Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

GRATEFUL DEAD – ” Aoxomoxoa ” 50th Anniversary Edition

Posted: March 29, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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To celebrate the 50th anniversary of their experimental 1969 release Aoxomoxoa, Grateful Dead Inc. has prepared a special, deluxe edition of the record, featuring two exclusive mixes of the album (“one fully remastered from the original 1969 mix and the other remastered from the definitive 1971 band-produced mix”), as well as a third disc of unreleased live music dating back to January 24th-26th, 1969.

“Aoxomoxoa” is a 1969 album by the Grateful Dead. One of the first rock albums to be recorded using 16-track technology, fans and critics alike consider this era to be the band’s experimental apex. The title is a meaningless palindrome, usually pronounced “ox-oh-mox-oh-ah”.

“In 1969, for their third album, the Grateful Dead eschewed outside producers and created Aoxomoxoa themselves, beginning a run of self-produced albums that would continue until 1977,” Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux said in an official statement. “Scrapping the first sessions, which were recorded to eight-track tape, the Dead now had 16 tracks with which to experiment their psychedelic sound, with an album that included entirely Robert Hunter-penned lyrics for the first time.”

The newly compiled edition of Aoxomoxoa will be available on June 7th in a CD and digital format. The band will also release a limited edition picture disc vinyl of the record, boasting the remastered version of the LP (only 10,000 available). The reissue’s bonus disc of live music recorded January 24th to 26th, 1969 at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, California (the recordings were among the first live performances recorded to 16-track tape). including two early versions of Aoxomoxoa tracks, “Durpee’s Diamond Blues” and “Doin’ That Rag,” as well as the final live performance of “Clementine,” a song the Dead began playing in 1968 but never released on a studio album. The Dead lineup at the time of the Avalon shows was Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Phil Lesh, Tom Constanten, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann.

UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1968: 1968, California, San Francisco, Grateful Dead, L-R: Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart (standing). ((Photo by Malcolm Lubliner/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images))

SIMPLE MINDS – ” Rejuvenation 2001-2014 ” Box Set

Posted: March 29, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Rejuvenation 2001-2014

After leaving the Virgin Records label, and a one-off album with Chrysalis, Simple Minds took stock and decided to make records for themselves. An album of cover versions of songs dear to Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill, “Neon Lights”, was released in 2001, followed by “Cry” in 2002, an album of new compositions recorded in Glasgow and Sicily. The recordings for “Black and White 050505” were completed on the 5th May 2005, hence the title. “Graffiti Soul” continued the band’s return to the top, charting at # 10 in May 2009. “Big Music” [2 LP] was released in October 2014, charting at # 12.

This 7 CD + DVD 12 x 12 book set features the five albums plus twenty-four bonus tracks – non-album B-sides and originally limited bonus CD tracks, including the rare album of covers “Searching For The Lost Boys” (now including a cover of T. Rex’s “Children Of The Revolution”), and the “Big Music” Bonus CD (now including the Simple Minds/Stranglers collaboration). The remixes include the four acclaimed Johnson Somerset remixes of the singles from “Big Music”. The DVD features the ten rare single promo videos from these albums, along with the even more rare EPKs made for the albums’ promotion. Housed in a handsome 12 x 12 book, the booklet features photos and newly-written extensive and revealing album-by-album notes by Jim Kerr himself.

Simple Minds’ Rejuvenation 2001-2014 – was previously released on LP in 2018 it now has been expanded too as a 7CD/1-DVD box set courtesy of Edsel. The set boasts expanded versions of five of the band’s 21st century albums: Neon Lights (2001), Cry (2002), Black and White 050505(2005), Graffiti Soul (2009) and Big Music (2014).  The DVD gathers contemporaneous music videos, behind-the scenes footage, EPKs, and interviews. The set is presented in a 12×12″ book with album-by-album liner notes by Jim Kerr and a wealth of photos.

COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS – ” May Your Kindness Remain ” Acoustic Versions

Posted: March 29, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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‘May Your Kindness Remain’ is a year old today. It has been a magical and wild journey of a year. Thank you to all who’ve been a part of it.

After a decade spent at the height of the music industry, touring solo and with large pop bands, she realized her desire for a place to come home to. She found that in a small rural town in the deep forests of Washington State. There, she posted up at a local bar, slinging drinks, basking in the simplicity and reflection it allowed.

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Thank you to Rolling Stone magazine for naming my song “May Your Kindness Remain” the number one country/americana song of the year. I write music with the intention of connecting with myself and others through words and feelings, and I’m so happy to know this song has resonated with so many folks this year.

releases May 17th, 2019

The YAWPERS – ” Human Question “

Posted: March 28, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“‘Human Question’ cements The Yawpers’ position as one of the best rock and roll bands around at the moment. They’ve developed their musical palette beyond the potential shown on previous releases and this has resulted in their most complete-sounding record yet… This may well be The Yawpers’ masterpiece…Flawless.”

Denver three-piece The Yawpers return with their third record‘Human Question’. There are few acts around with a back catalogue as strong as they have over the space of two full-lengths, with killer rock n’ roll their speciality. This latest release takes the bona fida Yawpers sound and ramps it up infinite notches.

On the opening, ‘Child Of Mercy’ frontman Nate Cook howls and hollers his way through a three-minute thrill ride, and results in easily one of the most exciting singles of the year. There is little respite as the frantic White Stripes-esque riff of ‘Dancing On My Knees’ follows, as Cook wails “I’ve taken all the medicine, but I’ve still got your disease”. On the rip-roaring ‘Earn Your Heaven,’ the frontman takes on the role of preacher, at one point welcoming the ghost of Harry Connick Jr to a crucifix, amidst maniacal, crashing drums and frenzied solos. It’s another highlight on a record choc-a-bloc with them.

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The growth of The Yawpers’ sound has come alongside the frontman’s development as a lyricist. Cook has said that the songs were written as a form of therapy for this record, as opposed to his previous method of an excuse to wallow in his own misery. The results are certainly candid. He sings of an “elegant fear” on the title track questioning religion and existentialism, which is more abundant when he howls to “please show me something I can believe in, something that takes it away” on ‘Child Of Mercy.’  Cook also questions his own self-doubt and acute self-awareness as the root cause of his anxieties, singing “how I look in darkness, is what makes me quiet in the light” and “I’ve been looking for some comfort in this world that’s escaping me” on ‘Man As Ghost’ and ‘Can’t Wait’ respectively.

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Despite the near-morbidity of the lyrics, the latter is as radio-friendly as The Yawpers have ever sounded. The pounding drums of new member Alex Koshak set the pace, as frontman Cook does his best Springsteen impression, and more than pulls it off. Ending on a mellow note with ‘Where The Winters End,’The Yawpers give a tender send-off to an absolutely wonderful record.

‘Human Question’ cements The Yawpers’ position as one of the best rock and roll bands around at the moment. They’ve developed their musical palette beyond the potential shown on previous releases and this has resulted in their most complete-sounding record yet. Incorporating country, punk, rock n roll, gospel, indie, blues, and pretty much anything that sounds good alongside excellent songwriting, they have created an extremely special body of work. This may well be The Yawpers’ masterpiece.

JULIEN BAKER – ” Sprained Ankle ” Reissue

Posted: March 28, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Baker

Memphis, TN-based songwriter Julien Baker is the latest addition to the Matador Records roster. The 21-year-old’s devastating and vulnerable debut album, Sprained Ankle, which was originally released in 2015 and now gets re-released by Matador. The album was recorded at Spacebomb Studios, though Julien’s songs don’t share the down-home gloss of the other albums produced there. Instead of beefing up her honest tunes with rich layering like Natalie Prass or Matthew E. White, Baker pares her songs down to their simplest possible format: alone, singing and playing acoustic guitar directly into the microphone, sometimes in a single take.

That decision resulted in a remarkable record, one full of beautiful, personal explorations revealed in stark intimacy. That choice makes a lot of sense for Baker’s voice, both in the literal and figurative sense. Rather than Prass’ sweet, soaring tones or White’s blue-eyed soul, Sprained Ankle is delivered in reedy whispers and chilled coos. Released just before she turned 20 years old, the record still sounds raw – not that her voice lacks control or power, but rather that the weariness of songs about death, breakups, and existential questioning are sung with incredible presence. They’re coming of age songs from someone still coming of age, the wounds still fresh, the big truths currently being revealed. There are the struggles of depression, drugs, loneliness, but the clear-eyed way she faces it all supersedes any platitude.

LP – The album comes with a new 7″ Funeral Pyre. Only Baker can make a song with such a darkly macabre title so heartbreakingly gorgeous, with her signature hushed-yet-lofty vocals soaring over a quietly fingerpicked melody that crescendos into layered, almost-orchestral beauty. The B-side, Distant Solar System, is another unheard song from the Sprained Ankle sessions.

LAURA STEVENSON – ” The Big Freeze ” Album Of The Month

Posted: March 28, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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When Laura Stevenson released her 2011 album Sit, Resist, she was a little out in front of what quickly became a flood of first-rate indie-rock from women, including Sharon Van Etten, Lucius, Big Thief’s Adrienne Lenker, Mitski, Waxahatchee, Lucy Dacus and many more. Unfortunately for Stevenson, she was ahead of the leading edge just enough that the subsequent wave of acclaim didn’t sweep her up the way it did many of her peers. Thankfully, despite the fact that she’s not nearly as well known as she should be, Stevenson continues to make music that can stop your heart.

In that regard, her latest is arguably Stevenson’s most adept album. The Big Freeze trades the raucous guitars and bold hooks of her earlier work for subtler musical textures on songs that open into more expansive interior worlds. She relies more on her voice, which has both warmth and clarity in proportions that vary with the volume of she utilizes. She sings just above a murmur on opener “Lay Back. Arms Out” and lets the natural sweetness of her voice bubble up in the catchy melody of “Dermatillomania,” the most up-tempo song on the album. Up-tempo, yes, but not upbeat: the title of the song is another name for excoriation disorder, which is the compulsion to pick at one’s own skin to the point of causing physical harm. Stevenson wrote about her own experiences with dermatillomania in February for Talkhouse, and the subject hovers in the background of many of the songs on The Big Freeze.

The album as a whole sorts through a host of complicated feelings about family, the thin line between inter- and co-dependence, and trying, if just for a minute, to silence fear, shame and doubts and feel OK as oneself. Stevenson lays out a portrait of dysfunction on “Hum,” glimmers of guitar framing her precise, quiet vocals as she builds tension with such stealth that it comes as a surprise to find you’ve been holding your breath. “Hawks” is a wistful waltz-time evocation of a happier period, while the next song, “Big Deep,” feels like its emotional counterpoint as Stevenson describes a particularly fraught moment. She harmonizes with herself on both, accompanied by barely-there guitar, the low moan of a cello (on the former) and deep, distant piano (on the latter).

Laura lets the natural sweetness of her voice bubble up in the catchy melody of “Dermatillomania,” the most up-tempo song on her new album The Big Freeze. Up-tempo, yes, but not upbeat: the title of the song is another name for excoriation disorder, which is the compulsion to pick at one’s own skin to the point of causing physical harm. Stevenson wrote about her own experiences with dermatillomania in February and the subject hovers in the background of many of the songs on The Big Freeze.

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Album closer “Perfect” feels like Stevenson has reached an equilibrium of sorts, balancing past with present, and emotional turmoil with a brittle sense of acceptance. There’s tenacity there, too: “I’ll be alright by myself tonight,” she sings in the first and last lines of the song, a folky number with acoustic guitar and multi-tracked vocal harmonies. It’s clear that she means it, and even if being genuinely alright takes more time, more effort, more emotional energy than she ever would have wanted, it’s equally clear that she is determined to make it true.

DRUGDEALER – ” Honey ” feat. Weyes Blood

Posted: March 28, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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After becoming enmeshed in the Los Angeles underground scene after 2013’s The End of Comedy, Raw Honey (Michael Collins second album as Drugdealer) sees Collins once again leading an ace crew of collaborators to coalesce the spirit of Drugdealer’s classically modern pop with lush arrangements, memetic melodies, and a vulnerable tunefulness that tries to make sense of self-doubt and connected loneliness in our shared simulacra.

Raw Honey features contributions of Josh Da Costa (drums), Jackson MacIntosh (guitar), Danny Garcia (guitar), Michael Long (lead guitar), and Benjamin Schwab (backing vocals, guitar, organ, piano, wurlitzer), as well as guest vocalists like country balladeer Dougie Poole (“Wild Motion”), Harley Hill-Richmond (“Lonely”), and frequent collaborator Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood) whose dulcet tones sing low before soaring on “Honey,” a track as silky as the nectar itself.

This one is particularly meaningful to me, and maybe touches on some complicated, but real themes between people. I wanted to lay out a ballad dedicated to the treacherously emotional, ‘in your feelings’ weirdos that can’t turn it off. No one better to vocalize this type of heart on your sleeve stuff than Natalie, who’s voice has brought me to tears more than anyone I know – and thankful to incredible harmonies by Michael and Brian of The Lemon Twigs

Drugdealer – “Honey” from the new album ‘Raw Honey’, out April 19th on Mexican Summer.

Drugdealer – “Fools” from the new album ‘Raw Honey’, out April 19th on Mexican Summer.

L.A WITCH – ” Octubre “

Posted: March 28, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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L.a. witch octubre clean version

Produced by Gregg Foreman (Cat Power, Delta 72). L.A. Witch’s eponymous debut album tapped into the allure of warm nights on the West Coast while hinting at the loneliness and lawlessness of living on the periphery of a country founded on a dark past. The three-piece composed of Sade Sanchez, Irita Pai, and Ellie English culled sounds from the outlaws of warmer climes, whether it was 13th Floor Elevators’ lysergic rock n’ roll or the cool hand fatalism by The Doors on songs like The End. It’s an album transmitting subdued revelry while also smirking at the inevitable consequences of the night.

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There is no better season for these kinds of songs than the autumn, when the promises of summer have abated and the nights of reckoning grow longer. L.A. Witch seized the moment by revisiting some of their early tracks and reshaping them into Octubre, a five-song EP that delves deeper into their darker side.

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The UNDERGROUND YOUTH – ” I Can’t Resist “

Posted: March 28, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Based in Berlin The Underground Youth conjure black leather-clad post-punk melancholia in their new track “I Can’t Resist”‘, a macabre and crooning Ballad taken from their forthcoming ninth LP Montage Images of Lust & Fear that’s set for release on Fuzz Club Records next Friday.

“I Can’t Resist”, is like the bastard demon love child of The Damned’s Dave Vanian and The Birthday Party’s Rowland S. Howard, already establishing itself as one of the best songs to claw its way out of the seductive song catalog of The Underground Youth.

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On the song’s themes, frontman Craig Dyer explains: “Lyrically ‘I Can’t Resist’ has sort of a double meaning, on the surface it’s an impassioned love letter but it could also be read as a sinister list of hidden desires. The music could frame either, itself both driving and passionate.”

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PIP BLOOM – ” I Think I’m In Love / Pussycat “

Posted: March 27, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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22-year-old Amsterdam-based Pip Blom started writing, recording and releasing her own indie-pop tunes with a twist in 2016. Early songs, which were simply uploaded to the internet, quickly amassed thousands and thousands of plays – prompting Pip to recruit a band and start playing them live. In stepped brother Tender Blom on backing vocals and guitar, Darek Mercks on bass and Gini Cameron on drums, with Pip herself fronting on guitar on vocals. Since, the band have played more than a hundred gigs, rising from small pubs to the european festival circuit with performances at Eurosonic Noorderslag and The Great Escape – as well as being asked by the likes of Surfer Blood, Franz Ferdinand and The Breeders to join them on their various European tours.

The band’s energetic live show quickly pricked the ears of press and radio hailing Pip as ‘ready to join the ranks of 2018’s rising guitar acts’, and BBC 6 Music A-listing recent singles ‘I Think I’m In Love’ and ‘Pussycat’. The station’s DJs Marc Riley hailed the former as ‘perfect pop’ with Gideon Coe branding it ‘excellent’ and, elsewhere, on the UK’s most popular music station BBC Radio One, Pip Blom performed a live session at Maida Vale for Huw Stephens. Not bad going for someone whose early ambitions were to write a few songs and upload them to the internet in case people wanted to hear them.”

Something special happened to Pip Blom at the tail end of last year. It was a busy twelve months that saw the release of her frenetic EP ‘Paycheck’, two A-Listed singles at 6 Music and support slots to the likes of The Breeders, Franz Ferdinand and Garbage. Capping that off, though, moments before stepping onstage at a sold out Lexington – the London stop-off on her debut UK headline tour – the band put pen to paper and signed to Heavenly Recordings.

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