The oxymoronic/pun title of Deap Vally’s second album sums it up. It’s a record stuck in an angry quagmire of annoyance at, and acceptance of, female stereotypes. With ‘Smile More’ very much the centrepiece of the album, lyrics like ‘I am not ashamed I am no-one’s wife, though the idea does sound kind of nice’ encapsulate the committed yet compromised feminism the duo espouses.
The girls do moody and bluesy better than bratty and shouty, and some of my favourite bits on the album are the likes of the grinding, scuzzed-up, stop-start guitars on ‘Bubble Baby’, which sound almost like trying to eke a riff out of a failing motorcycle engine. Deap Vally, the Los Angeles duo comprising of Lindsey Troy and JulieEdwards, return with their new album ‘Femejism’ Produced by Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, it features tracks ranging from experimental prog and kraut-rock to good old- fashioned heart-melters and ball-busters
There are songs I don’t much care for on this record too, most of them near the start of it, but as track 6 says “everyone is a fucking critic” and “it’s easy to hide behind your computer”, so maybe I’ll quit while I’m ahead.
I found this record at a record store. I listened to it from start to finish. If you love the Doors, and you want a great vinyl record to add to your collection, buy this now before it’s never seen again,
Live In Pittsburgh 1970 is a live recording by The Doors originally released in 2008. The concert was recorded in Pittsburgh at the Civic Arena on May 2nd, 1970. This is the sixth full-length live set of previously unreleased material from The Doors‘ own Bright Midnight Archives.
The album includes more than an hour of fire and energy from singer Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger. Always eager to take a chance onstage or otherwise, Morrison experiments with the musical dialogue during a 22-plus-minute version of “When The Music’s Over” leading the band into bits of songs that they’d never played live. Along with gems like “Five To One” and “Break On Through” the group also performed covers of Bluesman Robert Johnson’s “Crossroad Blues” and the band’s signature cover of Howlin Wolf’s “Backdoor Man” . Before closing with an extended version of “Light MyFire” , Manzarek took the microphone with backup by Morrison for “Close To You”.
According to soundman Bruce Botnick “Jim was as clear as he could be onstage, and the guys moved to and fro with him, trusting the journey. Sometimes The Doors were raging with fire and energy; at other times, when Jim jumped into the lyric of a different song, in the middle of something else, they were right there with him.
Setlist
Back Door Man 0:21
Love Hides 2:50
Five to One 5:14
Roadhouse Blues 10:30
Mystery Train 17:30
Away in India 25:20
Crossroads Blues 28:30
Universal Mind 31:55
Someday Soon 36:25
When the Music is Over 40:15
Break on Through 57:10
Push Push 58:40
The Soft Parade Vamp 59:10
Tonight You’re in for a Special Treat 1:03:35
Close to You 1:05:05
Light My Fire 1:08:55
The latest offering from impending second album ‘Mirage’, released today via Rocket Recordings. Josefin’s sultry voice intoxicates over a realm of seductive instrumentation. On tour in Europe now, they head to UK for five dates kicking off on October 17th at Brighton’s All Saints Church.
Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation – Rushing Through My Mind
Meet Michael Collins: formerly known as Run DMT then Salvia Plath, Also currently one half of Silk Rhodes, and now his latest project, Drugdealer. As a producer and songwriter, he might be one of the most underrated prolific musicians of our time. And though his aliases often reference drugs – some more direct than others – I get the idea from listening to Collins’ music that he’s more interested in promoting music as a stimulant than promoting the use of actual drugs. Lyrics from “The Real World”, on The End Of Comedy – Drugdealer’s is outstanding debut, also seem to hint at this idea. “Every day I wake up and fill my dreaming cup anew. I couldn’t find what the others were singing. Everywhere I look there’s more reasons to be feeling free, but still I had to keep myself from leaving. But please don’t ever turn your face from the real world. It’s such a psychedelic place – the real world.”
It’s possible to tell from a first listen that Collins doesn’t create drugged out music. He actually creates incredibly well-written pop songs that pull from classic rock and psychedelic eras, But The End of Comedy has to be his most concise and cohesive effort so far, as Collins somehow manages to combine classic rock, baroque elements, soul, and psych pop into a smooth blend of timeless songs. It’s almost as if Drugdealer’s debut is the soundtrack to a mystery film from the 70s that never actually happened
On Here and Nowhere Else, which was produced by John Congleton (St. Vincent, Erykah Badu, R. Kelly (!?)), Cloud Nothings take the best bits from their previous tutelage under alt-god producer Steve Albini, apply them to lo-fi pop-punk structures and infuse all of it with tightly wound angst. If the first indicator of this fusion was the immediately hooky lead single “I’m Not Part of Me,” then album opener “Now Hear In” is the case in point. An incisive mission statement right down to its title, the song marries fevered riffs with a bass-heavy chorus. It’s upbeat punk, but Dylan Baldi’s lyrics about his vexing past provide a dour counterpoint that sets the tone for the entire album.
This album is full of attacking, confrontational and in your face anthems. Opener “Now Here In” pounds along driven by the drums at a decent pace and Baldi’s maturing vocals. The band are in total control and avoid the mistake of a headlong rush to the finish. Songs like the powerful “Quieter Today” increase the foot on the gas, but Baldi’s pop sensibilities are ever present not least on “Physic Trauma” which does that Pixies quiet loud thing with Baldi’s vocals at one point strained to breaking point. This is taken to its logical conclusion on the post punk thrash “Giving into Seeing” easily the toughest thing on the album, like a speeded up Slint played at the wrong speed. The longest and best track on the album is “Pattern Walks” a veritable mini epic of stirring cacophony and garage rock sensibility. The whole thing is rounded off by the single “I’m not part of me” with its slight Ramones tinge and sing-along chanted chorus.
The Cloud Nothings have produced an album of big songs and even bigger riffs. They do not however descend into the sort of happy clappy emo rock which has spread like a virus through young American Bands over recent years. “Here and Nowhere Else” shows that Cloud Nothings are picking up the mantle of some of their classic predecessors.
Ever since his early teens, songwriting has come fairly quickly to Conor Oberst. Whether as a solo artist, with Bright Eyes, in Desaparecidos, or in the supergroup Monsters Of Folk, he’s stayed steadily prolific while performing with nervy intensity at every stop on his winding and unpredictable career path. So it makes sense that Oberst would need a break, and that it would take him back to a quiet winter spot back home in Omaha.
It also makes sense that he’d end up spending that time writing a record, albeit a quiet one, with the telling title “Ruminations”. Gone are the lush, soulful full-band arrangements of his 2014 solo album Upside Down Mountain, to say nothing of Desaparecidos‘ blistering rock. Here, Oberst’s distinctive warble is set against a spare patchwork of acoustic guitar, piano and the occasional harmonica, drawing most of the attention squarely to his words.
Conor Oberst live on The Current
“Next of Kin”
“Tachycardia”
“Till St. Dymphna Kicks Us Out”
All songs from Conor Oberst’s 2016 album, Ruminations, releasing Friday, October. 14th, on Nonesuch Records.
The effect can be raw, rustic, even shambling — the whole thing was recorded, with the aid of longtime collaborator Mike Mogis and engineer Ben Brodin, in less than 48 hours — but the songwriting remains on point. Recorded during a bleak Nebraska winter in the aftermath of a serious health scare involving a cyst in the singer’s brain, these are some of Oberst’s darkest and most personal songs, rooted in isolation, with less overt politics (“A Little Uncanny” aside) and more reflection befitting Ruminations‘ title.
Throughout the record, Oberst tells stories of human fragility, channeling weary numbness (“Next Of Kin“), the search for comfort and escape (“Barbary Coast [Later]“), the frayed nerves of a man just barely holding his life together (“Gossamer Thin“), and a fight against self-medicating and otherwise self-destructive impulses (“Counting Sheep“). In that last song, Oberst directly references his own health — “Life is a gas / What can you do? / Catheter piss / Fed through a tube / Cyst in the brain / Blood on the bamboo” — making it clear that he’s not merely playing roles here. That unsparing quality helps Ruminations stand out, no matter how simple its adornment.
After a long time away, folk-pop darling Lisa Mitchell has finally returned to the scene with the announcement of her ‘Something About These Streets’ tour. Mitchell is set to tour tracks from her forthcoming album ‘Warriors’ (due out Friday 14th October). It will be the Australian singer-songwriter, Lisa Mitchell’s third album, Warriors, her first for Play It Again Sam.
New single “Warhol” is an intriguing piece, Explaining the title Lisa recalls, “I kept hearing Warhol through the melody I was mumbling…It’s as if I was calling out to Andy Warhol , as if he were a dear confidante…A world to find refuge in…”. While Lisa might find her refuge in Warhol’s Pop Art world, but we can think of worse places to get lost than the music he’s inspired her to make.
Warriors is out today via Play It Again Sam. Lisa Mitchell tours Europe in February,
“We really got rid of a lot of guitar and piano in this album,” says Lisa, who has teamed up with US producer Eric J (who has worked with Flume and Chet Faker, among others), opening up some brave new realms.
For decades, Bob Dylan’s performance in Manchester was incorrectly labeled, The Royal Albert Hall Concert. Now, for the first time, the REAL Royal Albert Hall concert, originally recorded for a live album by CBSRecords, is finally being released as a standalone 2-CD set, titled The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert. This show is also included in the 1966 Live Recordings box set. The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert features Bob Dylan’s performance at the Royal Albert Hall from May 26, 1966 (two days after the artist’s 25 birthday)
Dylan is accompanied on these recordings by Robbie Robertson (guitar), Rick Danko (bass, backing vocals), Richard Manuel (piano), Garth Hudson (organ) and Mickey Jones (drums)
A monumental 36-disc box set featuring every known recording from Bob Dylan’s mythic and controversial 1966 tour of the US, UK, Europe and Australia. Sony are to release, The 1966 Live Recordings, a 36-disc BobDylan box set that will contain every known recording from his legendary 1966 tour. The significance of the UK 1966 tour was that this was the first time that UK audiences had seen Dylan play ‘electric’ with a full band. Needless to say the ‘folkies’ were not best pleased, which culminated in the famous ‘Judas!’ taunt from a member of the audience at Manchester Free Trade Hall….the rest is history.
Dylan played two nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall in the spring of 1966, a year he spent much of on the road with the Band. On both nights in London, Dylan played the bluesy “Tell Me, Momma,” a tune he played frequently that year but never put on a studio album. The raw, electrifying version of the song premiering here comes from the first night, May 26th, 1966 – a little over a week after the release of Blonde on Blonde.
These recordings are either previously unreleased official or bootlegged but are issued here officially from a the best available sources (soundboard, CBS Recordings, audience recording).
With the exception of the Manchester concert (May 17th, 1966) released as Bob Dylan Live 1966 – The BootlegSeries Vol. 4 in 1998, a pair of songs appearing on the 1985 Biograph compilation and a smattering of others, the overwhelming majority of tracks and performances on Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings are previously unreleased in any format official or bootlegged and are being made available now for the very first time.
All the songs on The 1966 Live Recordings were written by Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar, piano, harmonica) with the sole exception of “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down,” a traditional song arranged by Bob Dylan for concert performance. Dylan is accompanied on these recordings by Robbie Robertson (guitar), Rick Danko (bass, backing vocals), Richard Manuel (piano), Garth Hudson (organ) and Mickey Jones (drums). (Sandy Konikoff plays drums on the White Plains and Pittsburgh shows only.)
Meticulously researched, curated and restored for this extraordinary collection, Bob Dylan: The 1966 LiveRecordings is drawn from three main audio sources: soundboards, CBS Records mobile recordings and audience tapes. Released on on 11th November 2016. Discs 30 and 31 will also be seperately as a 2Lp vinyl set called The RealRoyal Albert Hall 1966 Concert (it’s on 2CD set as well).
The Box Set Includes:
Disc 1 – Sydney, April 13, 1966 (Soundboard recorded by TCN 9 TV Australia)
Disc 2 – Sydney, April 13, 1966 (Soundboard recorded by TCN 9 TV Australia)
Disc 3 – Melbourne, April 20, 1966 (Soundboard / unknown broadcast)
Disc 4 – Copenhagen, May 1, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 5 – Dublin, May 5, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 6 – Dublin, May 5, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 7 – Belfast, May 6, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 8 – Belfast, May 6, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 9 – Bristol, May 10, 1966 (Soundboard / audience)
Disc 10 – Bristol, May 10, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 11 – Cardiff, May 11, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 12 – Birmingham, May 12, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 13 – Birmingham, May 12, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 14 – Liverpool, May 14, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 15 – Leicester, May 15, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 16 – Leicester, May 15, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 17 – Sheffield, May 16, 1966 (CBS Records recording)
Disc 18 – Sheffield, May 16, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 19 – Manchester, May 17, 1966 (CBS Records recording)
Disc 20 – Manchester, May 17, 1966 (CBS Records recording except Soundcheck / Soundboard)
Disc 21 – Glasgow, May 19, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 22 – Edinburgh, May 20, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 23 – Edinburgh, May 20, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 24 – Newcastle, May 21, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 25 – Newcastle, May 21, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 26 – Paris, May 24, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 27 – Paris, May 24, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 28 – London, May 26, 1966 (CBS Records recording)
Disc 29 – London, May 26, 1966 (CBS Records recording)
Disc 30 – London, May 27, 1966 (CBS Records recording)\
Disc 31 – London, May 27, 1966 (CBS Records recordings)
Disc 32 – White Plains, NY, February 5, 1966 (Audience tape)
Disc 33 – Pittsburgh, PA, February 6, 1966 (Audience tape)
Disc 34 – Hempstead, NY, February 26, 1966 (Audience tape)
Disc 35 – Melbourne, April 19, 1966 (Audience tape)
Disc 36 – Stockholm, April 29, 1966 (Audience tape)
The Who’s debut album My Generation will be reissued as a five-disc super deluxe edition box set in November and will feature a wealth of material, including unreleased songs, recently discovered album demos and new stereo mixes…
The set comprises five CDs, with the first disc featuring 2016 remastering of the original mono mix of the 1965 album. The second CD delivers a stereo remix which was created using new overdubs from Roger Daltrey and PeteTownshend. To ensure this was done sympathetically, Pete used exactly the same guitars and amps as the original album and Roger used same type of microphone. Until now, these mixes have only been available via iTunes, so this box set is the physical debut of these mixes (which were created in 2014).
CDs three and four contain 44 bonus tracks in mono and stereo and between them include 27 previously unreleased alternate mixes and a further four that have only been available digitally. Five-CD box delivers demos, mono mixes, new stereo mixes & more
The final fifth disc contains the demo recordings. Pete apparently discovered these demos in 2015 during a break in touring. These include three totally unreleased songs that The Who have never revisited: The Girls I Could Have Had, As Children We Grew and My Own Love.
Of these demos, Pete commented “Gathering these demos for this collection has been enjoyable; it’s wonderful for me to have these tapes made fifty-two years ago to listen to. I hope you enjoy them. They have a naiveté and innocence, a simplicity and directness, and an ingenuousness that reveals me as a young man struggling to keep up with the more mature and developed men around me. What an incredible group of strong, talented, young and engaging men they were!”
The Who super deluxe editions always deliver excellent books and the 80-page tome that comes with this set looks to be no exception. It features the usual ‘rare’ photos and new notes from Pete Townshend and images of period memorabilia. Have a listen to a teenage Pete Townshend on ‘The Girls I Could’ve Had’, one of the MyGeneration demos discovered in Pete’s tape archives in 2015. It’s included on the My Generation – Super Deluxe, out on 18th November.
and here’s what Townshend has to say about the song.
I have often said about my early songs that I tried hard to appeal to Roger’s sense of late teenage machismo. Either that, or I attempted to sound like Jan & Dean so that Keith Moon – who was a surf music fan – would get behind the song. Here, a rather machismo and bragging song slipped away because it was more about me than Roger Daltrey, and certainly not a surf number. It’s about my lack of success with girls when I lived at Chesham Place, partly because I spent all my time in my studio. Roger did very well with girls; it would never have worked for him to sing this lyric. The lyric is also fantastical. I make it sound as though I was turning down girls every day. In real life I was probably piqued that rarely happened. My tape machine was my mistress.
This 79-track super deluxe edition of My Generation will be released on 18th November 2016.
