Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

THIS WEEKS ESSENTIAL NEW RELEASES Friday 7th July 2017

Posted: July 7, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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This Is The Kit – the musical project which holds exceptional Paris-via-Bristol songwriter Kate Stables close to its heart – have earned the adoration of peers including Guy Garvey, The National and Sharon van Etten. Their new album and Rough Trade debut, ‘Moonshine Freeze’, is undoubtedly their most compelling and accomplished to date. Produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, M Ward, Perfume Genius), it began in the immediate wake of its predecessor, ‘Bashed Out’, when days after coming off tour last November, Stables and her band (Rozi Plain, Jamie Whitby-Coles, Neil Smith and Jesse D Vernon) headed into the studio in Bristol. Aaron Dessner of The National also features on six of the album tracks.

Though the album’s songs were already written before heading into the studio, Stables says she had no fierce vision for how they should sound, preferring to let them take shape with the input of her band and Parish. “I’m not yet someone who says ‘I want this album to sound like an 80’s French nightclub’,” she says. “All I can do is write the songs and then step back from them and see what themes or patterns there are, then bring those patterns out so it’s a coherent piece of work, sonically and in terms of feeling.” Sonically, Moonshine Freeze is a beguiling mixture of great musical sophistication and something more guileless — children’s games, songs, incantations and snatches of nursery rhymes. Stables’ voice too is a remarkable thing: in its angles there lies an exquisite strangeness reminiscent of Will Oldham, Magnolia Electric Co, Robert Wyatt, Karen Dalton.

Broken social scene hug of thunder slang50120

 

With Hug of Thunder Broken Social Scene created one of 2017’s most sparkling, multi-faceted albums. The 15 members of Broken Social Scene – including returnees Leslie Feist and Emily Haines – refract their varying emotions, methods and techniques into something that doesn’t just equal their other albums, but surpasses them. It is righteous but warm, angry but loving, melodic but uncompromising. The title track on its own might just be the best thing you will hear all year – a song that will become as beloved as “Anthems For a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl” from their breakthrough album, You Forgot It In People.

Its title captured what the band wanted people to feel about the group’s comeback, and how they sound playing together again: “It’s just such a wonderful sentiment about us, coming in like a hug of thunder.”

“Hug Of Thunder” is a panoramic, expansive album, that manages to be both epic and intimate. In troubled times it offers a serotonin rush of positivity: “Stay Happy” lives up to its title, with huge surges of brass that sound like sunshine bursting through clouds. “Gonna Get Better” makes a promise that the album is determined to deliver. That’s not to say it’s an escapist record: Broken Social Scene are completely engaged, wholly focussed, and not ignoring the darkness that lurks outside. But there is no hectoring, no lecturing, but a recognition of the confusion and ambiguity of the world. As the title track closes with Leslie Feist murmuring “There was a military base across the street,” the listener is caught in the division between the notional security provided by national defence, and the menace of the same thing. Its The band’s first studio album in 7 years.

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“Something’s Changing” in Lucy Rose. After two albums of feeling her way through the densely-populated landscape of contemporary singer-songwriter music she has picked a point in her career when most people are recycling their hits to bin the satnav, head off the map and commit to a graphically authentic version of her musical self. Now signed to Communion Records, this album is informed by her recent self funded forays into Latin America to headline shows booked by her own fans.

Psb every valley

 

Third album from Public Service Broadcasting, the brainchild of London-based J. Willgoose, Esq. who, along with his drumming companion, Wrigglesworth, and their bass player, keys and horns man extraordinaire, JF Abraham, is on a quest to inform, educate and entertain audiences around the globe.
Released 7th July, on Every Valley Willgoose takes us on a journey down the mineshafts of South Wales valleys. Yet the record is a metaphor for a much larger, global and social malaise, using the history of coal mining to shine a light on the disenfranchised.
The album features guest vocals from James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers), Derbyshire trio Haiku Salut, the award winning Welsh singer Lisa Jên Brown, and Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell on lead single ‘Progress’.

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“As Light Return” – The Telescopes are back with their ninth album. Evolving oscillations of guitar feedback screech and howl through thick layers of distortion. Overtones shift and drift and combine on a carpet of white noise. In the eye of the storm, the voice of Stephen Lawrie remains calm, almost detached. He intones a low, trance-like chant. The vocal is buried deep in the mix, the lyrics just barely discernible.

Lips

 

Atlanta’s valiant punks Black Lips release their first album in three years, Satan’s graffiti or God’s art?, on Vice Records. Produced by Sean Lennon at his studio compound in upstate New York throughout 2016, the album is the group’s most musically evolved to date, while still staying true to their original blistering take on fuzzy, dirty rock n roll.

LITTLE BARRIE – ” Death Express “

Posted: July 7, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The clock’s ticking. Brutal times. Imponderable global politics. A profit-crazed sleaze in the White House. Tech saturation, info overload, iPhones up the wazoo. Too much crap music crowding out the killer stuff. Where’s the action? Who even cares anymore?

Little Barrie, are a classic British power trio in the lineage of Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, who may not have all the answers, but they’re asking all the right questions.

Made up of Barrie Cadogan (guitar/vocals), Lewis Wharton (bass) and Virgil Howe (drums), their fifth album, ‘Death Express’, packs a heavy punch, channelling the three members’ ferocious musical chops into a raw, DIY response to today’s atmosphere of confusion and division.
There’s no political message, just lyrical food for thought, and some of the tautest, most incendiary grooves you’ll ever hear, enticing even dancefloor-shy listeners to hip-shake away their cares. High-octane meditations on surveillance paranoia (‘Copter’), devious policing at mass protests (‘Molotov Cop’) and greed (‘Vulture Swarm’) have rarely felt so irresistible to body movement.
For Little Barrie themselves, global events of the last 12 months were a surreal backdrop to their own bold progress as a band. After 15-plus years of underground excellence together, this pathologically questing triumvirate were seeking to up their game, ready for Album No. 5. “In downtime at our rehearsal room, we’d be looking at the news – everybody’s gone nuts!” says Lewis. It was at Boogie Back 2, their practice space in Hornsey, that the sound of ‘Death Express’ was born – and recorded, as they ended up spurning big, expensive studios, in favour of a couple of ancient MacBooks, and an old tape machine.

The album’s genesis kick started, when Little Barrie were invited to provide incidental music for ‘Better Call Saul’, a spin-off series from hip TV phenomenon ‘Breaking Bad’, for which they’d already cut the theme tune. With no time to book a studio, they were forced to do it themselves, in their practice room. The response was favourable, and they began to feel that such DIY takes had a vibrant quality often lacking from ‘proper’ productions.

Says group leader Barrie, “Such amazing records have been made when people are breaking the rules – weird, stripped-down, self-made records like ‘Oar’ by Skip Spence, and ‘There’s A Riot Going On’ by Sly & The Family Stone. There’s a bedroom aspect to it, and a street aspect, too, which felt right for what we wanted to say this time”.

Three of their previous four albums were made at Edwyn Collins’s West Heath facility in London. Last year, however, Edwyn upped sticks for rural Scotland, a happy development in his ongoing rehabilitation from serious illness, which left Little Barrie at a crossroads.

Back in their rehearsal bunker, they demoed their first two new tracks, including ‘I5CA’, a song documenting an insane tour of America’s West Coast, which saw them pounding up and down Interstate Five between shows. It came out vibey and spontaneous, like a ’60s garage nugget repurposed for a hip hop block party. Instead of then slavishly re-recording the tracks in a hi-tech studio, they sent them on to an Edinburgh-based dance producer called Tom Forrest: he zipped up the mix, in Barrie’s words, “bringing a better spread and width of sound.” In layman’s terms: in your face; live and dangerous.

Self-releasing the two tracks on a 7-inch 45 before Christmas ’16, they got an ecstatic response, and it was a no-brainer to make the rest of ‘Death Express’ the same way.

With Virgil’s propulsive breakbeats pushed to the max (his CV includes a rap-rock band called Lunatic, and a secure grounding in drum ‘n’ bass), these tracks leap from the speakers as Little Barrie have never done before, expressing an urgency rare in a band approaching the end of their second decade together. But then, this is no everyday band…
Little Barrie started off as a solo guise for guitar whizzkid Barrie Cadogan, using the nickname given to him aged 14 by a mate’s dad in Nottingham. He grew up in that city surrounded by all kinds of cool music, from ’80s alternative stuff and psychedelia/acid-rock, through to R&B and jazz, and even DC hardcore and electronica. He came to London in 2000 “with Can and The Meters in my head, but I wanted a bit more Chuck Berry thrown in”.

He’d already started gigging as Little Barrie, when he met Lewis at mod clothes store Merc on Carnaby Street, where the band’s future bassist was running a record department. Barrie persuaded him to stock copies of his first single, and it went from there. With Lewis on board, they cut two albums, 2005’s blue-eyed soul/funk blueprint, ‘We Are Little Barrie’, and ’07’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ .

Only thereafter would the enduring line-up solidify, with the arrival of Virgil, son of Yes guitar hero, Steve Howe. Two further albums diversified into ’60s surf-pop (2010’s ‘King Of The Waves’) and darker soundtrack-y Krautrock (‘14’s ‘Shadow’), but along the way Barrie had developed a parallel career as a guitar-slinger for hire, sessioneering widely for premier-leaguers like Morrissey and Spiritualized, and serving time in Primal Scream circa 2006-15.

“All that has definitely been a good thing,” he says. “You can explore different sides of your playing, and it often brings out sides you didn’t even know you had. It’s a lot to ask of a creative person to try and channel it all through one project.”

With Lewis also working as an illustrator – having had exhibitions in Japan and Spain – and Virgil juggling other drumming and DJ-ing outlets, all three members have busy lives, but they see that as a positive. “Unlike a lot of bands, we don’t have the luxury of getting together as often as we’d like,” summarizes Virgil, “so when we do, we really relish it and enjoy it.”

Adds Lewis, “It’s also harder to keep a band going this long if it’s your only focus. You come back to it, probably thinking, ‘Oh God, we’ve been doing the same shit for three years, here we go again’. Whereas for us, it’s just a total pleasure, and we’re raring to go.”

Little Barrie’s grief-free vibe has won them countless friends. They backed Paul Weller on ’08’s ’22 Dreams’ album, and memorably supported the reunited Stone Roses in Paris. They’ve toured with buddies including Dinosaur Jr, Brian Jonestown Massacre and Charles Bradley, as well as several jaunts with Primal Scream (Barrie performing two sets per night). Quite apart from ‘Better Call Saul’ their music has appeared on countless ads, TV shows and movies.

Yet, these irrepressible vibesmen have managed to remain underground, one step ahead of short-lived trends, with all their joy in music-making intact. Anyone interviewing them can expect a colourful conversation, taking in heroes from right across the pop-cultural spectrum, and how that culture’s bonding social purpose is the antidote to our political/industrial fears.

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And so ‘Death Express’ arrives as a colossal outpouring. “We thought about cutting it down,” says Barrie, “trying to be neat and concise, but then we love Beastie Boys albums like ‘Check Your Head’ – these long listening experiences. So we thought, ‘No, fuck it, it’s going out as it is!’
On paper, the album’s title looks dark. The title track arose, says Barrie, “when I was flicking through my phone to find someone’s number, and I realised there’s quite a few people in there who aren’t here anymore. What with the state of the world, it feels like, as much as you can, you have to be around the people that are important to you. It’s been inspirational knowing Edwyn, seeing how he’s pushed really hard, and got his life back more than the experts expected.”

“Looking at things that way,” he concludes, “the title’s positive. Time’s short. None of us know how long we’ve got.” So, yes: the clock’s ticking. Seize the day. Time to jump aboard.

Little Barrie will be live in-store at Rough Trade Nottingham to perform tracks from new album ‘Death Express’, released 7th July on Non Delux.

7.00pm Doors // 7.30pm On-stage // 8.15pm Signing // 9.00pm close.

JOHN MURRY – ” A Short History of Decay “

Posted: July 7, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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John Murry was adopted at birth into the family of William Faulkner. Some have speculated that the Faulkner blood might also run in his veins, but that should be left for a Southern Gothic novel yet to be written (or perhaps re-written). Raised in Tupelo, Mississippi, in the shadow of Elvis, his undiagnosed autism led to troubles at an early age which led to prescribed medication, which led to un-prescribed medication which led to being institutionalised for addiction and mental health issues at a too young age. Eventually, discarded onto the streets of Memphis, he found music, which became the one constant positive force in his life. Memphis led to San Francisco and San Francisco led to heroin and heroin led to a near fatal overdose on the corner of 16th and Mission, so harrowingly memorialized in his song Little Colored Balloons.

Music again came to his rescue and led him to Tim Mooney (American Music Club) and the group of musicians that helped create his 2012 masterpiece The Graceless Age. The accolades rolled in…And John toured the world. He entranced and devastated audiences with his raw, unfiltered live performances, and it looked like his trajectory was set, that music had won and would have the final word. And then Tim Mooney, John’s mentor, his beacon, his bedrock, died suddenly and unexpectedly… and John’s world fell back in to chaos. Over the next few years, John would lose the footing that he had struggled so hard to establish. He would lose his wife, his daughter, temporarily his freedom and ultimately his country.

Somewhere along this volatile journey, John crossed paths with Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies. John had opened for the band at a show in Glasgow and Michael watched side-stage transfixed by John’s performance. Over the next few years the two of them kept in touch, they talked about the music business, politics, books, but most of all they talked about music. And they talked about making an album together. Michael wanted to capture the rawness of John’s songs, capture the vibe that he experienced that night in Glasgow and was even more convinced of this approach when John came through Toronto opening for Chuck Prophet and did a solo set at The Horseshoe Tavern, which was as disarming and emotional as the set of music that he had experienced in Glasgow a couple of years earlier. “On The Graceless Age you can hear John’s affinity to artists such as Mark Linkous and Mark Lanegan, but seeing him on stage, with just his guitar and his songs reminded me of Townes (Van Zandt), that raw-boned, exquisite beauty, so real that it borders on the uncomfortable, you feel you should look away, but it’s just too compelling to do so. The pain, the intensity, the honesty just draws you deeper”.

Eventually John completed his descent and landed in Kilkenny, Ireland where he found some solid ground as part of a welcoming arts community. Michael then convinced him to travel to his Toronto studio where Michael put a band together consisting of brother Peter Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) on drums and Josh Finlayson (Skydiggers, Gord Downie, Lee Harvey Osmond) on bass. John brought along Cait O’Riordan (The Pogues, Elvis Costello) whom he had met in Ireland and who wanted to be a part of John’s journey. The five of them put aside five days to record all bed tracks and overdubs, with the brief that they would let the songs dictate where the journey took them, spontaneity was the order of the week. Michael Timmins describes the sessions, “I felt that it was important that John got out of his own way and that we set up a situation where he would just play and sing and the rest of us would just react, no second guessing, just react and capture the moment. It was a very inspired and inspiring week of playing and recording. Very intense. And I think we captured the raw essence of John’s writing and playing”.

A Short History Of Decay is an intensely personal document of an artist’s fall from grace. It contains all the tragic elements of that unwritten Southern Gothic novel: the revelations of a man coming to terms with the personal shortcomings, the flaws and the perverse twists of fate that led him to the end of one journey and the beginning of another.

John Murry will be Live in-store at Rough Trade Nottingham to perform tracks from his new album ‘A Short History of Decay’, released 14th July on TV Records Ltd.

2.30pm Doors // 3.00pm On-stage // 3.45pm Signing.

LEE BAINS III & THE GLORY FIRES – ” Youth Detention​ ​Nail My Feet Down To The Southside Of Town “

Posted: July 6, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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More than anything, Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires is a product of its place. Had Lee Bains, the group’s frontman and primary songwriter, grown up anywhere but Birmingham, Alabama, it’s unclear what his music would sound like. In the vein of explicitly local songwriters like John K. Samson and Greg Barnett, Bains’ relationship with his home is ambiguous, nuanced, complex. On the band’s third full-length record, “Youth Detention//Nail My Feet Down to the South Side of Town”, Bains applies a lacerating critical lens to his city and himself, dismantling the violently discriminatory socialization he experienced growing up. He rages against Americas prison complex , the criminalization and subjugation of black bodies, the objectification of women, and the moral dissonance of American rhetoric; these are all related in personal narratives, coloured by detail and reflection.

For Bains, progress is impossible without admission of this embedded prejudice: “Guilt is not a feeling, it’s a natural fact!” he shouts on “I Can Change!” Only once guilt and complicity is acknowledge can restitution or restorative justice be pursued. Like the work of Samson and Barnett, what resonates insistently on Youth Detention is that these stories and issues aren’t local; geography is just a tool for rooting the stories that exist across the globe.

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The VERVE – ” Urban Hymns ” Box Set

Posted: July 6, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Verve / Urban Hymns super deluxe

 

Remastered • Unheard live audio • B-sides & Remixes • DVD • Vinyl box

Universal will celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Verve’s “Urban Hymns” album in September with a reissue campaign that includes a 5CD+DVD super deluxe edition and a massive 6LP vinyl box set….

All formats feature a remastered version of the album (the work of Chris Potter and Metropolis’ Tony Cousins) and the super deluxe edition box set adds four further CDs offering B-sides, remixes, session tracks, BBC Sessions and two discs of unreleased live performance from the era, including the May 1998 hometown show in front of around 35,000 fans at Haigh Hall, Wigan.

That same show also features on a content-packed DVD, included within the super deluxe, which includes the 1999 documentary The Video 96-98 (unreleased on DVD until now) and promo videos.

As with the Verve box sets from last year this super deluxe includes a 56-page hard cover book, a poster and five postcards. What is different about the reissue of this album is that there is a vinyl box set edition that is very extensive indeed and covers most (not all) of the audio in the CD box across six vinyl records (three gatefold packages). The remastered Urban Hymns is pressed on two LPs, and all the B-sides and remixes are included on two further vinyl records. All 15 tracks from the previously unreleased Live at Haigh Hall fill the final two vinyl records, completing this six-LP vinyl box.

The audio you don’t get in the vinyl box is the BBC Evening Session (CD3 of the box) and the 12 tracks of ‘Further live material’ on CD 5. However, the vinyl box does come with a 20-page booklet and a download card which entitles you to all audio from the super deluxe edition CD box set.

There is a 2Cd edition as well. The second disc is the Haigh Hall live performance, rather than the B-sides and remixes, although the eagle-eyed amongst you might notice that Universal haven’t just repeated CD 4 from the box set. Neon Wilderness is missing (along with the encores) and they’ve added three tracks from the aforementioned ‘further live material’ tracks. Putting this live audio on disc two is probably a good decision, since many fans will have CD singles from back in the day.

thanks to Super Deluxe Edition.

MARILLION – ” Misplaced Childhood ” Concept Albums

Posted: July 5, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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In 1985, the British progressive rock group Marillion achieved their only UK Number one album  and the best-selling album of their career with their third album “Misplaced Childhood” , a concept album featuring lyrics by frontman Fish which were partly autobiographical. The album was played as two continuous pieces of music on the two sides of the vinyl and produced the band’s two biggest hit singles,  “Kayleigh” and “Lavender” The band’s follow-up in 1987, “Clutching At Straws”, has also been described as a concept album In the 1990s prog rock had all but faded from popular music, but some bands, such as Marillion, still had a sizeable cult fanbase. Their next 1994 concept album, “Brave” , was also described as “the most complex Marillion release to date”, and became the final Marillion album to reach the UK top ten. With the advent of alternativeand indie rock, however, a number of artists still continued to use the format within that genre.

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Marillion helped revitalise progressive rock in 1985 when the band released its third studio album, Misplaced Childhood. The band builds on the album’s legacy with two new versions that boast remastered sound and unreleased recordings.

Singer Derek Dick (aka Fish), guitarist Steve Rothery, keyboardist Mark Kelly, bassist Pete Trewavas and percussionist Ian Mosley recorded Misplaced Childhood at Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin, Germany during the spring of 1985. A concept record with two continuous pieces of music, the song cycle explored themes of lost love, lost childhood, and more. Released in June 1985, it was an immediate success, topping the U.K. album chart and earning platinum status. The album included three big hits: “Kayleigh” (#2), “Lavender” (#5), and “Heart Of Lothian” (#29).

This CD/Blu-ray set includes the original album newly remastered and a 5.1 surround remix by acclaimed producer Steven Wilson. It’s accompanied by a previously unreleased concert from Holland that features a performance of Misplaced Childhood in its entirety, plus demos and rarities remastered exclusively for this set. The BluRay disc contains promo videos, and an album documentary, as well as high resolution and 5.1 Surround Sound mixes of the album. The entire set is presented in a case-bound book that includes a 60-page booklet with liner notes written by rock writer Dave Everley.

PRIESTS – ” Nothing Feels Natural ” Best Albums Of 2017

Posted: July 5, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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priests nothing feels natural

Nothing Feels Natural, the first studio album from Washington D.C.-based post punk group Priests, is loaded with anger and anxiety, It’s a roaring album that spans the genre from the experimental to the classic. “Appropriate,” the opening track, combines harsh punk minimalism—distant-sounding brush strokes from drummer Daniele Daniele and robust vocals and lyrics from singer Katie Alice Greer. This song is one of the most interesting on the album, combining the structure of punk with experimental jazz-skronk sax, Mixing the parts of both genres works surprisingly well for Priests.

“JJ” is a quintessential punk track about a relationship got wrong, with Greer ultimately realizing that writing songs for this person (“The most interesting thing about you/Was that you smoked Parliaments, the babiest cigarettes”), or anyone, is pointless. That pointlessness remains constant throughout the record. Existential dread and anxiety abound on “No Big Bang”, perhaps a reflection of Greer’s struggles with writing and the creative process. A steady guitar riff accompanies an increasingly frantic Greer, firing off thoughts seemingly at random. If “No Big Bang” is the lyrical apex of Nothing Feels Natural’s anxiety, then the short, explosive “Puff” is its musical equivalent—angular guitars played by G.L. Jaguar, dissonant bass lines played by Taylor Mulitz, and thrashing drums release tension that’s been building since the first track.

Themes of distance and consumption run through Nothing Feels Natural (“Nicki,” “Leila 20”). Though the lyrics are ambiguous in meaning, listeners get the sense that members of Priests are critical of late capitalism, America’s neoliberal policies, and the perverted sense of patriotism that runs through the country, and anger with a system that keeps people in narrow boxes (“Pink White House”).

“Suck” is a fun funk-inspired dance reminiscent of early Blondie, but doesn’t match the overall mood of the record, leading it to sound out of place. Nonetheless, Nothing Feels Natural is a great debut from an exciting band; arguably among the best debuts of the year

Nothing Feels Natural (2017, Sister Polygon Records)

JAKE STARR and the DELICIOUS FULLNESS – ” Satisfaction Guaranteed “

Posted: July 3, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Let’s start out by saying, Jake Starr and The Delicious Fullness play the kind of tunes that I could play all day long. It’s the rock ‘n’ roll that I grew up on, some MOD , some garage, and a whole lot of rock ‘n’ roll fun. What I do care about is finding Bands that are in the game for the right reasons. I am not here to break down the structure of the songs nor to analyze the lyrics , Rock ‘n’ Roll is meant to be fun , you are supposed to be able to put on a Record and blast the shit out of it, dance like a crazy person and get lost in the coolness of the beat and that indeed happens when you play Jake Starr and The Delicious Fullness. I would like to say thank you to Hidden Volume Records for turning me on to Jake Starr and The Delicious Fullness, and that is just one more reason for all you garage rockers to show some love .

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Nathaniel Osgood: drums, all instruments on “Hong Kong Phooey”
Louie Newmyer: bass, harpsichord on “By the Grace of Mod”
Kathleen Wilson: guitar, backing vox, Farfisa organ
Sean Crowley: guitar, backing vox, lead vox on “Learnin’ to Howl” and “Ognir’s…”
Jake Starr: throat, tambourine, maracas

THIS WEEKS ESSENTIAL NEW RELEASES Friday 30th June 2017

Posted: July 3, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Kane

Kane Strang – Two Hearts and No Brain

A winning blend of careful precision and mercurial abandon, Kane Strang’s new album Two Hearts and No Brain is constantly surprising. With a penchant for melodic earworms to rival those of the world’s best pop songwriters, the New Zealand artist’s glittering hooks twist and turn in perfect synch with meticulous band arrangements. Hints of 60s pop (NB: Zombies, Stooges) and early 00’s alt-rock (Interpol, Elliott Smith) shine through; but there’s a contemporary crunch, sheen and bald lyrical tone to Strang’s sound that places him firmly in the here and now. Strang’s proclivity for writing smart, anthemic guitar pop shines brightest now that he has moved away from the bedroom and into the studio. Showcasing his new collaborative approach to recording and writing with his band, the four-piece twists Strang’s melodies upside down and pushes his hooks inside out. Two Hearts and No Brain proves emotive and playfully laced with a tongue-in-cheek nostalgia – timelessly old and new in the same breath.

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Terry  –  Remember Terry

Terry is a band from Melbourne, Australia. Divide him in half and you split the genders, into quarters and you get Amy Hill (also of Constant Mongrel, School Of Radiant Living), Xanthe Waite (Mick Harvey Band, Primo), Zephyr Pavey (Eastlink, Total Control, Russell St Bombings) and Al Montfort (UV Race, Dick Diver, Total Control). Guitars, bass, drums, all four sing. Terry are busy people and Terry is a particularly active project too, having released two EPs and a full length album (Terry HQ) last year on Upset The Rhythm. After returning from summer 2016’s European tour, Terry set about writing a new album of songs. These are now grouped together as Remember Terry, an album full of wish fulfilment, critiqued characters, memorial muscle and historical hustle. The truth is in there, just skating below the surface of their glammy, country-stepping punk/pop odysseys, we only have to listen carefully. Remember Terry is a fitting follow-up to last year’s celebrated debut album. Ideas are pursued and new ground explored. Throughout this expansion of sound and subject-matter though, Terry remain committed to telling it straight, reporting from the frontline of the political made personal. Remember Terry was recorded by Terry at Grace Lane and Terry HQ through the first few months of 2017. Digitised by Nick Kuceli. Mixed and Mastered by Mikey Young.

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The Myrrors – Hasta La Victoria

Hasta La Victoria comes just one year after Entranced Earth, and serves as its perfect companion piece. And yet, not a moment of the albums thirty-seven minutes ever feels even remotely rushed, or anything short of natural. Indeed, in the best possible way, Hasta La Victoria sounds like The Myrrors couldnt be doing anything else. Perhaps its not the victory in the albums title that focuses the bands attention perhaps its the until. Throughout Hasta La Victoria, the band sounds utterly propelled by an invisible force, by the indelible impression that their actions as a band, as artists, as people have an impact, and that impact should continue until victory. Be here now or be here later, there’s little doubt that The Myrrors will be continuing to walk the path when you get here.

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Triptides -Afterglow

As the tides of the ocean draw their power from the moon above, the music of Triptides is fueled by the mind-bending inspiration and wide-ranging creative talents of Glenn Brigman (vocals and guitar), Josh Menashe (guitar and vocals), Dylan Sizemore (bass guitar) and Shaugnessy Starr (drums). The trip began in the bohemian basements of Bloomington, Indiana in 2010, where Glenn and Josh shared ideas and influences before evolving to craft a complex yet cohesive range of lush, “psychedelic beach-pop” sounds. Two EPs and four LPs later, Triptides are now an essential element of the Los Angeles psych scene, where they are preparing to launch their newest album, Afterglow. Inspired by the spirit of ’60s and ’70s West Coast pop and psychedelia, as well as legendary albums ranging from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn to The Notorious Byrd Brothers,

Beach House -B-Sides and Rarities

Beach House release the B-Sides and Rarities album, a 14-track compilation of songs from throughout their career so far. The album features two previously unreleased tracks Chariot and Baseball Diamond, which were recorded during the Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars sessions, both albums of which were released two months apart in 2015.

LP – Black Vinyl packaged in colour inner and spot varnished deluxe cardstock outer sleeve with digital download code.

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The Cure – Acoustic Hits

First time on vinyl for The Cure’s acoustic rendition of their Greatest Hits. This was a limited edition CD which accompanied the 2001 Greatest Hits compilation and has never appeared on vinyl. The Record Store Day 2017 Release was a Double Picture Disc and now gets re-released on Double 180 Gram Black Vinyl.

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The Rolling Stones – The Complete British Radio Broadcasts 1963 – 1965

Legendary performances on various BBC radio shows from the 1960’s. Digitally remastered for greatly enhanced sound quality. ‘In view of the past increase of interest in rhythm and blues groups in Britain, an exceptionally good future is predicted for us by many people,’ Brian Jones wrote to the BBC in January 1963, requesting an audition. They turned him down, but soon changed their mind. Between that autumn and the summer of 1965, the Stones recorded numerous classic radio sessions for the Beeb, which are presented here together with background notes and images. Containing some of the most vital British R&B ever recorded, the set is an essential purchase for serious Stones fans.

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The Beach Boys -1967 – Sunshine Tomorrow

1967 – Sunshine Tomorrow  is a unique 2CD collection from The Beach Boys – arguably one of the greatest bands of all-time. Featuring producers Mark Linett and Alan Boyd’s new, first–ever stereo mix of the 1967 Wild Honey album. As well as opening up the legendary band’s vault to debut 54 sought-after rarities from that year, 50 years after they were first put to tape. This collection dives into a fascinating and frenetic chapter in The Beach Boys’ long, groundbreaking creative arc, exploring the band’s dynamic year in the studio and on tour. Previously unreleased highlights include The Beach Boys’ shelved ‘live’ album, Lei’d in Hawaii, studio recordings from the Wild Honey and Smiley Smile album sessions, and live concert recordings from shows in Hawaii, Washington DC and Boston.

B52’s – ” The Albums “

Posted: July 2, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Hailing from Athens, Ga., the quintet comprised of Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson, her brother Ricky Wilson and Keith Strickland first gained fame in the late ”70s as a living, breathing creature that embodied the kitsch of ’50s sci-fi, ’60’s fashion and mid-60s rock and roll, all filtered through some bizarre LSD glazed lens, via a John Waters sensibility. Their image alone, including those beehive/b-52 hair-do’s, was attention grabbing, but the sonic blast that came with it was what kept them on the charts. Equal parts garage, surf, soul and rock and roll with feet firmly planted in the current times of the day, they were able to adopt a retro-futuristic motif that was, at the time, all their own.

Songs like “Rock Lobster,” “Strobe Light,” and “Private Idaho” got the initial party headed out of bounds, but one-trick ponies they were not. After Ricky died from complications related to AIDS in 1985, they bounced back with Cosmic Thing. Hits like “Roam” and “Love Shack” proved there was more to this lot than day-glo hijinks, as well as being further proof that their sound was, a decade into their career, still fresh. They withstood the temporary departure of Cindy, and 2008’s Funplex, showed the old kids still had lava in their lamps and new kinds of kicks to be hatched. A true American original, we give you the B-52’s albums .

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