The Fat Angel Sings

Julia Holter always knew that there was more to the song “Materia” than what she included on her wondrous 2024 album, Something in the Room She Moves. She had written the tune not long after the tours for 2018’s Aviary concluded, and it worked well for solo shows—her voice and piano, lyrics still morphing as she played with the meaning.
 
But on the new Materia, a kind of companion LP to Something, Holter has realized not one but two distinct versions of the song. “Materia 2” is a hallucinatory dream of drum machines, fretless bass, and clarinet, Holter’s voice spiralling through ether alongside that of Jessika Kenney. And on “Materia 3,” intended as a hidden bonus track in an homage to the CD era of her youth, Holter literally slows down the take from Something. The change not only emphasizes the unpredictable glory of the harmonies within but also reiterates the song’s emotional sophistication, the sense that it’s about learning how to live.
 
“Materia” is only seven tracks long, but Holter works in nearly that many modes here. There are two astounding improvisations, one where she builds a one-person ensemble of drum machines and synth lines and another where she manipulates her voice until each word seems to contain another symphony. And yet another is built from a riff that came from a demo for “Something”, a demo that itself is one of “Materia’s” most spellbinding and emotional pieces, “My Twin.” These seven songs show that Holter is among her generation’s most fluid writers of art-pop, moving among ideas and idioms with true exploratory aplomb. “Materia” is a kind of playground for Holter, where each distinct scene steadily coheres into a moving whole.

I made it inspired by the musicians that made up “Something In the Room She Moves” and its tour. I wanted to continue building songs in this realm & it became a sister album that wandered off to its own world.
The fretless bass writing & performance of Devra Hoff are central to this record; I have been turning her bass up high in the mix since “Loud City Song”. Beth Goodfellow‘s percussion is mesmerizing & her creative spirit contagious; studio recordings of her, Devra and me playing at once, vibing off each other, were the foundation for a lot of these songs.
Chris Speed’s kaleidoscopic winds form another main vocal in a way & he has generously contributed wild and visionary melodies to my songs since 2013. Maia’s transcendent flute is also like a voice—she sometimes is in fact singing into the flute, forming a pivotal moment in the record during “My Lost One”.

One of my favorite voices ever is that of Jessika Kenney, so I was delighted for her to bring her magic to “Materia 2”. It was a joy to record again 64 Sound w the assistance of Tyler Karmen and also record overdubs Stones Throw Studios. Importantly, enormous thanks to talented Kenny Gilmore, who co-produced, engineered & mixed the record; I am fortunate to work w a longtime friend w a great ear who always gets it. And the great Heba Kadry did a beautiful job mastering.

Thank you so much to Chantal Anderson for bringing her vision over to my house to shoot this special & unearthly photo that has become the cover. And as always, very appreciative of the great Matthew Cooper for his gorgeous art design.

Loving appreciation overall for my dear partner Tashi Wada’s wide array of offerings throughout the making of “Materia” from his dreamy analogue synth work to tape engineering to art direction to photos to his overall kindness & support.

Thankful for Domino Recording Co making this record happen so thoughtfully.

Boston has announced that they will release a 50th anniversary edition of their iconic debut album in 2027 featuring “lost demos” recorded during the sessions for the original LP.

In late summer of 1976, a self-titled album from Tom Scholz’s basement studio, was quietly released on CBS’s Epic Records label, under the name BOSTON. Listeners across the country quickly embraced the bright, punchy BOSTON sound, with its relatable lyrics, meticulously double-tracked guitar tracks, and singer Brad Delp’s powerful, crystalline lead vocals. The sheer assertiveness of the writing, performances, and sonics—coupled with the album’s joyfulness—helped thrust the band and their debut into the stratosphere. Within three months of its release, BOSTON was awarded both gold and platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), while nearly every song from the album was in constant rotation on pop and rock radio.

The band revealed the news on the 50th anniversary of the release date for the “Boston” album, which originally arrived August 25th, 1976. The new expansion is being “released in close collaboration with Tom Scholz,” by Impex Records and is currently scheduled to come out in the second quarter of next year.

Recognizing that the album has been reissued a number of times over the years, Scholz personally supervised the production of the upcoming expansion, with a goal of delivering “the most authentic version of this oft-reissued classic,” the group detailed in a press release.

“Wishing to offer something truly unique to the millions of Boston fans who’ve supported the band through the years, Tom has—for the very first time—dug deep into his massive archive of recordings to find the long-lost, previously-unreleased demos he famously shopped to the labels before being signed by Epic Records,” they shared. “He painstakingly restored and remastered these elusive treasures with the help of producer, digital expert and Boston guitarist Gary Pihl, exclusively for this 50th anniversary release.”

Although the songwriting on Boston’s self-titled is fairly by the numbers by certain rock standards, the real power behind it is just how much Scholz put into the background. Having invented his own guitar pedal to work on most of the songs, his guitars have a cutting midrange that sounds like a metal guitarist just randomly decided to show up on a rock and roll tune.

Outside of playing most of the instruments himself, hearing Brad Delp pull off superhuman vocal exercises is the musical equivalent of looking into the sun half the time. ‘More Than A Feeling’ and ‘Smokin’ might get celebrated as singles, but taken as a whole, this album should be studied by any high-profile producer to know what to look for in a great mix.

The band’s signature hit “More Than A Feeling” entered The Billboard’s Hot 100 on September 18th, 1976 and peaked at Number 5 on Christmas Day, spending 19 weeks on the chart. The single also reached Number 4 on Cash Box’s singles chart. The album’s second single “Peace of Mind” was released on January 7th, 1977 and peaked at Number 22 on The Billboard’s Hot 100.

The specific demos that are being released have not been unveiled yet, but the press release says it will give music historians and fans a chance to “peek inside Tom’s basement studio — and the ability to trace how the creative process progressed as Scholz, vocalist Brad Delp and the other musicians were working on the Boston album. Additional details for the upgraded album note that Scholz and Pihl “restored” the demos, but they were “left in their original sonic state.”

Jack White honored Dolly Parton by covering her classic song “Jolene” during his performance in London on Tuesday night (August. 23rd).

Earlier in the day, Dolly Parton died at the age of 80. The country singer’s passing spawned an outpouring of tributes from fellow musicians and fans alike, as people from all walks of life celebrated Parton’s career and philanthropic achievements. White, a longtime admirer of Parton’s, posted a simple tribute on Instagram which read “Instant sainthood,” alongside a classic image of the country star. Then, during his concert at the Eventim Apollo in London, he opted to celebrate Parton with one of her best-known tunes.

After opening his set with the recent single “That’s How I’m Feeling,” followed by the White Stripes classic “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” White surprised the crowd by launching into “Jolene” for the first time in 19 years.

White was drawn to “Jolene” even before he became a musician. “I thought that was an interesting name when I started hearing that song as a teenager,” he recalled to NPR in 2008. “And I guess later on, as a songwriter, I started to think about names starting with ‘J,’ like that could be used almost accusatory, like Jezebel… Jolene.“

In a clip shared on social media (which you can watch below), White can be seen rocking through the emotionally-charged song. At one point he looked away and pointed to the sky, before then clasping his hands as if he was saying a prayer of thanks for Parton.

According to setlist.fm, the last time White performed “Jolene” in concert was 2007 during the White Stripes’ July 24 concert at Madison Square Garden. He had not performed it live during his solo career until today.

Dolly Parton originally released the song in 1974. It reached No. 1 on the country chart and earned the singer a pair of Grammy nominations. Decades later, the White Stripes put their own unique spin on the tune – first releasing it as the B-side to the single “Hello Operator,” before later making it a staple of their live sets (Parton referred to their interpretation of the tune as “wonderful”).

Foreigner are too release an expanded version of their album “Head Games” due out on October. 30th.

The box set version of the 1979 album, which features concert staples such as the title track and “Dirty White Boy,” will include a disc of outtakes and alternative versions, as well as a newly unearthed complete concert from the Head Games tour.

The previously unreleased song “Trouble” has been remixed and released as the first taste of the “Head Games” set, with a newly added guitar solo from none other than Peter Frampton.

You can hear “Trouble” below, Originally recorded in May 1979 during the original ‘Head Games’ album sessions at Atlantic Studios in New York City, “Trouble” was recently discovered during research for the ‘Head Games Deluxe’ edition album -. This previously unreleased track has been freshly remixed & remastered, and features a newly added guest guitar appearance by longtime friend of the band, Peter Frampton.

Foreigner are currently wrapping up the last few dates of their summer co-headlining tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Twenty years. Ten releases. One word: Hope. “Asha” is Elephant Stone‘s most intimate record yet — a collection born from loss and shaped by light. Named for frontman Rishi Dhir‘s late mother, the album carries its meaning in Sanskrit: hope. In a world growing darker, it arrives as a shelter. Produced, engineered, and mixed by Dhir at Sacred Sounds in Montreal, “Asha” finds the band — Dhir, Miles Dupire, Robbie MacArthur and Jason Kent — at their most emotionally direct and sonically expansive, with a guest appearance by Amy Millan on the closing track.

With a discography spanning 10 acclaimed releases, Elephant Stone remain at the forefront of the modern movement, constantly deconstructing the past to find something visceral, haunting, and undeniably human in the present.

Elephant Stone celebrates 20 years and a milestone 10th studio release with “ASHA”, their most visceral and personal project to date.

From the upcoming album “ASHA” out August 28th, 2026
Label: Elephants On Parade/Little Cloud Records

Purple mountains, empty highways, jet trails as the sun fades; Dogwood Tales paint in valley colours on their album “Every Star In Rockingham County“. Hailing from Harrisonburg, VA in the heart of Shenandoah, the band features founders and childhood friends Kyle Grim (guitar/vocals) and Ben Ryan (guitar/vocals), alongside college contemporaries Jake Golibart (drums) and Danny Gibney (bass).

With its location in its title, their new album is as much a love letter to the local DIY scene, vast farmlands, and surrounding mystical mountains as it is a portrait of present-day small-town American life. The humming electric guitars over beds of pedal steel and earnest lyricism find the album in dialogue with indie rock’s current lo-fi country romanticism — and lyrically pays homage to revered American songwriters in the footsteps of Townes Van Zandt — but ultimately takes listeners on a ride through uncharted territory.

It’s a ride through Rockingham County, through the moody valley, the tight bond of four friends coming of age in a rural Virginia town, and a digital age where loneliness is far too prevalent. Thankfully, we’ve got the stars to keep us company.

The late, great Steve Cropper had another ace up his sleeve before his tragic passing in December 2025. To anyone who knows the roots and branches of American  music, the loss of The Colonel was seismic. As guitarist, songwriter, producer and engineer — not just for the iconic Stax record label but on a forest of sessions and solo releases — the Tennessee soul man was the DNA that coursed through the post-war era, his fabled right hand setting the pace of rock ’n’ roll for 60-plus years.

The legendary musician was working on this new record, and with “Watching The Tide”, he has left a beautiful gift to the world, featuring an all-star cast including Eric Clapton, Brian May, Billy Gibbons and Ronnie Wood.

The wider world assumed 2024’s star-dusted, Grammy-nominated “Friendlytown” was the full stop on this most seminal of careers. Little did we know this towering figure had one last play. “Making music was Steve’s greatest joy,” explains Jon Tiven, the acclaimed songwriter/producer who first met Cropper in the early ’70s, became a close friend and helped ignite his post-millennial solo career. “Steve was so encouraged by “Friendlytown”. He was adamant he wanted to do another record.

On their sixth record, Allah-Las embrace a fully instrumental template that oscillates with hypnotic, rhythmic textures and soft ambient currents. Wrapped in the ambiance of aquatic soundscapes, the grooves channel atmospheres where sundowns meet blurred, gauzy perceptions. With references to the likes of English electronic duo Ultramarine and The Durutti Column’s Vini Reilly, the free-wheeling pathways of “Sirenas” offers a fascinating pivot that leaves the door open for boundless transmissions . . .

“Allah-Las make music that resists easy placement. Since forming in Los Angeles in 2008, the band have steadily sidestepped trends, creating a sound rooted not in nostalgia, but in feel — instinctual, atmospheric, and often instrumental in its storytelling, even when words are present.

Their records suggest a band uninterested in spectacle, and focused instead on tone, pacing, and space. The easy friendship that blossomed when three of the four members were working at Amoeba 
 Music has evolved into a lauded body of work grounded in storytelling and discovery. 2016’s “Calico Review” was a cinematic exploration of their hometown of Los Angeles, while 2019’s “LAHS” saw them looking farther abroad, turning their gaze outward and transmitting sound from a place not found on any map.

It’s a similar fascination with vast listening, inner and outer traveling, and collective imagining that steers their new album “Sirenas”, the band’s first fully instrumental expression

 “I Must Be Dreaming” is the first new album from Alabama Shakes in more than a decade. The album expands on 2015’s album “Sound And Color’s” unfettered exploration, leaning toward a viscerally charged form of psychedelic soul. Produced by Alabama Shakes and their repeat collaborator Shawn Everett, the album came to life at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios and Blackbird Studio.

While the album sustains their signature intensity, its songs often wander into more lush and otherworldly terrain, revealing a more exacting command of atmosphere and space. Singer-guitarist Brittany Howard explains that the album’s title has a double meaning, reflecting both disbelief at the state of the world and recognition of its beauty.

“It’s a snapshot of what we’re living through in 2026,” says Brittany Howard of Alamaba Shakes’ simmering new protest single. “I look around and wonder how we got to a place where there’s so much strain and so little support. I mean, it shouldn’t be impossible to take off work so you can bring your child to the doctor—that’s actually insane. My hope is that one day people will hear this song and say, ‘Yeah, shit was crazy back then, but we made it through.’”

From the archives of the Zuma ‘85 sessions come ‘Countryman ‘82’ and ‘Dume Room’, a small sampling of oddities and lost recordings left on the mixing room floor.

released August 1, 2025
Matt Correia / Drums, Percussion
Spencer Dunham / Bass
Miles Michaud / Guitar, Organ
Pedrum Siadatian / Lead Guitar, Synthesizer

Recorded and produced by Allah-Las (& Jeremy Harris on “Dume Room”)