Annahstasia’s proximity to love — for and from others, in society at large, and deeply within herself — guides the spirit of her soulful, poetic folk songcraft. It is the elemental constant, alongside her distinctly resonant voice, shading the singer-songwriter’s music since her earliest self-taught recordings, back when a 17-year-old Annahstasia Enuke was discovered and propelled into the pressures of an industry that nearly stifled her greatest strengths.
Since humans learnt to set their longing to tape, there’ve been countless attempts to sum up the all-encompassing sensation of love in acoustic ballads. Few new artists do so as eloquently as Annahstasia. Her bewitching vocals bend and build to earth-shattering crescendos as effortlessly as they collapse to mere whispers, transforming the simplest confessions of admiration into deeply romantic pleas. With Annahstasia’s debut album on the way, it feels like there’s a gold mine waiting to be uncovered.
A once-in-a-generation vocalist writing haunting love songs based in Los Angeles, USA with comparisions to Tracy Chapman, Brittany Howard.
‘Surface Tension’, out now on drink sum wtr. released November 1st 2024 Written by: Annahstasia Enuke
Featuring single “Man Made of Meat”, the LP sees Viagra Boys turn inwards, leaving the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled societal commentary of previous LP “Cave World” behind to journey into the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled landscape within. Absurd, intense and surprisingly tender, viagr aboys shuts out the noise to fnd that the important part of being alive in the big, stupid world is figuring out that the world inside of you that is equally big and stupid.
Viagra Boys have shared a brand-new single called ‘Uno II’ The song will appear on the Stockholm post-punk band’s fourth studio album ‘Viagr Aboys’, which is due for release on April 25th via their own label, Shrimptech Enterprises. “‘Uno II’ redirects vocalist Sebastian Murphy’s take on conspiratorial anxiety – shifting from human meat bags to finding it embodied in his beloved dog,” a description reads.
The singer’s pet, an Italian greyhound, had frequently visited the vets over the course of a year due to dental problems. This led Murphy to wonder what his dog could be thinking – and he put pen to paper.
Murphy explained: “He goes to this place, then wakes up in some weird room, and he’s missing his teeth.”
“I seem like such a bitch/ When I talk about Swedish politics,” the frontman sings atop a shuffling drum beat. The tune also boasts whispers of flute and a sweeping electric guitar part.
Doves have shared a new single titled ‘A Drop In The Ocean’ The track serves as the final preview of the band’s upcoming sixth studio album ‘Constellations For The Lonely’, which is set for release February 28th via EMI North. In a statement, drummer Andy Williams explained: “It’s a song about us being insignificant, which can be helpful to remember when you’re going through a tough time.
“A problem can be so big in your head, but it can be comforting to remember how small we are in the grand scheme of things.”
Guitarist Jez Williams added: “I brought the music but Jimi [Goodwin, frontman] completely did the verses. “I knew he had it in him, because he always has the words in him. He’s a great lyricist, the real deal. The song lit him up when he heard it, you could really see it. We all remember that moment.”
The atmospheric and existential track presents a vast soundscape, and includes the hopeful line: “The flowers beneath the waves/ Will come back one day.” Its chorus goes: “You are the reason/ You are the air/ A drop in the ocean/ But you’re not there/ A drop in the ocean.” ‘A Drop In The Ocean’ follows on from the singles ‘Renegade’, ‘Cold Dreaming’ and ‘Saint Theresa’ in previewing the imminent album release ‘Constellations For The Lonely’.
The record is the follow-up to Doves’ 2020 album ‘The Universal Want’ – which itself marked the group’s first full-length release in 11 years,
Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII, the ground breaking 1972 film directed by Adrian Maben. Digitally re-mastered from the original 35mm footage, with enhanced audio newly mixed by Steven Wilson. Set in the hauntingly beautiful ruins of the ancient Roman Amphitheatre in Pompeii, Italy, this unique film captures Pink Floyd performing an intimate concert with additional rare behind-the-scenes footage of the band beginning work on “The Dark Side of the Moon” at Abbey Road Studios.
Originally filmed over four days using the band’s regular touring equipment, the footage has now been digitally re-mastered in 4K from the original 35mm footage – with enhanced audio newly mixed by Steven Wilson The project was made possible after they discovered five ‘dubiously labelled cans’ within the band’s archives. Lana Topham, who led the restoration, said: ‘Since 1994, I have searched for the elusive film rushes of Pink Floyd At Pompeii, so the recent discovery of the 1972 original 35mm cut negative was a very special moment. ‘The newly restored version presents the first full 90-minute cut,
The accompanying album release will see the performance presented on vinyl for the first time. The 2025 remix by Steven Wilson is newly available on 2xCD, 2xLP, Bluray and DVD. The film also includes behind-the-scenes footage of the band starting work on their seminal 1973 LP ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ at Abbey Road Studios.
Drummer Nick Mason commented: ‘Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii” is a rare and unique document of the band performing live in the period prior to The Dark Side Of The Moon.‘
‘Down To Joy’ is the first single from Van Morrison’s forthcoming new studio album ‘Remembering Now’ out June 13th. This uplifting opening track, originally featured in Kenneth Branagh’s acclaimed film Belfast (2021), is now available as a single for the first time. Looking back while moving forward, ‘RememberingNow’ is one of Van Morrison’s most vital records in recent years. His first collection of all-original music since ‘What’s It Gonna Take?’ (2022), this album marks a return to the transcendent, genre-defying rhapsodies that make Morrison truly unique.
With “Remembering Now”, Van Morrison returns to the transcendent, uncategorisable rhapsodies that make him unique. Soul, jazz, blues, folk, country – this is music in conversation with all of them but limited by none. Its rich with hallmarks of classic Van Morrison, from dominant themes of love in spirit with the great ‘Someone Like You’ (the escapist romance of ‘Once In A Lifetime Feelings’, the self-deprecating candour of ‘The Only Love I Ever Need Is Yours’) to specific references to locations from his youth in the title track and ‘Stomping Ground’. The title of another song, ‘When the Rains Came’, echoes a lyric from his classic ‘Brown Eyed Girl’.
From the radiant opener, ‘Down to Joy’, to the joyously resilient ‘Haven’t Lost My Sense of Wonder’, VanMorrison’s voice, guitar and saxophone continue to mesmerise and he is surrounded, as always, by a fabulous band – Richard Dunn (Hammond organ), Stuart McIlroy (piano), Pete Hurley (bass) and Colin Griffin (drums and percussion) – who have worked with him since ‘Three Chords and the Truth’ in 2019.
The single ‘Down To Joy’ feels like he has gone back to his soul and gospel roots, its strong emphasis on an uplifting big band arrangement with evocative strings providing fans with a taste of timeless sounds which represents the rest of the album. Beyond his key band members, “Remembering Now” features an array of accomplished collaborators. Its strings were arranged and directed by Fiachra Trench (Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello), whose association with Van Morrison goes back to ‘Avalon Sunset’ in 1989. Those strings were performed by the Fews Ensemble led by Joanne Quigley. Other contributions come from Michael Beckwith, the founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center, the renowned lyricist Don Black (Ennio Morricone, John Barry, Quincy Jones); and the acclaimed folk artist Seth Lakeman.
The album follows the acclaimed covers albums “Moving On Skiffle” and “Accentuate ThePositive”. Remembering Now’ (out June 13th)
John Townes Van Zandt, better known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American singer-songwriter. He wrote numerous songs that are widely considered masterpieces of American folk music.
This reissue of a 1993 live album was never intended to memorialize Townes Van Zandt (in the saddest of posthumous ironies, its Sugar Hill sleeve includes a phone number to call for bookings), Originally released by Sundown, a tiny Austin indie with limited distribution, the 17-song set finds Van Zandt in fine form — upbeat, gracious, apparently sober — and in good company, with fiddler Owen Cody and guitarist Danny Rowland adding a dimension of musical enhancement that never overwhelms the nuances of the material. As anyone who ever saw Van Zandt fall off a stool recognizes, there was no such thing as a typical Townes performance, but when he was good, no one working in the Texas troubadour tradition has ever been better.
While the hallmark of Van Zandt’s songwriting was his ability to render the most profound insights in the most plain-spoken language, the literary part of his artistry was but an element of the musical equation. His voice fit his melodies the way his melodies fit his meaning, each reinforcing the others. The result was a uniquely metaphysical brand of blues, a seamless synthesis of Lightnin’ Hopkins and Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie and Soren Kierkegaard. The laconic resignation in his voice was that of a man staring, unflinching, into the abyss, while his softer side found solace in tender mercies, those that helped but could not last. Listeners only familiar with this album’s higher-profile material in more popular renditions by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard (“Pancho & Lefty”), Don Williams and Emmylou Harris (“If I Needed You”) or Nanci Griffith and Arlo Guthrie (“Tecumseh Valley”) may have heard the tunes, heard the words, but they haven’t really heard the songs until they’ve heard Townes.
Predictably, the album finds Van Zandt providing his own best epitaph:
Hooveriii are back and after four albums of extra-dimensional exploration, the band deliver ‘Manhunter’, a certified ripper with the controls set directly for the heart of the cosmic groove.
The first single and video locked and loaded for you on their site and have this to say: “Cali’s own fever dream denizens, Hooveriii, follow up one of their most meticulous albums, 2023’s prog-stacked stunner ‘Pointe’, with one of their most immediate. Trading layered psych-pop sundries for the cathartic crunch of guitars, the new album tears out of the speakers on the ozone burn of “Westside Pavilion of Dreams.” Recorded with Eric Bauer at the short-lived psych-punk pressure cooker Discount Mirrors, the new album lets the amps sweat and the hooks grow large.”
After four albums of extra-dimensional exploration, Hooveriii delivered “Manhunter” with the controls set directly for the heart of the cosmic groove. Expertly synthesizing their influences and still managing to bring even more to the party, from spiky post punk to beautiful new age excursions and mammoth 70’s arena rock hooks, “Manhunter” delivers not only their best album yet but an instant classic for all the psych-heads, stoners and dimensionauts.
Get your hands on the web exclusive “Heavenly Gates” pressing, limited to just 300 copies
In the autumn of 1972, Plainsong released their beautiful debut album “In Search of Amelia Earhart”. It was the height of the golden era of English folk rock. The record received universal critical acclaim for its musicianship and sublime singing, but just three months after its release the group disbanded in acrimony.
In the fifty years that have followed the album’s release, what we know about the original incarnation of Plainsong has been shrouded in myth and misinformation. “The Search for Plainsong” tells the true story of the group and their classic album for the first time. It is a cautionary tale told through the voices of the key protagonists and those who were lucky enough to see Plainsong in full flight or bought the album first time round. Plainsong, formed in London in late 1971; comprised of singer Iain Matthews, who with Matthews Southern Comfort had a worldwide hit with Joni Mitchell’s song ‘Woodstock’; former Liverpool Scene and Everyone guitarist Andy Roberts; piano and bass player David Richards; and the New York guitarist Bobby Ronga. The four met at Iain’s north London flat in December 1971 after recording and playing together in various combinations over the previous couple of months. They spent the afternoon working out an arrangement of ‘Along Comes Mary’, a Tandyn Almer song that had been a 1966 US hit for The Association, and agreed that if it worked they would go ahead and become a band. They worked throughout 1972, touring the UK and Europe, recording numerous sessions for the BBC plus two excellent albums (the second of which remained unreleased until 2005) before breaking up at the end of that year as Iain headed to California to begin a new career as a solo artist.
“In Search of Amelia Earhart” remains a folk-rock classic. For those who don’t know it, it might just be the greatest debut album you never heard.
‘A group that doesn’t come up and sock you in the eye, all decibels blaring, but kind of sneaks up and insinuates itself into your psyche almost before you have begun to notice it. By that time you are hooked by its gentle genius.’ – Karl Dallas, Melody Maker
‘In Search of Amelia Earhart” is, and let us not mince words, the finest display of gentle, sometimes liltingly so, English folkiness and rockabilly to surface in a long while.’ Cameron Crowe, San Diego Door
‘A startlingly fine album.’ Charles Shaar Murray, NME, This 6CD box set, released some 50 years after their 1972 debut with ‘In Search Of Amelia Earhart’, not only contains that album digitally remastered from the original tapes but also the ‘Now We Are 3’ second album, alongside a host of previously unissued tracks from Iain and Andy’s own archives and from the collections of fans worldwide.
Contains over 50% previously unreleased material, including: several rare 1970s BBC recordings, the full original 1972 Folk Fairport concert in Amsterdam, and excerpts from the very first concert by the reformed Plainsong in Mayrhofen, Austria in 1993. Plus 2020 remakes of Amelia songs originally recorded to accompany Ian Clayton’s book In Search Of Plainsong.
The Deluxe Edition comes with a CD of a previously unheard Plainsong concert,
Experience Hawkwind like never before!. “A Quiet Night In with Hawkwind” at Stamford Corn Exchange Theatre on Wednesday 16th April will feature exclusive improvised performances and stories from Dave Brock and co, sharing highlights from their incredible career that began in 1969.
Toronto’s favourite pop-punk band PUP are back! Their fifth album, “Who Will Look After the Dogs?”, is set to arrive May 2nd via Little Dipper/RiseRecords. The project comes nearly three years after the band’s last, the very sweet and whole-hearted “The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND”.
They’re also previewing what’s to come with new single “Hallways“, with Stefan sharing of the story behind it:
“I wrote the lyrics for “Hallways” while all that was going on. It was a weird fucking week. The title of our new record, “Who Will Look After The Dogs?“, is what I wrote at the top of the page, the very first thing written for this album. I think it’s devastating, but in a ‘holy shit this is overdramatic’ kinda way. At least in context of the line that comes before it. That’s what makes it funny to us.
“That overblown stuff we all say in our dark moments can be hilarious once you’ve cooled off a bit. I don’t know if anyone else thinks it’s funny, but sometimes you gotta laugh at yourself. It’s the only way out of the abyss. Trust me.”
The Canadian punk faves are Stefan Babcock, Nestor Chumak, Zack Mykula and Steve Sladkowski
New album ‘Who Will Look After The Dogs’ out 2nd May via Rise Records.
The Fat Angel Sings 