Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

BAT FOR LASHES – ” Kids in the Dark “

Posted: June 17, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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This week Bat For Lashes (aka Natasha Khan) has announced a new album, “Lost Girls”, and shared its first single, “Kids in the Dark.” Lost Girls is due out September 6th via AWAL Recordings. “Kids in the Dark” is not as immediate as some of Khan’s previous classic singles (such as “Daniel” or “What’s a Girl to Do”), but it’s still got some Bat For Lashes magic and plus Khan’s unmistakable voice.

Check out the album’s tracklist and over art here. In the last week, in the run up to the album announcement, Bat For Lashes also shared some intriguing teaser videos on Instagram so check those out too.

Lost Girls is the follow-up to 2016’s concept album The Bride, which came out via Parlophone/Warner Bros. Although in 2018 Khan scored the BBC/Netflix show Requiem, for which she picked up an Ivor Norvello Award.

A press release sets the scene for Lost Girls this way: “If her last album, The Bride, was melancholy and mournful, a tone poem of loss and regret, Lost Girls is her mischievous younger sister, widescreen in scope and bursting with Technicolour intensity. It’s an album for driving in the dark; holding hands at sunset; jumping off bridges with vampires; riding your bike across the moon…. Spanning 10 tracks, Lost Girls sees Khan dreaming up her own fully formed parallel universe, creating an off-kilter coming of age film in which gangs of marauding female bikers roam our streets, teenagers make out on car hoods and a powerful female energy casts spells and leave clues for us to follow. The women of Lost Girls are parallel to one of Khan’s previous female protagonists, the tough, darkness-driven Pearl, from her 2009 lauded album Two Suns. Within the women of Lost Girls and the character Nikki Pink, Khan unfolds elements of herself; within these songs, we do the same.”

VAGABON – ” Flood Hands “

Posted: June 17, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Vagabon (aka Lætitia Tamko)’s new album, All The Women In Me, the follow up to her breakout debut, Infinite Worlds, is an artistic leap for Tamko, who wrote and produced the entire album. Guitar-driven melodies are largely absent, replaced by hybridized analog and digital arrangements,

All the Women in Me will be Vagabon’s second album, the follow-up to her 2017-released debut Infinite Worlds, and is her first for Nonesuch. Tamko wrote and produced the entire album herself and plays all the instruments on “Flood Hands,” for example.

Of the single Tamko says in a press release: “‘Flood Hands’ is a track I originally produced and arranged for a well-known pop-duo to have on their album. Knowing I was writing this song for musicians I admire, allowed me this relief from my writer’s block. I used this assignment as a chance to flex my production muscles and write something I wouldn’t have written as a ‘Vagabon’ song a couple years ago. The result felt like a triumph for me in my progression as an artist and I just couldn’t stand to part with the song by the time I was finished.”

The press release Tamko sets the scene for where she was at prior to recording the new album: “I was in a pretty tortured headspace when I returned home from touring Infinite Worlds. That album contained some of the first songs I’d ever written, and more people than I could have ever imagined heard it. I was proud to become a full-time musician and recognized how rare of a thing that is, but was also debilitated by the very same fact. Fear overtook me and I couldn’t write. I felt stagnant and unsure of what to do next.”

Unlike Infinite Worlds, All the Women in Me has less of a straight up indie rock guitar sound, with more electronic textures. “With this album, I wanted to impress myself,” Tamko says in the press release. “I wanted to be curious and I wanted to make big leaps as a producer. All I had access to on the road was my computer and Logic, so naturally I started writing songs electronically with what was at hand.”

Tamko adds: “The drums and vocal forward approach I took on All The Women In Me is drawn from my love for rap and hip-hop production as well as R&B and folk storytelling. That’s the music that got me excited about writing again.”

Vagabon’s “Flood Hands,” from the album ‘All The Women In Me,’ due September 27th on Nonesuch Records.

JULIEN BAKER – ” Red Door ” Record Store Day 2019

Posted: June 17, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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On the heels of her triumphant Matador Records debut Turn Out the Lights and the critically acclaimed collaborative EP boygenius, JulienBaker returns with her first new solo recordings in 18 months, “Red Door” b/w “Conversation Piece,” available exclusively for Record Store Day 2019. The 7″ features the first studio recording of a fan favorite “Red Door”, previously only heard live, and a previously unreleased cut begun during the Turn Out the Lights sessions, “Red Door” is a lush and atmospheric track driven by Baker’s complex fingerpicking and a hint of slide guitar, her voice soaring as she pleads “set me on fire in the middle of the street / bend my knees, paint the concrete / the color of my bloody knuckles / pulling splinters form the chapel door.” A previously unreleased cut begun during the Turn Out the Lights sessions, Its flip side “Conversation Piece” is a meditation on loneliness, backed by delicate percussion and chiming guitars.

“Conversation Piece.” Julien Baker’ s Turn Out the Lights received glowing reviews across international press outlets and continues to sell steadily, nearing 40k equivalent albums in the U.S. boygenius’ s/t EP has reached 14k scans in its first three months on sale.

EFTERKLANG – ” Vi er uendelig “

Posted: June 17, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Efterklang - Altid Sammen

Seven years after their last album release, Efterklang make a welcome return with a fifth studio recordAltid Sammen on 20th September.  Today, the Danish trio also announce European tour dates and share the single ‘Vi er uendelig’ with a video starring Helena Christensen.

In support of Altid Sammen, Efterklang will perform the album in its entirety the day after release during a sold-out headline show at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie on 21st September.  Efterklang will tour Europe throughout the year and into 2020. For a number of Efterklang’s newly announced headline shows, including the Barbican in London,

Altid Sammen album opener ‘Vi er uendelig’ (“We are infinite”) is released today digitally.  The accompanying visuals, directed by Andreas Koefoed (behind the band’s film The Ghost Of Piramida), and featuring a fellow Dane, the model and photographer Helena Christensen, are a homage to an iconic Johnny Hallyday TV performance in 1964.

Altid Sammen(meaning “always together”) is deep and sonorous, steeped in the sonic experimentation that has long been their trademark since Tripper, the Danes’ 2004 debut.  As bold and ambitious in scope as their last collection of songs, Piramida, Casper Clausen (vocals), Mads Brauer (synths, electronics) and Rasmus Stolberg (bass) have taken another creative U-turn, this time fusing baroque instrumentation with their signature expansive sound.

Efterklang’s last release, Piramida, centred around a ghost town in the Arctic, was a grand and all-encompassing project that spawned a movie, live album and a series of unforgettable shows (including a live debut at the Sydney Opera House).  Their final performance in Sønderborg – the southern Danish town where the band grew up – marked a closing of a chapter, for Piramida and for Efterklang.

“We needed a break from the album and touring routine, and we needed a break from Efterklang,” says Clausen. “After the Sønderborg show, things felt very exciting – and a bit scary too.  We could think freely, and move in new directions again, just focusing on the things that excited the 3 of us.”

The video is an homage to the video for Johnny Hallyday’s Le Penitentier from 1964

‘Vi er uendelig’ by Efterklang starring Helena Christensen and the band’s own Casper Clausen. Taken from the new album ‘Altid Sammen’. Out September 20th 2019 on 4AD/Rumraket,

CAR SEAT HEADREST – ” Fill in the Blank ” Live

Posted: June 17, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Car Seat Headrest today announces Commit Yourself Completely – a new nine-track live album that will be released only via digital means June 17th. Culled from performances across the UK, US and France, the nine-track album spans material from 2016’s breakout Teens Of Denial and 2018’s reimagined epic Twin Fantasy – as well as the first officially released recording of longtime live staple ‘Ivy’ by Frank Ocean. A filmed version of the performance of ‘Fill In The Blank’ which appears on the album, recorded in Columbus, Ohio,

“This is a compilation of songs from shows we played in 2018,” says Will Toledo. “We recorded every show we did that year, and I went through about 50 of them to get the final tracklist for this album. This isn’t necessarily the best possible version of each track, but it’s some of the most fun we’ve had on stage. I particularly remember the show we did in the small French town of Amiens, maybe the smallest show we did that year, and how great it felt to be up in people’s faces with everyone plugging in to the music right away. The recordings we made of the shows came out very clean, so rather than try to artificially recreate how it sounded in the different venues night to night, I tried to give the whole album that in-your-face feeling, like we’re playing the songs right in front of you. When you’re onstage with everything happening at once, you never really know what it sounds like in the room anyways; all you know is how the music is feeling. Hopefully this will give you a sense of what these shows felt like.”

A snapshot of the 7-person lineup featuring members of Naked Giants experienced by crowds worldwide over the last two years, Commit Yourself Completely offers a visceral, loose and ebullient take on these much-loved songs, as well as an an incandescent capstone of a formative touring period as Car Seat Headrest readies his next studio album. Musicians featured on the album are Will Toledo (vocals), Seth Dalby (bass), Ethan Ives (guitar, vocals), Andrew Katz (drums, vocals), Grant Mullen (guitar, vocals) Gianni Aiello (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Henry LaVallee (additional percussion).

From Car Seat Headrest’s live album ‘Commit Yourself Completely’ released June 17th on Matador Records

‘Commit Yourself Completely’

Tracklist:

1. Cosmic Hero (Live at the Tramshed, Cardiff, Wales)
2. Fill In The Blank (Live at Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH)
3. Drugs With Friends (Live at La Lune des Pirates, Amiens, France)
4. Bodys (Live at La Lune des Pirates, Amiens, France)
5. Cute Thing (Live at O2 Forum Kentish Town, London, England)
6. Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales (Live at O2 Forum Kentish Town, London, England)
7. Destroyed By Hippie Powers (Live at the Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR)
8. Ivy (live at the Capitol Theater, Olympia, WA)
9. Beach Life-in-Death (Live at Crossroads, KC, Kansas City, MO)

The RACONTEURS – ” Help Us Stranger “

Posted: June 17, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Jack White and Brendan Benson of the Raconteurs admitted they couldn’t pinpoint when the band got back together – but recalled that their first show in eight years had been a “rough” affair that nevertheless left them feeling “exhilarated.”

White, Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler hit the stage together bck in April to mark the the 10th anniversary of White’s label Third Man Records. They later confirmed a North American tour to promote their new album, “Help Us Stranger”, which is released on June 21st.

The reunion appears to have been fueled by White’s creation of the song “Shine the Light on Me,” which he felt didn’t work with any other project he had and sounded like a Racounteurs track. “Just the mention of it – The Raconteurs – jolted me a bit,” Benson said in a new interview. “And then a couple years passed.”

White remembered taking “baby steps” towards any kind of reunion, and also that a full album had never been part of the plan. “The first step for any act in that position would be to have some kind of meeting with a manager and plan out your whole year, like, ‘Hey, we’re going to make an album and tour and start booking festival dates,’ and you haven’t even recorded a song yet,” he reported. “You could very easily fall into those traps in the music business if you’re not careful. So we just got together a couple times and said, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ … but the songs came out really fast and that was a great sign.”

With the new LP in the can, the band regrouped for the Third Man show. “It was a little rough,” Benson said, noting that it was also the first time he’d performed sober in the group. “But it felt good. It was just one of those moments where afterward, we were all very exhilarated and stoked about the future.” That led to more shows and then the North American tour. “We don’t sit around and discuss a plan; we just roll with it,” he added. “We just do what we do – for better or for worse.”

their forthcoming album “HELP US STRANGER” – out June 21st.

SLEATER KINNEY – ”  The Center Won’t Hold “

Posted: June 15, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Sleater-Kinney share “The Future Is Here,” the second new track to be revealed from their forthcoming highly anticipated album, The Center Won’t Hold, produced by St. Vincent and slated for release August 16th on Milk! Records.  The Center Won’t Hold is the tenth album from the iconic trio comprised of Carrie Brownstein (guitar/vocals), Corin Tucker (guitar/vocals) and Janet Weiss (drums). Brownstein explains, “We’re always mixing the personal and the political but on this record, despite obviously thinking so much about politics, we were really thinking about the person — ourselves or versions of ourselves or iterations of depression or loneliness — in the middle of the chaos.”   Weiss adds, “I think for Carrie and Corin it was liberating to explore a different sound palette. Annie (St. Vincent) has a lot of experience building her own music with keyboards and synthesizers so she could be our guide to help us make sense of this new landscape and still sound like us.” Tucker says, “The Center Won’t Hold drops you into the world of catastrophe that touches on the election. And almost like a mission statement, at the end of that song, it’s like the band is finding its way out of that space by becoming a rock band.”

“The Future Is Here” permeates an understated intensity, with building vocals and a menacing longing while simultaneously drawing the listener in with its catchy chorus “I need you more than I ever have, because the future is here and we can’t go back.” The track follows “Hurry On Home,” the first single unveiled from the forthcoming record.  Upon its release the critical praise was unanimous; NPR raved, “Sleater-Kinney’s first new song since 2015’s No Cities To Love blisters with desperation and desire, a promising hint of the St. Vincent-produced future we were promised,” while GQ stated, “urgent and throttling and sticky all at once, ‘Hurry On Home’ is the first taste of rock legends Sleater-Kinney’s upcoming album that’s produced by St. Vincent. If the rest sounds anything remotely as good as this, well, we’ve got an Album of the Year contender on our hands.” Pitchfork said of the Sleater-Kinney/St. Vincent pairing, “The endless possibilities of what this collaboration might sound like remain a bit mystifying, but the first taste is a clear knockout.”

The Center Won’t Hold – Out August 16th, 2019

LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL – ” Turn Off The News (Build A Garden) “

Posted: June 15, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Straddling rock and roll, country, soul, folk and R&B, Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real reach a new high-water mark on Turn Off The News (Build A Garden). This is Lukas Nelson at his best: as a songwriter, a singer, a guitarist and band leader – an artist at the peak of his powers, backed by Promise Of The Real, his nimble and dexterous brothers-in-arms, one of the most talented, in-demand rock and roll ensembles working today. Vocal and instrumental contributions on the album include Margo Price, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Micah Nelson, Kesha, Shooter Jennings, Randy Houser, Lucius, Madison Ryann Ward, Hunter Elizabeth, and Neil Young.

Whether it’s the sweeping, Roy Orbison-influenced production of “Where Does Love Go”, nodding to the Traveling Wilburys on the irresistible “Bad Case”, the cosmic country vibes of “Stars Made Of You”, the ‘60s infused sweet R&B of “Save A Little Heartache”, or the unmistakable Willie Nelson guitar licks that grace the poignant “Mystery”, it all comes together in the most mature and absorbing work of the band’s burgeoning career.

the new album from Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real, “Turn Off The News (Build A Garden) available everywhere June 14th.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – ” Western Skies “

Posted: June 15, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Western stars

Bruce Springsteen’s first new studio album in five years takes his music to a new place, drawing inspiration in part from the Southern California pop records of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. It was recorded primarily at Springsteen’s home studio in New Jersey, with additional recording in California and New York. “This record is a return to my solo recordings featuring character driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements,” says Springsteen. “It’s a jewel box of a record.” Introduced by lead single “Hello Sunshine”, the 13 tracks of Western Stars encompass a sweeping range of American themes, of highways and desert spaces, of isolation and community and the permanence of home and hope. Ron Aniello co-produced and plays bass, keyboard, and other instruments. Patti Scialfa provides vocals and contributes vocal arrangements on four tracks. The musical arrangements include strings, horns, pedal steel and contributions from more than 20 other players including Jon Brion (celeste, Moog, farfisa), as well as guest appearances by David Sancious, Charlie Giordano, and Soozie Tyrell.

A new Bruce Springsteen record is always an event, but we haven’t had a new album of original material since 2012’s Wrecking Ball and we haven’t had a solo album since 2005’s Devils & Dust, so this feels extra special.

Here is everything you need to know about The Boss’s new effort Western Stars… 

Though it’s been a little while since we had a new album proper from Springsteen, he’s not exactly been idle. He’s undertaken three world tours, grossing over $700 million between them, published his hugely acclaimed autobiography and headlined a Broadway show, appropriately named “Springsteen On Broadway”.

Originally intended to run for just six weeks, demand for tickets was so high that the show was extended again and again, finally reaching its conclusion in December last year after a staggering 14-month run. A live album was released to celebrate the show, which has also sold handsomely.

Somewhere, at the end of that process, Springsteen began to talk up plans for his new album, an album that arrives in store today (June 14th).

Ron Aniello, who has worked with Springsteen on 2012’s Wrecking Ball and 2014’s High Hopes, is back at the mixing desk for this new record. He co-produces with Springsteen himself.

Over 20 musicians have helped Springsteen out on this album, including original E Street Band keyboard player David Sancious and violinist Soozie Tyrell and organist Charlie Giordano.

Also featured is Jon Brion, whose credits include Kanye West and Fiona Apple. Springsteen’s wife and E Street bandmate Patti Scialfa has also helped out, providing a series of vocal arrangements.

As well as this, Aniello’s playing is all over the album, he provides bass, keyboards and more besides.

Western Stars finds Springsteen in a reflective mood and a long way away from the bombastic colour of High Hopes. Springsteen has talked up his love of Burt Bacharach and the pop music that came out of California in the late 1960s and early 1970s and it’s all over this album.

This is elegant, reflective Americana. It’s delicate, windswept pop, buffeted by Springsteen’s biting lyrics.

This isn’t a record for the casual Springsteen fan. There are no romping anthems or stadium fillers, but it’s a delightful record, one that will demand repeated listens and yield more and more every time. Devotees, of which there are millions, will adore it.

PURPLE MOUNTAINS – ” Purple Mountains “

Posted: June 15, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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There’s breakup records. There’s apocalypse records. Then there’s the Purple Mountains  record! This new musical expression from David Berman is his most to-the-bone yet, very frankly confessing to a near-total collapse from the word go, before delving into the sorry subtext with twin lasers of personal laceration and the saving grace of a professional songwriter’s natural remove. Our unofficial Gen X poet laureate has written a collection of songs that cries to be understood in the misbegotten country that made everything great about Purple Mountains to begin with.

Clearly, America’s fate is that of its treasured freedom icons: the cowboy, the outlaw, the card sharp and the riverboat gambler all face sheer resignation in the end. There are no perfect crimes. Berman‘s poet-thief of so many precious moments, now stripped and chastened, recalls his latest lowest moments in perfect detail, hovering ghostly above a tumescent production design with tragic majesty, evoking the defeated-king era of late Elvis, southern-fried and sassy STILL on his countrypolitan way down, and somehow still solid-gold (no, silver!) even at rock’s bottom.

The second single conjures [the prelude to] a cathartic night on the town, bathed in magic glow : this is how the light of David Berman’s life leaves him behind, enmeshed in desolation and regret. Purple Mountains approach existential perfection with a somehow joyful lament in “Darkness and Cold” as plaintive harp and backing vox cast long shadows over a dancey rhythm n roots shuffle.  Watch (above) and listen to the fervent new single from none other than your new favorite band, Purple Mountains.

Song from the self-titled Purple Mountains album, out on LP, Cassette, and CD on July 12, 2019 from Drag City Records

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