The much beloved Wintersleep have shared their first taste of new music in four years with the release of in the early part of this year with “Amerika”. The song comes from their upcoming album The Great Detachment, which was announced late last year after the band had just signed with Dine Alone Records. The title to the album is in reference to the band hitting somewhat of a reset button, having recently split with their longtime manager.
“We had a lot of time to slowly collect things. We weren’t rushed into it… there was nobody pressuring us to make a new album because we fired everybody, or we were out of our record contract. We’re doing this kind of fresh in a sense, so we felt like The Great Detachment was a good title.”
A new beginning also features a return to the past, as the band headed back to Sonic Temple studio in Halifax, where they recorded their breakout, and Juno-winning, third album Welcome to the Night Sky. The new album was released last February, but until then watch this session in the Black Box where they performed the new single “Amerika”, “Oblivion”, and the indisputable classic “Weighty Ghost”.
Jenn Grant expands to a galactic realm never before explored by the songwriter with Paradise, this time Grantpoints the compass towards the epic and intimate and explores a new depth of sound.
“I wanted to explore new soundscapes,” Grant explains when describing how piano came to be the primary song-writing instrument. Grant created new shapes and colours with an array of new instrumentation and song collaboration with producer Daniel Ledwell. “I thought about my singing much more. I feel like I am a completely different artist from when I began performing. I don’t feel like I really heard my own voice until recently.
Paradise feels personal and emotive, but it was born from a vantage point of watching as the world flexes amidst great joy and sorrow. Through her lyrics, Grant tells us of the world she watches from a distance, touching on global themes like love, growth, faith, longing, sex, death and reinvention.
With the International success of Compostela, Grant spent three years touring the world and playing to over 300 audiences, both festivals and in concert settings with sold out shows from London to Vancouver. Finally coming off the road, Grant retreated to the secluded studio by her home in Lake Echo, Nova Scotia. What emerged was the album “Paradise” an album that sees a new dimension in Grant’s songwriting with new depths of sonic beauty and melodic landscapes, touching upon balladry, R&B and electronic music along the way.
“Galaxies” is the first single from Jenn Grant’s upcoming album ‘Paradise’ which is came out on March 3rd, 2017.
Paradise’s songs reach out with world-weary awareness, that’s most evident on lead single “Galaxies,” a song that is the aural equivalent of star-gazing. “I pictured people standing at the edge of the earth, hands outstretched, asking, ‘What is bigger than us, than any of this?’”Grant says.
Jenn Grant’s voice and songwriting has been celebrated the world over by critics and industry alike. Described as one of the ‘best singers in the world’ by her ongoing collaborator, Buck 65
The garage punk quartet from the Bluegrass State threaten to break out of the garage for good on their sophomore outing. Based on this LP, I have a sneaky feeling that they’d be a ripping good time live .With that in mind, the Kentucky quartet open the album with some crowd noise piped in before launching into the title track that does nothing to dissuade your from giving their boastful title some serious consideration.
In between the excellent opener and the fiery closer, Another Day, the boys will light a fire in the part of your soul that likes rocking. A wonderful blend of 80s hair metal, pop-punk and garage rock, White Reaper is straight up rock n roll with no apologies. grab your bandana and enjoy tunes like “Judy French”, “Party Next Door “and “Tell Me”.
I’d add them to your must-see list. While they might not be The World’s Best American Band, yet; but they’ve certainly released one of 2017′s best albums.
Give White Reaper credit. They go to great lengths to make sure they get a pat on the back, even if only from themselves. After a fun-filled full-length debut dubbed “White Reaper Does It Again”, they returned with a second offering called The World’s Best American Band. And as a stadium crowd surges at the beginning of the record’s opening title track, listeners find themselves both wanting to and starting to believe them. After a debut where most songs felt like bank robbers making for state lines with the law in hot pursuit, here the band expand their sound (in both scope and variety) and learn to shift between gears without losing the joyful abandon that appealed to listeners the first time around. White Reaper might not be the best American band just yet, but once you drop the needle on this record, no other band will matter for the time being.
Warren Zevon’s final album and fifth album for Elektra Records, “The Envoy”, delivered another dose of the edgy intelligence and sardonic humor that were the singer-songwriter’s trademarks. Recorded with such top session players as guitarist Waddy Wachtel and bassist Leland Sklar along with famed session drummer Jeff Porcaro, along with famous friends including Lindsey Buckingham, Don Henley and Graham Nash, the performances are as sharp as the lyrics on these nine originals. Drug dealers (“Charlie’s Medicine”) is a chilling requiem for a drug dealer who used to sell him dope, “Jesus Mentioned” is a spare but curiously moving meditation on the death of Elvis Presley , who “went walking on the water with his pills,” and the ragged but right “Ain’t That Pretty at All” is an unlikely but powerful recovery anthem in which he howls “I’d rather feel bad than not feel anything at all.” , all are among the many fascinating characters featured in these songs- and perhaps stand-ins for personal demons – peopling the 1982 collection. “The Envoy” was released 35 years ago this month, and it’s an excellent reminder of how much Warren Zevon’s distinctive voice is missed these days.
The album was released on July 16th, 1982, by Asylum Records. The album’s lack of commercial success caused Zevon’s label to terminate his recording contract, a fact that Zevon discovered only after reading about it in Rolling Stone magazine.
25 years ago, Stone Temple Pilots roared on to the scene with their raucous debut CORE. Now we’re taking a look back (well, more of a listen) at the band’s origins and their rise into one of the biggest rock bands on the scene.
“Core” was the debut album by this American rock band Stone Temple Pilot, originally released on September 29th, 1992 through Atlantic Records . the album “Core”, displayed the band’s attempt to revive the album-oriented music approach of the 1970s. Striving to create an intense and emotional sound, vocalist Scott Weiland has said that the main theme of the album is that humanity is confused, with songs like “Sex Type Thing” and “NakedSunday” dealing with social injustice. according to Weiland the songs deals with abuse of power, “macho” behavior, and humanity’s attitude toward women, treating them as sex objects. “Naked Sunday”, according to Weiland, “is about organized religion. About people who tell others what to do and what to believe.
I feel very strongly that all individuals, regardless of age, race, creed or sexual preference, should have the freedom to exercise their rights as human beings to enjoy life, pursue what they want and feel comfortable about who they are. I guess I tend to find the darker sides of life more attractive than the yellows and oranges. I know it’s something that I relate to when I listen to music.
The four-CD box set includes a remastered version of the album, previously unreleased demos and b-sides, and parts of three live performances from 1993 MTV Unplugged, Reading Festival and Castaic Lake Natural Amphitheater.
Stone Temple Pilots
Scott Weiland (credited only as “Weiland”) – lead vocals
Dean DeLeo – guitar
Robert DeLeo – bass, backing vocals
Eric Kretz – drums
Get a limited edition bundle of the “CORE” Super Deluxe Edition which includes a bonus replica 7-inch vinyl single of “Plush” that was originally released in the UK in 1993. This exclusive bundle is limited to 1,000 copies. This bundle also includes the Core 25th Anniversary Super Deluxe box set with the original album on 180-gram vinyl, an exclusive Core 25th Anniversary album t-shirt, and Core 25th Anniversary 16″ x 20″ lithograph. 4CD/DVD/LP Super Deluxe Edition Features Newly Remastered Version Of The Band’s Debut, Plus Rarities, Unreleased Demos And Live Recordings, A Surround Sound Mix And Original Music Videos Super Deluxe,
Gregg Allman, founding member of the Allman Brothers Band and one of the citadels of Southern rock music, died at the age 69 due to complications from liver cancer. “Melissa” is a song by American rock band The AllmanBrothers Band released in August 1972 as the second single from the group’s third studio album, Eat A Peach .
Following the untimely death of Duane Allman, their founder and resident guitar hero, in 1971, the Allman Brothers Bandeasily could have crumbled beneath the weight of such a tragedy. The road beckoned, however. As a matter of fact, that road, with all of its heady highs and desolate lows, informed one of the first and most enduring triumphs of their post-Duane career.
“Melissa” actually dates back to a time before there was an Allman Brothers Band, back when Duane and brother Gregg were in a band called The 31st of February and the latter was still trying to find his songwriting touch. As he recalled to the San Luis Obispo (CA) Tribune in a 2006 interview, Gregg struggled mightily to write something worthy.
“I wrote that song in 1967 in a place called the Evergreen Hotel in Pensacola, Florida,” he recalled. “By that time I got so sick of playing other people’s material that I just sat down and said, ‘Okay, here we go. One, two, three – we’re going to try to write songs.’ And about 200 songs later – much garbage to take out – I wrote this song called ‘Melissa”
The song’s namesake was almost settled as Delilah before Melissa came to Allman at a grocery store where he was buying milk late one night, as he told the story in his memoir, My Cross to Bear:
It was my turn to get the coffee and juice for everyone, and I went to this twenty-four-hour grocery store, one of the few in town. There were two people at the cash registers, but only one other customer besides myself. She was an older Spanish lady, wearing the colorful shawls, with her hair all stacked up on her head. And she had what seemed to be her granddaughter with her, who was at the age when kids discover they have legs that will run. She was jumping and dancing; she looked like a little puppet. I went around getting my stuff, and at one point she was the next aisle over, and I heard her little feet run all the way down the aisle. And the woman said, “No, wait, Melissa. Come back—don’t run away, Melissa!” I went, “Sweet Melissa.” I could’ve gone over there and kissed that woman. As a matter of fact, we came down and met each other at the end of the aisle, and I looked at her and said, “Thank you so much.” She probably went straight home and said, “I met a crazy man at the fucking grocery.”
Gregg Allman rushed home and incorporated the name into the partially completed song, later introducing it to his brother: “[I] played it for my brother and he said, ‘It’s pretty good—for a love song.
The 31st of February fell apart before they could release “Melissa,” but a demo from that time period eventually surfaced in May of 1972 on a collection of the brothers’ early recordings. In the meantime, Duane and Gregg had moved onto superstardom with The Allman Brothers Band on the strength of two scorching studio albums and the stunning live document Live At Fillmore East, which showcased the band’s instrumental virtuosity as they straddled the realms of country, rock, and blues, creating epic jams out of that rich stew.
Everything changed on October 29th, 1971, when Duane Allman, at the age of 24, died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia. At the time, the band was working on the studio follow-up to At FillmoreEast. After Duane’s death, the decision was made to turn that follow-up, 1972’s Eat A Peach, into a hybrid album of sorts. It would include live material left off At Fillmore East, some studio tracks with Duane that were in the can, and a few more new recordings by the surviving members. When it came time to cut the new material, GreggAllman remembered “Melissa,” which had always been a personal favorite of his late brother. “And my brother sometimes late at night after dinner, he’d say, ‘Man, go get your guitar and play me that song – that song about that girl,” Gregg said. “And I’d play it for him every now and then. After my brother’s accident, we had three vinyl sides done of Peach, so I thought well we’ll do that …”
Calling it “that song about that girl” was probably a bit of oversimplification on Duane’s part, because “Melissa” reveals far more about the “gypsy” whose wandering lifestyle is detailed than it does about the girl. One can read the song as a metaphor for the nomadic existence of a touring rock star, but Gregg’s lyrics are somehow more cosmic and universal than that, hinting at the innate restlessness that dwells within us all and contradicts the need for the stability and love that waits when the road finally winds down. With the mention of the “Crossroads” that exert their pull on the gypsy character, Allman could certainly have been referencing the Robert Johnson myth that fueled so many blues and rock songs. Yet the song is sturdy enough to support the interpretation of the crossroads as a crucial turning point in everyone’s life, that line of demarcation that separates the reckless adventurer from the settled homebody. Gregg’s yearning vocal evokes it all. Rather than being romanticized, the road that the gypsy wanders is portrayed as unforgiving, nearly cruel. Lasting relationships are spurned in favor of temporary dalliances (“Knowing many, loving none”), while the rewards he reaps from his peripatetic nature are minimal (“And no one knows the Gypsy’s name/ No one hears his lonely sighs/ There are no blankets where he lies.”)
In contrast to this futility, Melissa waits in the gypsy’s “deepest dreams,” his redemption and salvation all rolled up in one. The fact that there are no details yielded about her save her name leads us to wonder if she ever really existed as more than just some idealized manifestation of a weary brain. The restrained musical accompaniment, somber acoustic guitars and Dickey Betts’ guitar teardrops that are a far cry from the Fillmore East heroics, certainly doesn’t promise a happy reunion at the end of the trail.
It’s tricky to utilize real-life events as context for song meanings, but Gregg’s every last moan conjures the toll the road takes and, as a result, seems to make a subtle commentary on his brother, a gypsy in his own right who was robbed by fate of his chance to return home, at least in life. What can’t be denied is that “Melissa,” intended as a kind of tribute to Duane Allman, actually went a long way in proving that The Allman Brothers could find a way forward without him.
A native of Toronto, Tess Parks moved to London, England at the age of seventeen where she briefly studied photography before deciding to focus on music. Tess made an impression on industry legend Alan McGee, founder of Creation Records, albeit the timing of their meeting could hardly have been less ideal; McGee was no longer involved in music and Tess was due to move back to Toronto. After moving back to her hometown in 2012, Tess formed a band on the advice of McGee and less than a year after their meeting, he returned to music with his new label, 359 Music.
Tess became one of his first signings and released her debut record ‘Blood Hot’ in November 2013 to excellent reviews. One reviewer described her as “Patti Smith on Quaaludes”. Others have mentioned her “gauzy psychedelic sound” and “smouldering voice”. Alan McGee himself said: “She’s only 24 and is already an amazing songwriter… she just doesn’t quite know she is yet … her most beautiful quality is her lack of ego. Tess is an amazing lady”.
June 2015 saw the spine-tingling collaboration between Tess Parks and Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre) and the resultuing LP ‘I Declare Nothing’ released to critical acclaim on ‘A’ Recordings. “Somedays” is the debut single from Tess Parks‘ upcoming re issue record ‘Blood Hot’, which will be released by 359 Music. Tess describes her songs as “lo-fi alternative drones with a hypnotic vibe”. Another of her influences is Elliott Smith. “I was brought up on Bob Dylan and Nirvana and The Beatles and Rolling Stones and Zeppelin and all that good shit,” says Tess. She’s hung out with the likes of the Dandy Warhols and met Alan McGee in London. “We stayed in touch, that was it really. I just got so lucky,” adds Tess. “I love Oasis, Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine… He’s affiliated with all of my favourite musicians.”
Shot on Location in Port Severn, Ontario.
For 30 years, The Telescopes have existed on the outskirts of the U.K. pop scene, in a host of different forms. Founded by primary member Stephen Lawrie in 1987 as a way to channel his love for such American underground icons like 13th Floor Elevators, The Velvet Underground, and Suicide, the band has since inhabited the worlds of noise, shoegaze, Britpop, and space rock without disappearing too far into any one of them. Rather, Lawrie has preferred to stitch all of them together into a kind of dreamcoat that’s wholly unique. Their eponymous second LP, released on Creation Records in 1992, is a stronger Salvo to Britpop than the records unveiled by Pulp or The Charlatans that year. On their decade-in-the-making follow-up Third Wave, Lawrie immersed himself in jazz and IDM to craft a fitting testament to the endless possibilities for the rock band format in a Kid A afterworld.
Since signing with Hamburg, Germany indie imprint Tapete Records in 2015, Lawrie has returned to his roots in noise and space, building on the sound of the scene he helped spawn, with nods to early Primal Scream and Spacemen 3, and then taking it down darker, more abstract musical paths. For his second Tapete full-length release, As Light ReturnLawrie is celebrating three decades in music by tangling up reverb, delay, and echo into some of the most impossible knots he’s crafted yet. It’s a dizzying five-song journey that crescendos with epic 14-minute closer “Handful of Ashes,” where his feedback reaches raga-like levels of abandon thanks to the improvisational craft of his backing group, St Deluxe.
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Telescopes,here is the evolution of his underrated and remarkable outfit, whose time to be recognized as one of the quintessential architects of the British experimental rock movement is long overdue.
The Telescopes were among the most innovative and challenging yet successful artists in Creation Records‘ “middle period”, a leading part of the wave of sonic experimenters who included Spacemen 3, My Bloody Valentine, Spectrum and Spiritualized. Towards the end of their time with Creation, they made their most fully realized album yet, “#’ (untitled second). This is the first time this great psychedelic album is being released in the US, and it comes with 3 bonus tracks. “The songs are built on acoustic guitars, then the tricked-out electric guitars are laid on top and garnished with bongos, organs, pianos, and all sorts of classic instruments. Stephen Lawrie’s vocals are restrained and semi-emotional and female backing vocals add a touch of sweetness
Lilly Hiatt gets personal in Trinity Lane, an autobiographical album written during a period of self-reflection and renewal in her East Nashville apartment.
The daughter of John Hiatt, she keeps the family tradition alive, mixing Southern influences – Americana, folk and left-of-center country – with a raw approach that’s better suited to the garage than the saloon. The album’s title track is no exception. Written after a West Coast tour alongside John Moreland, the song finds Hiatt making peace with her old demons, while guitars crash and pianos chime in the background.
“I quit drinking when I was 27, and I felt so lonely for awhile,” she explains. “I didn’t really want to drink, but I’ve had all these coping mechanisms in the past, where instead of feeling my actual feelings, I’ve distracted myself with self-destructive activity. I don’t do that now. I’ve just been really healthy. For the first time in a really long time, I’ve found myself thinking, ‘Man, what would it be like if I drank now?’ Then I go through that thought process fully, and I realize what’s on the other end, and I accept that I’m feeling pretty damn good on my own. Finally!”
Produced by Shovels & Rope’s Michael Trent, “Trinity Lane” is an empowerment anthem stocked with details from Hiatt’s everyday life, from the name of her street to the smell of her neighbor’s cooking. The song’s video follows suit, offering a four-minute look into Hiatt’s home life. The clip finds Hiatt waking up, drinking coffee and eventually hitting the streets for a quick joyride. Along the way, we’re given glimpses of the music, friends and pets that fill her days. Her cat, Popsicle, makes more than a few appearances, as do records and cassette tapes by some of favorite artists, including Pearl Jam, Aaron Lee Tasjan and Little Feat.
Trinity Lanearrives August 25th, marking Hiatt’s first official release with New West Records. Although written in isolation, “By the time the guitar solo happens,” Hiatt insists, “I wanna be going over 50 miles per hour at least.”
“The night David Bowie died, I was in disbelief. I wanted to talk to someone, but it was too late to make a phone call. I cried quietly and went to bed. The next day, I picked up my guitar and hit record on Garage Band. I started to sing and those were the first words that came out. I felt like Bowie was giving me a little gift.” ~ Lilly Hiatt
From the new album ‘Trinity Lane,’ available August 25th
Shelby Lynne and her younger sister, Allison Moorer, have released a slew of solo records between them since the late 1980s, but Not Dark Yet marks their first joint effort. In one sense, it’s not surprising the siblings didn’t collaborate sooner.
Critically acclaimed artists and sisters Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer will release “Not Dark Yet” via Silver Cross Records / Thirty Tigers. Produced by Teddy Thompson, their first and highly anticipated album together is an extraordinary debut of the pairs transcendent musical bond. Not Dark Yet was recorded in Los Angeles in the summer of 2016. The album provides a potent look at the sisters individual and collective artistry through eclectic song choices from writers ranging from the Louvin Brothers, Nick Cave, Kurt Cobain, and back to Jessie Colter. Shelby and Allison wrap their arms around the past, plant their feet in the present, and nod toward whats around the bend with a co-written Is It Too Much, to close out the ten-song set. 1st ever collaboration between acclaimed sisters –Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer .
