The musical duo of Shane Butler& Caity Shaffer released their debut album as Olden Yolk last year, an alluring concoction of hypnagogic folk & kosmiche rhythms, expanding & refining Butler’s work in his former band Quilt toward a more focused direction. “Living Theatre” is the follow up to that eponymous debut & more than lives up to its promise.
The songs on “Living Theatre” were written & recorded during a heavy time of transition & upheaval for the duo, with personal tragedies and a big move from their NYC home to a warmer climate in Los Angeles coloring the album’s inception. Thematically “Living Theatre” tunes seem to be about how humans react to the ways life is colored by both fate and the consequences of the conscious & unconscious decisions we make. Musically, the duo’s songwriting has gelled into a unified front, relying more on the subtle shifts of melody & rhythm than a barrage of chord changes; “Living Theatre”s hooks lap at your feet like a babbling brook, rather than bowl you over like violent waves. The refinement in tunes like “Castor & Pollux”, “Grand Palais” & first single “Cotton & Cane” points to a new frontier for the group; soaring skyward toward the emotionally textural plateaus of trailblazers like The Go-Betweens or Yo La Tengo. There’s a discernible romantic feel to tunes like “Violent Days” or “Distant Episode”‘s lush arrangements with Shaffer in particular finding her own voice here; poetic, abstract & expressive. “Living Theatre” showcases a band breaking free from it’s chrysalis, and embracing its next phase of evolution.
Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell has lent her talents to a number of projects over the last few years, from the supergroup Minor Victories to collaborations with Mark Kozelek and Beach Fossils. She also, of course, played a large part in Slowdive’s 2017 comeback album. The band’s music is a particularly British brand of intense cinematic drama. Melodic and timeless, the album lands in the atmospheric dimensions between Pink Floyd, Talk Talk and Mansun. A record radiating midlife crisis but equally enormous elation; a helix of fear and hope, aching for resolution. A record Steve emphasises that he “needed” to make.
Today, she’s announcing a new project named the Soft Cavalry, which is a duo with her husband Steve Clarke, who she married last year. In July, they’ll release their self-titled debut album. “I’d always had ideas but never felt that anything I had to say was worthy of anyone’s attention, let alone my own,” Clarke said of the collaboration. “I wish that I could have done this fifteen years ago but, in reality, I simply couldn’t have. But I’m not one to overly wallow. I’d rather plough the various levels of confusion into songs.”
Its lead single, “Dive,” is a contemplative sigh, unknotting thorny emotions with comparative ease.
Beck has announced the upcoming release of his new album “Hyperspace”, accompanied by the release of a brand new single ‘Saw Lightning’. The track is an eclectic, percussive-heavy alt-pop ditty with some lovely slide guitar, riddled with melancholic harmonica and schizophrenic lyricism – another incredible addition to Beck’s extensive back catalogue of experimental jams.
Co-produced by Pharrell, who also contributed drums and mumbles, the track sets a seriously hyper-energetic tone and will satiate the hunger of any Beck fanatic in the lead up to the album release.
Hyperspace will mark Beck’s 14th album release, following the success of his Grammy-winning 2017 record Colours. No release date is set yet however, you can expect it to arrive at “some point in the space-time continuum”, according to Capitol Records
On Ramonda Hammer’s searing debut LP “I Never Wanted Company”, front-woman Devin Davis takes a hard look at her struggle between despairing loneliness and embracing independence. The Los Angeles quartet’s blistering guitars and Davis’s paint-peeling vocals – recalling past greats like Hole and likeminded contemporaries like Mannequin Pussy – form the support for lyrics that grapple with two years of emotional upheaval for Davis.
Since the band released their 2017 EPDestroyers, a release that cemented Ramonda Hammer as a tentpole act in LA’s surging community of woman- and queer-fronted bands, Davis struggled to come to terms with her codependency, fought against her own overwhelming over-analysis, and got into her first queer relationship.
The result is an album that’s bruising, cathartic, searching, and ultimately therapeutic. Featuring production by Alex Newport ( At The Drive In, Bloc Party), I Never Wanted Companyis a powerful and triumphant return for the quartet – including Justin Geter on guitar, Andy Hengl on bass, and Mark Edwards on drums.
“No one is coming! No one!” Davis wails at the end of lead single “Hoax”. On its face, it’s a bleak and almost nihilistic statement – but for her, it’s a call to independence. Davis hopes the album will help people who want to take better control over their own lives and emotions. “I’m an anxious person,” she says. “It helps me to play loud rock music with gritty sounds and brash lyrics. Sometimes you to scream to wake people up.”
“Bridges To Bremen” is a full-length show performed by the Rolling Stones on the fifth and final leg of the Bridges To Babylon Tour. Filmed at the German city’s Weserstadion on September 2nd, 1998, the band had by then completed four legs in the stadiums and arenas of North America (twice), Asia and South America before finally landing in Europe early that summer. Ever the innovators, Bridges To Babylon was a tour of firsts – the first time the band went on the road with a permanent B-stage, and also the first time where fans could vote on the band’s website for a track they wanted to hear at the show – “Memory Motel” in the case of the Bremen fans. This concert film has been meticulously restored from the original masters, and the audio remixed and remastered from the live multitrack recordings. Four tracks from their Soldier Field performances in Chicago are included as bonus features. Eagle Vision’s SD Blu-ray range presents upscaled standard definition original material with uncompressed stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound for the best possible quality.
1998 concert film • Remixed audio • Restored visuals • Surround sound • 2CD+Blu-ray, 3LP vinyl + more formats
In terms of audio and picture quality, it sounds promising, since Eagle Vision state that the film has been “meticulously restored from the original masters” while the audio has been remixed and remastered from the live multitrack recordings. Remember, even though this is offered on blu-ray, this isn’t full HD but ‘upscaled standard definition’. In terms of sound, we get uncompressed stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound.
Bridges to Bremen will be released on 21st June 2019.
The Babe Rainbow was formed in the summer of 2014 by Angus Dowling and Jack Laughlan Crowther in the coastal surf town of Rainbow Bay, Australia. Students of English, lovers of permaculture, riders of waves – the pair also found common ground in the 60’s music like The Incredible String Band and Swing Mademoiselles. Their early singles attracted the attenion of Flightless Records who went on to release their breakout single Secret Enchanted Broccoli Forest. The band, which now includes Lucas Mariani and Jessi Dunbar, caught the attenion of US record producer, artist and now label owner Danger Mouse who signed them to his 30th Century Records. The album was produced by Stu Mackenzie (King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard).
They come loosely from the same staple as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and are similarly enamoured of the less murky side of 60’s psychedelia. Their album, Double Rainbow epitomises the summer vibe with its mellifluous harmonies, second-gear beat architecture and bright acoustics. Double Rainbow has some influences from the 60’s such as The Beatles and Grateful Dead, as you’ll read elsewhere, but what it really reminded me of was J.J Cale’sNaturally. Listen to ‘Darby and Joan’ and tell me you don’t hear ‘Call Me the Breeze’. Not only the song structure but J.J Cale’s easy swagger and insouciance. Front porch therapy. Replete with tropical aromas, gentle breezes and cool temperament.
‘Eureka’ clamours successfully for that vibe as well, but ventures more into sunset party territory with accentuated wah-wah and a drummer riding the cymbals with free abandon. The album starts out with a song, ‘The Magician’, so assured, so beautifully written, it’s hard to believe these guys have been only hanging together for a year and a half. Probably longer as surfing mates if the truth be known.
The Beths are an Auckland quartet who pen stylish guitar pop with a keen lyrical bite. All four members studied jazz at University giving them the technical proficiency to contort simple pop structures and perfect, lush vocal harmonies. Check out a super rad performance by the Beths“Live at Lincoln Hall”. Recorded on March 6th, 2019 in Chicago, IL.
Tracklist:
1. Whatever
2. Happy Unhappy
3. Little Death
Band Members
Elizabeth Stokes – Vocals and Guitar
Jonathan Pearce – Guitar and Vocals
Benjamin Sinclair – Bass and Vocals
Ivan Luketina-Johnston – Drums and Vocals
The Pixies‘ “Doolittle” is to be thirty years old this month, it was the second studio album by American alternative rock band Pixies, released in April 1989 on 4AD Records. The album’s offbeat and dark subject material, featuring references to surrealism, Biblical violence, torture and death, contrasts with the clean production sound achieved by the newly hired producer Gil Norton. Doolittle was the Pixies‘ first international release.
Pixies released two singles from “Doolittle”, “Here Comes Your Man” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven”, both of which were chart successes. “Debaser” the opener from that classic album, “Debaser” is a lot of people’s favourite Pixies song. When they play it live, it’s a guaranteed catalyst for chaos on the floor. Played live or on record, it’s a song that illustrates the alchemy that the Pixies are capable of at their peak. If you strip it down to its base elements, there’s really nothing to it , Black Francis’ nonsense lyrics – nominally inspired by the Buñuel/Dali surrealist film Un Chien Andalou, but essentially meaningless, though well-suited to being barked out by the frontman, Along with Joey Santiago’s four-chord riff and simple finger-picked accents and Kim Deal’s characteristic bassline for beginners.
Doolittle, Pixies’ second album proper, contained so many great tracks it’s inevitable that a few would fail to get their day in the sun. With its weird reggae introduction and Francis sounding more deranged than ever – suddenly transforming into something new and unexpected a good three or four times in the space of a couple of minutes – ‘Mr Grieves’ is not a song you often see cited, yet it remains a prime example of the band at their most schizoid and hyperactive. Definitely worthy of rediscovery.
Of course when it all comes together, driven by one of David Lovering’s best performances on drums and executed with passion and panache and more enthusiasm than a band that’s starting to fall apart should be able to muster, it’s a majestic, superlative, enduring, adrenalized, alt-rock classic. augmented by Kim’s backing vocals. Joey doesn’t have to shred when he’s making such an uplifting, joyous noise and that bassline – well, that’s trademark Pixies.
This album “Doolittle” still sounds sensational three decades on – from Debaser through to Gouge Away. The Pixies, at their best, aren’t so much a band as a group of alchemists.
Despite being issued on hi-res SACD in the past this is the Doolittle‘s debut in 5.1. Kevin Vanbergen has created the new surround mix from the original analogue multi-tracks.
This new edition will also feature an HD transfer of the original stereo mix by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. The album was reissued back in 2014 for its 25th anniversary. The album has been cited as inspirational by many alternative artists, while numerous music publications have ranked it as one of the most influential albums ever. A 2003 poll of NME writers ranked Doolittle as the second-greatest album of all time.
This blu-ray audio of Doolittle was released on 9th December and is on Amazon in the USA and is available to pre-order from the 4AD Records store.
Pixies
Black Francis – vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar
Kim Deal – bass guitar, vocals, acoustic slide guitar on “Silver”
Joey Santiago – lead guitar, backing vocals
David Lovering – drums, lead vocals on “La La Love You”, bass guitar on “Silver”
Conceived over a bucks fizz binge in Birmingham, UK early 2018, Cherry Pickles comes at you like the basement band you always wanted to start. Priscila B brings from Brazil her love of early Tropicalia and the kind of ‘let’s be bad’ attitude that can only come from a land chock full of Catholic guilt. Mimi B brings her love of stripped down, bare essential rhythm. If two drums are good enough for Peggy O’Neill then they should definitely be good enough for you. Together they bonded over a mutual love of 50s malt-shop-pop, 60s minimalist garage, no wave, fuzz and all forms of outsider art. ‘Art damaged’ isn’t a slur, it’s a compliment. Anything lost in translation with this transatlantic duo only doubles the charm.
As a duo, they work perfectly together. Each song is driven by Mimi’s backbeat of tomtom and snare. It’s simple but man it works. Priscilla B has it all. She flirts between english and Portuguese while her simple but effective guitar playing leads the charge.
They may play simplified, striped down, lo-fi garage rock, but believe me there is some magic to be heard here. The musicianship is primitive (apparently Cherry Pickles even play second hand cheap instruments) but it all sounds so natural. Just listen to a song like ‘It Will End in Tears‘ for proof that Cherry Pickles can write a decent tune.
Their debut has the cheeky title ‘Cherry Pickles…Will Harden Your Nipples‘ and depending on your mood, it will quite possibly do just that. This is music for playing spin the bottle, or drinking cans of cherry coke in a treehouse, or go-go dancing with the flash of swirling lights. Hooky, reverb-tremolo pop with Link Wray riffs and stomping beats. This is garage rock done right.
If you’re any kind of cinephile, you’ve probaly seen Bette Davis as an aging Broadway diva in the 1950 classic “All About Eve”. But for all you lucky theater goers , there’s now a modern stage adaptation of the Academy Award–winning film, starring our favorite redhead Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) and Lily James (Mamma Mia!). It’s currently playing at the Noël Coward Theatre in London’s famed West End.
Later this month, the production’s original soundtrack comes out—including twelve tracks and ten original pieces of instrumental music, plus two eerie songs written by PJ Harvey and sung by Anderson and James. Singer-songwriter Harvey has long since supplemented her daring albums with compositions for film, TV, and theater.
Of the score and her collaboration with theater director Ivo van Hove, P.J.Harvey said in a press statement: “I have always loved stories, and so to compose music to support and enhance a story being told is a challenge I enjoy. I also love the freedom that working instrumentally can give me without the constraints of song form.”
Listen to “The Moth,” which features vocals from Lily James, as well as the instrumental track “Descending” below.
Taken from the PJ Harvey Original Score to the West End theatrical production of ‘All About Eve.’
‘The Moth’ Written and Composed by PJ Harvey Vocals by Lily James
Performed by PJ Harvey, Lily James, James Johnston, and Kenrick Rowe
Released April 12th 2019 via Invada Records and Lakeshore Records.
taken from the Original Score to the West End theatrical production of ‘All About Eve.’ ‘Descending’
Composed by PJ Harvey Performed by PJ Harvey, James Johnston, and Kenrick Rowe
Released April 12th 2019 via Invada Records and Lakeshore Records.
The All About Eve soundtrack is out April 12th via Lakeshore/Invada. ‘All About Eve,’ directed by Ivo Van Hove, stars Gillian Anderson and Lily James, and is produced by Sonia Freedman Productions.
