Throughout the second half of 2017, Chicago’s Twin Peaks released a run of a half dozen limited-edition 7″ singles the band affectionately dubbed Sweet ’17. Only 300 copies of each 7″ were made, and subscriptions sold out almost immediately. But due to popular demand, Twin Peaks have compiled all of the songs from the series onto a LP release. Sweet ’17 Singles follows in the footsteps of Down In Heaven, the band’s 2016 full-length release, which expanded on the garage-inspired sounds of 2014’s Wild Onion.
In the final two Sweet ’17 Singles: “In the Meadow” and “We Will Not Make It (Not Without You).” We had a blast sharing these with you over the past six months and are excited to announce the compilation LP! The record is available on our webstore now and will also be on sale at indie record stores on February 9th
the Sweet ’17 Singles compilation LP is out on Friday everywhere. Buy directly from us on tour, Thanks to all of you for your support with this series; it was a different way to release music and we really enjoyed making and sharing the songs with you this way. Looking forward to sharing some of them with you live in the coming weeks, too…
Today we’re sharing the third single from our third record. We just had a nice meal together on this cold night and are glad you are all finally able to hear it. The song is called “Desire” and it’s one of our favorites. It includes a performance by impromptu mass choir Choir! Choir! Choir! that was incredible to witness. Check it out on your preferred music service now. Room Inside the World is out in 10 days. Thanks, Tim Darcy
(in my kitchen with the rest of Ought)
After the recent track “Disgraced In America”, the most recent single from Ought’s soon to be released new album Room Inside The World (out via Merge Records on the 16th).
Now we can share the album’s side one closer, Desire, with you. Marvellously described by bassist Ben Stidworthy as “Sade meets Bruce Springsteen,” the song employs a 70-piece vocal choir and uncovers a romantic side of the band seen only in glimpses before.
‘Damned Devotion’ is Joan Wasser’s fifth album as Joan As Police Woman and is a triumph in writing that touches upon levels of raw honesty, with songs that express uncertainty and acceptance of the ephemeral quality of human experience, that move the listener through feelings of hope, laughter, tears and love.
The album kicks off with a beautifully haunting soulful number called ‘Wonderful’ which is reminiscent of Al Green; expressing a sense of being lost in the moment. The tone in which Wasser sings expresses a sense of letting go of the past and opening up to new beginnings. The sweet and soothing tones are accompanied by a Portishead pulsating drum sound that weaves naturally with the vocals, and bond strange sounds together with real emotional force.
‘Warning Bell’, a song about not seeing what might come next and perhaps based on this karmic tendency, utilizes inventive drum machine programming and keyboards evoking the sound of the hands on a clock turning, and perhaps the circular nature of repeating the same mistakes. The hypnotically soulful ‘Tell Me Tell Me’ is a number full of softness and warmth. The call and response quality of the vocals makes you feel that Wasser is exhorting the other person or herself to listen to their inner voice, to do that which will make them truly fulfilled and happy, and isn’t dependent on another’s expectations.
‘Steed(for Jean Genet)’ is reminiscent of the funk groove of Prince’s ‘Paisley Park’. A dizzying sensual tune that compels the listener to lose themselves in the persuasive beat, as if being driven by physical appetite rather than spiritual need; while the title track makes great use of programmed drums to create a sound like a person being both enslaved by the affections of another but and at the same time enthralled by that attachment, and unable to break free.
The wonderfully atmospheric number ‘The Silence’ uses repetitive drum beats and repeated phrases to expresses the fear and inhibition of revealing the truth and the inevitable consequences. Exaggerated by the disturbing repeated phrase of ‘the silence’ it accentuates the exact opposite as it reaches a deafening crescendo. One of the highlights of the album.
Elsewhere, ‘Talk About It Later’ has the qualities of an Alabama Shakes song with a great soulful groove and rock guitar sound, ending up with just the bass sound complemented by great backing vocals; ‘Silly Me’ too has a similar feel with spartan guitar and keys that accentuates the self-reflective quality of the song. ‘I Don’t Mind’ completes the album with echoing drum and words that encourage the listener to see there are no sureties in life, and experience can teach us lots if we choose to learn from what life throws at us.
What one is left with when hearing the songs on ‘Damned Devotion’ is just how well Wasser articulates the contradictions in life that drive as well as bind; and the individual’s ability to create personal purpose against the odds. It’s an exhilarating album that takes the listener on a journey of emotional exploration and discovery.
APRIL
17 Glasgow, Old Fruitmarket
18 Gateshead, Sage
19 Birmingham, Town Hall
20 Leeds, Howard Assembly Rooms
22 London, Royal Festival Hall
23 Brighton, The Old Market
24 Manchester, The Stoller Hall
25 Bristol, St George’s Church
With Valentine’s Day coming up and whether you’re single or coupled the day can bring on complicated mixture of memories, regrets and desires. The latest from Oakland-based dream-pop artist Jay Som depicts a specific kind of romantic encounter in a bright, meandering tune.
“Hot Bread” is featured on Love Me Not, one of two playlists (the other is called Love Me) that Amazon Music has compiled in honor of Valentine’s Day. As the titles suggest, each playlist offers a different take on love. But JaySom’s track isn’t a gushing ode to romance or a lamentation on lost love; instead, “Hot Bread” deals with tricky, blurry feelings that fall somewhere in between.
Jay Som, aka Melina Duterte, says the song is about having a one night stand with a former lover. In the first two lines, she sings, “Will you dance with me, Jen? You won’t have to see me leave again.”
Duterte’s pleading voice and pensive guitar give the tune a light, vintage feel with a tinge of sadness. About halfway through, whistling and trumpets interrupt the song with a cheery melody, jolting you out of the melancholy chorus. Duterte says that she enjoys making songs with themes or light guidelines and that this track was “insanely fun” to write and record.
“My new microphone arrived just in time to track the song,” she says. “The warm and dry ’70s tone inspired me to make a chill but optimistic arrangement with simple lyrics … I also named the song after one of my favorite things in the world.”
“Hot Bread” concludes with Duterte repeating the line, “You’re always gonna be here,” though it’s not clear whether this means her former lover will forever be the one who got away or if their relationship has been saved. Regardless of the outcome, her ex’s “powerful love” has sunken in once again, leaving the artist feeling as scattered as the piano notes at the end of her song.
Haley Heynderickx‘s songs have a way of sneaking up on you: They start out spare, animated by a lone voice or a subtly snaky guitar line, only to billow out into something strange, beautiful, bracingly intense or some combination thereof. This Portland, Ore., singer hasn’t even released her first album —” I Need To Start A Garden” comes out in March yet she’s already an utterly distinct and wonderfully nervy, idiosyncratic presence.
In the run-up to I Need To Start A Garden, Heynderickx today releases the album’s third single, a slow-building eight-minute wonder called “Worth It.” Opening with a few long oooooooohs that conjure images of maybe Sharon Van Etten, “Worth It” at first seems to echo from down a hallway, only to pull in closer and closer as it rolls along, its initial tentativeness giving way to something commanding and sublime.
“I was living in a house with six women at the time and attempting to pursue music as more than a bedroom act, Heynderickx writes . “In this, I was struggling to find confidence and purpose in it. Writing ‘Worth it’ was a cathartic release at the time, just allowing myself to take up space and make as much noise as I could in our basement without driving my roommates too crazy. After several weeks, this song got carved out. It has been through a lot and it means something new to me each time I hear it.
releases March 2nd, 2018
The Band:
Haley Heynderickx – Vocals, Acoustic & Electric Guitar
Lily Breshears – Electric Bass, Piano, Backing Vocals
Tim Sweeney – Upright Bass, Electric Bass
Phillip Rogers – Drums & Percussion, Backing Vocals
Denzel Mendoza – Trombone, Backing Vocals
Half Waif brims over with sounds: underwater echoes of Celtic melodies; mossy, blinking electronic soundscapes; the ultra- sad chord changes of 19th-century art music; and eternal, unending bhajans. A finely crafted glass menagerie of song.
On April 27, our new full-length album Lavender will be released via our fam at Cascine Records. Today, you can hear & watch the first single, “Keep It Out.” It was directed by Celina Carney and choreographed by 2nd Best Dance Company and features a whole lot of talented folks – a huge thanks to the brilliant cast & crew for bringing this song to life.
Songs written by Nandi Rose Plunkett
Produced & arranged by Nandi Rose Plunkett with Adan Carlo & Zack Levine
Released just months after the so-called 1968 Summer of Love, Forever Changes was the third studio album by the group simply and boldly called Love. But more than just that four-letter word was on the mind of bandleader/songwriter Arthur Lee, who saw beyond sunshine and flowers that summer. Love traded in the punchy electric guitar sound of the group’s first two albums (and successful singles like “7 and 7 Is” and a cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “My Little Red Book”) for a denser, more orchestrated style that incorporated strings and horns alongside acoustic guitars. Despite the often beautiful sound, though, Forever Changes was a song suite that referenced war, violence, drug abuse, failed romance and racial tension in songs like “A House is Not a Motel” (playing off another Bacharach/David song, “A House is Not a Home”), “The Red Telephone” and “Live and Let Live.”Bryan MacLean contributed the album’s single “Alone Again Or” which kicked off the album in a collision of AM-meets-FM styles. Now, the seminal masterwork originally released in November 1967 will be getting the deluxe 50th anniversary treatment from Rhino on April 6th.
Forever Changes has always been better-regarded in the United Kingdom than in its United States birthplace; it went Top 30 in Britain but only reached No. 154 in America. But that hasn’t stopped the album’s cachet from growing every year, and it’s been a CD mainstay since its very first release in the format in 1987. For this super-sized outing, Forever Changes will arrive in a 12 x 12 hardbound book-style format, containing 4 CDs, 1 DVD, and 1 LP. The original stereo album will be featured on Disc One in a new remaster by original engineer Bruce Botnick, while the original mono mix makes its official CD premiere on Disc Two. The third disc has the alternate mix of the entire album that premiered on the 40th anniversary reissue in 2008 plus outtake “Wonder People (I Do Wonder)” in the mix first issued in 2001. The fourth CD, Singles and Outtakes, has the unique 45 RPM versions as well as the original mix of “Wonder People (I Do Wonder),” demos, backing tracks, and more. The contents of the 40th anniversary bonus disc are reprised here, alongside two previously unissued tracks: the backing tracks of “Wonder People” and “Live and Let Live.” The DVD has Botnick’s stereo remaster in 96/24 high resolution, plus the rare 1968 promotional film Your Mind and We Belong Together. Finally, the LP has the stereo remaster cut from high-res digital audio by Bernie Grundman.
The final album by the original Love line-up of Lee, MacLean, John Echols, Ken Forssi, and MichaelStuart, Forever Changes remains a benchmark of pop and rock. Music historian Ted Olsen has provided new track-by-track liner notes and an essay for Forever Changes: 50th Anniversary Edition. Look for it on April 6th from Elektra and Rhino.
London’s most thrilling new band Goat Girl – aka Clottie Cream, Rosy Bones, Naima Jelly and L.E.D – have announced that their debut, self-titled album will be released on 6th April! (violet coloured vinyl + a limited edition signed fanzine art and lyrics booklet available from Rough Trade webstore).
To whet your appetite, the fourpiece have unleashed the official video for their killer new single and longtime live favourite “The Man”, directed by CC Wade and described by the band as “a parody on fandom and a delve into the male psyche”
‘Goat Girl’ was produced by fellow South Londoner Dan Carey in in the Autumn of 2017. It’s a very English album – sharp-eyed observations like The Kinks, louche rage like The Slits – but it’s also full of swampy swaggering guitars and singer Clottie’s filthy drawl. In the group’s words: “Simply put, it’s an album that comes from growing up in London and the first-hand experience of our city’s devolution. We wanted to think of it as this place seen not necessarily just through our eyes, but someone who can’t get past the abnormalities and strange happenings that exist in our city. We think this gives the freedom lyrically and musically to explore unspoken truths and emotions that we all as humans feel”.
Spawned within the burgeoning, close-knit South London scene that includes Shame and Sorry, and having supported the likes of The Fall, Fat White Family and Parquet Courts, Goat Girl are something to behold live!
Spartan Records proudly welcomes Man Mountain to the family , they are a melodic, instrumental post-rock outfit from Southeast Michigan. In the honorable lineage of bands like The Appleseed Cast, Sigur Ros, and American Football, Man Mountain’s debut record Infinity Mirror is a journey of emotive dynamics set against a swirling dreamlike ferocity. Song by song, the album progresses with an intentionality that allows delicate melodies, motifs, and nuances to build into quaking full-band aggression. Thematically, the album presents a constant duality. Aptly titled Infinity Mirror, it is hard to ignore the unending and cycling conflict associated with any type of prolonged reflection. Sonically translated, this pondering plays as understated notes and moments reverberating into upheaval and dissonance
I’m pleased to report the Wye Oak is at it again with their 6th studio album, The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs. This time around, they are suckling on the particle climate that we live in and aim to provide sound to the feelings and torment that many of us our experiencing. The release is on “sand and sky” (opaque beige and transparent blue) vinyl
For The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack flew to one another’s cities—she in Durham, North Carolina, he in Marfa, Texas—for a week or so at a time, hunkering in home studios to sort through and combine their separate song sketches. These shorter stints together produced less second-guessing and hesitation in their process, yielding an unabashed and unapologetic Wye Oak. They discarded past rules about how to write a record, instead funneling all those experiences and experiments into perfectly unified statements.
The result is the biggest, broadest, boldest music Wye Oak has ever made. Louder pursues a litany of modern malaises, each of its dozen tracks diligently addressing a new conflict and pinning it against walls of sound, with the song’s subject and shape inextricably and ingeniously linked. It arrives at a time of immense doubt, when our personal problems are infinitely compounded by a world that seems in existential peril. But these songs answer the challenge by radiating self-reflection and resolve, wielding hooks and musical intricacy as a shield against the madness of the moment.
From the album The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs, out April 6th, 2018 on Merge Records.
