The Fat Angel Sings

“The Dirty South”, perhaps the best album by the American band Drive-By Truckers, appears this week in a new and to a limited extent polished version, which especially underlines the greatness of the album.

It is a great body of work that the American band Drive-By Truckers has to its name. It’s very difficult for me to choose between a huge pile of beautiful albums, but the albums with Jason Isbell stand out very carefully. “The Dirty South” from 2004 is one of these albums and it is an album that will be released this week in a slightly more extensive version, which also features a new mix and new vocals here and there. The differences are certainly not huge, but “The Complete Dirty South” is certainly no less than the original album, if only because of an extra track by Jason Isbell and the beautiful packaging. An undisputed classic in a subtle new look.

The American band Drive-By Truckers released two undisputed annual albums in 2020 with “The Unraveling” and “The New OK”. Since then, the band from Athens, Georgia, has slowed down a bit, although the somewhat underrated “Welcome 2 Club XIII” was released last year. That album may not be counted among the Drive-By Truckers classics, but that says more about the quality of the band’s complete oeuvre than about the quality of the album that was last until recently.

Drive-By Truckers began making classics in 2001, when the landmark “Southern Rock Opera” appeared. The ode to the Southern Rock of yesteryear convinced for an hour and a half and was the start of a glittering career. Drive-By Truckers now has an impressive pile of great albums to her name. These are albums that are very difficult for me to choose between, but today I choose “The Dirty South” from 2004 for several reasons.

“The Dirty South” is the second and final album on which Jason Isbell is part of the band, is the best-selling album of the American band, is the album that is considered by many to be the band’s best album and it is the album that has been released this week in a new version, “The Complete Dirty South“. “The Dirty South” celebrates its twentieth anniversary next year, but the version released this week is more than a 20th Anniversary Edition.

The band re-recorded the album for a small part, provided the songs with a new mix, messed around with the order and also added a number of songs to the new version of the album. Frontman Patterson Hood indicates that “The Complete Dirty South” sounds like the album was intended in 2004, but that didn’t immediately convince me. Reinventing old work is usually a fairly pointless activity and almost always the new version is less than the original, although there are exceptions.

The Dirty South had 2004 tracks and 14 minutes of music in 70. The new version adds three more tracks and more than fifteen minutes of music. Upon listening to “The Complete Dirty South”, my original skepticism slowly but surely appeared. Fortunately, the new version of the album doesn’t sound very different from the original. The new mix is perhaps just a bit better and the same goes for the re-sung vocals in a limited number of tracks.

Also, the limited sliding in the order of the tracks does not have much influence on the album, leaving the new tracks as the greatest asset. In particular, the TVA written by Jason Isbell is beautiful and is enough reason for me to switch to the new version of “The Dirty South“. The new edition is also beautifully packaged and provided with an informative booklet.

It could easily have been part of a deluxe edition of the album, but Patterson Hood wanted to shake off the frustration of a record company opposing at the time with this new version of the album. “The Complete Dirty South” is a beautifully executed and beautiful sounding album, but it is above all an album that shows how good and memorable the original album was in 2004. “The Complete Dirty South” is ultimately a more than nice snack, which definitely makes you look forward to new work from the band from Georgia, but which will come out of the speakers very often. 

“This ‘Director’s Cut’ is the way it was always intended to be heard” – Patterson Hood

released June 16th, 2023

The sound and the fury are back on the third album from Melbourne punk trio Cable Ties. ‘All Her Plans’ harnesses the band’s signature rage as they pummel through songs that are equally frantic and tender, veering from expressing frustration with the status quo to heartfelt and sincere odes to loved ones.

Jenny McKechnie’s distinctive vocals are the vessel through which she presents the world as we know it – and the world as she thinks it should be. Turning a sharp eye onto the failures of the healthcare system to protect the vulnerable on the wailing first single ‘Perfect Client’, she repeats “We’ve got no place for you to go” against an undulating bass line and wall of guitar. It’s a refrain that hits like a punch.

That energy continues on the righteous ‘Silos’, as McKechnie’s rapid speak-singing hurtles the listener through the life of someone struggling with Centrelink and then explodes into an indictment of the government’s inability to deal with actual issues and reliance on the carceral system. “Politicians use a tragedy to prove that they’re strong men / then incarcerate the victims that they’re claiming to protect,” she spits. It’s urgent and topical stuff, delivered at breakneck speed.

Have a look at our new video for the opening track, ‘Crashing Through,’ from our brand new album “All Her Plans” now out Go have a cackle, it’s bloody cute. The concept for this clip was inspired by a true event: a moth flew into the ear of director Triana Hernandez, sparking the idea for this video. Unfortunately, the original moth didn’t survive, but the moth in the video has a much better time. Huge thanks to Triana and the incredible crew who worked on this project.

These are classic Cable Ties songs, combining the group’s tight musical energy and chemistry with their clear-eyed vision for a more equitable society. McKechnie’s bulls-eye lyricism is as sharp as it is rhythmic – it’s what this band has always done best. There’s anger here, of course, but it is driven by kindness and hope.

But there are softer moments on ‘All Her Plans’ which reveal a new kind of intimacy for the band. On the folksy ‘Mum’s Caravan’, McKechnie’s voice takes on a gentler timbre as she considers the sacrifices her mother has made – it plays out almost like a Courtney Barnett song, all suburbia and regret.

On the beautiful ‘Time For You’, she slows down and reflects on the safe haven of secure romantic love. In a lovely contrast to the despair McKechnie expresses elsewhere, this is a love letter to the comfort and necessity of human connection in the face of the modern world’s increasingly inescapable political and sociological turmoil. The songwriter’s use of repetition across this album drives home her messages, and it’s especially moving here.

Melodies here are as often traditional as they are abstract: ‘Thoughts Back’ is built on dissonant harmonies that clash against the insistent, thumping rhythms backing the chorus, with drummer Shauna Boyle taking the lead on vocals for the first time. McKechnie climbs to an ethereal high on ‘Too Late’ against piano and organ, before her vocals split into their usual loose yell.

‘Deep Breath Out’ does what it says on the tin, as McKechnie sings to a troubled family member with love and understanding. It closes out the album, providing a soft landing for an unrelenting record heavy with emotions and themes, but still carrying a striking vulnerability that leaves an impression.

‘All Her Plans’ is a sonically more adventurous and varied album than the band’s previous output, but retains a strong sense of cohesion even as it barrels in multiple directions. Cable Ties are one of the most consistent and passionate bands in Melbourne both in the studio and on the stage – here is another manifesto, another soundtrack, for a better future.

Released June 23rd through Poison City / Merge Records

“Destination Dusseldorf” is the brand new studio album from Scotland’s legendary Skids. The band note Europe as an ongoing inspiration for the new LP; “from the beauty of the Renaissance to the savagery of many wars, the highs and lows have been from there as an ongoing and ever evolving influence. This new album follows in the footsteps of “Days In Europa” as a celebration of friendship and shared experiences.”

The new album “Destination Dusseldorf” follows in the footsteps of “Days In Europa” as a celebration of friendship and shared experiences. The cover shows the brilliant Jospeh Beuys striding towards us from his base in Dusseldorf full of confidence and optimism believing that we can do the right thing for the people and the landscapes that surround us. He is a philosopher, an artist, but most importantly a human being, a hero who never hid from the challenges of life.

Given that we aren’t sure what (if anything anymore) we can find out after death, I really wonder what Stuart Adamson thinks of both his bands Skids and Big Country carrying on without him? The former of which now release their new album ‘Destination Dusseldorf’. Adamson was such a distinctive player its hard to imagine it without him though I’m sure guitar pedals now have a bagpipe setting that can be utilised. I mean, it’s like The Armoury Show without Richard Jobson. 

“Destination Dusseldorf” – the new LP from The Skids will be officially released on Friday.

The Skids – No Bad Words 1977-2023 (Richard Jobson) Signed 2023 Updated Edition

“No Bad Words” includes all The Skids lyrics written by Richard Jobson with commentaries on selected songs from the first four albums, plus the whole of “Burning Cities”, and 2023’s “Destination Dusseldorf” album.

Limited Edition hardback signed by Richard Jobson, plus exclusive “Destination Dusseldorf” postcard.

“Smalltown Stardust” sees Thomas evolve once more, fully embracing the pop elements that crept into “The Other” with production help from Sasami, who’s lent a dynamic snap to her own works along with Hand Habits in the past few years. The guitar still pervades, providing a glam crunch to many of the songs, but it’s no longer the only driving force. Layers of drums, strings, and Thomas’ voice feeling comfortingly close mic’d and confessional mark the new record. The dichotomy of the album’s grandiosity and the lyrical longing for the townie tenure push against each other, creating a tension that resolves somewhere in upper echelons of Tuff’s velour pop wonderland.

There are times in our life when we feel magic in the air. When new love arrives, or we find ourselves lost in a moment of creation with others who share our vision. A sense that: this is who I want to be. This is what I want to share.

It’s a fleeting feeling and one that Kyle Thomas, the singer-songwriter who records and performs as King Tuff, found himself longing for in the spring of 2020.

But knowing he couldn’t simply recreate this time in his life at will, Thomas—who hails from Brattleboro, Vermont—set out to write a love letter to those cherished moments of inspiration and to the small town that formed him. The one where he first nurtured his songwriting impulses, bouncing ideas off other like-minded artists. The kind of place where the changing of the seasons always delivered a sense of perspective and fresh artistic inspiration. Where he felt a deeper connection with nature and sense of community that had once been so close at hand.

“I wanted to make an album to remind myself that life is magical,” he reflects.

And so, Thomas seized upon his memories, creating what he calls “an album about love and nature and youth.”

The result is “Smalltown Stardust”, a spiritual, tender and ultimately joyous record that might come as a shock to those with only a passing knowledge of the artist’s back catalogue. On “Smalltown Stardust”, Thomas takes us on his journey to a place where past and present collide, where he can be a dreamer in love with all that he sees. Images of his youth abound: from Route 91 which runs through his hometown (in “Smalltown Stardust”); to Redtooth, a spectre who used to roam the streets (“Bandits Of Blue Sky”); to old friends, old haunts and old dreams (“Always Find Me”); to Vermont’s Rock River, which gave its name to a song of a torch still burning for past love: “Those days are gone and we can’t rewind/ Cuz people grow and places change/ But my love for you will never fade away.”

But at the core of “Smalltown Stardust” is Thomas’s desire to commune with nature on a spiritual level. Images of the natural world, from blizzards to green mountains to cloudy days, fill the songs and create a setting unmistakably far away from Los Angeles. “I consider nature to be my religion,” he explains, and “Smalltown Stardust” is nothing if not a spiritual exploration. Thomas’s identification as a sort of eternal spiritual seeker is underscored in one of the album’s sweetest moments, “A Meditation,” which features a home audio recording of Thomas as an eight year old, trying his hand at leading a meditation. It’s a journey that he continues to this day, as he intones on “Portrait of God”: “Walking in the woods, wading in the river” and “breathing in the mountain air” before heading back to a place where he finds himself “Oil painting in my garage/ Let my colours flow/ I’m working on my portrait of God.”

While so much of “Smalltown Stardust” invokes idealized traces and places of Thomas’s past, the album’s recording process made his communal vision a reality. Thomas’s Los Angeles home in 2020 formed a micro-scene of sorts, with housemates Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Sasami Ashworth recording their own heralded albums (2021’s Fun House and 2022’s Squeeze, respectively) at the same time. A shared spirit dominated an era spent largely on the premises, with Thomas serving as engineer and contributor to both records, and Ashworth working as co-producer on “Smalltown Stardust”. Thomas describes the time with a fitting metaphor: “I’ve always thrived around other people making things. You want to bloom with each other.” Ashworth’s contributions are vital to the album: she co-wrote a majority of the record and contributed vocals, arrangements, and instrumentation to each song. As Thomas notes, “I tried to follow her vision a lot. It helps to open your world to collaborators. You always get something completely different than you would have expected.”

With the gorgeous orchestral tones of “Love Letter to Plants,” it’s immediately clear that Thomas is declaring a wider vision of what his music can be. Gone are many of the squalling guitars of previous King Tuff records, replaced with thoughtful, tender touches of cello and violin on “Love Letter to Plants,” “Pebbles In A Stream” and “The Bandits Of Blue Sky”; a plaintive saxophone on “Always Find Me”; and orchestral vocal harmonies with Ashworth that lift the songs to a celestial plane. (Though the rollicking, joyous leads on “Portrait of God” show Thomas hasn’t lost his touch on guitar.) On “How I Love,” Thomas makes clear that all of this is by design: “So lost in nothing but noise for so many years, I forgot to love.”

In the end, “Smalltown Stardust” is not merely a nostalgia trip. In making the record, Thomas not only conjured a special time in his life, he found new inspiration, surrounded by a small circle of collaborators and a sense of love and wonder for nature. If the first King Tuff record was content to merely state Thomas was no longer dead, “Smalltown Stardust” is a paean to what that life means. A statement of belief and a hymnal to the magic still to behold all around us. “I’m a different person now than I was 20 years ago when I first started it. But oddly, when I first started the band, it was more like this,” he says. Which is to say, things have come full circle. Or as Thomas intones on “The Wheel”:

“Ooh we were just kids then…
Caught up in the turning of the wheel….
And it’s coming ‘round again.” 

released January 27th, 2023

Terry pick up right where they left us — offering up jangled and jilted pop that’s strained through a wobbly post-punk filter. Guitars strum and squirm, sparring with itchy organs. The band layers in strings and horns, but as an antithesis to the kind of pristine pop that normally implements such accoutrements, Terry add them to their menagerie of home-brewed mayhem. In the past a slight lacquer of these elements has cropped up, but never in such prominence. The shift pushes the band out of their wrangled-punk bunker, spilling out into the streets, turning pop pirouettes under a wrinkled sun.

“Call me Terry”. Five years on from the last record, “I’m Terry”, the Australian four-piece welcome their new album, “Call Me Terry” . Terry is made up of Amy Hill, Al Montfort, Xanthe Waite & Zephyr Pavey who formed in Mexico City in 2015 after seeing Trotsky’s deathbed. Seven years, four albums and four 7’s later, you can now “Call Me Terry”.
Over the past few years, Terry has kept busy with writing and recording “Call Me Terry” and alternating side projects, including Constant Mongrel, The UV Race, Primo!, Sleeper & Snake, Chateau, Rocky.
Terry recorded “Call Me Terry” demos in 2019, sharing further demos during 2020 isolation before getting together to record at the legendary Terry HQ Ringwood Studios in 2022. Overdubs were completed in Terry home studios over the year.

Lyrically, in true Terry fashion, the record wastes no time in scrutinising Australia’s corrupt, colonial history. They sing it loud and sprawl it across the jacket of this record, highlighting the greed, privilege and entitlement of white, wealthy “Australia”.

Musically, “Call Me Terry” has the classic Terry punk sound; four vocals singing as one, sharp guitars and quirky synths, rolling bass and drums. But the sugar on top here may just be some of their finest horn, string and piano performances to date – all of which never feel crowded, cluttered or over-involved. Rest assured Al still gives his famed Fuzz Factory a workout – and throws his tremolo into the pedal chain. It goes off.
Since day dot it’s been hard to reference a band that really sound like Terry. Truly a sound of their own!
Listen to what Terry has to say.

“Call Me Terry” released April 14th through Upset the Rhythm and Anti Fade Records (AU/NZ). 

The band sticks with the decade of decadence as their blueprint, but leaves behind the dust and dreams of West Coast cowboys and Canyon troubadours. Triptides embraces a disco skitter behind the kit, sliding deftly between the towering heights of modern psych-pop and a cream-crushed dose of blue-eyed soul doused with a touch of Yacht-rock’s gloss. Triptides is shedding the word “psychedelic” from its vocabulary – Maybe because after over a decade of adventurous songs and albums across genres and styles–ranging from bedroom pop to prog rock to Laurel Canyon country–the term “interdimensional” feels more appropriate to the Southern California-based band. Driven by the songwriting mind of multi-instrumentalist Glenn Brigman with longtime collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Burns, Triptides is moving through a galaxy of music following only their own compass. And with their latest album, “Starlight” ( via Curation Records), the duo proves there is a lot more they wish to explore.

It’s as close as the band has come to a full-tilt festival filler. Running on wisps of Gaucho and Takin’ It Easy, the new album feels more meticulous than anything in Triptides’ catalogue. If you held the notion of having Triptides typecast, “Starlight” is here to shake those assumptions.

With tightly interwoven rhythm guitars and basslines, coupled with Brigman’s keen sense of melody and harmony, there’s a new energy shining through with “Starlight”. It’s quite a departure from last year’s laid back acoustic strummer, “So Many Days”, and it’s lightyears from the surf-rock-cassette era of the group. But despite the unexpected movements, from the sounds and structures, you can instantly tell that it’s Triptides behind the wheel–ready to launch you to another star.

Triptides is moving through a galaxy of music following only their own compass. In an almost-jazzy fusion of electric keyboard textures and dancefloor grooves that dives into the worlds of Stereolab, Steely Dan and Cortex. With tightly interwoven rhythm guitars and basslines, coupled with Brigman’s keen sense of melody and harmony, there’s a new energy shining through with “Starlight”. This is the third chapter that started with fuzzed-out “Alter Echoes” and the folk-jangled “So Many Days”.

released April 28th, 2023

“People Like Me and You”, the fourth album from South Yorkshires Indie rock Band, The Sherlocks.

It’s the latest set from the indie / alt-rock quartet after three acclaimed albums which include their 2017 debut “Live For The Moment” and last year’s “World I Understand” – both of which hit the Top 10. They’ve also established a fiery live reputation on the back of sold-out headline shows,

Vocalist/Guitarist Kiaran teases, “The new album is honestly full of really good songs with strong choruses. When we were going in to make this album, we went in there with ideas as opposed to fully fledged songs and I believe that’s where the magic lies in this record.” 

Their biggest, brightest and most expansive record to date with production elements and fresh sonic touches that broaden their guitar / bass / drums foundations. It’s a collection filled with personal and quintessential Sherlocks lyrical themes that are informed by the passing of time and the realisation that everyone is stepping into different stages in their lives – touching upon nostalgia, ageing, flawed relationships and escaping the rat race on wild, woozy weekends.

“PEOPLE LIKE ME & YOU” is going to be our biggest album we’ve ever released. The album isn’t coming out until august

Introducing, The Bruises. The third single from our forthcoming album ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’, out 28th July on Chrysalis Records, the track is the follow-up to last month’s single ‘The Puppet and the Puppeteer’.  The ten tracks on ‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’ marry earworm tunes with insistent, imperious, soaring rock shapes, punctuated by chorus hooks that are simultaneously nuanced and anthemic. 

‘Excuse Me While I Vanish’, very nearly didn’t happen. Following the imposition of lockdown restrictions, Joseph found himself cocooned at home in Cornwall, ruminating on an uncertain creative future, watching on as his wife Mandy, a valiant mental health social worker, engaged with the all-too-real dilemmas of the pandemic-riven here and now. Her example motivated Joseph to become a temporary care worker, an experience which would provide renewed focus and influence the songwriting on the new album.

I started making videos with archival footage back in lockdown. There was no touring or work, I needed something that required no editing. A timeless image in a single take that I’d find within an hour of searching. It needed an opening shot I could put a title over and it needed to fade to black, magically and coincidentally at the same time the track ends. Not only that, it needed to convey the meaning of a song that attempts to articulate the complexities of a 23-year marriage, written from the point of view of an alter-ego so detached from reality he calls himself William The Conqueror.

I don’t know what I was searching for. I clicked on an image of a ballerina, muted the sound, pressed play on the song and sat back.

While William was bellowing at the top of his lungs, being complicated and forgetting to breathe, there was Laurie McDonald, juxtaposed to the singer’s desperation. A ballerina in 1975 trying to perform The Dying Swan on a frozen lake. She was graceful, calm, precise, undeterred by the uncertain footing. She’d slip sometimes but she never let on. She was stoic and focused. She’d get through it in her own time, all she had to do was stay committed.

It said everything I needed it to. So, thank you to Laurie for making this film 48 years ago. You saved William’s bacon big time.

Kentucky-born Richard Meyers moved to New York City after dropping out of high school in 1966 aspiring to become a poet. He and his best friend from high school, Tom Miller, founded the rock band the Neon Boys, which later became Television in 1973. They changed their names: Miller became Tom Verlaine, and Meyers became Richard Hell. The group were one of the first rock band’s to play the club CBGB, which soon became a breeding ground for the early punk rock scene in New York.

After a stint with Television and The Heartbreakers (both with essential early punk albums of their own), Richard Hell assembled a backing band called the Voidoids and released one of the era’s seminal albums. The title track has become a quintessential punk track and the entire album takes you through an entire checklist of what made the ‘70s New York music scene so exhilarating. “Blank Generation” has its fair share of volume and punch, but Richard Hell’s charismatic energetic stage presence vocal performances and wore torn clothing held together with safety pins and spiked his hair and the angular musicality of Robert Quine’s guitar playing make it a completely unique entry in the early punk catalogue.

Disputes with Verlaine led to Hell’s departure from Television in April 1975, and he co-founded the Heartbreakers with New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan. Hell lasted less than a year with this band. Hell was influenced and also drew from and covered garage rock bands such as the Seeds and the Count Five, both found on the 1972 Nuggets compilation.

Richard Hell had written the song “Blank Generation” while still in Television; he had played it regularly with the band since at least 1974, and later with the Heartbreakers. The Voidoids released a 7″ Blank Generation EP in November 1976 on Ork Records containing “Blank Generation”, “Another World” and “You Gotta Lose”. The cover featured a black-and-white photo by Hell’s former girlfriend and unofficial CBGB photographer Roberta Bayley, depicting a bare-chested Hell with an open jeans zipper.

According to Hell, they recorded and mixed the entire album at Electric Lady Studios in New York City across three weeks beginning on March 1977. Two months later, they were informed that the album release would be delayed until September because their label, Sire Records, was changing distributors. “In the meantime, I had noticed a lot of things about the record that I thought we could have done better,” recalls Hell. He asked their label if they could re-record the album, and after getting their approval, they booked three weeks in late June and early July at Plaza Sound Studio, located on the eighth floor of Radio City Music Hall. The final LP would use the Plaza Sound recordings for every song except “Liars Beware,” “New Pleasure” and “Another World,” where the Electric Lady recordings were retained. Their rendition of John and Tom Fogerty’s “Walking on the Water” was also added to the LP during the Plaza Sound sessions; the song had been added to their repertoire after it debuted during a CBGB performance.

Famous rock critic Lester Bangs,reviwed the record labeling it “seminal” and “essential to any modern music collection”, and describing the music as “shattering assaults by a band that prophesied the later No Wave punk-jazz fusion”

released in September 1977 on Sire Records

Uncle Tupelo only lasted a few years, but was the basis of both Wilco and Son Volt. In the early years of alt-country, I had a bit more with the albums of The Jayhawks, which showed a more melodic sound than the raw sound of Uncle Tupelo. When listening to “Genevieve” by the American band Fust, reminds you of the early albums of The Jayhawks and that is still a pleasant association.

Fust is a band from Durham, North Carolina, and released their debut album two years ago. That album didn’t get a whole lot of attention at the time, but “Genevieve” popped up in the recommendations of both Paste and Pitchfork last week . The fact that “Genevieve” was received so enthusiastically surprised me, because usually there is not much room for these types of albums on both platforms.

At “Genevieve”, Fust joins the pioneering days of alt-country and does so in a great way. There have been times when we have been inundated with these kinds of albums, but in recent years I have unfortunately seen them less and less. “Genevieve” is an album that absolutely deserves the label alt-country. The Durham band starts with the country rock of the 70s, but hasn’t stuck in this decade. The sound of Fust sometimes sounds nice and full, especially when the pedal steel is used, but “Genevieve” also contains a number of more subdued songs.

When a female voice pops up here and there, you can hear how much added value harmonies could have in the band’s sound. On this second album, Fust guarantees songs that stick around, but that are also interesting enough to keep entertaining.

The band has an excellent singer and also guarantees a lot of musical fireworks. This is mainly due to the guitars, which are prominent in the mix, but the contributions of keyboards and the pedal steel are also beautiful. Especially when the guitars are soloing, I hear a lot of similarities with the music of The Jayhawks, but Fust also has his own style, especially because of the vocals and the full sound.

It’s amazing how Fust manages to reproduce the sound from the early years of alt-country. The band does not stop there, because the band also sounds absolutely contemporary on its second album. The fact that Fust sounds like a timeless alt-country album is also to the credit of producer Alex Farrar, one of the emerging talents in North Carolina, who once again delivers craftsmanship.