Alexa is set to release her debut album, “Medicine For Living”, next month, which looks set to see her follow Esther and Caitlin, as the latest excellent country-songwriter to have the surname Rose.
Ahead of that release, Alexa has this week shared the latest single from the record, The Last Wildflower, a song about the passing of the seasons that is equally indebted to, “Appalachian folk and Memphis country”. The track was inspired by noting how as the summer faded, the landscape took on a sort of rugged beauty, every bit as enticing as its full-blooming peak, with, “just a few defiant yellow blooms contrasting against grey skies and high country cold fronts”. For Alexa the passing of the seasons didn’t conjure feelings of sadness, instead serving as a reminder that life is full of cycles. Musically, the track is a delightfully subtle affair, as the prominent strums of an acoustic guitar are cut through with waves of gorgeous slide guitar and Alexa’s crystal clear vocal lines. Like the the last wildflowers that are just around the corner, there’s an awful lot to love in the music of Alexa Rose.
The debut album “Medicine For Living” is out everywhere on October 4th, 2019 via Big Legal Mess Records.
We’re very excited to announce the upcoming release of a singles compilation from the legendary pop group The Springfields! We really can’t think of a more appropriate way to celebrate SLR30 than with some of the perfect records that influenced us when starting the label in the first place.
When it comes to indiepop, few names are as respected as Ric Menck and Paul Chastain. Through years of collaboration in groups such as Velvet Crush, Bag O’ Shells, Choo Choo Train and The Big Maybe they just about *were* the entire US indiepop scene, but it’s as The Springfields that they made perhaps their best, most beloved records. Taking their cues from influences like The Byrds and The Hollies they created a sound that was as jangly and melodic as their inspirations, but marked by a unique songwriting voice, excellent tunes, and sterling arrangements. “Singles 1986-1991” collects the 5 singles they released on Sarah, Picture Book, Summershine and Seminal Twang Records and adds one extra tune, here on vinyl for the first time. From the Paisley Underground-aligned opener “This Perfect Day” through the perfect pop of songs like “Sunflower” and a clutch of savvy covers, The Springfields created a compact, flawless catalog that more than justifies its legendary status and this timely reissue.
Ric Menck: Lead Vocals, Electric & Acoustic Guitars, Drums Paul Chastain: Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals Jeffrey Underhill: Electric Guitar Eric Peterson: Electric Guitar Wes Lachot: Bass Guitar Buddy Judge: Electric Guitar Michael Hausman: Drums
Acclaimed Seattle band Chastity Belt have returned with their first new music since 2017. This heartfelt new record, simply titled “Chastity Belt”, is out today on LP, CD, digital, and cassette 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.
Today, the band has shared a 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.”
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 tour dates for February 2020.
Sun, Oct 13 – Thekla Social, Bristol United Kingdom
Tue, Oct 15 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds United Kingdom
Wed, Oct 16 – YES, Manchester United Kingdom
Thu, Oct 17 – Stereo, Glasgow United Kingdom
Fri, Oct 18 – SWN Festival, Cardiff United Kingdom
Sat, Oct 19 – Ritual Union, Oxford United Kingdom
Wed, Oct 23 – The Joiners, Southampton United Kingdom
Thu, Oct 24 – Islington Assembly Hall, London United Kingdom
