The Fat Angel Sings

Irish rock legends Thin Lizzy have announced they will release their first new album in over 40 years early next year. We are thrilled to announce the release of “Thin Lizzy – Acoustic Sessions”, a ground breaking new frontline album that brings together the legendary voice of Philip Lynott, the masterful guitar work of founding member Eric Bell, and the powerful original drum takes of Brian Downey.

This unique project offers fans a rare opportunity to experience Thin Lizzy’s classic hits like never before, with Lynott’s previously unheard vocal takes perfectly complemented by Bell’s fresh acoustic arrangements and Downey’s dynamic drumming. Drawing on material from the band’s iconic Decca era, the album revisits tracks from Thin Lizzy’s first three albums, presenting them in an intimate, stripped-down format that is sure to captivate both long time fans and a new generation of listeners.

Titled “The Acoustic Sessions“, the record will comprise acoustic re-imaginings of classic songs that pair unreleased Phil Lynott vocal tracks with brand-new guitar parts recorded by original member, Eric Bell.

Renowned for their twin guitar harmonies, Thin Lizzy found themselves exploring a heavier sound on their last studio album, 1983’s “Thunder and Lightning”.

Not long after that record arrived, the band came to an abrupt halt following the death of bass player and founding member Phil Lynott in 1986.

Despite sporadically touring with various new-look line ups over the years, the Thin Lizzy brand has released no official music has since then. As such, this new record represents the first new Thin Lizzy release for over four decades.

Eric Bell was part of the band’s original line-up alongside Lynott and drummer Brian Downey. He and organist Eric Wrixon would eventually make way for what would become the band’s most-known line-up, featuring Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson.  

As the guitarist attests, the acoustic reworkings – which tackle classics such as “Whiskey In The Jar,” “Shades of a Blue Orphanage” and “Dublin” – hark back to their original song writing tact. Of recording “Eire” from their 1971 self-titled debut, Bell says: “I wrote the main guitar part first on acoustic and then we built it up from there. I played the 12-string acoustic guitar throughout the track and introduced the electric on top.

“This was useful in the studio in Belfast recently where we recorded fresh guitar parts to allow us to create new Thin Lizzy acoustic versions of some of our favourite songs,” he continues. That found the guitarist and producer Richard Whittaker “recreating those original acoustic parts and adding the vocals which Philip laid down on the day and those original drum parts”.

There have been numerous versions of Thin Lizzy’s classic “Whiskey In The Jar” over the years, including Metallica’s hugely successful Garage Inc. cover, but this marks the first official acoustic release from the band. Its origins as an Irish folk song can reportedly be traced back to the 1700s, but Lynott and co. breathed fresh life into it in 1972, when it appeared as a bonus track on “Vagabonds of the Western World”.

Whittaker, who was tasked with scouring the original recording sessions to create skeleton tracks for Bell, believes “we’ve made something really quite unique and special”.

“Acoustic Sessions” releases on January 24th 2025 via Decca Records. A special two-disc edition includes an exclusive bonus track, “Slow Blues G.M“, written as a tribute to Gary Moore.

Tori Amos will release a new live album, in December, called “Diving Deep Live”. It was recorded during Tori Amos’s 93-date Ocean to Ocean tour (SDE was at the Palladium in London) and as the title suggests, the idea is for this album to highlight deeper cuts, fan favourites etc. Despite that, the first single is the decidedly un-deep cut ‘Cornflake Girl’,  “Diving Deep Live” is available on 2LP vinyl and CD. The 2CD set offers four extra songs.

Tori Amos has long been renowned for never playing the same show twice. As The Guardian noted in 2022, she “is famous for her eclectic setlists peppered with fan favourites, B-sides, and covers.” Now these unique live performances, which also feature Musical Director and bassist Jon Evans and drummer and percussionist Ash Soan, are captured in a new live album “Diving Deep Live”, The tour, which spanned 93 dates across the globe throughout 2022 and 2023.

Standing as a welcome reminder of Amos’s brilliance as a virtuosic musician and performer, “Diving Deep Live” features tracks from across her iconic catalogue, “Silent All These Years”, which appeared on 1992 debut “Little Earthquakes“, and “God” from Amos’ 1994 album “Under The Pink”.

Tori Amos: “After having already moved the entire tour twice due to the Pandemic, I was eventually able to start rehearsing with the band, which for this tour consisted of my musical friend of a million years, MD and bassist Jon Evans, and, for the first time, renowned drummer and percussionist Ash Soan. By the time we set off, Europe had still not fully opened up so we played the UK and Ireland and headed to the States. By the time we finished in late summer 2023 we couldn’t believe how quickly time had passed and how much fun we’d had. Playing with these two beings was one of the greatest experiences I have had on stage. To be able to sit back and jam with the guys was so very special and I truly hope anyone listening will find themselves getting lost in the moment just like we did.”

During the course of an illustrious 35-year career, Amos has sold over 12 million records, performed 1000s of concerts, been nominated for eight Grammys and won countless awards. A noted humanitarian, Amos was the first spokesperson for RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network), which is the United States’ largest anti-sexual assault organisation. Amos’ legacy and impact on female artists today is as prevalent and dynamic as ever – Halsey recently paid homage to Amos as one of the artists that has inspired her most in her career saying “I grew up on Tori and have always considered her in a class of her own”. In October this year, lifelong fan Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes presented Amos with the Inspirational Artist Award at Music Week’s ‘Women in Music’ event to rapturous applause and a standing ovation from the thousands of women present working in the industry.

There’s a special ‘coke bottle’ clear vinyl edition available via D2C channels and an indie exclusive ‘bone’ coloured vinyl edition available.

The album will be issued on 6th December 2024, via Decca.

As The Rolling Stones were preparing to play two nights at Wembley Stadium in June 1999, their first London shows in 4 years, they announced a surprise show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire for June 8th, 1999. An intimate crowd of 1800 lucky fans were treated to a number of rarely heard gems over the course of 96 minutes. The band played a number of rarely heard gems over the course of an hour and a half.  As Mick Jagger stated from the stage that night, “If you want to see the hits go to the big place down the road”. And as promised, the deep cuts were deep – “Melody” (from 1976’s “Black and Blue“) performed for the first time since 1977, while “Moon Is Up” (from 1994’s “Voodoo Lounge“) was also brought to the stage for the only time in the band’s live career. the support act
Sheryl Crow, opened the show, joins the band during “Honky Tonk Women”.

This release is being issued as a 2CD+blu-ray set, on 4K UHD blu-ray and as a 2LP vinyl package. The show has been mixed in Dolby Atmos which is promoted as being on the 4K blu-ray but it should be on the blu-ray on the 2CD+blu-ray package as well. 

“Welcome to Shepherd’s Bush” will be released on 6th December 2024 via Mercury Studios.

Mount Eerie (aka Phil Elverum) new album, “Night Palace”, released this Friday via Elverum’s own P.W. Elverum & Sun label. Now he has shared another song from it, “Non-Metaphorical Decolonization,” and announced some new 2025 tour dates. “Non-Metaphorical Decolonization” is the final single from the album and is accompanied by a music video.

Elverum had this to say about the song in a press release: “The final single to be released in advance of “Night Palace” is a break in the clouds, a clear voice bringing down an unambiguous hammer onto the ground of here and now: We live in the raw wound of a stolen continent empowered by multi-generational internalized racist destruction. Our self-serving dishonesty and subliminal ignorance will only keep us trapped as cycling perpetrators, so why not look right at the thing and give it a name? Liberate all, past and future! Start with giving up everything.”

When the album was announced, Mount Eerie shared two new songs from it, “Broom of the Wind” and “I Walk,” the former via a music video.

Thier was a third single, “I Saw Another Bird,” The last Mount Eerie album was 2019’s “Lost Wisdom pt. 2”. Which was a collaboration with singer Julie Doiron (in 2008 Elverum and Doiron previously collaborated on the Mount Eerie album “Lost Wisdom“). In 2020 he also revived his previous musical moniker, The Microphones, releasing the first album under that name in 17 years, Microphones in 2020.

Elverum directed his energy toward building a house and what he has called “basic forest maintenance” on a parcel of land on Orcas Island, Washington, where he moved with his young daughter after Elverum’s brief marriage to the actress Michelle Williams fell apart in 2019.

A press release says that “Night Palace” was written and recorded in the aftermath life-changing events, as Elverum attempted to settle into his new life. As the press release puts it: “After a natural disaster, things do grow back. A person catching their breath after a traumatic experience has a kind of reoriented clarity. Art that is made without urgency or expectation has a chance to reach beyond the usual. It was in this patient clarity that “Night Palace” came to be written and recorded from 2022 to 2024. Elverum’s life settled back down and he reassembled the old analogue reel to reel studio at his quiet deep woods home and began experimenting again.”

The video for the song “Non-Metaphorical Decolonization” by Mount Eerie made by Phil Elverum, except for a couple shots by Peter J. Brant from 2014

“Night Palace”, released November 1st, 2024

This is Rundgren’s 19th album and finds him returning to the guitar heavy rock of his earlier albums, inspired by his stint with The Cars’ Elliot Easton and Greg Hakes in The New Cars!

American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. Hailed in the early stages of his career for both his own material and for his production of other artists, supported by the certified gold solo double LP “Something/Anything?” in 1972, his career has produced a diverse and eclectic range of recordings often both as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia

If ever a title explained an album’s intent, it’s Todd Rundgren’s “Arena“, an explicit return to the extravagantly theatrical guitar rock he abandoned, largely out of boredom, some 25 years ago. During that quarter century, Rundgren touched upon almost all of his other obsessions, spending a considerable amount of time fixated upon technology, but deliberately avoided anything resembling Utopia until he stepped in for an absent Ric Ocasek for the 2005 Cars reunion which followed on the heels of “Liars”, Todd’s strongest and poppiest album in years. The New Cars — as the reunited band was wittily dubbed — returned Rundgren to arenas and reignited his interest in outsized rock & roll, so he threw himself into a project that gave him an excuse to sing skyscraper hooks and play too much guitar, which is exactly what “Arena” promises and delivers. Apart from an occasional glimpse of computer-stitched seams, the album is an uncanny recreation of Todd’s late-’70s/early-’80s period

Ever the multi-talented artist, Rundgren performs every note, drum fill and vocal harmony on this album!

Like several of his earlier albums, this was entirely a solo effort, with Rundgren playing all the instruments. In contrast to his earlier albums, he produced this album entirely on an Apple laptop computer using Propellerhead’s Reason software for composition and Sonoma Wire Works’ RiffWorks for recording. 

released November 1st, 2024

The Vypers from Toronto, Ontario, The soundtrack to your Saturday night just dropped – “Nighttime” The Toronto psych rock wizards have returned with the blessing of new material. Today, they share the first we’ve heard from them since February’s “Welcome to the Gutter: Selected Demos 2020-2023“.

The group have also announced plans for their last-ever performance, which will be presented by Dan Burke at Expo 1978 on November 16th, with visuals by the Oscillitarium.

The show will also function as a release party for their upcoming self-titled LP, which is due to arrive the week prior on November 8th. Further album details, including tracklist and art, are still under wraps. They previously described the effort as “a massive hi-fi record.”

released November 2, 2024
Written and Performed by Vypers

Huw Stephens presents an exclusive and intimate session from The Cure.

Recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre in London’s Broadcasting House the band perform songs from their acclaimed back-catalogue, as well as tracks from their upcoming album “Songs Of A Lost World”. This session will also be available in vision on BBC iPlayer, alongside a performance for BBC Radio 2 In Concert.

Initially formed in 1978, The Cure has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, headlined the Glastonbury festival four times and were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. They are considered to be one of the most influential bands to ever come out of the UK.

“Songs Of A Lost World” sees the band release their first new music in sixteen years. The album was produced by Smith and Paul Corkett, who co-produced The Cure’s 2000 album “Bloodflowers”. The album features contributions from Robert Smith, Simon Gallup (bass), Jason Cooper (drums), Reeves Gabrels (guitar) and Roger O’Donnell (keyboards).

Robert Smith of The Cure, says: “It’s not often we perform such intimate shows, so we’re really looking forward to this, and to sharing more tracks from the new album for the first time on 6 Music and Radio 2.”

As they begin the European leg of their autumn tour, Indianapolis band  Wishy have shared a previously unheard track from the sessions that produced their new album “Triple Seven”. About “Planet Popstar,” Kevin Krauter says, “This song is about the feeling of longing for someone or something which, by all accounts, seems entirely out of reach. You could call Wishy’s story a lucky one. After prior monikers and iterations, Wishy was born as a kaleidoscope of alternative music’s semi-recent history, with traces of shoegaze, grunge and power-pop swirling together. On “Triple Seven”, Indiana songwriters Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites’ musical synergy proves itself to be a rare one–the kind that sounds like someone striking gold. Part sly wink and part warm gratitude, it’s only fitting their much anticipated full length debut is titled “Triple Seven”, where Wishy’s penchant for indelible hooks is couched equally in pillowy atmospherics and scathing distortion.

By day Krauter works as a music teacher, giving drum and guitar lessons to students, while Pitchkites is a seamstress by trade and often makes embroidered merch for the band. Coming up in a scene defined by hardcore and emo, Krauter and Pitchkites instead found themselves writing melodies in their heads while driving to work, pulling music from the air and arriving at a blearier, more ethereal interpretation of Midwest expanse. Initially, their music oscillated between hazy dream-pop and heavier alt-rock.

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder. We recorded this song during the “Triple Seven” sessions at the end of last year, but the song ultimately didn’t make it onto the album.”

“We recorded this song in Los Angeles in November 2022 with a bunch of other songs that ended up on “Live Laugh Love,” says Chastity Belt’s Julia Shapiro of “That Guy,” which is being released on a split 7″ with Austin band Holy Wave. “It didn’t quite make the cut, but I’m excited to release it now! I really love Lydia’s meandering lead guitar line. I remember her having so many different ideas of what she could do, and we were like, do them all! I wrote the lyrics after Chastity Belt had just come back from doing a bunch of touring, and I had to go back to normal life.

It’s always a rough transition for me. I feel so alive on tour! There’s this one line in the song about this habit I have with music where, when I find a new song that I love, I listen to it on repeat until it no longer makes me feel anything. Like I’ve drained all the blood from it.”

“That Guy” out February 7th, 2025 on Suicide Squeeze Records

Iggy Pop is an avant-garde icon and a punk pioneer. The Montreux Jazz Festival is a boundary-pushing event that brings the best of all musical genres to one gorgeous location every year.
“Live At Montreux Jazz Festival 2023” captures the dazzling Iggy Pop performance that could only happen here. First in a series of earMUSIC releases from the festival, this concert marked Iggy’s third appearance at the 57th edition of Montreux.

Rock icon Iggy Pop’s performance at the 2024 Montreux Jazz Festival is now being released as a live album on January 24th via earMUSIC. You can listen to “Five Foot One” (A track from 1979’s “New Values” album. Iggy says, “I give something extra every time I do Montreux Jazz set. In ’23 it was deep cuts like ‘Mass Production,’ ‘Endless Sea,’ ‘Five Foot One’ and a hell of a lot of sweat.”

Backed by a seven-piece band, Iggy breathes new fire into The Stooges classics like “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “T.V. Eye” and ignites the adoring crowd with visceral run-throughs of “The Passenger” and, of course, “Lust for Life.”
The year 2023 marked Iggy’s return to the top 10 in major territories with his album “Every Loser.”
It was the perfect moment to showcase his classic songs and share new ones (“Modern Day Ripoff,” Frenzy”) at the venerated Stravinski Auditorium.