A girl looking up at a painting of Joan of Arc for the first time and thinking that she looks so brave and so beautiful that she wants to kiss her. And maybe she also wants to kiss the girl who stands next to her in the school choir.
Out now everywhere Music video directed by Harv Frost and Dora Paphides. “My Lady of Mercy” was very much inspired by a couple of books in particular. Recommended reading: The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself, and Yukio Mishima’s Confessions of a Mask.
After the recent success of album “I Don’t Know”, bdrmm return with a 7” release of new track “Mud” and a remix of the recent album track “Be Careful”, which is reworked by fellow Hull outfit Fila Brazillia who have collaborated with everyone from Radiohead to Harold Budd, Black Uhuru, Twilight Singers, and The Orb. Recorded with long-time collaborator Alex Greaves (Working Men’s Club, Bo Ningen) during their album sessions at The Nave Studios in Leeds, “Mud” sees the band expanding further on their dynamic and sprawling sound, with oceanic production and atmospheric instrumentation, underpinned by the bands reverb heavy vocals.
For the better part of a decade, Los Angeles’s scrappy rock n’ roll mystics Death Valley Girls have used their music as a means of tapping into a communal cosmic energy. On albums like “Glow In The Dark” (2016), “Darkness Rains” (2018), and “Under the Spell of Joy” (2020) the band challenged the soul-crushing banality of modern society and celebrated “true magical innite potential” through a collage of scorching proto-punk riffs, earworm melodies, far-out lyrics, and lysergic auxiliary instrumentation. But on their latest album “Islands in the Sky”, Death Valley Girls’ songwriting mastermind Bonnie Bloomgarden uses the band’s anthemic revelries as a guidebook to spiritual healing and a roadmap for future incarnations of the self. And while these may be the loftiest aims of Death Valley Girls to date, the resulting music is also by far their most infectious and celebratory.
L.A.’s rock n’ roll mystics Death Valley Girls are back with their freshest drop, “Islands in the Sky”. Islands is ready to tap into the depths of your cosmic core with their infectious hybrid of psychedelic-infused space rock and surfy punk. Drift away with every spin of this record!
“They’ve always been great, but “Islands In The Sky” might be their best work yet.” – Stereogum
“A love letter to future incarnations of the self, “Islands in the Sky” fires on purring or Clint-Boon-like organs, garagey guitars; occasionally a kind of spooky Motown girl-group aesthetic. ★★★★” – MOJO
“Los Angeles-based indie rock band Death Valley Girls are instantly recognizable. Their sound is unique, all their own, and when it finds you, it climbs into your ears and makes a lovely nest of sonic appreciation.” – American Songwriter
𝖮𝗎𝗋 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝖺𝗅𝖻𝗎𝗆 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝟤𝟦th February on Suicide SqueezeRecords
One truth I can offer today is this: Squirrel Flower makes massive tunes. Between lead single “Full Time Job” and one of our song’s of the summer “Alley Light,” there’s no other way to describe Ella Williams’ artistry. Now, she’s given us access to “Intheskatepark,” a woozy, noisey heater that’ll burn through your bones. I can’t even begin to stress just how nuts the melody on this thing is, as Williams never overextends herself vocally.
The music Ella Williams makes as Squirrel Flower has always communicated a strong sense of place. Her self-released debut EP, 2015’s “early winter songs from middle america“, was written during her first year living in Iowa, where the winter months make those of her hometown, Boston, seem quaint by comparison. Since that first offering, Squirrel Flower amassed a fanbase beyond the Boston DIY scene with several releases.
The most recent, “Planet (i)”, was informed by climate anxiety, while the subsequent “Planet” EP marked an important turning point in Williams’ prolific career; the collection of demos was the first self-produced material she’d released in some time.
With a renewed confidence as a producer, she helmed “Tomorrow’s Fire” at Drop of Sun Studios in Asheville alongside storied engineer Alex Farrar (Wednesday, Indigo de Souza, Snail Mail). Working tirelessly through long studio sessions with no days off, Williams and Farrar tracked many of the instruments, building the songs together during the first week, and then assembled a studio band that included Matt McCaughan (Bon Iver), Seth Kauffman (Angel Olsen), Jake Lenderman (aka MJ Lenderman), and Dave Hartley (War on Drugs) lending their contributions.”
She arrives here with patient, angelic singing backed by thick, sludgy guitars. It’s not so much a grunge tune as it is soaring alt-rock glossed with candied delicacy. Can you believe this isn’t even the best song on Williams’ upcoming album “Tomorrow’s Fire?” It’s wild to see a masterpiece unfurl one chapter at a time.
Ella Williams: Guitar, Bass, vocals Alex Farrar: Drums, Guitar, Keys, bangin on a trashcan drinkin too much coffee MJ Lenderman: Guitar
Squirrel Flower’s new album, “Tomorrow’s Fire” – out October, 13th, 2023.
“Strays II” expands on Margo Price’s 2023 opus “Strays” with nine new songs, all recorded at “Strays” producer Jonathan Wilson’s Topanga studio during the same life-changing sessions as the rest of the album — and partially written amidst the formative, six-day psilocybin trip that Margo Price and Jeremy Ivey took the summer prior. On “Strays II”, Price is re-joined by collaborators Jonathan Wilson and Mike Campbell, along with new collaborators Buck Meek of Big Thief, and singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ny Oh. Together they dive deeper into the sacrifices it takes to find freedom, the grit it takes to make it, and the consequences that come with all of it.”
We’re so pleased to announce that our seventh album, “Some Of It Was True”, Written over the last two and a half years in hotels, backstages, basements, and rehearsal rooms and recorded during a life-changing retreat down south, “Some Of It Was True” is the most realized version of what we set out to do when we started this band 17 years ago—have fun and be ourselves.
“Some Of It Was True” is a collection of 13 songs centered around the prospect of hope and all the uncertainties that accompany it. Some songs are acts of love and joy, while others are in a neverending search for it. Together, they’re stories written from experiences of our own and from those we met along the way. The follow-up to 2019’s sensational “Hello Exile” accomplishes the daunting task of capturing The Menzingers’ distinctive live energy in the confines of the studio, resulting in a sound that’s both rich, raw, and complementary to the group’s increasingly prismatic song writing approach. More than 15 years in, The Menzingers are still holding their listeners square in the immediate present, and “Some Of It Was True” documents that power in thrilling fashion. The passage of time and how things change are, of course, topics that are always on peoples’ minds — but when it comes to “Some Of It Was True”,The Menzingers are kickstarting a new era in their already illustrious career by tapping into the energy that brought the band to life in the very beginning.
We can’t thank Bradley Cook enough for producing this album. Brad helped us cut through the noise to create something really true to heart, and his outlook on life and creativity will stay with us forever. We also owe a massive thanks to our friend Jon Low for lending his talents to the band once again by mixing the album. We absolutely couldn’t have done it without either of you.
Our third single, “Come on Heartache”, is out now! This one felt extra special from the get go, it’s one of our favourites off the album and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Very excited to share our new single, “There’s No Place In This World For Me” from our upcoming album that… well we can’t go into details just yet but trust us, it’s coming soon! This song is an anthem for anyone stuck between where they are and where they want to be. Recorded at Sonic Ranch in April 2023, produced by Brad Cook, mixed by Jon Low,.
“This record just feels different for us,” Barnett explains. “It’s a really important one in our catalogue, and a pivotal moment in our history. We have the liberty of our fans growing with us now, and after writing these lyrical songs about where we are in life, we decided to take other peoples’ stories and make something bigger out of it.”
Very excited to share our new single, “There’s No Place In This World For Me” from our upcoming album that… well we can’t go into details just yet but trust us, it’s coming soon! This song is an anthem for anyone stuck between where they are and where they want to be. At this point, The Menzingers are an absolute institution. The Philadelphia punk legends’ multi-decade reputation as road warriors with an unbeatable catalogue is cemented as hard truth— and their seventh album, “Some Of It Was True”, stands as their most immediate-sounding and energetic record to date.
from the upcoming album ‘Some Of It Was True’, out on October 13th
Back in October 2018, New Jersey alt-pop legends The Feelies played a special show at Jersey City’s White Eagle Hall where their main set was all VELVET UNDERGROUND covers. (It was in conjunction with the Velvet Underground Experience exhibit that was running in NYC at the time.) In that set, they played 18 classic covers of Velvet Underground tracks including “Who Loves The Sun”, “All Tomorrow’s Parties”, “That’s The Story Of My Life”, “White Light/White Heat”, “I’m Waiting For The Man”, “Sweet Jane”, and “Rock and Roll”.
The Feelies are one of the most influential bands to emerge from the NY post punk scene of the late 1970s and have continued to perform together and make records for 4 decades.
That show, featuring appearances by THE BONGOS‘ Richard Barone & James Maestro, was recorded & is now being released as a double live album, ‘Some Kinda Love: Performing The Music Of The Velvet Underground’, that will be out October 13th via Bar/None.
The Feelies left their underrated mark back in 1980 with their Stiff Records classic, “Crazy Rhythms”. Shored up by Bill Million, and Glenn Mercer, The Feelies released five more albums over a period of about 30 years. If you enjoyed the Stiff eclectic catalogue, then you would be overjoyed by their music with all six albums.
The Feelies certainly know their way around The Velvet Underground — they’ve probably covered a song at every shows they’ve played in the last 20 years — as you can hear on their version of ‘Loaded’ classic “Rock & Roll”.
Includes VU standards “Sweet Jane,” “Rock & Roll” and “I’m Waiting for the Man” as well as rarely covered material like “I Heard Her Call My Name” and “That’s the Story of My Life.” Double LP
Available October 13th, 2023. “Some Kinda Love.” 18 classic songs from the Velvet Underground catalogue performed by The Feelies at White Eagle Hall/ Jersey City, NJ – October 13th, 2018.
The 10th anniversary of Speedy Ortiz’s breakthrough debut “Major Arcana”, the band has announced a deluxe edition to be released on November 10th. In addition to a tracklist remastered by The Lodge’s Emily Lazar and Chris Allgood, the limited vinyl colour pressings come with a photo spread from vocalist Sadie Dupuis’ archives and special liner notes by Lars Gotrich of NPR Music.
“Speedy made “Major Arcana” in a flash of momentum four days of recording at Sonelab with our pal Justin Pizzoferrato, paid for with the cash we scrounged up on a summer tour of this country’s basements,” said Dupuis. “‘Tour tight’-ness was always our paramount goal, and I’d say we were sufficiently road-tested when we hammered out these fourteen songs, all of them stuffed to the brim with harmonies, guitarmonies, percussion, key overdubs written on the fly.”
Dupuis continued, “Though the 10 songs that made the album have morphed and mutated thanks to the stages they’ve graced across the past decade, when I listen back to the original recordings, I still hear our boundless energy, hunger for the highway, and excitement to play with our friends—and our dearest wish, to pay homage to the Massachusetts scenes that welcomed us so warmly.”
Check out a remastered version of “Tiger Tank”, Speedy Ortiz is currently touring their most recent release, “Rabbit Rabbit”
The special vinyl release will arrive on November 10th.
Spiritualized and Fat Possum Records have announced the reissue of the band’s 2003 classic “Amazing Grace”. The album will be released on January 19th as part of the second volume of “The Spaceman Reissue Program: Curated by J Spaceman”. Overlooked at the time, “Amazing Grace”is possibly the heaviest and most intimate Spiritualized record of all. A wild collection of blazing garage rock songs and beautifully tender, sometimes devastatingly sad, ballads. They are songs that reach for help from a broken place, ragged and lonely, in love with a world hanging by a thread. The feeling of the gospel standard that inspired the title – “through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come” – hangs like a shadow over the whole record, and J Spaceman’s heart and soul lies very close to the microphone.
Remastered for vinyl in London by engineer Matt Colton, the 180 gram album features a gatefold jacket designed by Mark Farrow. It will be available in both a standard black vinyl pressing and limited edition dove grey vinyl.
Absolute nihilism bleeds through the opening song “This Little Life of Mine”: “This little life of mine / I’m gonna let it slide / I’m gonna let it burn / I’m getting sick of trying.” In “The Ballad of Richie Lee”, a lament to the late Acetone singer, we have maybe the most brutally sad moment of the entire Spiritualized catalogue “He’s got his name on a rock again / And this time it’s the last”.
Then, out of the blackest nights of the soul, beautiful hymns appear, odes to falling in love and stayingin love. Songs like “Hold On”, “Oh Baby” and “Rated X” where we “Put your hand in my hand and maybe we’ll forget / That life had even started before the day we met.”
Accompanying this announcement are a bevy of official videos, including visuals for “Cheapster,” “She Kissed Me (It Felt Like a Hit),” and the previously-unreleased “Rated X” video. In addition to the reissue, Spiritualized will tour the East Coast of the USA throughout November, ahead of December shows supporting Queens of the Stone Age.
The recording of “Amazing Grace”was fast and experimental, executed in three weeks at Rockfield Studios in Wales. Spaceman would present the band with an idea for each song on the day of recording, and they would experiment until it felt right. The core musicians, John Coxon, Tony Foster and Tim Lewis were players au fait with the abstract and experimental, finding the sweet spots where The Stooges meet Arvo Part, where Patsy Cline meets 13th Floor Elevators and Aretha Franklin is down with Miles Davis’ Get Up With It. The result of this method is a polar opposite to the symphonic grandeur of its predecessor “Let It Come Down”but more powerful in its emotional impact.
The first stage of The Spaceman Reissue Program included the release of “Lazer Guided Melodies” (1992), “Pure Phase” (1995), “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space” (1997) and “Let It Come Down” (2001) over the course of 2021. Spiritualized also released their latest new record, “Everything Was Beautiful“, in 2022 to great acclaim.
20th anniversary edition of “Amazing Grace” January 19th, 2024
Once you’ve listened to an album hundreds of times, read everything there is to read about it, and seen it performed live on multiple occasions, how do you get even deeper and closer to that album? In the case of Alvvays’ latest record, you might try slurping the sweet sugary drink that gave Rev its name.
The band’s third album, “Blue Rev”, has made such an impact in its short lifespan just mere months after “Blue Rev’s” release, many publications crowned it as the very best album of 2022. It enchanted the likes of other musicians like Belinda Carlisle, Keanu Reeves, and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, whose acoustic dissection of “Pharmacist”O’Hanley called the “cherry on top” of their album cycle (“It was beautiful, devastating”). It led to sold-out shows in North America, Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. There was a breathtaking performance on the “The Tonight Show”; anexchange with Narduwar; and the band got the creator of their favourite video game to make them a music video.
Even on Late Night, I was colouring the drum skin with a Sharpie at, like, three in the morning before we flew out,” Rankin says, belying the magnificence of the “Belinda Says” performance. “We’re still on our hands and knees, piecing things together, and pulling pedals out of Mono bags on the airport floor.
Guitarist Alec O’Hanley says, reflecting on “Blue Rev” for its one-year anniversary and concurrent vinyl reissue. “You don’t know until you go down the garden path whether there’s a beautiful meadow at the end, or a dump,” O’Hanley agrees. And while each song on “Blue Rev” ended up a verdant meadow, a couple of dumps had to be passed en route, such as a bridge section to their Smiths homage “Pressed,” which was ostensibly left among the soiled couch cushions and rusting tricycles. “We spent, like, two days trying to graft that in there,” O’Hanley says. “It kind of sounded like Laurie Anderson or something. Usually when we get into the weeds it’s because we haven’t listened to Molly [Rankin]. She’s got a good sense for what’s a viable route and what’s just meandering.”
“We try to subject our songs to the same scrutiny as the bands we hold dear, like The Smiths or even ABBA. We’ll truly look in the mirror, holding up those giant records, and try to get there. And we never do, but because we have at least unflinchingly attempted to, we get somewhere reasonably cool.”
Elsewhere, innovative techniques included taping iPod earbuds to hi-hat cymbals and to vocalist Rankin’s throat, various layering experiments, and recording straight through all 14 songs with only 10-second pauses between each. “They had to keep playing as if they were playing a live show; it just gets you out of your head a little bit,” Everett explains. Also in his toy chest was his artificial skull microphone, which mimics the human head for binaural recording. “His grasp on the science of sound is really interesting; he has one foot in the future and one foot in analog tape, and that’s really exciting to me, how those worlds collide,” Rankin muses. “Shawn remarked to us that he hadn’t met people who were quite so willing to do the deep dives—either tonally or arrangement-wise or emotionally, I guess—in some time,” O’Hanley adds. “I think we’ve found another kindred Canadian buddy in Shawn.”
The only topic on which they diverged, at least initially, was the album’s track listing. “In the beginning, he thought our sequence was bonkers and now he’s like, ‘It’s perfect—I can’t believe we did that at 6:30 in the morning,’” Rankin laughs. “But I was actually crying at the time because I was so devastated that we were having to do it in that state of mind after spending so long writing and making the album.”
Opening with the fighter-jet Fender Jaguar tones of “Pharmacist,” “Blue Rev” begins to wind down with quite the opposite: “Pretty quiet out here, it’s abundantly clear / That no one’s been coming for me / No encouraging sounds, helicopters or hounds,” Rankin whispers on penultimate track “Lottery Noises,” an electric piano cooing beneath her. The one-two-three punch of “Pharmacist,” “Easy on Your Own?,” and ebullient fan-favourite “After the Earthquake”—the opening that Everett refers to above—gradually gives way to these more reserved offerings, beginning with the gossamer night breeze of “Tom Verlaine” at number four and continuing from there to smile and sigh in roughly equal measure.
The bared punk spin-off “Pomeranian Spinster” (one of Everett’s favorites) to sink into anything other than the stirring, Carlisle-inspired fable of new beginnings; for the mordacious machine-pop of “Very Online Guy” to release into anything other than “Velveteen” in all of its silky, sorrowful glory.
The Fat Angel Sings 