Late last year, brother/sister duo the Oh Hellos released Notos, the first EP in a series of four to be released throughout the rest of this year. On February 9th, the duo will release the second of those EPs, Eurus. Named after four Greek mythological wind deities, the EPs collectively seek to explore the origins of creativity and ideas.
Ahead of Eurus‘ release, the duo has shared a new track, “Grow.” The track ponders personal growth and open-mindedness, building from a gently delivered opening verse to a full-band singalong a hallmark of the duo’s sound — by its midpoint.
“‘Grow’ was written when we were beginning to understand how badly certainty can stunt your growth as a human being,” Maggie Heath says. “It’s human to want to have the world all figured out — and to keep it all figured out — but then when the world shakes you up, you crack like a poorly laid foundation. Luckily, at least in our experience, that is when you find yourself with the space to grow into the fullest version of yourself, more than your concrete mold could ever allow you to.”
Loma is the new Texas based project between Shearwater vocalist Jonathan Meiburg, and Emily Cross and DanDuszynski of Cross Record. The three will make their mark with their self-titled debut album on February 16th 2018 via Sub Pop Records.
After their earlier debut single ‘Black Willow’, they now close off the year with another track from the album. If you ever wondered (though probably unlikely!) what a krautrock track might sound like accompanied by frogs and cicadas, then Loma come up with the answer on ‘Relay Runner’.
“‘Relay Runner’ was the happiest accident on the record,” says Meiburg. “We discovered it when we wired up a tremolo pedal the wrong way, and got this funny, stuttering loop – and then we built a whole song around that sound. The last thing we did in the mix was erase the loop, which had gone from inspiring the song to ruining it! But it made sense that what was left underneath was a song about how to escape from a sealed room”.
The project was contrived when the two bands went on tour together; the members of Loma convening at a house in Texas, creating their debut record while Emily and Dan’s marriage fell apart around them. Jonathan became the middle ground in an atmosphere he describes as, “both challenging and inspiring”. The isolated house where the band worked became, “the album’s muse”, and a fascinating record was born.
Musically, it is a record produced with great freedom, with the exception of Emily’s omnipresent vocal there were no particular roles on the album, the trio playing instruments as inspiration hit them, forming a record built from buried energy resonating from the players. Two brilliant singles, Black Willow and Relay Runner, have so far emerged from the self-titled release, enough evidence to suggest its release in February promises to be one of the most fascinating and exciting musical moments of 2018.
Loma, comprised of Jonathan Meiburg, best known as the singer of Shearwater, and Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski of Cross Record, will release their self-titled debut album on February 16th via Sub Pop.
Loma, comprised of Jonathan Meiburg, best known as the singer of Shearwater, and Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski of Cross Record, will release their self-titled debut album on February 16th via Sub Pop Records.
“The world is going nuts,” says Eels frontman E, aka Mark Oliver Everett. “But if you look for it, there is still great beauty to be found. Sometimes you don’t even have to look for it. Other times you have to try to make it yourself. And then there are times you have to tear something apart to find something beautiful inside.” That’s the basic idea behind The Deconstruction, EELS’ 12th album and first since 2014’s The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett. On Wednesday, the band announced that the album will have an April 6th release and released the haunting title track. “The deconstruction has begun, time for me to fall apart,” Everett sings over pillowy strings and some tape distortion. “The reconstruction will begin only when there’s nothing left.” The song revs itself up with crisp drums as Everett repeats, “I break apart” .
“The Deconstruction” from new EELS album, THE DECONSTRUCTION, out April 6th.
The E Street Band. The Revolution. The Band. The list of legendary backing groups could go on and on, and while Naked Giants aren’t on that list yet, they do currently have the gig backing up one of music’s most exciting rising songwriters, Car Seat Headrest. But, like many backing bands, Naked Giants are also their own band, and they have been making music in their native Seattle since 2015. On March 30th, they’ll offer up their debut full-length, SLUFF, via New West Records, as they prepare for a tour with Naked Giants where they’ll serve as both openers and as part of the headlining act.
To announce the record, Naked Giants offer up the Sean Downey-directed video for “TV,” full of retro swagger and guitar-swinging irreverence that taps into the still-beating heart of the genre. In the band’s bio, drummer Henry LaVallee notes, “I just want to make as much noise and have as much fun and get as sweaty as I can, and if that resonates with people, that’s who I want in my life.” And that philosophy is on full display in the clip, as the song swells to a full-on psychedelic freakout before its close.
Check out the video above, and look for Naked Giants debut record SLUFF on March 30th.
The RON GALLO III is a rock and roll trio lead by a tall, big-haired weirdo of the same name. As the former frontman of Toy Soldiers, Gallo spent a decade as a fixture in the burgeoning Philadelphia music scene. Now solo, Gallo has completed his second full-length record “Heavy Meta”. Embracing his love for fuzz, psych, garage, and early punk, Heavy Meta is a stark contrast to the “Harry Nilsson-meets-Father John Misty” sound of the previous record RONNY. After undergoing a shattering year of love, loss, purging, and a musical reinvention, Gallo sought a change of scenery and a fresh start.
Drawn to the rock ‘n’ roll music currently being made by his friends in back alleys of Tennessee’s “Music City,” Gallo and his very own record label American Diamond Recordings relocated to the Bordeaux neighborhood of Nashville on New Years Day 2016. Throughout his career, Toy Soldiers and solo combined, Gallo has released three full length records and three EPs working with various small independent labels in Philadelphia and New York City. He has shared the stage with legends such as Wanda Jackson, Dr. Dog, Deer Tick, Dr. John, The Walkmen, J. Roddy Walston, among others. Gallo has previously been featured among USA Today’s “Bands to Watch,” Paste Magazine’s “Philly Bands You Should Listen to NOW” and has garnered appearances on PBS SUN Studio Special, Daytrotter, Audiotree, and many more. On stage, Gallo is a huge force to be reckoned with. He is a true showman with a knack for grabbing the audience’s attention and leaving them in awe. He sings his ass off and thinks it’s important to laugh at yourself.
Really Nice Guys is a concept EP by Thyme Magazine’s “Man Of The Year,” Ron Gallo. The EP is another thought provoking and inspired installment, extending an already prolific calendar year by Gallo which saw the release of the critically acclaimed full-length album Heavy Meta as well as the 7” singles, “Temporary Slave” and “Sorry Not Everybody Is You.” Really Nice Guys finds Gallo exploring new sonic frontiers and instrumentation in the form of what might be called a conceptual art piece. Whatever you call it is wholly original and Gallo continues to melt faces and free minds.
Really Nice Guysis 8 “tracks” that are more like blended music/comedy/conversation sketches.
The opening track Rough Mix, is a literally-titled, rough mix of a potential new song. Gallo sings about not having enough lyrics and how he spent 12 hours on a new song with only the rough mix to show for it. The song fades into a version with “full production,” but really, it’s Gallo and gang experimenting with corny saxophones and auto-tune before finally giving up and ending the song as a “mix.” The “song” sets the tone for the rest of the EP.
Gallo’s mother’s boyfriend, Jerry makes several unannounced cameos throughout the record. East Nashville Kroger Conversation, is exactly what it sounds like, but there are definitely a couple of complete workings. like the title-track, Really Nice Guys and the instrumental, Youtubular, but even they provide a social commentary on the clusterfuck of the music industry, media and perhaps the Nashville social scene. It is clear Ron Gallo and band do not take themselves too seriously and that is unquestionable a part of the charm of Really Nice Guys.
As jokey and opinionated as Really Nice Guys is, Ron Gallo is interesting enough to make it worth the listen and laugh along with him.
Ron Gallo – Really Nice Guys (New West) From the new EP ‘Really Nice Guys,’ available January 19th.
One of Liam Gallagher’s fave Aussie bands, The DMA’S have grown their global fanbase exponentially by sonically planting themselves squarely in the sweet spot where Oasis and The Go-Betweens overlap on Hill’s End, then touring relentlessly behind it. Now the follow-up is “done and coming soon”, according to the band’s label I OH YOU. Recorded in a studio above a pub in Sydney’s Inner-West, the trio have retained the DIY attitude of their bedroom-recorded debut EP but with The Presets’ Kim Moyes manning the desk, brought some shiny hi-fi production nous to their output. Just give ‘Dawning’ another spin and picture the potential festival sing-alongs to come.
Let’s not pretend there is a more socially impactful band in Australia right now than Camp Cope are knocking down the interior walls of the Australian music industry and renovating it with sledgehammers, Australia’s most melodic bass player, and a brand-new blueprint. This is a band that refuses to settle for anything less than revolution, and you’re going to hear about it on their second album. Expect broadened subject matter – devastatingly smart songs about friendship and about coping with loss, in addition to a entire fistful of middle fingers raised at all those who stand against. Camp Cope
Camp Cope / Cayetana Split Single release
Alongside two sold-out performances as part of Vivid LIVE last year, Camp Cope filmed their new single ‘The Opener’ live in the stunning Utzon Room at the Sydney Opera House. The Melbourne punk trio are no strangers to confronting contemporary issues head on, and their latest single does just that. The alt-rockers are now preparing for a March tour in support of their forthcoming sophomore album, How To Socialise & Make Friends. The video shows Camp Cope playing against views of Sydney Harbour and the Royal Botanic Garden, the vibrant tapestry of Utzon’s own design which adorns the western wall, and the dramatic concrete beams of the sails across the ceiling.
Heralded by Springsteen himself as one of his finest and most meaningful shows, Jazz Fest ’06 beautifully captures Bruce and the Seeger Sessions Band opening their tour with a cathartic performance just months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.
Some things are meant to be. That Bruce Springsteen’s immersion into roots music, The Seeger Sessions, was released just six days before he and the band of the same name appeared at the first New Orleans Jazz & HeritageFestival post-Hurricane Katrina had to be an act of benevolent fate. Rarely has the subject matter and style of a particular set of music felt so apropos to a moment.
Often it is the confluence of occasion and performance that distinguishes a great show from an all-timer and on those grounds, Jazz Fest 2006 has come to be considered one for the ages. “This…felt even above and beyond Springsteen’s high performance standards,” wrote LA Times critic Randy Lewis in his contemporary review, “a concert infused with the shout-out jubilation of an unfettered hootenanny.”
Reverent reflections on Bruce’s Jazz Fest performance have continued ever since. “I am not alone in ranking that show as quite likely the best, and certainly most emotional, musical experience of my life,” wrote New Orleans Times-Picyune critic Keith Spera in 2012. Spera’s opinion is shared by none other than Springsteen himself, who wrote in Born to Run, “There was one show in America that stood out as not only one of the finest but one of the most meaningful of my work life: New Orleans.”
With such heady endorsements, Jazz Fest 2006 fully merits inclusion as the latest release in the archival download series. For those not lucky enough to witness the show in person, the official recording also represents a fresh opportunity to re-experience the performance, previously only available via audience recording. The sound here, mixed from multi-tracks by Jon Altschiller, is full-bodied and warm, with a wide-stereo mix that gives space to all 20 or so players and singers on stage, and just the right amount of crowd response to capture the full bilateral experience.
“Alright, this is our first gig, let’s hope it goes well,” Bruce says at the top, summing up a spirit that’s equal parts purpose and looseness. The former comes from being in New Orleans, post Katrina, a subject Bruce addresses head-on, notably in his intro to “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?,” reflecting on the devastation he witnessed while touring the city the day before the show and calling out the failure of government officials, from then President Bush on down, to address the situation. He goes so far as to dedicate the song to “President Bystander.”
The looseness is there by design in the very act of assembling and bringing this seemingly unwieldy number of accomplished players to the stage to play timeless folk and protest music (save for a few reworkings of Bruce’s own songs) for the first time on the road, as Jazz Fest also doubled as opening night of the Seeger Sessions tour.
The result is a Springsteen performance that’s fully in the moment and delightfully off the cuff. One minute he’s solemnly addressing the difficult times many in the Jazz Fest audience were experiencing, the next he’s mocking his own inability to tune a guitar or having an amusing wardrobe malfunction with his belt.
The music follows the same recipe for catharsis. “We Shall Overcome” is majestic and poignant, “Eyes On the Prize” elegiac and “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?” triumphant, each brilliantly arranged to showcase the capabilities of the band. Elsewhere singalong songs like “Buffalo Gals” and “Pay Me My Money Down” offer rollicking fun and feel right at home on the Jazz Fest stage. As Springsteen himself wrote in Born to Run: “I finally had a band that I felt would contextually fit Jazz Fest and might be able to pull the weight of that position.”
Of the Seeger-ized originals played here, “Open All Night,” reimagined as a big-band rave-up, is the standout, but another of Bruce’s own compositions, written with this kind of band already in mind, provided the night’s emotional crescendo. “This is a song I originally wrote for my adopted hometown, Asbury Park,” Springsteen says introducing “My City of Ruins.” “Parts of it look a lot like parts of New Orleans right now….so I wanna sing this and dedicate it to the people and the city of New Orleans tonight.”
The fitting question the song asks, “How will I begin again?”, and the empowering answer, “Come on, rise up,” struck a deep chord with many in attendance. Wrote Spera in his original Times-Picyune review, “Thousands lifted their hands to the sky. I wept, my wife wept. And we were not alone.” Throughout the set, lyric after lyric from the SeegerSessions material feels penned for the New Orleans audience. “What happened to you poor folks just ain’t fair,” Springsteen declares in “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?,” while “O Mary Don’t You Weep” prophesies, “Brothers and sisters don’t you cry, there’ll be good times by and by.” Hearing such words of acknowledgement and hope sung out in such a musically engaging performance translates wonderfully in the Jazz Fest 2006 recording.
Perhaps the LA Times’ Randy Lewis summed it up best: “One concert, of course, cannot even begin to undo such monumental destruction as Katrina left, but Springsteen seemed to understand that even a moment of renewal can make a huge difference.” Amen to that.
Violent Femmes is the band’s most successful album to date and achieved a rare feat by going gold, four years after its release, and then later platinum, four years after that, without ever having yet made an appearance on the album chart. After achieving platinum certification on February 1st, 1991, eight years after its initial release the album finally entered the Billboard album chart for the first time on August 3, 1991″. Quite simply ,the ViolentFemmes’ self-titled album was the quintessential hymnal for the disaffected youth of America in the ’80s. With its jangly folk-punk frustration and venom-spitting lyrics, the debut featured tracks “Blister in The Sun,” “Kiss Off” and “Add it Up,” arguably the three best Anthems of the proudly maladjusted ever penned.
Most of the songs on both this album and its follow-up were written when the songwriter, Gordon Gano, was 18 years old and still in high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its one of the most distinctive records of the early alternative movement and an enduring cult classic”, noting that “the music also owes something to the Modern Lovers’ minimalism, but powered by Brian Ritchie’s busy acoustic bass riffing and the urgency and wild abandon of punk rock, the Femmes forged a sound all their own
Nothing sounded like it before and nothing has since captured the sublime and perverse joy of teenage angst and adolescent anarchy like the Violent Femmes. In fact, just listening to “Add it Up” has been known to cause acne, awkward haircuts and ripped jeans
In 2002, Rhino Records remastered the album, filled out the disc’s length with demos, and added another disc of live tracks and a radio interview for a 20th anniversary special edition, with liner notes by Michael Azerrad.
