Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

NILS LOFGREN – ” Blue For Lou “

Posted: January 21, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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It’s been a long time since we’ve had a great new album by the great guitarist, songwriter and member of no less than two legendary rock bands Neil Young’s Crazy Horse and Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band Nils Lofgren.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s put out some good albums in the interim but none of them really stuck with me like his 1985 album Flip did.  Given that Nils raised the bar pretty high early on in his career with some legendary song writing, such as the then-timely radio friendly hit “Keith Don’t Go” from 1975 some of us older fans have great expectations. 

In the late 1970s Nils collaborated with Lou Reed, the results of which were sort of scattered across a number of different recordings of by both artists. So unless you were intimate with Lou Reed’s album The Bells (1979) and Nils’ self titled album from that same year and 1995’s Damaged Goods, chances are most of you have not heard the songs. As it turns out there were several other additional tracks from that collaboration which never saw the light of day and Nils has finally decided to finish up those songs up, partly the basis of his new album called Blue With Lou. There’s much more to this record than just those collaborations, however.

At the heart of Blue With Lou is a great band that Nils assembled to work up the songs, all record in his garage home studio. In the finest Crazy Horse tradition, these songs rock madly and have that wonderful tight-but-loose feel that can only be generated by a group of musicians who are intimate with one another and the music they’re playing. And intimate they are:  Nils has played with drummer Andy Newmark and bassist Kevin McCormack for decades. These guys are kindred spirits and that comes through in the music which rings true as authentic as authentic rock ‘n roll gets.  All that great playing would be for naught if the songs were forgettable.

Happily, Nils seems to have found his melodic muse and those melodic hooks ‘n riffs he’s been known for — but not often celebrated — are back! A musician’s musician, the reason Nils is in bands with Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young is because he’s a brilliant guitarist with a distinctive sound and technique. You get that all over “Blue With Lou” but you also get some great songs! 

Tracks like “Attitude City” and “Rock or Not” deliver genuine ear-worms you’ll be tapping your toes or steering wheel as you rock along with Nils and his band. This album is a great one for driving on the highway, by the way. 

Blue With Lou is not without its soft spots though. There are touching moments including a tribute to Tom Petty (“Dear Heartbreaker”) and seemingly simple references to the great filmmaker Charlie Chaplin.  “Talk Thru The Tears” mashes up chord progressions akin to John Lennon’s “Starting Over” and “Isolation” with melodic springboards from Chaplin’s classic “Smile” (which itself is apparently based on melodies from Puccini’s Tosca!). 

I don’t know if this is a bit of conceptual continuity but Chaplin comes up in the lyrics to “City Lights” his legendary film from 1930; Lou Reed previously recorded this song for his 1979 album “The Bells” but this new version is much nicer, replete with a refreshingly unusual retro 1950s male choir backing up Nils’ lead vocals. 

The kicker for me on this album is the final song which is about Nils’ dog, “Remember You” is a touching sweet memorial that will leave you with a tear in your eye for his “forever friend.” I can so relate to this. If you haven’t listen to Nils in a while, Blue With Lou might be a good album to reacquaint yourself with what he’s been doing. 

If you are a fan of long playing records, Blue With Lou is also available as a two disc set!  This (probably) 180-gram dark black vinyl pressing is quiet, well centered and complimentary to the music, delivering significantly richer bass and round mid ranges.  The guitars and drums sound fuller on the LP version, delivering more of the punch of the band playing together than the CD. Nils’ electric guitar amplifier tone really benefits a lot from this presentation and his vocals are warmer overall. 

And if you’re not familiar with his older material I wholeheartedly recommend you seek out the albums “Cry Tough”, “I Came To Dance”, and his self titled debut, “Nils Lofgren”. Also look for the commercially released version of the album known as “Back It Up Live” which was initially a highly coveted and collectible promotional album in the mid 1970s  heavily pirated back in the day so beware of counterfeits which eventually saw official commercial release several years ago. It is a wonderful document of the artist on his ascent to rock ‘n’ roll legend.  

Nils and his band are often out on tour so you should definitely look for them in your town. And also I remember reading recently that he’ll be playing with Neil Young again soon in Crazy Horse.  And… by now many of us now that Bruce Springsteen has a new album, maybe coming next year in 2022 … perhaps an E Street Band tour with Nils on board.

LOU BARLOW – ” EMOH “

Posted: January 21, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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A rich modern acoustic album from the main driver behind alternative rock legends Sebadoh. Lou Barlow is a terrific singer-songwriter who has been crafting innovative tunes under various guises since the mid-1980s. He has released music with Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Sentridoh, The Folk Implosion as well as under his own name. He is in many ways the poster child for all things “Indie Rock,” even before Guided By Voices became a thing. 

Before I discuss the first time domestic vinyl reissue of Lou’s 2005 album called “EMOH”, lets talk about the notion of the independently made record and whether it could possibly sound genuinely really good, possibly even “demo-worthy.”

One of the hallmarks of modern home digital recording is that it breaks down the economic barriers of the recording studio so most anyone can make music on the go where they live and play. Before the digital revolution, the Tascam Portastudio cassette multi-track recorders in particular opened the flood gates in the early 1980s for affordable independent music making. Remember, Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska was recorded on one of those things! But that was something of an anomaly. Fast forward, last year newcomer Billie Eilish swept the Grammy Awards with her debut album that was essentially recorded in her bedroom! Home recording has clearly come a long way…

For many years, however, there were loads of great but pretty rough sounding “indie” and “LoFi” (aka intentionally low fidelity) albums being released, as young artists learned how to become recording engineers as well as performers. Much good came of this period as artists made albums in unusual environments where natural acoustic reverb laden environments might exists such as kitchens and living rooms and bathrooms. Heck, one of my favourite Guided By Voices tracks (“I’ll Replace You With Machines“) sounds like it was recorded to match the rhythms of a washing machine. 

In a way, this is getting back to the roots of studio recording as pioneered by no less than a Les Paul who made his own home studios in the 1940s and ’50s. Having a studio at home allowed him to innovate new sounds simply by running microphone cables around the house where he needed them. For example on the 1953 song “Walking and Whistling Blues” you can hear the sound of someone walking around the kitchen in rhythm in time for the music (I think it was his wife and performing partner Mary Ford). 

So, back to EMOH, this album is technically Lou Barlow’s first full solo album, released under his own name just before he re-joined Dinosaur Jr.  (so he never really got to promote this album properly). It was recorded across a bunch of different scenarios, from a 16-track recording studio in Nashville to four-track Mini-Disc (!) and elements recorded in his home. In some instances the recordings were started in one location and added to in another so all that contributes to the distinct sound on this record. 

When EMOH  was released in 2005 it was a CD-only release here in the United States. There was a small run of vinyl in the European market but those were next to impossible to find here.

AR-LouBarlowEMOHGatefold450.jpg

In celebration of the 15th anniversary of EMOH — which coincided with the birth of his first child Merge Records has put out a lovely two LP gatefold version of the album for the first time here in the US. It spreads the full album across four sides so there’s plenty of room for the tracks to breathe and it sounds quite wonderful on thick, well pressed, quiet vinyl. 

Largely revolving around Lou’s acoustic guitar sometimes it sounds like a nylon string guitar or even a Ukulele at times  this record has a hushed beauty to it even when it has moments of rocking out. Some of the guitars sound like they are recorded very closely so there is at times a wonderful sense and feel of the wood of the instrument and the strings coming through the speakers. One of the first things you’ll hear on EMOH‘s opening track, “Hold Back The Years” is the sound of the room in which Lou is recording. As you can see from pictures included in the album I suspect that we are hearing the natural sound of the room he was in – a bathroom — a great place for natural reverb which makes for a very interesting production texture. 

 

Lou Barlow’s voice and song writing grabbed me from the get-go when I first saw him on a late night program on MTV — an acoustic set with Husker Du’s Bob Mould. His music won me over that night. I soon thereafter picked up an early album by his group Sebadoh and was absolutely blown away by the song “Soul and Fire” a production which in some ways is a loose template for this album – a raw, emotional tale of a failing love. 

Lou has explained in materials promoting EMOH that it is basically documenting the break up of his first marriage. Accordingly, there is a lot of baring of the soul going on — love and heartbreak, soul and fire. Some of my favourite songs here include the stunning “Mary” which tells the story of Jesus from the perspective of an imagined secret lover.  “Confused” is another great tune which (to my ear) channels at points no less than classic 1972-73 Grateful Dead sounds, mining similar spaces to their classics “Wharf Rat” and “Dark Star”

 

“Round & Round” has such a strong chorus hook, in a different production it might have been a pop hit but here its a sparse, airy acoustic guitar and piano arrangement that is powerful.

EMOH  is a wonderful record and you should check it out.  It’s a rich, round and rewarding as the new vinyl edition. 

Now I hope that Lou can get his fantastic Folk Implosion album “One Part Lullaby” issued on vinyl., 

WILLIE NILE – ” New York At Night “

Posted: January 21, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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At some point in the future there’s going to be a big party in New York and it may well be revolving around a musician named Willie Nile and his new album “New York At Night”.  Written and recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic crisis lockdown happened, here Willie celebrates The Big Apple in all its glory. And that passion is what New Yorkers will to need when all this pandemic madness is under control. 

“New York At Night” released in May 2020 and I do hope that people find inspiration in it. I have to say Nile who still proudly holds on to his New Jersey roots even after 30-plus years in California (and several months in locked down isolation!).  Willie’s music has a distinctly East Coast vibe which frankly we could use some of out here on the West Coast. How about Willie and his band opening up for Bruce’s next tour? That’d be a great double bill! If you’re not familiar with Willie Nile’s music, you need to get onboard.

That said, on New York At Night Willie Nile continues his home-run-hitting string of great albums that mine that well worn corner of pure Rock and Roll and street-wise soul spirit. 

And it is just what the Doctor ordered…True to form, this is a classic Willie Nile sound with twanging electric guitars, hook-filled choruses plus rocking riffs that bridge the gap between the Stones and Springsteen. That was never more evident on “The Fool Who Drank The Ocean” which grabs the essence of The Stones’ “Live With Me” and takes on a rich ride around New York’s dark side. “Lost And Lonely World” is one of those songs based on those classic chords used on a bazillion other rock and pop music hits, yet once again Willie has overlaid a great melody and ear-worm worthy hook chorus to make it his own.    

For me, the heart and soul of “New York At Night” is a track I suspect would be at the end of Side One of the vinyl LP version.  “A Little Bit Of Love” is one of those epic sing-a-long anthems you can’t help chiming in on at first listen. “The time has come to the land of need, enough of anger, hate and greed… you and I can plant the seed”  

“Run Free” feels like what might have happened had U2 come out of New Jersey — where the streets all have names –replete with glorious Gospel-like choral voices taking that song out like a sweet muscle car speeding through the Holland Tunnel into Manhattan. 

You can of course look for Willie’s new album out on CD and on vinyl (click on any of the titles here in this review to jump Willie’s page on Amazon ). When I get my hands on the on the latter I’ll be sure update to update this review. But for now it just feels good knowing some strong new rock ‘n’ roll is out there to help us get through these supremely surreal difficult times.

Willie has also written a song just for the Covid-19 crisis which he has posted on his Facebook page: “Occupy Your House”  delivering the poignant message” You can have your rock, you can have your roll… you can save your immortal soul.” As Willie says in the video:  “keep your chin up, we can do this…”

When we are all safe and ready to party on the streets, Willie Nile’s “New York At Night” will be a big part of that joyous soundtrack.  Turn it up!

LAEL NEALE – ” Blue Vein “

Posted: January 21, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Singer/songwriter Lael Neale recently signed to Sub Pop Records, and she’ll release her new album “Acquainted With Night” on February 19th via the label. It features recent single “Every Star Shivers in the Dark” and the just-released “Blue Vein.” Like the previous single, it’s an Omnichord-fuelled offering of dream pop/psych folk that fans of Mazzy Star and Beach House should not sleep on. Acquainted With Night features ten tracks, and includes the previously released standouts “Every Star Shivers in the Dark” and “For No One For Now.”

Well…It is my great honour and thrill to announce I have signed with Sub Pop Records !!! In celebration, we are sharing my debut single and video “Every Star Shivers in the Dark”  which is available NOW everywhere, directed the video & the song was produced by Guy Blakeslee & was mastered by Chris Coady my excitement is beyond measure immense thanks to the good people of Sub Pop Records, Uncut calls the album, “A thing of shimmering beauty, led by Neale’s otherworldly voice with its shades of Vashti Bunyan and Julia Holter.”

“Blue Vein” is her personal anthem. A Paul Revere piece. Galloping through the town as a strident declamation. She offers this, “I wrote this song pre-Omnichord and it is the only recording I play guitar on. I wrote it around New Year’s Eve and it felt like a resolution.” Indeed, it is an amalgam of thoughts, concerns, and lessons as she nearly speaks the words, unmasked by flourishes, ensuring the meaning cuts through. In the final verse she states that, “some say the truth springs for reservoir seekers, but I think the truth sings to whoever listens” thereby establishing herself as the proverbial carrier pigeon delivering a message.

Lael returned to her family farm back in April 2020 and has taken advantage of the limitations imposed by this period. She re-discovered her Sony Handycam from high school and is using it to make impressionistic companion pieces to the songs she recorded in Los Angeles. She continues, “I am enjoying the strong contrast between the songs I wrote and recorded in California and the videos I am making for them in Virginia. It offers something unexpected.”

The lo-fi quality of the films certainly suits the tone of the album. Guy comments, “an idea that was floating around in our conversations before and during the process was ‘lost tapes’ – and I think these recordings feel like such an artifact – a sonic portrait of a season of a life, a sacred tape made in private by an artist at the peak of creative power and rediscovered by chance for the ages.”

“Blue Vein” by Lael Neale from her album Acquainted with Night (Release Date: 02/19/2021) Sub Pop Records.

Acquainted with Night

2nd GRADE – ” Hit to Hit “

Posted: January 21, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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2nd Grade

This album answers a critical question: What if Robert Pollard wasn’t a heroic drunk, but instead a lovestruck, heart-on-his-sleeve bard? Employing the Guided By Voices’ frontman’s philosophy that every idea is a good one and songs longer than two minutes are bloated messes, this Philadelphia band blows through 24 cuts in a scant 41 minutes on their sophomore album. Fans of Big Star, the Magnetic Fields and Yo La Tengo will appreciate the group’s sensitive song writing approach, which comes in forms of power pop (“Boys in Heat”), alt-country (“100 Hrs”), and lo-fi fuzz rock (“Jazz Chorus”).

For Peter Gill (Friendship, Free Cake For Every Creature), the fearless leader of Philadelphia power-pop group 2nd Grade, being our full, open selves means we can be as sincere as we are sarcastic. New album “Hit To Hit” is about wearing your heart on your sleeve but at arm’s length. It’s about being both earnest and ironic.

Hit To Hit mirrors our multifaceted existence over 24, tiny tracks. Continuing with the fun-size structures of his previous LP, Wish You Were Here Tour (Sleeper Records), the songs act like a collection of short stories. There’s the adolescent, heartbroken tale of “When You Were My Sharona”, the anticipation of making memories on “Summer of Your Dreams”, the first taste of freedom on “My Bike”. While Hit to Hit is absolutely an intricate exploration of the human experience,

Sonically speaking, the songs cover an impressive range of stylistic ground. The sweet, peppy pop-banger “Velodrome” is juxtaposed by the gnarly wailing of “Baby’s First Word” while the sturdy twangs of the Jon-Samuels-sung “100 Hours” bashes against the gentle, ethereally delicate acoustics of “You’re So Cool”. “It almost can’t even hold together because it is so at odds with itself but it does in the end. It’s one group of musicians presenting all these different ideas and directions of songwriting and miraculously, it holds together.” Gill says.

Double Double Whammy Records

ANNA B SAVAGE – ” A Common Turn “

Posted: January 21, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Anna B Savage - A Common Turn

The latest apple of our eye, Anna B Savage, is putting out her debut via City Slang Records in a couple of weeks, and I can personally say that there hasn’t been a debut I’ve been this excited about in quite some time. The stunning video for the London singer’s unbelievably vulnerable first single off of “A Common Turn”, “Chelsea Hotel #3,” has been on a near loop at my house since it came out nearly a year ago, and its follow-ups have been just as arresting. In addition to having the privilege of pressing A Common Turn to vinyl,

The London based singer-songwriter Anna B Savage makes question-mark-music, captivating and powerful, navigating various recurring themes including female sexuality, self-doubt … and birds. Often questioning the validity of her own thoughts and feelings, her songs are heavy with unanswered queries. Is this even real? Do we have what I think we have? How did I get to this point? Is anyone listening? Or the record’s opening and most potent question: “Do I understand this?”.

Yet these questions are buoyed by her ability to conjure melodies and lyrics so devastatingly candid, vulnerable and honest, that somehow still manage to be bewitchingly charming, utterly modern and often funny. ‘A Common Turn.’ “For me, ‘a common turn’ is those moments of decision where you think ‘I’m not taking this anymore, whether it’s the way someone else is treating you or the what you’re treating yourself” Savage explains.

From a young age, Savage has also always been surrounded by music. The daughter of two classical singers, Savage spent her childhood birthdays in the green room at the Royal Albert Hall, as her birthday falls on the day Bach died and her parents were booked to play the Bach Proms each year. Her 2015 EP was deeply intriguing as a project, it contained four songs, all of which paired Savage’s deep, rich voice with lyrics rife with insecurity and unfinished business and was released with very little accompanying information about the artist.

The success of the EP caught Savage off guard, triggering a form of imposter syndrome, stifling her writing and ultimately affecting her mental health. At her lowest point Savage wasn’t sure if she could continue making music. At one stage her well-meaning parents started to cut out arts administration jobs for her and put them on the bed for when she arrived home.

In the five years between her first release and this forthcoming one, Savage ended the bad relationship mentioned previously (“I was so small by the end of it”), took up odd jobs, moved across the world twice, got herself a lot of therapy and eventually built herself from the ground up again. “I sat in the sun and read, and I ran my book club, and I went swimming in the Ladies Pond, and I went on trips, and I got drunk, started smoking again and going to parties, and I started dancing again and seeing my friends and, most miraculous of all, I started to like myself.”

For the last three years, focused and reenergised, Savage wrote music for her debut album, stitching together influences and references “One month I printed out all the lyrics, blu-tacked them to my wall, and drew lines between each corresponding idea. Making sure I’d lyrically covered all the themes I wanted to, linking ideas, deleting repeats, and making me look like a literary serial killer”. The album is littered with personal and cultural references (Rocky Horror Picture Show, the Spice Girls, female pleasure, mental health, and a ceramic owl mug by Scottish alt-rock legend Edwyn Collins, among others), all of which are now sewn into her music like talismans.

Savage got in touch with William Doyle, (FKA East India Youth – 2014 Mercury Prize nominee)’ having seen his social media post asking artists to contact him if they wanted to experiment together. From their first meeting, William provided ambitious yet elegant production to the demos Anna brought him, and ultimately gave a definitive shape to the record she had at one point deemed officially impossible to finish. Theirs is a blending of earth and industry, of human feeling and mechanized deconstruction of expectations and barriers. As a pair, they were able to make a record that is, in Savage’s words, “about learning, adapting, growing, being earnest and trying really f***ing hard.”

Savage’s music is deeply vulnerable, without being submissive. The subject matter could weigh these songs down, but instead they soar as she lays claim to her own fragility. There’s an intoxicating catharsis woven through the album and the stories she tells are of taking up space, finding connections, and owning the power in not knowing all the answers. Hers are songs for anyone who thinks hard, feels deeply, and asks big questions.

During the years since the release of her debut EP, Savage has also been making a film with two collaborators. The film can be read as in conversation with this album. More details of that will be released at a later date.

“As mentioned in Chelsea Hotel #3, I’m done with being ashamed in any way of taking ownership of my own pleasure. This whole album is about questioning, exploration and trying really fucking hard. Hopefully a vibrator is a good companion for most of these things. To sum it up in two words: wank more.” –Anna B Savage

The KINKS – ” Something Else “

Posted: January 21, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Something Else by The Kinks

‘The Village Green Preservation Society‘ may the one that gets all the plaudits, but ‘Something Else’ can lay claim to being just as good in it’s own way, featuring some of the best of Ray Davies’ songwriting, which of course means it’s up there with the some of the best song writing ever.

Apart from “End of the Season”, the album was recorded between the autumn of 1966 and the summer of 1967, when the Kinks had cut back on touring and had begun recording and stockpiling songs for Davies’s as-yet poorly defined “Village Green” project. The song “Village Green” was recorded in November 1966 during the sessions for the album, but was released on a French EP in 1967 and did not appear on a Kinks LP until the next release, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.

Opening with public school satire ‘David Watts’ (later made famous by The Jam), ‘Something Else’ is a bit of a dry run for ‘Village Green‘, lacking the overarching concept, but still rating high on essential Englishness and also delving into such standard Davies topics as identikit suburbia (‘Tin Soldier’), idle affluence (‘End of the Season) and sibling rivalry (‘Two Sisters’, apparently a coded comment on the band’s brother problems). What does it sound like? Well, it sounds like The Kinks, that is to say that there’s plenty of sprightly sixties RnB based guitar pop, a bit of copycat psychedelia (Davies was never one to overlook to convenience of hijacking bandwagons), some Cockney knees-up pleasantries (Dave Davies’ ‘Death of a Clown’) and enough good humour and essential pathos for most bands to base their entire careers on.

‘Afternoon Tea’, with it’s understated, very British sense of romance and charming, Davies brothers vocal interplay, would be quite enough to carry the LP on it’s own, but alongside the infectious ‘Harry Rag’, ‘David Watts’, ‘Lazy Old Sun’ and the rest, ‘Something Else’ is easily capable of unveiling masterpieces one after another. There is a little filler – Dave Davies’ other compositions don’t quite come up to the mark and ‘Situations Vacant’ is distinctly Kinks by numbers, but all in all this is an essential album by a band too often dismissed as a ‘singles act’. Oh, and it’s got ‘Waterloo Sunset’ on it – what else could you possibly want from a Kinks album?

A classic from the archives, “Something Else” is the fifth studio album by The Kinks and gets a loving reissue on Sanctuary Records. On 140g vinyl with the original UK track-listing, it’s the last Kinks album to be produced by Shel Talmy and showcases one part of a mid-career high that’s still an influence today. Out on vinyl LP from Sanctuary Records.

Originally Released 15th September 1967

ALEX BLEEKER (REAL ESTATE) – ” “Heaven on the Faultline “

Posted: January 21, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Real Estate bassist Alex Bleeker doesn’t fall too far from the tree with his solo work. That’s not a bad thing at all, “La La La” is a sunny bit of jangly pop that may warm up your January just a little. It’s from his new album Heaven on the Faultline which is out March 5th. The new album “Heaven on the Faultline”, which departs from his last full-band outing as Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, 2015’s Country Agenda. Whereas that album had a more full-bodied explicitly folk-y feel, Heaven on the Faultline finds Bleeker getting back to his homespun roots over the course of its 13 songs, from the jangly guitar pop of New Jersey heroes the Feelies and YLT’s hushed, acoustic reveries to the open-hearted folk rock that marks so much of the Grateful Dead’s early catalogue. Written and recorded over the last several years, Heaven on the Faultline’s songs were initially recorded straight to GarageBand in Bleeker’s bedroom before receiving further studio refinement in co-producer Phil Hartunian’s Tropico Beauty space in Los Angeles.

With contributions from Confusing Mix of Nations’ Josh Da Costa, Cameron Stallones of Sun Araw, singer-songwriter Kacey Johansing, and Parting Lines’ Tim Ramsey, Heaven on the Faultline achieves a warm and intimate feel that defines Bleeker’s mission for the album: “I wanted to capture the moment in which I fell in love with making music to begin with. This is music for myself—me getting back to music for music’s sake.” The unsteady times we live in certainly creep into view on Heaven on the Faultline. The deceptively easygoing “D Plus” was written on the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration with the cursed event in mind, while the anxiety of climate change hovers just above the lovely guitar loops of “Felty Feel.”

“The album is very much about dealing with the anxiety of a sense of impending doom,” Bleeker states while discussing the album’s portentous vibes. “When is the hammer going to fall? How do we go forward in the face of such anxiety and experience the complexity of life?” Tough questions with few answers, but try not to stress too much. It’s possible to experience such existential doubt while also enjoying the simple pleasures that life has to offer, and that ethos is square at the heart of Heaven on the Faultline. It defines who Alex Bleeker is, too, and is one of many reasons why I’m proud to have known this special person and artist for so long.

Night Bloom Records is a small independent label founded by friends Kacey Johansing, Jeff Manson and Alex Bleeker. We are based out of Los Angeles and West Marin, California . We feel deeply honored to be able to share music by people whom we deeply admire. Thank you for listening!

From the Album “Heaven on the Faultline” out 3/5/21 on Night Bloom Records

HUM – ” You’d Prefer An Astronaut ” Reissue

Posted: January 21, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Last year, Hum released their excellent comeback album “Inlet“ so we’re excited to learn that they’ll be giving remastered, higher quality pressing reissues to their classic albums Electra 2000 (1993) and You’d Prefer An Astronaut (1995) soon too! Guitarist Tim Lash writes:

Hi all, First off, the band sincerely appreciates all of the generous support and kind words we’ve received after releasing Inlet. We’re not the best at responding, but it means a lot. So thanks again, from all of us! Over the last few months, we’ve successfully navigated through some licensing stuff allowing us to re-release updated versions of Electra 2000, and You’d Prefer An Astronaut on vinyl. Our plan involves re-mastering and cutting higher quality pressings of these two records. Our hope is to do CD’s as well if possible. We’ll post another update once we iron out all of the details on release dates, label, etc… Since we’ve seen some inflated prices on the secondary market for our older records, we wanted to let people know as soon as possible. If folks don’t mind waiting a little longer, we’ll be able to produce a higher quality pressing that we have control over, and are proud of.

We’ll also have more copies of our Downward is Heavenward re-issue available in the near future as well. We hope you all are healthy and well, and 2021 turns out to be a little easier for everyone. 

As Tim said, more copies of the recent Downward is Heavenward (1998) reissue are on the way too. It’s currently sold out in the Earth Analog store but stay tuned. Last month, the band advised to avoid the secondary market because “you’ll just end up paying more than it’s worth.”

SHAME – ” Drunk Tank Pink “

Posted: January 21, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The phrase “drunk tank pink” that Shame take the name of their new album from refers to the shade of paint used to pacify inhabitants of European jails who were picked up for disorderly conduct while inebriated. It’s also the colour of the closet-sized apartment frontman Charlie Steen shared with guitarist Sean Coyle-Smith though, in the context of their new album, I imagine it’s a more metaphorical usage, one referring to the reeling in of the group’s chaotic tendencies.

The result of (per Steen) “a bath and a good night’s sleep,” Drunk Tank Pink continues the rousing tradition of the Shame project by relying on heavy experimentalism rather than the relentless punk that fuelled 2018’s preceding “Songs of Praise”. While more grounded than the chic, Black Midi-fied post-punk of fellow English acts like Black Country New Road and Squid, DTP sounds like the work of a band who’s fed up with the constraints of genre.

With the LP dropping today, we reached out to the band for a behind-the-scenes look at each track on the project, detailing themes ranging from “the beauty of all canines” to  “lust and puppets.”

1. “Alphabet”

A direct question to the audience and the performer as to whether any of this will ever be enough to reach satisfaction. The genius of Drunk Tank Pink is how these lyrical themes dovetail with the music. Opener Alphabet dissects the premise of performance over a siren call of nervous, jerking guitars, its chorus thrown out like a beer bottle across a mosh pit. Songs spin off and lurch into unexpected directions throughout here,

2. “Nigel Hitter”

This song focuses on daily routine, the motions we go through, and how extraordinary all this seemed to me after coming home from touring.

3. “Born in Luton”

“Born in Luton” is about being locked outside a flat. It exaggerates the mundane and makes it into something unique and overtly dramatic.

4. “March Day”

This is about my consistent unwillingness to wake up on time—my obsession and devotion to my bed and my bedroom.  March Day’s escalating aural panic attack 

5. “Water in the Well”

Over the last few years we’ve been consistently inspired by the people we’ve met and the places we’ve been. All these locations and characters have an effect on us and seep their way into this song, including “Acid Dad,” the name of the person who runs Dewar Farm in which we wrote a lot of DTP. 

6. “Snow Day”

A lot of this album focuses on the subconscious and dreams, this song being the pivotal moment of these themes. A song about love that is lost and the comfort and displeasure that comes after you close your eyes, fall into sleep, and are forced to confront yourself. the shapeshifting darkness of Snow Day

7. “Human, for a Minute”

The first song we wrote after Songs of Praise, the main focus being on a relationship slipping away and the discovery of my own identity through this collapse. There’s a Berlin era Bowie beauty to the lovelorn Human For A Minute .

From the womb to the clouds (sort of), Shame are currently very much in the pink.

8. “Great Dog”

One of the first ones we got down in Dewar Farm for DTP, a nonsense song about the perks of thievery and the beauty of all canines. 

9. “6/1”

An intense evaluation of myself, exploiting my flaws, fears, and narcissism. 

10. “Harsh Degrees”

A song of lust and puppets. 

11. “Station Wagon”

Closer Station Wagon weaves from a downbeat mooch into a souring, soul- lifting climax in which Steen elevates himself beyond the clouds and into the heavens. Or at least that’s what it sounds like. A final conversation with myself and an ode to the great Sir Elton John at the end.

There are moments on “Drunk Tank Pink” where you almost have to reach for the sleeve to check this is the same band who made 2018’s Songs Of Praise. Such is the jump Shame have made from the riotous post-punk of their debut to the sprawling adventurism and twitching anxieties laid out here. The South Londoner’s blood and guts spirit, that wink and grin of devious charm, is still present, it’s just that it’s grown into something bigger, something deeper, more ambitious and unflinchingly honest.

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