The Fat Angel Sings

“What should I tell her? She’s going to ask…” These words, are murmured by frontman Greg Dulli over a slithering, tendril guitar line like a snare tightening around its prey, open “Gentlemen”, the bands third album by the Afghan Whigs. Part-confessional, part-boast, part-catharsis, the album is as bleak and unforgiving an examination of love, lust, addiction and oblivion as the 1990s ever delivered.

What, then, does Dulli tell “her”, and also us? Only everything. Only every little black morsel of his heart, soul and groin. Only every little trick his brain knows to sell his ass to you, and how it feels the next morning, when he finds himself lying next to the latest victim of his narcotic charm, the harsh light of day leaving no scrap of cover for his shame and remorse. Context isn’t everything, but sometimes it’s important. In 1993, the year of “Gentlemen’s” birth, the grunge wave was peaking. Two years earlier, Nirvana’s “Nevermind” had crashed into the mainstream, 

We initially finished recording “Gentlemen” in May of 1993 but after I went back to Memphis that June to remix “What Jail Is Like” and “Debonair”, the release was pushed back a month to October. We all loved the record and were excited to go out and play it live. We toured it for a year straight and life was never the same. From the clattering introduction as John and I drove across the Roebling suspension bridge to the sun shining through the trees at the end of Brother Woodrow, we delivered on the promise of “Congregation” with the best record we knew how to make.

Afghan Whigs were different. Though previously signed to grunge’s signature imprint, Sub Pop, they hailed from Cincinnati. Dulli might occasionally have sprouted a hideous, ‘stache-less chin-beard as the era dictated, but he and his Whigs dressed sharp: shirts with collars, shoes you couldn’t wear on a basketball court, and the general ambience they might have stepped out of the frame of a Tarantino movie. And while their guitars often stirred much angst, like an infernal tornado of turbulence, their frame of reference was crucially adrift from their labelmates.

The Whigs: with their final Sub Pop release, 1992 covers EP “Uptown Avondale”, essayed tunes by Al Green and Percy Sledge, along with an acrid version of Freda Payne’s Band Of Gold, and a take on The Supremes’ ‘Come See About Me’. This EP wasn’t a one-off; included among the bonuses on the deluxe reissue of “Gentlemen” is a former B-Side, a live medley of The Supremes’ ‘My World Is Empty Without You’ and ‘I Hear A Symphony’ that correctly identifies the songbook of Motown bards Holland/Dozier/Holland as some of the heaviest, darkest, most emotional tuneage in music.

“Gentlemen’s” lyric sheet also set the Whigs far apart from others of their era. Dulli’s tales were blunter, darker, more adult. “Gentlemen” is an album about sex, and sometimes love; about the tangle, the aftermath, the gratification and then the recrimination. Romance, at least in any corny sense, is absent.

“Love” in the world of “Gentlemen” is a twisted and complex and contradictory thing, and sometimes Dulli’s purposefully evading it, in search of baser and more immediate pleasures. “Be Sweet” could be a signature song, of sorts. It’s the calling card of some kind of pick-up artist, back before celebrity creep.

Afghan Whigs would follow “Gentlemen” three years later with a more ambitious but less satisfying opus, “Black Love”, and 1998’s “1965”, their most accessible album yet, which nevertheless prefigured their split. Recently they reformed, delivering a comeback album, last year’s “Do To The Beast“, which in no way dishonoured that which had come before. In the interim, Dulli formed a new outfit, The Twilight Singers, though their subject matter, and their soulful, dark music, was strongly familiar.

The love that folks had and still have for it will never cease to make me smile. Happy 30th anniversary, old friend. I’ll never forget any of it. –Greg Dulli

Bleach Lab proudly call themselves perfectionists. The South London band formed in 2017 as a duo of bassist Josh Longman and guitarist Frank Wates, they then recruited vocalist Jenna Kyle before reaching their final form at the start of 2021 with the recruitment of drummer Kieran Weston. After releasing three EPs, they are now gearing up for their debut album “Lost In A Rush Of Emptiness”, where the band felt free to experiment, always keeping true to their alternative nature. The songs on it are packed with widescreen, dreamy soundscapes that pushed their aesthetics forwards and continued the experimentation that exists at the heart of the project.

With wave after wave of shiver-inducing shoegaze, glistening indie rock, and dream pop wash over the ears as Bleach Lab’s debut album drenches its audience not just in breath taking sound, but in visceral emotion. Released September 22nd, 2023 via Nettwerk Music Group, “Lost in a Rush of Emptiness” is the apotheosis of everything the London quartet have built over the last four years: As enchanting as it is achingly intimate, their first full-length is an immersive collection of inner reckonings and soul-stirring reflections on what it means to be alive. They plunder the depths of their own hearts and souls, ultimately delivering an experience that is at once wondrous and wistful, thought-provoking and deeply evocative.

It feels like everything that’s come before – the grief and trauma of “A Calm Sense of Surrounding” the heartache and vulnerability of “Nothing Feels Real” the haunting beauty and seductive, raw reverie of “If You Only Feel It Once” – has been leading up to this moment.

“This album is the result of years of work,” vocalist Jenna Kyle says. “Years experimenting, finding our sound, and finding out what our music meant to us. 

On this record, more than any other, you’re listening to our most personal stories, emotions, feelings, and each track means so much to us. All we hope is that you find a way to connect with these songs as much as we have.”

Bleach Lab – “Lost In A Rush Of Emptiness” released through Nettwerk Records

A band Combining two loves — music and baseball — The Baseball Project is a true indie supergroup. Featuring Mike Mills and Peter Buck, of R.E.M., Dream Syndicate frontman Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, leader of both The Minus 5 and and Young Fresh Fellows, and Linda Pittmon of The Filthy Friends, the band took the members’ baseball fandom and turned that into a passion project of songs about America’s Pastime.

With baseball’s more than century-long history, there is a lot of material for the group to write about, from a song about current phenomenon, Los Angeles Angels DH/pitcher Shoehi Ohtani, to legends like the Boston Red Sox Ted Williams.

One of the standout cuts on the band’s new album, “Grand Salami Time” (a term for a grand slam home run), is “Disco Demolition,” a song that looks back on one of baseball’s most infamous nights.

On July 12, 1979, the Chicago White Sox hosted “Disco Demolition Night,” a radio stunt gone horribly wrong. A local DJ hosted what was supposed to be a promotion, where fans got together and destroyed disco albums during the height of the disco backlash. But a riot ensued and the second game of the double header was canceled.

Thought of as a publicity stunt gone wrong at the time, the whole event has been rewritten in history as one that was actually racist and homophobic. Wynn writes about that in the song. But knowing the message of being open minded has to be delivered in a palatable way, the band found a brilliant way to do so, enlisting James Blagden, who did the animated video showcasing pitcher Dock Ellis’ very famous 1970s no-hitter, thrown while Ellis was on acid, to do an animated “Disco Demolition” clip, premiering here.

“Grand Salami Time” released on Omnivore Recordings June 30th, 2023.

“It’s been incredible making this,” he says. “Despite all the life stuff that’s happened, it has brought me immense happiness. I’ve always railed against it when people ask if making a record is cathartic but I’d have to admit that this one really was.”

Beautifully produced and rich in scope – ‘Iechyd Da’ is Bill Ryder-Jones’ most ambitious record to date. At times joyous and grand, at others intimate and heartbreaking, the past few years spent producing other artists have provided that gentle nudge to expand into new territory, from kids choirs and tender strings to dramatically re-contextualised disco samples.

“Iechyd Da” is Ryder-Jones’ first new record since Yawn in 2018. “I love this album,” says Ryder-Jones, “I haven’t been this proud of a record since “A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart.”

This exceptional album is released by Domino on January 12th. “Iechyd Da” is available to pre-order from the Domino store on exclusive coloured vinyl (with postcard), a Dinked-edition coloured vinyl (with exclusive Big Softies 7” & signed sleeve), Indies-exclusive coloured vinyl, standard vinyl, CD and digitally.

Bill Ryder-Jones has released a new track, “This Can’t Go On”, which is taken from his forthcoming album, Iechyd Da. on Domino Recordings

RC 550 will hit – skim across the surfaces of – the shelves like a shiny pebble from the past. The cover story might be something you’ll be invested in: a rundown of the greatest gigs at arguably rock’s greatest venue. Bowie’s 1980 Floor Show? Hendrix, Who, Hot Rods? How many did you attend? Elsewhere we interview Paul Young and Pete Townshend, Glenn Hughes and Cliff Bennett, Arthur Baker and Corinne Bailey Rae. We review the latest releases, reissues, books and singles, rate all the rarities you could want and de-murk the memorabilia.

In celebration of Cherry Red’s ‘45s at 45’ series, here comes Felt’s iconic anthem “Primitive Painters”, pressed on clear 10″ vinyl and and featuring the classic 7” single “Penelope Tree” on the B-side as a bonus!,

On its release in 1985 the song shot to the top of the Independent Singles Chart and has remained a firm favourite with fans ever since. Produced by Robin Guthrie and featuring the skyscraping vocals of Elizabeth Fraser from Cocteau Twins.

For this special release Lawrence has commissioned Douglas Hart to direct a beautiful meditation of the group at the time. Featuring unseen Super 8 footage of characters from the scene including Alan McGee and Martin Duffy.

Felt did not make any videos during the eighties but Lawrence always wanted to make a film for this classic song. Now 38 years later we are proud to present their very first promotional film.

Released December 1st, 2023

This reissue of Justin Townes Earle’s debut EP originally banged out over a weekend to sell on tour has been remastered from the original, high-resolution sources by 5-time Grammy-winning producer, engineer, and artist, Ray Kennedy (Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Waylon Jennings), cut at 45 RPM by Jeff Powell, and pressed on gold, 180-gram vinyl. The new packaging features new liner notes by JTE’s friend, collaborator, and art director, Joshua Black Wilkins, plus full lyrics, and a print of a previously unpublished photo of Justin from the EP’s cover shoot.

This is a 2023 Black Friday Record Store Day release.

Milly is a rock band from Los Angeles fronted by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Brendan Dyer. Their sound melds together elements of classic shoegaze, slowcore, and lo-fi indie rock, coalescing into an intense, singular musical impression. Milly began as Dyer’s home recording project in his hometown of Bristol, Connecticut before finally taking its current formation as a live band in Los Angeles.

One year ago today MILLY released their debut album “Eternal Ring”, which Rolling Stone called “a blend of the woozy, guitar-driven vulnerability of Swervedriver and the noise-laden introspection of Nineties post-hardcore trailblazers Hum.” For the album’s one year anniversary, Milly have unveiled six demo versions of songs off “Eternal Ring“

demos recorded in 2019 and 2020

“The debut album from this LA-based duo led by Brendan Dyer is a potent ‘90s-steeped blend of shoegazer psych-rock, emo, slowcore and grunge, combining fuzzy guitars, muscular rhythms and lyrics of anxiety, hope and renewal.”- KEXP “a band that fuses the wall-of-guitar sounds of Hum and Catherine with early emo like Sunny Day Real Estate and minimalist beauty à la Belly, resulting in a warm bath of fuzzed-out indie rock that nonetheless balances the riffing with gentler moments of airy shoegaze”

released September 30th, 2023

The new album from Lauren Denitzio’s ever-evolving project Worriers is the product of much upheaval — from the open-heart surgery they endured at age 25 to a recent move to Los Angeles where they connected up with Atom Willard of Against Me! and Rocket From The Crypt. The music that came out of all of that experience has a defiant edge; deeply emotional in its lyrical explorations of gender identity, unsteady relationships and psychological turmoil, but somehow rousing and flourishing musically. The mood of the album never does seem to drag either Denitizo or their listeners into a mire of bad vibes or morose sounds. With some key assists from Hold Steady keyboardist Franz Nicolay and bassist Allegra Anka, the album pulses with life and the stomp of punk-glam arrangements.

After shifting into singer-songwriter mode earlier this year for their fourth LP “Warm Blanket”, Lauren Denitzio is already back with the follow-up Worriers record “Trust Your Gut”, which announced itself as leaning back into the power-pop territory the project’s come to be known for when the album’s title track was revealed a few months back. Yet the other pre-album singles tell a different story: “Cloudy and 55” is a sparse piano ballad, while “Top 5” is a simmering anthem.

Meanwhile the sound of “Trust Your Gut” remains rooted in the type of rousing pub-rock The Hold Steady have come to define, with that band’s keyboardist Franz Nicolay contributing keys across the record to further differentiate these songs from those penned by previous iterations of the band. It’s no wonder, then, that Denitzio looked to that group for inspiration when crafting this record.