Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

HOODOO GURUS – ” Get Out Of Dodge “

Posted: January 11, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Le Hoodoo Gurus. Pic by Sandy Edwards.

Hoodoo Gurus just come up with the best way to keep Australian music fans entertained. Hoodoo Gurus will unveil an untitled “homemade” mini-documentary on the band’s YouTube channel. The 37-minute documentary will be available to view . According to the band, December 31st marks the 40th anniversary of Hoodoo Gurus‘ genesis (originally known as Le Hoodoo Gurus). It was at a Sydney New Year’s Eve party in 1980 where Dave Faulkner, Kimble Rendall and Rod Radalj decided to form a band (drummer James Baker became part of that plan months later when he moved to Sydney).

Faulkner announced the documentary, writing: “It’s really just a couple of Zoom conversations I had with Kimble and Rod, firstly, and then James a week later (James was unable to join us all for the first one). I intercut those two Zoom chats together and tried to piece together the story of the band during those heady days of 1981 and ’82.”

He also warned, “It’s a bit long-winded in places but, hell, it’s free and it’s the unvarnished truth – or as best as we can remember it.” Faulkner was a recent arrival in Sydney in 1980. He’d spent time in the US catching the Cramps, Fleshtones, Johnny Thunders and others following the demise of the now-legendary Perth-based punk band the Victims, the band he and James Baker had formed in 1977, and a short stint in the Manikins. Radalj had also already been in a band with Baker – the also-legendary Scientists whose split in the early months of ’81 precipitated Baker’s move to Sydney. Kimble Rendall had recently played with Sydney pop-culture punks XL Capris, best known for their version of  Channel 7’s nightly sign-off song ‘My City of Sydney’.

Faulkner explained that he will make it available for 36 hours so that “wherever you are in the world, you can relive that New Year’s Eve with us from 40 years ago as we all get ready for the arrival of 2021.” 

The Gurus’ ended the last year of the third decade of existence with the recent Double A-side 7″ vinyl release of their latest two singles, ‘Get Out of Dodge’/’Hung Out To Dry’, and are gearing up for a massive 2021. Power pop is back! The Hoodoo Gurus new single featuring Vicki Peterson (The Bangles) and John Cowsill (The Cowsills / The Beach Boys) on backing vocals.

WIDOWSPEAK – ” Honeychurch “

Posted: January 11, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Fresh off the release of their critically-acclaimed fifth album “Plum”, Widowspeak welcome the new year with “Honeychurch”, a brand new EP. Like the 17th-century tile on its cover, Honeychurch is a repurposed artifact. Its title, a nod to E.M. Forster’s A Room With A View, was originally a working title for Plum – it felt in line with the album’s thematic considerations of class, relationships, and generational ties, but was ultimately set aside. Still, these considerations swirled beneath the surface, and as Plum’s reflections on work and worth grew more pertinent by the day, singer Molly Hamilton and guitarist Robert Earl Thomas felt there was more to explore.

They began with what was already there, toying around with a new take on Plum single “Money”. The resulting track is a pared-down, introspective version, with a foreboding synth tone that asks us to spend more time with its prompt: “will you get back what you put in?” Hamilton and Thomas have also added to their repertoire of expertly crafted cover songs, recording a playful, Nancy Sinatra-esque take on R.E.M. ‘s “The One I Love” and a rich, expansive version of Dire Straits’ “Romeo and Juliet”. Revisiting a discarded Plum demo about blood ties gave rise to the slow-burning “Sanguine”, while EP closer “Honeychurch” is an ambient epilogue that leaves space for deeper reflection.

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Recorded at their apartment in Brooklyn and mixed and mastered by Jamie Harley (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Mogwai), Widowspeak’s new collection delivers homespun intimations with polished precision. The questions posed on Plum still reverberate, and Honeychurch leaves space for us to hear them better. 

Molly Hamilton: vocals, guitar on “Sanguine”
Robert Earl Thomas: guitars, bass, percussion, etc.

“Money (Hymn)”, “Sanguine” and “Honeychurch” written by Widowspeak
“The One I Love” written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe
“Romeo and Juliet” written by Mark Knopfler

Releases January 22nd, 2021

MOLLY BURCH – ” Ballads ” EP

Posted: January 10, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The follow-up to her 2018 sophomore release First Flower, the breathy, romantic “Only One” serves as the A-side to Molly Burch’s new 7” Ballads, out now on Captured Tracks. “I decided to call the 7” Ballads as an homage to the powerful female vocalists I idolized growing up,” Burch said. “Seems sort of classic. Both songs really embody what I love to do—sing with emotion, and drama, and romance, taking as much time as I need. Following the release of her critically acclaimed sophomore album, ‘First Flower’, last October, Texan chanteuse Molly Burch returns with two heart-stopping tracks. Entitled ‘Ballads’ in homage to the strong and powerful female vocalists that she admires, this 7” EP embodies what Burch loves to do and what she does best: crafting music with emotion, drama and romance, giving her voice all the room it needs to burn bright.

“Only One” is off of Molly Burch’s 7″ Vinyl, ‘Ballads’. released August 2nd, 2019

CHARLES RUMBACK and RYLEY WALKER – ” Little Common Twist “

Posted: January 10, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Charles Rumback and Ryley Walker are both known for their creativity and curious spirits. Rumback is a drummer in high demand in Chicago’s free-jazz circles, and a pillar of the second wave of improvisers in a scene first shaped by the legendary players like Sun Ra and the AACM. Walker draws deeply on other distinctly American styles, bringing a strong sense of folk tradition to his playing that is as arresting as his freewheeling performance style. Walker’s musical explorations are not limited to his own song writing: the guitarist regularly collaborates in Chicago and now New York with innovators of every genre. Together, Rumback and Walker find common ground in their kinetic, intuitive playing and yearning creative outlook. “Little Common Twist”, their sophomore release as a duo, finds both players at their most adventurous. It compiles instrumental pieces that convey a striking range of emotions, at once introspective and expansive, with a delicate interplay that delights as they move with ease across a spectrum of styles. The recording has a pastoral quality that recalls Van Morrison’s classic album Veedon Fleece, and captures a remarkably dexterous performance by both Charles and Ryley that make this album so expansive and fresh.

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“Little Common Twist” was recorded over several sessions throughout 2017 and 2018 with producer John Hughes, capturing the duo playing in the moment with minimal overdubs. The guitar and drums duo eschewed each instrument’s traditional roles of rhythm and melody, experimenting with texture and rhythm. Rumback and Walker remarkably paint in both broad, gestural strokes and intricate melodic details. “Half Joking” and “Self Blind Sun” are warm, deep songs that draw on structures from the American primitive guitar songbook. “Idiot Parade” leaps into more explorative territory, Rumback setting an urgent, rolling cymbal groove while Walker paints melodic sonic vapor trails across the sky. “Menehbi” experiments further with abstract forms, atomizing guitar and drums into an ambient haze where loose flourishes from Rumback hint at rhythm and structure, while a steady electronic pulse provides an anchor amidst the fog.

Little Common Twist is the culmination of a creative partnership that has seen Rumback and Walker constantly challenging each other. In stretching the bounds of their interplay even further than before, the duo created their most evocative and expansive work to date, conjuring the afterglow of sun-scorched landscapes and ethereal after-hours ambiance. 

Released November 8th, 2019

TAPEWORMS – ” Safety Crash “

Posted: January 10, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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tapeworms

This French group sound like a bunch of mad scientists. I could imagine that they’ve got a few Elephant 6 records, some Swirlies and Lilys to go along with their MBV. “Funtastic” is exactly that, innocent sounding buzzing pop ditties and the sound of band having a blast. Tapeworms is a band formed in the city of Lille, France, featuring the trio of Margot Magnières and two brothers, Théo and Elliot Poyer.

They’re preparing the release of their debut album “Funtastic”, which will be released on September 25th. “Safety Crash” is the lead single from the album, a track that combines the artful dream pop of bands like Stereolab, with a thrashing garage rock influence, melding both of these worlds into a sound that is something unique within itself.

In collaboration with Howlin Banana Records, Coypu Records and Testcards Records

GALORE – ” Deja Vu “

Posted: January 10, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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galore

The bay area has a bit of history of generating groups inspired by Flying Nun Records. “Galore”, like Brilliant Colours before them make jangly pops songs in the vein of Look Blue Go Purple. It’s a low key, sort of ramshackle brilliance that Galore excel at. If you didn’t know better–and if the camera didn’t occasionally glimpse a new model of car–you might think that Galore’s music video for new single “Deja Vu” was released in the 90’s. Beyond the DIY camcorder shots, the music itself feels like a revival of a bygone era. Jangly guitars and detached vocals evoke The Aislers Set and many other Slumberland Records bands. Galore has absolutely done their sonic predecessors justice with their debut self-titled record.

This release marks the third single and music video from Galore’s self-titled debut album, and features the band (who are clearly all thrift shop aficionados) wandering through some of the familiar industrial landscape of San Francisco, in glorious 4:3 aspect ratio. They film San Francisco the way we want it to look— the rusted industry starts to feel like a playground, and the failing barriers start to feel penetrable. The video captures a very specific type of freedom that really only exists in the pages of a coming-of-age teen novel or a skate video.

The album’s opener and the first single “Lydia” was another standout track. The frantic, jumpy guitars continuously build tension with discordant riffs, until the song can take it no more and bursts with a frantic shout in the vocals and a punctuating smack of the drums. The line “I try so hard to keep it alive” feels self-referential, a statement on keeping the music the band loves alive and kicking.

The Band :

Griffin Jones, – Guitar
Britta Leijonflycht, – Guitar
Ava Rosen, – Bass
Hannah Smith, – Drums

Galore will be released June 1st via Rocks In Your Head Records.

CARPOOL TUNNEL – ” Bloom “

Posted: January 10, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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With a swirling combination of ’60s and ’70s-era classic rock and blues with the sunny sounds of SoCal-soaked surf rock, Carpool Tunnel have announced their debut full-length album “Bloom”. Due out February 26th, 2021 via Pure Noise Records, “Bloom” puts the quartet’s sandbar psychedelic sound on full display creating something that’s both nostalgic and fresh.

In addition to today’s announcement, the band released a new single and accompanying music video titled “Flora,” a bouncy, vaguely nostalgic-sounding track with a sunny video to match.

“The soil of 2020 was dense, and some of us still feel like we’re underground. However, sometimes we need the darkness to reach the light,” shares the band. “’Flora’ is here to remind you that no matter how grim life may seem, there will always be sparks of light, love, and hope as long as we are open to them…then it is up to us to decide how large that spark grows. Like many 21st-century relationships, Carpool Tunnel started with the swipe of an app.

Just two weeks after an ad for Vampr – hailed as Tinder for musicians – came across Daniel Stauffer’s phone in 2017, the Bay Area drummer was in the studio along with two fellow Vampr users, guitarist Bradley Kearsley and singer/guitarist Ben Koppenjan, recording their debut single “Afterlight” with Grammy-nominated producer Billy Mohler. One new member – bassist Spencer Layne – and a $400 Craigslist van later, the brilliantly named band hit the road, bringing their California cool aesthetic and classically retro sound up and down the coast. In this live setting, free-wheeling and bereft of perfectionist attitudes, the quartet began laying the foundation for their long-awaited debut full-length album, Bloom.

Months of road-testing the album’s 11 tracks in front of fervent audiences imbued a sense of spontaneity and looseness into the songs, letting them effortlessly evolve into the versions heard on the album. Across the set, the band brings the California coast to life through breezy rhythms and soothing melodies, from the slinky, bossa nova-flavored “Tarot Cards” to the bouncy, angular “Flora.”

The first single “Empty Faces,” which was released last month, is a long time staple of the band’s live set, is perhaps the best representation of Carpool Tunnel’s juxtaposition of classic and contemporary. Atop doo-wop charm and fuzzed-out guitars, Koppenjan muses about the state of relationships in the modern age – a muddied mix of emotions no other generation has been forced to confront. “We all have people from our past [that] you don’t really talk to anymore but still have a strange connection to,” he explains. “You might follow them on social media or have photos of them. You know nothing about them now but still feel connected to them because you see them all the time.”

The songs on Bloom are of that same uncertainty, about navigating life’s newness and seemingly omnipresent obstacles heading into adulthood. They’re sentiments and situations the band experienced first hand in 2018 after moving in together in San Francisco. As responsibilities like school and day jobs piled up next to the more joyous task of writing an album, the close quarters taught the members a lot about themselves – and one another.

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“We were all trying to come out of adolescence and find ourselves,” Koppenjan says of the mindset while writing the album. “The message we came up with was, ‘Like a flower, you too shall bloom.’ We were all blooming into ourselves and finding our sound at the same time.”

Releases February 26th, 2021

The EMPTY HEARTS – ” The Second Album “

Posted: January 10, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Even though The Empty Hearts band features members of Blondie, The Cars, Chesterfield Kings and The Romantics — as well as being christened by Little Steven Van Zandt from his super-secret list of unused band names — this is no cynically constructed super group. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer Clem Burke, two-time Grammy nominee and MTV Video of the Year Award-winning guitarist Elliot Easton, bassist Andy Babiuk and lead singer/rhythm guitarist Wally Palmar have parlayed a combined lifetime of rock ’n’ roll into their music, a sterling collection of influences that include ‘50s American roots rock ‘n’ roll, ‘60s British Invasion and ‘70s garage-punk that is anything but retro, rather a refreshing return to core musical values.

These are all friends that I felt could get along both socially and musically,” says long time Chesterfield Kings bassist Babiuk, who started the ball rolling by calling old-time pal, Romantics’ singer Palmar and asking if he wanted to start a band. “Remember when you first picked up a guitar because you loved The Beatles, The Stones and The Kinks? Wouldn’t it be great to get in a room, write songs and play them like we did when we were teenagers? And that’s just how it started.” Blondie drummer Burke had previously played with Palmar in The Romantics and with Easton on several Blondie sessions and in an aborted band featuring Doug Fieger. Easton and Palmar knew Babiuk from frequent stops at his former employer, Rochester’s legendary House of Guitars, before Andy started his own guitar store, the ultra-hip Fab Gear.

All four came of age in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s in indie punk/new wave bands that demonstrated a love of classic rock and roll. “We’re the last rock band standing,” laughs Easton. “The whole idea is to have a blast playing with friends. We were just laughing and in high spirits all the time. No drama. It was just a lot of fun, and you can hear that in the grooves.” “Those common influences are what brought us together,” adds Burke. “We’re survivors and lifers of rock ‘n’ roll. We take from everything that’s come before musically. A lot of people have never heard or seen a band like this. There’s a freshness to it, at the same time as it’s a recollection of the past. Being a rock musician today is like being a jazz musician back in the early days of rock.”

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THE EMPTY HEARTS are:
Clem Burke – DRUMS, VOCALS
Elliot Easton – LEAD GUITAR, VOCALS
Wally Palmar – LEAD VOCAL, RHYTHM GUITAR, HARMONICA
 Andy Babiuk – BASS, VOCALS

Released August 28th, 2020

HILANG CHILD – ” Every Mover “

Posted: January 10, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Proof rings out with force and feeling on Hilang Child’s superlative second album, “Every Mover”, released on Bella Union Records. In 2018, Riman delivered a serene, textured debut album in Years, rich in sound and feeling. The “lonely, pressured” aftermath of Years found Riman grappling with “rough self-esteem and anxiety issues”, amplified in part by social media’s ‘fulfilment narratives’. Duly, he set out to navigate and overcome these mindsets, drawing deeply on his own insecurities and those he recognised in others.

These themes converge emphatically on Every Mover, an album steeped in everyday emotional states and crafted for cathartic, communal performance. Drawing on a rich spread of collaborators, sounds and themes, Riman uses his frustrations as the impetus to transform the brimming promise of Years into upfront and expansive new shapes.

Good to be Young serves swift notice of this leap, its banked synths and twinkling sound clusters leading to an assertion of fresh force when the main beat lands and a congregation of friends – AK Patterson, Paul Thomas Saunders, Dog in the Snow, Ellen Murphy, members of Penelope Isles – unite for the gang-vocal refrains. “It’s all iridescent colour I’m on,” Riman exults, a claim lived up to on the full-flush folktronica of Shenley. A reflection on spiralling insecurity,Seen the Boreal ups the ante again with its monk-ish chorales, looping samples, spectral woodwinds (from multi-instrumentalist John ‘Rittipo’ Moore, of Public Service Broadcasting and Bastille previous) and ecstatic chorus, Riman transforming a meditation on hindsight’s limiting effects into a spur to look forwards. And surge forwards he does with the glittering synths, spacey guitars, and Krautrock propulsion of King Quail, developed in jam sessions with dream-pop wonder Zoe Mead (Wyldest) in her basement studio.

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Riman’s sounds are enriched wherever you turn, from the epic prog-tronica of The Next Hold to the vocal release and layered arrangement of “Play ’Til Evening”; a kind of summit meeting between Surrender-era Chemical Brothers and Fleet Foxes in the high church of ecstatic sound. The treated chorales of Magical Fingertip and naked lyrics of the festival-sized “Anthropic (Cold Times)” showcase a fertile push-pull of lush arrangements and wide-open emotions in Riman’s sound; on the latter, Rittipo’s horns brim with expressive power.

Brought to a sublime close with Steppe, the resulting album projects its own epiphanic force. The birth was not always smooth: due to Covid-19, tours were cancelled and studios closed. Thankfully, most of the main parts were recorded pre-lockdown between East London, Gateshead, Brighton, Wandsworth and elsewhere, before mixing proceeded remotely.

That sense of passion lights up Every Mover, an album that hymns the redemptive qualities of richly expressive music crafted in simpatico unison with friends.

Over the moon that my new album Every Mover is out TODAY via Bella Union/PIAS!! It’s available on 180g red vinyl (with signed print), CD or digital download. 

Also check out the music video for ‘Pesawat Aeroplane (English)’ on YouTube or at the bottom of this email, featuring some trippy mountain visuals using stunning footage captured in Komodo by Tobias Brent and Lifted Imaging. Thank you to Everyone who was involved in the making of this album, from the bottom of my heart. You helped me make something I’m proud of and focus my energy during a difficult time. Onwards xxx

Taken from the new album Every Mover, available on vinyl,

The ALTONS – ” When You Go (Thats When You’ll Know) “

Posted: January 10, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Though Bryan Ponce and Adriana Flores share the stage with Joey Q as part of the East LA souldies outfit Thee Sinseers, they really step into the spotlight with The Altons, a group they themselves founded along with drummer Caitlin Moss and bassist Gabriel Maldonado . On this their debut single on Penrose, Bryan sings the lead with a smoky-sweet falsetto that bends tenderly from growl to howl and back again. The group takes a turn through a classic Miracles-style mid-tempo groove on the A-side, leaving you helplessly addicted to their sweet eponymous refrain, “When you go that’s when you’ll know…” However, it’s the B-side that prompted producer Bosco Mann to declare Bryan Ponce the most underrated singer on the scene today.

Of course that won’t last long when the soul heads get their needles in “Over and Over.” The secret is out. Dude can sing. This is my jam. They really step into the spotlight with The Altons, a group they themselves founded . On this their debut single on Penrose, Bryan sings the lead with a smoky-sweet falsetto that bends tenderly from growl to howl and back again. The group takes a turn through a classic Miracles-style mid-tempo groove on the A-side, leaving you helplessly addicted to their sweet eponymous refrain, When you go that’s when you’ll know… However, it’s the B-side that prompted producer Bosco Mann to declare Bryan Ponce the most underrated singer on the scene today.

Daptone Records started up their Penrose label offshoot label this year to showcase the new soul in So-Cal (Soul-Cal?) and they didn’t hold back. Vicky Tafoya is up there at number two and here are The Altons at a solid number 10. The sweet soul falsetto will slow your life down and put you in an enviable state of mind where the rat race fades away, the sun is setting, the waves are lightly massaging the sand and you are reclined with your favourite drink taking it all in. This record really will take you there.

The Altons are a 5-piece band driven by soul and rock mixed into one sonic sound.

released April 10th, 2020

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