The Fat Angel Sings

Our live recorded version of Leonard Cohens ‘So long Marianne’ is out today, I could give a long boring explanation about what part this songs played in my life but we each have our own story with it so I’ll just leave you to reflect on your own.

Naima Bock shares about the cover: “I first found out about Leonard Cohen’s ‘So Long Marianne’ when I was walking in Fordham Park in New Cross, London as a young teenager. I saw ‘To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again’ inscribed on a bench plate in memory of a woman called Marianne (this bench has now sadly gone). The lyrics touched me in a profound way, and I remember crying a little when I saw them. These words in the context of someone’s passing were so profound and (for me) encompassed all of life and its constant tides. Of course, I later went home and listened to the hell out of Mr. Cohen, which I would continue to do for many years after, always finding safety in his voice and words.”

We (myself and the band) had been playing this song as a cover during our tours in 2022, and when we went in with Ali Chant, we decided to record a live version of it. I always felt nervous about recording a cover of Leonard Cohen. it obviously never stands up to the original, but I wanted to do it justice and, if nothing else, try not to diminish it in any way. My feelings around this recording were somewhat complicated, and although I could recognize how good the band (Meitar Wegman on Saxophone, Cassidy Hansen on drums, Clem Appleby on bass/ electric guitar, and Oliver Hamilton on violin, everyone on backing vocals) sounded, I didn’t like my vocal delivery. That is until I heard the backing vocals come in on a later chorus, and something inside me clicked, and I fell in love with what we had done.

I have always felt hugely supported by the musicians I play with, and when I heard their voices in this recording, it reminded me to be accepting and LOVING of imperfections, imperfections in my voice, which I have always (like many singers) been painfully aware of, imperfections in art, in myself. I thought if I didn’t want to present something imperfect to the world, then where do I stand morally in regards to what people consume, perfection only? This is the reality for many people, not just in artistic expression but in appearance, career trajectory etc. perfection only pleases. This is not only unrealistic but also detrimental to our minds and souls, we never will be perfect and if all we consume feels like it is, then we must be less. This is not a game that I will support, so here it is, my lovingly given imperfect version of ‘So long, Marianne’. I also altered the lyrics from ‘Violet park’ to ‘Fordham park’ to honour the Marianne who introduced me (from the other side) to Leonard Cohen. “ 

released September 7th, 2023

The new issue of Uncut doesn’t just have The Who on the cover, it comes with an exclusive Who CD featuring 10 revelatory tracks from the upcoming “Who’s Next | Life House” box set. Inside the issue, Pete Townshend unravels the complex relationship between their enduring masterpiece and this legendary ‘lost’ album. Additional copies of the issue – only available from participating Tesco’s stores and in the Republic or Ireland – come bagged with a double-sided Who poster and a 32-page guide to all The Who’s albums.

“Drop everything. This is a left-field minimal garage classic gem from the fever swamps of Houston, Texas, w/ a fantastic female singer Bex whose throaty pipes relay this sort of bored, seen-it-all world-weariness and condescension that’s absolutely disarming. You think you’ve seen it all? Try being a “Rich Man’s Commodity”, or living in a “Political Wasteland”, or attempting to engage with a trusted partner in a little “Leather Love”. No lie – I can actually hear her eyes rolling. The rest of Vivienne Styg play a stripped down, basement-level cornpone punk – the occasional burst of slide guitar & countrified drum stutter confirms some true Lone Star State blood – that also has its roots in DIY postpunk weirdness of the early 80s, as made clear in some of the blooping & bleeping connective tissue between the songs. Absolutely love it. I’m pretty sure the Styg are my favorite new rock band of the past year, and I’m going to try and patiently sit on my hands til their debut LP . 

Vivienne Styg is Bex, Jessy, Shan & Mark recorded August 2018 Francisco’s studios in Houston, Texas

The 1990 debut album from Pale Saints, “The Comforts of Madness“, is an outstanding record that owed as much to post-punk and L.A.’s Paisley Underground scene than it did to shoegaze. The Sunday Times called it “an unintended indie manifesto: music that is at once wayward and concise, dissonant and beautiful.”

Shortly after its release and in need of a second live guitarist, Lush founding member Meriel Barham joined the Leeds trio of Ian Masters, Graeme Naysmith and Chris Cooper, bringing a new dynamic to the band.

Having previously worked well with producer Hugh Jones (Echo and The Bunnyman, Modern English, The Sound), he did a brilliant job recording their second album, “In Ribbons” (1992), despite some studio tensions. In a recent celebration of the album that it was the “push and pull between Masters’ outsider tendencies and (the rest’s) commercial interests that makes “In Ribbons” so good. If some of the wild, ragged edges of “Comforts of Madness” have been smoothed off, the album makes up for it with scope and beauty. And there’s still no shortage of weird.” 

Missing its original release date last year due to Covid delays and a production plant in meltdown, “In Ribbons” finally gets the 30th Anniversary celebration it deserves with a special double LP / CD release – the first disc being the UK version of the album, the second a bonus disc of never before heard demos (including their first attempt at Slapp Happy’s ‘Blue Flower’ and Ian’s 4 track recording of ‘Kinky Love’) and two brass band versions by The Tintwistle Band. 

Coming in a beautiful gatefold sleeve, the limited double LP edition is being pressed on unpigmented vinyl by The Vinyl Factory in West London. A single disc, black vinyl version is also released.

Pale Saints, the ’80s dream-pop and shoegaze band from Leeds, have a 30th anniversary reissue of “In Ribbons“, their sophomore album originally released in 1992. The expanded reissue will arrive on October 6th via 4AD Records. Listen to the previously unavailable “Kinky Love (Demo),” Ian Masters’ rare four-track recording of the group’s Nancy Sinatra cover.

“In Ribbons (30th Anniversary Reissue)” is a special double LP release, with the first disc featuring a new remaster of the UK version of the album and the second disc featuring never-before-heard demos. The latter includes Pale Saints’ first attempt at Slapp Happy’s “Blue Flower,” as well as two brass band versions of songs by the Tintwistle Band, previously only heard on a bonus 7″ that arrived with the initial UK vinyl pressing. According to a press release, the new expanded reissue of “In Ribbons” was originally scheduled to arrive last year for the proper 30th anniversary, but pandemic-related delays and production plant backup pushed its release to 2023.

Back in 2020, Pale Saints’ debut, “The Comforts of Madness”, also got reissued.

The expanded edition of the 1992 album includes a new remaster, never-before-heard demos, and more

Leon Russell was one of the most esteemed studio session men in rock history, having appeared on an eye-popping number of records by legends such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Bobby Darin, Phil Spector, Frank Sinatra, the Byrds, and the Beach Boys. Russell’s solo work benefited from his amazing collaborators, as the likes of George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, various Rolling Stones and others helped Russell put the finishing touches on his albums through the years. The ‘master of space and time,’ Russell blended together Southern soul, gospel, country, rock and piano-man singer / songwriter stylings. “A Song For Leon” celebrates Leon’s life and career, 

There’s an echo of that sacredness in the new star-studded tribute album “A Song for Leon“, a faithful compilation of standards and surprises that turn the miracle of Leon Russell’s music over in the light. With a track list boasting big names in the world of contemporary Americana and beyond, the new record is stuffed with genre standard bearers like Margo Price, Hiss Golden Messenger and Nathaniel Rateliff. These are offset by more outside-the-box cuts from the Pixies, Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie, Canadian avant-pop act U.S. Girls and funk legend Bootsy Collins, with breakout turns from emerging talents like Chicago-born singer songwriter Monica Martin scattered in-between. Richer are the moments on “A Song for Leon” when the music of the old master grows new wings.

The best example can be found in the show-stealing collaboration between Megan Remy’s genre-scrambling U.S. Girls project and Parliament-Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins. Together they turn the Carpenters-recorded 1971 hit “Superstar” (co-written by Russell and Bonnie Bramlett) into a deep, synth-funk freakout that stands boldly on its own two feet.

In late 2018, some friends of mine were making a movie, and they asked if I would do the soundtrack for it,” recalls Alejandro Rose-Garcia, aka Shakey Graves. “I started recording music along to footage, but when I started to turn a lot of it in, I realized that the director and I did not see the movie in the same way. A lot of the music was turned away. But I made all this really cool stuff and felt really invigorated.”

When Rose-Garcia went into the studio with his band, he realized he didn’t have songs, but rather soundtrack ideas. “I sent them all a link to some of the soundtrack stuff. We came up with this way to record where we went through them like themes. I came up with the plot of an imaginary movie. And we started to treat it like a soundtrack to a movie. “Movie Of The Week” is definitely more on the lush side,” he continues. “I’m really excited about making this more like a project than an album.”

Graves has undergone a myriad of personal and sonic evolutions since his inception in 2011. Beginning as a solo music project, to now being accompanied by a full band, Rose-Garcia depicted the journey in ways such as changing his album covers from black and white to colour, mirroring the musical growth. With beginnings in the folk-rock space — even winning Best Emerging Artist at the Americana Music Awards — he went on to move away from much of the stripped-down, folk sound and began drawing on influences such as The Beatles, The Kinks, Elliot Smith, Broken Social Scene, Built to Spill and other ’90s indie-rock bands.

Through the years, Rose-Garcia has always found innovative ways to engage his fan base — burning CDs and putting them in personalized bags, building intricate scavenger hunts that sent fans around the city following trails of clues to find exclusive tapes, sharing Bandcamp-only releases in the age of the DSPs. He is intentional in everything he does and aims to create a unique experience and adventure for each fan.

With “Movie of the Week”, Rose-Garcia will continue to expand upon the idea of his fans controlling the destiny of the music in an even bigger way — stay tuned for more info to come.”

released September 15th, 2023

This Indonesian indie trio understand rock music’s ability to restore broken hearts and exorcise demons. With hooky anthems that make you want to jump, yell and let it all out, Grrrl Gang’s vibrant songwriting touches on love, loneliness, and living within your own daydreams. Above all else, their music evokes that singular youthful feeling that both anything and nothing is possible in this chaotic world.

Grrrl Gang build on their considerable worldwide buzz with “Spunky!”, their full-length debut.

It arrives following some major life changes for Angeeta Sentana (vocals, guitar), Akbar Rumandung (bass, vocals) and Edo Alventa (guitar, vocals), including a switch in locale from Yogyakarta, the city where they formed the band while still in college. “This is Grrrl Gang’s first release after we graduated and got day jobs that made us have to move to Jakarta, which is undeniably 180 degrees compared to Yogya,” says Rumandung. “But moving to Jakarta enabled us to work with Lafa on “Spunky!” from start to finish.”

Overall, “Spunky!” is the sound of a band not content to rest on its laurels, despite gathering an impressive list of achievements since Grrrl Gang first got together in 2016 and proceeded to take the local, regional, and international indie scenes by storm, leading to a prestigious performance slot on the pandemic-induced online edition of SXSW 2021. Says Rumandung, “We want this album to show that we’ve changed, that Grrrl Gang is a band that isn’t stuck in one place and that we always have the urge to discover new things.”

“Honey, Baby” by Grrrl Gang

“Sister Squares are Sara Dobbs, Miles Francis, Jenny Shore and Julie Shore. What made them a musical unit was working with Grammy winner and Oscar nominee Will Butler. This is their self-titled debut album. The band emerged as full collaborators from their origins as Butler’s touring band, first put together to support 2015’s “Policy”.

While considering making a solo record, Butler found himself turning to the band for feedback on lyrics and song structures, eventually asking Miles if they’d produce the album. From there, the music flowed. Will Butler + Sister Squares project widescreen emotional landscapes with a warm, humane soul. “Long Grass” is like a Harry Styles song sung with 20 more years of life behind it, and the back half is a danceable choral record that showcases what Sister Squares bring to Butler’s sound. “It came out uniquely ours,” Miles explains, “a tiny bespoke musical bloom that can never be exactly reproduced. Those kinds of moments between us are embedded all over this album.”

by Will Butler + Sister Squares Sister Squares are Sara Dobbs, Miles Francis, Julie Shore, and Jenny Shore is out September 22nd on Merge Records

“Catch A Fire” is the fifth studio album by Bob Marley and the Wailers and the first to be released by Island Records UK.  Originally having a limited release under the name, The Wailers in a sleeve depicting a Zippo lighter, designed by graphic artists Rod Dyer and Bob Weiner. Future releases would have the classic portrait of Marley smoking a “spliff” and crediting the band as Bob Marley and the Wailers with the image taken by Esther Anderson. A tour taking place in the UK and US generating international interest in the band.

Critical acclaim has included the album being listed at number 126 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, It is regarded as one of the top reggae albums of all time.

In 1971 after a solo tour Marley returned to Jamaica with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer to record “Catch A Fire” but the sessions were abandoned because of clashes with Johnny Nash and Danny Sims. The band did not have funds to return to Jamaica, nor could they earn money due to work-permit restrictions, The group’s London Road manager, Brent Clarke, recommended they get in contact with Chris Blackwell from Island Records, who had released licensed singles by The Wailers from Studio One in Great Britain. Blackwell gave the group an advance of £4000 to help them get home to Jamaica, and to complete the recording of their next album. In 1972 the album was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica at 3 different studios. As the story goes, in 1972 Marley flew back to London to play the tapes to Chris Blackwell. CBS and Sims, with whom the band were already contracted, took Blackwell and the Island Records label to court over the recording, Island won the case, Blackwell remixed the tracks at the Island Studios on Basing Street and included overdubs.

April 2023 saw the 50th Anniversary of “Catch A Fire“, to mark this a limited edition 7” featuring 2 alternate versions of “Stir It Up” (vocal and instrumental) both feature on these releases. The 3LP+12” vinyl package consist of the studio album, “Live at The Paris Theatre London”, previously only ever bootlegged, get’s its first official release, the package also feature’s Alt, extended and instrumental Jamaican versions of album tracks “Slave Driver”, “400 Years No More Trouble” and “Stop That Train“, finally on the 12” is 3 tracks from the Wailer’s performance at the Sundown Theatre in the village of Edmonton, North London, playing tracks “Slave Driver,” “Stop That Train” and “Get Up Stand, Stand Up“, the reverse side has an etched image of the Zippo lighter.

The LP and CD packages feature books made up of classic images of Bob from his photo shoots with Adrian Boot, Arthur Gorson who shot images of Bob for 2 weeks in Jamaica, Dennis Morris, and Neville Garrick, many of these images have never been seen before, press clippings from the era and release of the album, Brand new notes have been written by renowned music journalist and author Chris Salewicz who was close friends with Bob spending a lot of time with him. The packages uses covers of both the Zippo lighter and Bob smoking on either side. 

“Catch A Fire” is the fifth studio album by Bob Marley and the Wailers and was included in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The 3LP+12” vinyl package contains:

LP1 – The studio album, LP2 – “Live at The Paris Theatre London” (previously only ever bootlegged), LP 3 – Alt, extended and instrumental Jamaican versions of “Slave Driver”, “400 Years”, “No More Trouble” and “Stop That Train“

12” – 3 tracks live from the Sundown Theatre in Edmonton, North London. With an etched image on the reverse.

Wanted to catch ya before the weekend and show you the brand new vinyl that just landed on our doorstep! That’s right – we got our first copy of “Night Owls” on neon yellow vinyl from the factory! It’s got a special holographic cover, and an inner sleeve with a deluxe print of the lyrics & more. Here’s a lil vid of Kelly showing it off.

Check out the title track’s music video.  We shot it in LA and it turned out super fun. We’re also making lyric videos for every single track on the album and just released the one for “Hey Girl” yesterday, check it below! It was filmed at a sweaty awesome night in Sacramento. Rippin a set and giving out hugs afterwards is how we do it, if you were there see if you can spot yourself!

From “Night Owls”, the 8th Dollyrots studio album Produced by Stevie Van Zandt, John Fields & The Dollyrots