As a founding member and leader of the American rock band Wilco, and before that the co-founder of the alt-country band Uncle Tupelo, Chicago-based Jeff Tweedy is one of contemporary American music’s most accomplished songwriters, musicians and performers. His memoir, LET’S GO (SO WE CAN GET BACK): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc., was released last year.
Through his pioneering work in the legendary country-punk band, Uncle Tupelo, to his enduring legacy as the creative force behind the unclassifiable sound of Wilco, Jeff Tweedy has weaved his way between the underground and the mainstream – and back again. Funny, disarming, and deeply honest, his memoir casts light on his unique creative process and the stories that shaped his life and career, from a childhood spent in Illinois to the release of the bands album “No Depression” in the early 90’s – which set the blueprint for alt-country – and later working with Mavis Staples and, posthumously, Woody Guthrie. (Rough Trade BOOKS OF THE YEAR)
Jeff Tweedy and son Spencer,
The book delves deeper into the creative development of one of the greatest American songwriters on his generation than any interview or biography I’ve read about Jeff Tweedy. The guy is honest, dishonest, candid, flippant, coherent, rambling, sometimes all on the same page.
Jeff Tweedy – One Wing – Woods Stage
Jeff opens up about the development of his writing style, making the understanding of the Wilco albums greater than any journalist review ever could. In fact the only flaw I would throw at this book is that it is almost too revealing about the personal lows Jeff has experienced in the troubled phases of the Wilco era. I’m sure it will hardly appeal to anyone unfamiliar with Tweedy’s output, which is sad as Jeff’s contribution to recorded music in general is as vital as anyone else I’ve ever heard.
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Mark Mulcahy returns with his brand-new LP, The Gus, on the Mezzotint Label. The Gusis Mulcahy’s sixth solo record and follows 2017’s dynamic The Possum in the Driveway and his celebrated 2013 return record, Dear Mark J Mulcahy I Love You.
Long heralded by contemporary luminaries like Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and covered by touchstone artists such as The National and R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Mulcahy refuses to rest on laurels and turn out the same type of album twice. Inspired to “up his lyrical game” while reading a collection of short fiction by George Saunders, The Gus finds the songwriter channeling his eclectic voice and ear for melody into the role of storyteller more than ever before. The result is ten infectious songs that combine Mulcahy’s unique window on the world with stories that absorb listeners more with each spin. In addition to his celebrated solo career, audiences may also know Mulcahy as the frontman of seminal ‘80s rock band Miracle Legion or as “Muggy Polaris,” ringleader of Polaris, the fictional house band of the beloved ‘90s Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete and Pete. Both Miracle Legion and Polaris have reunited in recent years to tour and will likely do it again.
The lead track, ”Taking Baby Steps” from Mark Mulcahy’s brand-new LP, ‘The Gus’, out on Friday, July 5th
From his days with Miracle Legion and then Polaris, Mark Mulcahy has always had a laid-back, summer-porch pop styling that often betrays his complicated lyrics. On The Gus, Mulcahy unfolds a map of any neighborhood in America and then tears it apart, piece by piece, revealing a quiet underbelly of want and despair, of neediness and love in tiny truths and microscopic fictions.
“Cut Your Teeth”, the debut album from Vancouver quartet Necking, has too much nuanced humanity to write them off as just another punk band. Their minimal, shouty post-punk and grunge-tinted rock songs would fall flat if they weren’t performed with discernible gusto or infused with as much simmering rage or relatable sulk. Perhaps one of the reasons their emotions are so believable is that three of the four band members went through breakups while writing the album. That said, the four women that make up Necking—singer Hannah Karren, guitarist Nada Hayek, bassist Sonya R and drummer Melissa Kuipers—aren’t just howling about the usual suspects. They do so when necessary, but first and foremost, they embark on a quest to become functioning people, or whatever their own definition of that is. Their frenzied rhythms have a sense of urgency, and their twitchy, melodic guitars utter a threatening “Get out of my way” just as much as an overwhelmed “I’m losing my mind!”
December 29th, 1980 Night two of the legendary three-show stand at Nassau Coliseum 1980 is a barnstormer. It features the tour premiere of “Night” as the opener and, in its lone River tour performance, an extraordinary “Incident On 57th Street” into “Rosalita” to close the set. Spanning 35 songs, Nassau 29th beautifully blends deep River cuts (“Stolen Car,” “Wreck on the Highway,” “Point Blank”), seasonal nuggets (“Merry Christmas Baby” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and fan favorites (“Fire,” “Because the Night”).
One of the most thrilling times to be a sports fan is when your team is in the midst of a winning streak. They occur in all sports, but in baseball and especially basketball, winning streaks are irresistible because of the unique way they place team chemistry, a “never give up” mentality, and moments of individual brilliance against a backdrop of ever-rising stakes. Who doesn’t want to tune in to see if your team can push their streak to 17, 21, or 33 in a row?
It could be argued that the entire live performance history of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is one long winning streak. That acknowledged, and with the benefit of hindsight and live recordings, fan consensus has coalesced around notable E Street streaks: the last two weeks of the 1977 tour with the Miami Horns; the late-’84 stretch of the Born in the U.S.A. tour.; and the final U.S. leg of Magic 2008 to name but a few.
The River tour boasts a few of its own streaks, and without question, Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve 1980 is among the best of them. A staggering run of shows throughout the Northeast culminated in a three-night stand at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. With his first chart-topping album and a Top Five single (“Hungry Heart”) in hand, Bruce and the band closed out 1980 more popular than ever.
Shows that wrapped that leg of the tour offered an intoxicating mix of musician-athletes performing at their peak, newfound confidence drawn from a long-awaited commercial breakthrough, and a continued hunger to prove it all night.
Supporting a double album of new material, that hunger was manifest in the increasing duration of the concerts and the stunning number of songs performed. In fact, until records were broken in 2012, the late-’80 River shows were the longest of Bruce’s career. Other shows and tours have their own distinct qualities, but if you are talking about a run of epic Springsteen concerts, the Thanksgiving-New Year’s ’80 streak is the reference point.
Nassau Coliseum 29/ 12/80 and its sister show 31/12/80 (reissued in a newly remixed and remastered edition) each stretch to 35 or more songs and live up to the legend of Bruce’s four-hour concerts by running close to that (counting the between-sets intermission). There may be other eras where the band played this well, but there is no period where they played better.
Both stunning performances are packed with delicious rarities along with some of the strongest versions of core material ever caught on multi-tracks. With a bounty of more than 70 songs between the two shows, there’s too much good stuff to cover, but here are ten things to listen for as you relive these magical nights.
1.Springsteen debuted his brilliant take on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain” three shows earlier at Madison Square Garden. It has endured as one of the band’s finest covers, popping up a few times on tours ever since. The versions performed on 29/12 and 31/12 are musically rich and heartfelt, pointing to the musical direction Bruce would explore six months hence on the band’s first proper tour of Europe.
2. Having just read Joe Klein’s biography of Woody Guthrie, Bruce covers “This Land Is Your Land” for the first time during the three-show Nassau stand, calling it an “angry song…an answer to Irving Berlin’s ‘God Bless America’.” With the possible exception of a one-off performance of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom” in 1978, it is the first protest song Springsteen performed in concert with the E Street Band and signals the start of his public turn toward social and political commentary.
3. The paternal pairing of “Factory” and “Independence Day” on 29/12 is not only an evocative stretch of storytelling, but could pass for a dramatic monologue at a Broadway theater.
4. One of the signature sequences of early River tour shows is Roy Bittan’s mini-suite of “The River” into “Badlands.” 1980 performances of “The River” start with an original piano prelude (echoed by Danny Federici) before Bruce’s plaintive harmonica wail starts the song formally. Shortly after “The River” ends, Bittan starts into his interpretation of Ennio Morricone’s theme from the Sergio Leone filmOnce Upon A Time In The West. As Bittan plays the moving piano refrain, electric guitar chords start to chime in, building energy that crescendos when the intro gives way to an explosive “Badlands.” Magnificent.
5. The River tour is the height of Stevie Van Zandt’s role as backing vocalist, at times reaching the point of co-lead vocals. He’s a marvel at these shows on expected songs like “Two Hearts” and “Prove It All Night,” but listen for him in more unexpected places like the chorus of “Thunder Road” for signs of just how into it he is at Nassau.
6. Bruce’s spirited vocal on “For You” is full of fresh intonations distinct from other renditions.
7. The earnest story that leads into “Stolen Car” on 12/29 might melt your heart; the moving performance itself will have you reaching for a tissue or three.
8. The gorgeous, stripped-down arrangement of “The Price You Pay” on 31/12 starts solo. The band joins softly in the second verse, and we’re treated to the alternate third verse found in the single-disc version of The River included in The Ties That Bind box set. As good as it gets.
9. While we’ve heard the incredible version of “Incident on 57th Street” from 29/12 before (it was released as the b-side to “War” from Live 1975/85), hearing it in context of the show is so much sweeter. “This is a song we haven’t done in a real long time,” says Bruce, as he tests out the chords on his guitar. “No, it ain’t ‘Kitty’s Back.’ I hope I remember all the words….” Roy tinkles out the first few notes, the crowd swoons in recognition of the song, Max comes with his drum intro, and the lead guitar sends us soaring. If that wasn’t enough, after nearly ten majestic minutes, it rolls straight into “Rosalita” as it does on The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle.
10. You want rarities? We got rarities. Beyond the aforementioned, the Nassau shows feature “Rendezvous,” the first-ever version of the “Hungry Heart” b-side “Held Up Without a Gun,” sublime seasonal nuggets “Merry Christmas Baby” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” plus Happy New Year covers of “In the Midnight Hour” and “Auld Lang Syne.” All that, plus 15 of the 20 songs on The River, including the under-played “Fade Away,”“Wreck on the Highway” and “The Price You Pay.”
A Final Note: Jon Altschiller’s new mix and mastering on 31/12/80 moves the listener from the 40th row to the first, proximity that reveals incredible new detail and musical power.
After electing to Plangent Process 29/12/80 for release, it was clear that 31/12/80 also deserved a Plangent-transferred new mix and mastering to match, as the version released in 2015 was not up to the same standards.
While the Plangent Processed and remixed version of 31/12/80 is being sold as a standalone release, anyone who bought the original can access the new upgraded audio for free via the “My Stash” section of the nugs.net app, which provides streaming access to all shows purchased as downloads or CDs (no subscription required). Previous buyers of New Years Eve ’80 can log in with the account credentials they used to buy the show the first time.
December 31st, 1980 For the first time, multi-track master tapes of the classic New Year’s Eve 1980 show have been transferred via Plangent Processes and newly remixed by Jon Altschiller for superior sound. This upgraded edition breathes fresh life into a jaw-dropping 38-song performance which is packed with highlights, including “Spirit in the Night,” “Rendezvous,” “Fade Away,” “The Price You Pay,” “Held Up Without a Gun,” “In The Midnight Hour,” “Auld Lang Syne,” “Twist and Shout” and “Raise Your Hand.” The all-time fan favorite has never sounded better.
The Band:
Bruce Springsteen – Lead vocal, guitar, harmonica; Roy Bittan – Piano, keyboards; Clarence Clemons – Tenor and baritone saxophones, percussion, backing vocal; Danny Federici – Organ, glockenspiel, accordion; Garry Tallent – Bass; Stevie Van Zandt – Electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocal; Max Weinberg – Drums
The second Digital single to be released from the much anticipated and final studio album ‘Orkestra Digitalis’ by Future Pilot AKA , the brainchild of bassist Sushil K Dade.
‘The Art of Good Breathing’ features lead vocals by Emma Pollock (Delgados/ Chemikal Underground) and harmonies/backing vocals by Ron Sexsmith. The vocals were recorded in true ‘guerilla’ style in a few hours at a session fuelled by caffeine, at a studio built on the site of the former Headquarters of the Lipton Tea Company in Glasgow’s Southside, on a sound desk built by sonic legend Rupert Neve.
Dade’s previous recordings have featured contributions from a range of artists including Philip Glass, Damo Suzuki,Mikey Dread, The Pastels, The Go-Betweens and the new album will feature contributions from Robert Wyatt, Mulatu Astatke, R M Hubbert, Leo Abrahams, Craig Armstrong and this single featuring Emma Pollock/Ron Sexsmith.
The Master tracks from the album were hidden in the elements (shorelines/ hills/ windfarms/ islands and lochs) as part of a #soniktreasurehunt and will all appear on the album Orkestra Digitalis.
The first single ‘Tutti Shruti’ featuring Robert Wyatt, received support from DJ’s Gideon Coe, Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq, Mary Anne Hobbs, Vic Galloway & Shaun Keavney.
released July 5th, 2019
Glass Modern is a new imprint of Glass Records, for new recordings and a choice selection of Ltd Edition reissues
Marika Hackman is back with ‘the one’, the second single from her forthcoming third album ‘Any Human Friend’, out 9th August via AMF Records (Loyle Carner) and on Sub Pop in North and South America.
Displaying an unapologetic attitude and a more liberated sound than ever before, ‘the one’ has been co-produced by David Wrench (Frank Ocean, The xx, Let’s Eat Grandma) and Marika herself. ‘the one’ shows why Marika is fast turning herself into one of the most interesting songwriters of her time. Layered synthesisers make this the album’s most unexpected musical turn, alongside Marika’s signature new wave guitar fretwork and Blondie style delivery, she’s never sounded as widescreen.
The first song written for forthcoming album Any Human Friend, ‘the one’ is “probably the poppiest song I’ve ever written” she says. “I loved the idea of inhabiting this ridiculous arrogant rock star character who has totally fucked their career by writing too many sad songs.” To that end, it features a riot grrrl Greek chorus hurling such insults at her as “You’re such an attention whore!”
Marika is a ‘Rid of Me’-era PJ Harvey for the inclusive generation: unbounded by musical genre, a preternatural lyricist and tunesmith who isn’t afraid to go there. Hackman’s 2015 debut, ‘We Slept at Last’, was heralded for being nuanced and atmospheric. She really found her footing with her last release, ‘I’m Not Your Man’, and its exceptional, swaggering international hit ‘Boyfriend’, which boasts of seducing away a straight guy’s girlfriend.
Having recently teased new music at the BBC 6 Music festival, The Great Escape, All Points East, and Field Day, Marika is gearing up for an exciting year of touring. Keep an eye on this one!
Cagework dropped ‘Simmer’ in April 2018, receiving praise and support from the likes of So Young, Clash, Too Many Blogs and Rough Trade, with repeated spins from Huw Stephens, Gideon Coe and ‘Night Tsar’ Amy Lamé.
But what about since then? “We played through the initial excitement around the release of Simmer, which was really encouraging,” says Sam Bedford, principal songwriter of the trio. They went out on the road for spot shows and short runs of dates.
“After a while though, we needed to reassess what we wanted to do next and how to approach that.” The band took a step back from live after the summer to take stock. Cagework started as a bedroom project in the South West of England and it slowly got out of hand. So out of hand, in fact, that it became a band.
Taking inspiration from odd, lo-fi indie, post-hardcore and early emo, with smatterings of avant-garde folk, the band drew these somewhat disparate influences together to create an equally juxtaposed sound; dissonant, atonal and yet somehow hook-driven. Coming into Autumn, amidst growing global anxiety and fidgetiness of their own, a release began to take shape. The band recorded six tracks to a length of just under 15 minutes in their makeshift basement studio.
“It seems strange to want to draw a line under such a short period of time, considering we’ve been a band for less than a year,” says Sam. “But we were looking ahead and really wanted to have these songs documented, with so many more being written all the time.”
The EP was intended to be a self-release in early 2019, but through fate and good fortune, the home recordings found their way to Physical Education Recordings.
The band travelled up to Phys Ed founder Justin Lockey’s South Yorks studio to track their EP in much more compassionate and enabling surrounds.
The resultant self-titled debut is 16-and-a-bit minutes spread across seven tracks. There’re temporal and dynamic shifts, but there’s a thread of continuity. Sure, it’s not furiously angry, but who can sustain anger like that?. This EP reflects the familiar, pervasive malaise of 2018 and, by the looks of things, 2019. It also responds with a message of the need to reflect, a process the band spent enough time on to be relatively authoritative providers of such advice.
In keeping with the way Russack recorded her two 2018 albums she made with fellow Melbourne musician and great friend Lachlan Denton, over a year with Liam Halliwell and Dylan Young on hand, each track on the album was recorded in one take and live to tape at Phaedra Studies and mixed immediately thereafter by John Lee. Hence, not only its rusticity and fragility but also its immediacy and authenticity.
Emma gave us a taste of the album in the single What Is Love? late in 2018. Recorded for the short film An Athlete Wrestling a Python, Emma writes about the simplicities of love, asking “What Is Love?”. During the song she asks, “is it borrowing a t-shirt?” or is it “reading over shoulders?”. It is many things! Apart from the personal lyrical content, the other prevalent thing in the song is the piano taking the lead. It also does soon the new single Winter Blues. The four-and-a-half-minute single is the album’s centrepiece. Incredibly subtle and incredibly beautiful, the song floats in a sombre key, intermittently dotted by Russack’s contemplations, “blame it on the winter blues”.
The piano is also showcased on the album’s quieter moments: Like the Wind, Horses and the album’s stunning finale Never Before.
The new project of Australian artist Julia McFarlane.J McFarlane Reality Guest ,As a member of the group The Twerps, McFarlane has traversed guitar-centric, melodic pop music for some years while honing a highly unique, personal musical language. ‘Ta Da’ is the first recorded unveiling of McFarlane’s affecting, oblique songwriting panache. Originally released in her native Australia on Hobbies Galore, ‘Ta Da’ will be released worldwide by Night School Records in June 2019. ‘Ta Da’ showcases McFarlane’s songwriting immersed in psychedelic music and synths.
It’s a brilliant, deft concoction swimming in Young Marble Giants-type minimalism washed with bare pop and harmony similar to Kevin Ayers making sense of a Melbourne suburb full of faces half-recognised in the blanching sun. McFarlane’s vocal is straight forward, lyrically conversational but still not completely in focus, a surreal kitchen sink drama filtered through a dream where everything is in an unusual place. Reality Guest similarly draws on BBC Radiophonic Workshop-style noise synths, flute solos, palm-muted guitar and a sleepy, psychedelic tone that drifts away into the sunset, simple and direct.
From the album TA DA, available though Night School Records
Back in 2017, the Gainesville-bred group UV-TV put out a killer full-length album, “Glass”, and and an equally exciting EP, Go Away. Today, they’re back with news of a new album, which is called “Happy”, and a change of scenery, with the group
If one’s been keeping up with the melodic punk music of UV-TV, then their new album Happy will feel like a natural evolution to the stripped-down, sped-up gazey, twee sound of past releases, Go Away and Glass (2017). For Ian Bernacett and Rose Vastola, the masterminds behind the band, 2018 was spent writing and recording the 9-track LP while simultaneously uprooting from Gainesville and migrating north to NYC, where the album was finally mixed and mastered.
The album explores the tropes of letting go of the past, with an amicable catharsis. Despite the album name, the overall tone of the record comes across as a moodier interpretation of their almost jovial punk attitude—with the title track exemplifying that this is a much more personal and thoughtful album.Right out of the gate, the production is cleaner and more buttoned up, perhaps signifying that this record is more serious in nature. While Ryan Hopewell’s charged drumming kicks off the first track, giving us the familiar UV-TV energy, stylistic nuances quickly prove that the band has been drawing on some deeper influences, including The Pastels, Echo And The Bunnymen, and Slowdive, amongst others. As the arc of the album goes to a more vulnerable place, it becomes obvious there’s a new kind of sincerity in their choices compared to the last two releases. By the final track, the entirety of the album has conceptualized the personal and musical growth of the band since last heard in 2017.UV-TV was born in 2015, in the chaos of Gainesville’s thriving DIY scene. With Ian Bernacett’s driving riffs and Rose Vastola’s rock-steady vocals, the two have a knack for writing solid, energetic songs with a sweetness that sticks in the head. As the band continues to push the genre boundaries across their discography, their roots are still deeply embedded in the prolific punk movement they’ve grown from.
