The Fat Angel Sings

This Hastings-via-Brighton trio’s electric debut EP encapsulates their journey from early, DIY gigs to supporting The Strokes, A vision of smudged eyeliner, shag haircuts and ripped fishnets, HotWax looking already exactly like a trio of rock stars. Bassist Lola Sam is wearing a red t-shirt with ‘Fuck Off’ emblazoned in block capitals; guitarist and vocalist Tallulah Sim-Savage’s pointy, chunky rings could double as a weapon. Joined by drummer Alfie Sayers, this gang may have the swagger, but they play the part, too: their music moves with such a vigorous physicality that they are, undoubtedly, the most exciting – and wickedly confident – new young band in the UK.

When they take to the stage at this north London venue a few hours after our interview, the technical proficiency with which the teenage trio play is blinding. Blitzing through tracks from their debut EP ‘A Thousand Times’ , Sim-Savage sings of infatuation and existential woes with both a stark lucidity, and a sneer that gives her words urgency. With his teeth clenched, and adrenaline pushing him to lean over his kit, Sayers commands a wall of melody like it’s his lifeblood. Their bitterly euphoric choruses and precise, dexterous solos could thrill even the most jaded of guitar music fans.

HotWax are like live wires off stage too, exuding a frenzied blend of mild anxiety and excitement as they talk over each other. When we broach their upcoming slot at The Strokes’ All Point East show in London this August, all three members rush to speak in wide-eyed bursts. “We almost feel guilty for being on the lineup poster,” says Sayers, laughing. “But equally, we want to relish the challenge: we’re currently unknown, and need to prove ourselves.”

Sayers has been drumming before he learned his times tables, having been taught by a childminder at a young age. Sim-Savage and Sam, meanwhile, are childhood friends who have always had a firm grasp on their narrative. Before they met Sayers at music college in Brighton, they grew up in tandem, plotting local gigs, analysing YouTube videos of their heroes Karen O and Starcrawler’s Arrow de Wilde, and immersing themselves in Hastings’ tight-knit creative scene. “We literally had each other, and no one else,” affirms Sim-Savage. At college, they bonded over a shared resentment for the hyper-critical nature of their classmates, many of whom had learned their instruments via a more traditional musical education. “You can’t be taught something that you know you want to do in your own way,” says Sayers. “There’s no way we could have followed their critiques and what they had to say about what we’re doing.”

Fed up with the “narrow-minded environment” of her bass guitar course, Sam eventually quit her degree and encouraged her bandmates to start channelling their frustrations and nonconformist spirit into their songs. “I don’t have anything else in my life besides music,” she says with a trace of pride, flicking her orange-red hair behind her. “So, when we started the band, we made a commitment to each other. 

Their bond would soon strengthen in the face of adversity; the pair were bullied in high school and had food thrown at them during lunch breaks, but continued to focus on pursuing their dreams as soon as they finished their studies. Today, they radiate an inseparable, sisterly dynamic, often directing their answers to each . “Many people leave school with nothing, but we knew we had something really special with our band,” Sim-Savage says. “We just needed to work out how we were going to get out there.”

‘A Thousand Times’ due May 19th

The 80s Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles yielded a curious paradox: combining the gentle harmonies and intricate guitars of psychedelic-era bands like The Byrds and Velvet Underground, with the fury of punk. This scene included the likes of The Bangles, Rain Parade, The Three O’Clock…and The Dream Syndicate.

The Dream Syndicate wore their influences on their sleeves: the moniker refers to La Monte Young’s early 1960s New York experimental ensemble  The Theatre of Eternal Music, whose members included former Velvet John Cale, and Tony Conrad. The Dream Syndicate’s sound was much harsher than their hippie-era forebears; they dwelled in the same energy cloud as Echo and the Bunnymen, but infused with a more frenetic ferocity.

Frontman Steve Wynn declared that “We’re playing music we want to hear because nobody else is doing it.” He added, “I’ll compromise on what I eat or where I sleep, but I won’t compromise on what music I play.”

To celebrate the bands 40th anniversary, The Dream Syndicate’s 1982 debut, “The Days of Wine and Roses”, will receive a re-issue via Fire Records: “History Kinda Pales When It and You Are Aligned: The Days Of Wine and Roses”.  This 4-disc, 54-track collection, out 23rd June, boasts ten rarities and a whopping 31 previously unreleased recordings from the original line-up of Steve Wynn, Dennis Duck, Kendra Smith, and Karl Precoda.

“The Days Of Wine And Roses’ is as timelessly potent as the records that inspired it.” Uncut

Central to the hugely influential Paisley Underground scene of the early 1980s that spawned Green On Red, The Bangles, Long Ryders and Rain Parade. With a nod to the Velvet Underground, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Dylan, packed into an incendiary slow-burn punk fuse, ‘The Days Of Wine And Roses’ is a glorious, upbeat sprawl, everything that rock ‘n’ roll should be.

“Hearing these bonus tracks of live and rehearsal performances of The Dream Syndicate, culled by Pat Thomas from the cassette collection of Dennis Duck, I remember things about that band and what we were doing in 1982 that I had long since forgotten,” Wynn muses. “We would actually listen to these cassettes back then religiously, simultaneously for study and clues for what to do next but also just out of amazement that we were suddenly playing in our own favourite band, doing a kind of music we had only dreamed somebody might do someday.”

The first disc presents a newly remastered edition of the original nine-song album, which is accompanied by the band’s eponymous debut EP, also released in 1982 on Down There Records. This disc alone serves as a rich repository of post-punk, dream-pop, and indie rock history.

The second disc, meanwhile, takes us on a journey through the band’s earlier days with tracks from a 7-inch that features frontman Steve Wynn’s earlier band, 15 Minutes  the debut EP, astounding cover renditions (Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin, The Who), recordings of the band’s first ever rehearsal, along with several visceral live concerts from the pre-album era.. The disc also includes rehearsal takes from Dream Syndicate’s embryonic phase, recorded in 1981 and 1982, and a pair of live radio performances from ’82.

The third disc is an eclectic mix of live recordings and rehearsal takes, which showcases the band’s dynamic live performances and their remarkable ability to innovate and evolve constantly. Finally, the fourth disc features fifteen live cuts from a 1982 concert in Reseda, California, as well as backstage material recorded in Tucson, Arizona, in the same year.

In North America only, the album will be available as a 4-CD bookback edition and a 2-LP vinyl edition, featuring the remastered album plus the band’s debut EP. The 4-CD book-back edition also includes a 30-page booklet of new liner notes by band historian Pat Thomas, as well as exclusive interviews with Kendra Smith, engineer Paul Cutler, and the album’s producer, Chris Desjardins. Additionally, rare photos, gig posters, and other exciting extras are included.

With its wealth of rare recordings and previously unreleased material, this comprehensive collection is a testament to The Dream Syndicate’s profound influence on the paisley underground scene.

• Limited Edition Gatefold 2xLP + 7″
• Vinyl reissue of their original 4 song 12-inch EP (long out of print)
• Exact facsimile replica of Steve Wynn’s rare “15 Minutes” 7-inch single

Indigo De Souza’s music is all about sharing the joy of connection — even if that joy is screaming into your phone, like in her new song, “Real Pain,” where she crowdsourced dozens of voice memos from fans to layer into the song. But the connections can also be more immediate. Her mother’s support helped her navigate her childhood in Spruce Pine North Carolina, where she often felt like an outsider. After finding her footing in Ashville, Indigo recorded “I Love You Mom” in her bedroom and released it in 2018.

Now with more experience under her belt, Indigo’s latest album, “Any Shape You Take“, recorded in a studio, showcases De Souza’s gifts as a songwriter and as a producer and multi-instrumentalist. In this session, we caught up with De Souza to talk about the album, growing up in North Carolina and we’ll share live recordings from the stage of World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.

Set List:

• “Darker Than Death”
• “Real Pain”
• “What Are We Gonna Do Now”

Lucinda Williams has shared details of a new album and released its first single – listen to new Bruce Springsteen collaboration ‘New York Comeback’ below.

The new single, which also features Springsteen’s wife Patti Scialfa on backing vocals, is the first preview of new LP ‘Stories From A Rock n Roll Heart’, which is due out on June 30th via Highway 20 Records/Thirty Tigers.

The album comes after Williams had to re-learn to play guitar and to walk again after a severe stroke, while her house in Nashville was also damaged by a hurricane just before the start of the COVID lockdown.

 Williams will also release a new memoir titled Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You.

‘Stories From A Rock n Roll Heart’ also features contributions from a host of artists including Angel Olsen and Margo Price. Last year, Angel Olsen – one of the new album’s collaborators – shared a cover of Williams‘ track ‘Greenville’ as part of the Amazon Originals series.

“There is no one like her out there,” Olsen said of the country folk singer. “It’s clear to me that her songs come from a very real place, and that’s the only kind of writing I like.”

Williams said: “An ambulance came and got me and we told them not to put the big siren on. We didn’t want to alarm the neighbours or anything. But they put the siren on.” Williams spent a week in the intensive care unit where doctors discovered a blood clot on the right side of her brain, which affected the left side of her body. She was then transferred to a rehabilitation centre to begin a monthlong treatment of therapy.

“What happens is your brain gets all… the wires get all crossed and you have to retrain your brain basically, to tell your arm to do whatever it is you’re trying to do. So that’s the biggest challenge,” Williams said of the healing process. “I do, like, walking, with the cane and they watch me and see how well I’m doing. And then I have to do hand and arm exercises. It’s really about regaining my strength and mobility, and range of motion. That’s what they work with me on.”

After a stint in prison, David Crosby (guitar/vocals) emerged from his year-long incarceration a completely clean and sobre man. His revitalization was marked by a period of unbridled creativity, yielding his second solo effort “Oh Yes I Can” (1989). Crosby was supporting the album during the spring 1989 tour that produced the material on this disc. The set was recorded live at the Tower Theatre in Philadelphia and backed by a powerhouse combo that included longtime CSN bandmate Michael Finnigan (keyboards), Dan Dugmore (guitar), Jody Cortez (drums), and Davey Farragher (bass/vocals).

Indeed, abstemiousness suits Crosby as his powerful, emotive vocals, and strident fretwork have rarely been as well defined or as energetic as they are here. The show begins with an acoustic setting on the opening pairing of “Tracks in the Dust” and one of the most hauntingly beautiful readings of “Guinnevere” to have ever been committed to tape. The same is especially true of “Compass,” which was the first song Crosby wrote after sobriety had kicked in.

His lyrical metaphors remain as poignant as his vocals are honey-glistened. In addition to other new tunes such as “Lady of the Harbour,” the edgy rocker “Monkey and the Underdog,” and the title track from “Oh Yes I Can”, Crosby regales older material with the wisdom of Solomon. “In My Dream,” “Wooden Ships,” and “Delta” all reveal an underscored exquisiteness that had been formerly obscured by substance abuse.

He likewise drives home “Almost Cut My Hair” and “Déja Vu” with the same cocksure attitude of the originals and more than a hint of grunge rock ethos thrown in for good measure.

David Crosby live performance on the syndicated “King Biscuit Flower Hour” on 4/8/1989. This concert was broadcast nationally on the KBFH radio network.

The set list includes songs from Crosby’s solo career as well as some from CSNY. 

Musicans: David Crosby – lead vocals, guitar; Dan Dugmore – guitar; Michael Finnigan – keyboards, backing vocals; Jody Cortez – drums; Davey Faragher – bass, backing vocals

The formidable Melbourne punks Cable Ties have been on the radar for a while now, so it was a thrill that the band announced their third studio album today.

Before that record – titled “All Her Plans” which arrives in June, the trio have shared a new single, “Time for You”, a track that cools the traditional ferocity of their sound without diminishing what makes Cable Ties distinctive. Cable Ties were formed in 2015, and quickly became mainstays of Melbourne’s feminist punk scene. They will be supporting Amyl and the Sniffers on three of their UK/EU dates this summer. 

Hopeful and optimistic, “Time for You” is “about feeling safe and happy with someone,” as the band’s lead vocalist Jenny McKechnie explains.

“I’m a pretty chaotic and anxious person. I often feel that I’m barely holding everything together and never have enough time for everything I’ve planned. When I come home to my partner James, I feel safe, happy and like everything is going to be ok. It’s like our time together sits outside of the timeline of the rest of my life.”

For a band who have been so powerfully political and socially conscious in their songwriting, it’s enjoyable to hear them relent slightly to warmly detail the personal in such a touching way. “I’ve got no time / But I’ve got time for you,” McKechnie happily repeats in the chorus; a punky love song never goes amiss.

You can watch the accompanying music video, directed by Nina Renee, below, which coolly contrasts the perpetual exhaustion of modern life with the cathartic effects of friendship and love.

“Time for You” will feature on “All Her Plans”, which is the much-anticipated follow-up to 2020’s scorching “Far Enough”. The album will also contain recent single “Perfect Client”, released earlier this year in celebration of the band’s European tour.

“All Her Plans” was recorded last year alongside the band’s longtime engineer Paul Maybury. It tackles a wide range of important topics, including Australia’s underserved mental health care system and addiction, all while undoubtedly maintaining Cable Ties’ trademark resilience.

The uplifting track will feature on the Melbourne trio’s newly announced third album, ‘All Her Plans’

Cable Ties’ “Time for You” is out now. “All Her Plans” is out Friday, June 23rd via Poison City / Merge Records

Jethro Tull have released a third song from their 23rd studio album, “RökFlöte”, due April 21st, 2023 via InsideOutMusic. Following the worldwide success of 2022’s “The Zealot Gene”, the band’s first album in two decades, Ian Anderson and the band are returning with a 12-track record based on the characters and roles of some of the principle gods of the old Norse paganism, and at the same time exploring the ‘RökFlöte’ – rock flute – which Jethro Tull has made iconic.

Anderson explains the album’s title and theme in more detail: “The title of this offering went through a little change or two along the way. I started with the idea of a predominantly instrumental album for rock flute – as in rock music. When the subject material of the album presented itself, I was drawn to the term Ragnarök from Norse mythology – their version of apocalyptic end times or Biblical Armageddon.

The ‘final showdown’ scenario is ubiquitous and inherent in Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, for example. Ragnarök translates as ‘destiny of the Gods,’ the rök part meaning destiny, course, direction. With umlaut firmly in place, courtesy of the Germanic origins of Old Norse, Flute became Flöte in keeping with the spelling.” “The Navigators” explores the Norse god Njord, who was the god of wealth, fertility, the sea and seafaring.

“RökFlöte” will be available on CD and vinyl, as well as on two limited deluxe formats that include bonus demo material, extensive liner notes & a Blu-ray featuring Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround sound, alternative stereo mixes by Bruce Soord, as well as a bonus track and in-depth interview with Ian Anderson. The album will also be available digitally in the spatial audio formats Dolby Atmos & Sony 360 RA.

“Hammer on Hammer,” released on April 5th, takes inspiration from the god Thor, a loyal & honorable warrior who wears a powerful symbolic belt and wields a hammer. His mortal enemy & nemesis was Jormungand the sea-serpent.

Jethro Tull continues live dates this year, with shows in Europe, as well as a date in London to celebrate the new album release. They will also return to North America later this year, with shows to be announced in the coming weeks. The lineup consists of Anderson (concert and alto flutes, flute d’Amour, Irish whistle and vocals), David Goodier (bass guitar), John O’Hara (piano, keyboards and Hammond organ), Scott Hammond (drums), and Joe Parrish-James (electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin).

With more than 30 albums to their credit and sales totalling more than 60 million, Jethro Tull are one of the most successful rock bands of all-time with a catalogue that contains classic rock favorites “Aqualung”, “Thick As a Brick“, and more.

Ride guitarist and songwriter Andy Bell has taken yet another musical detour, this time collaborating with Essex-based duo Masal on an incredible new album of ambient, astral jazz. “Tidal Love Numbers” is released via Sonic Cathedral, and is made up of four mesmerising, meandering instrumental tracks that combine Andy’s incredible guitar playing with analogue synths and harp.

Andy was inspired by the likes of William Basinski, Harold Budd, Ariel Kalma’s Osmose and Babe, Terror’s Ancient M’ocean, while Masal shared their love for Prince Lasha, Turkish prog and folk, medieval harp music and Guitarrorists, a 1991 compilation of outsider guitar sounds. The end result – sympathetically mastered by Andy’s Ride bandmate Mark Gardener – lands somewhere between Mary Lattimore, psych-folk guitarist Sandy Bull and Spacemen 3’s Dreamweapon, with the four pieces subtly ebbing and flowing from pastoral picking to psychedelic bliss to noisy drones and back again, all punctuated by Oz’s heavenly harp.

Despite their length, the tracks never outstay their welcome, and their stream-of-consciousness titles add to the sense of intrigue.

“Tidal love numbers are quantities without dimension, measuring how much things alter, for example on a solid planet, due to tidal forces. The number is assigned based on levels of gravity and solidity and I guess this measurement is the scientific kernel behind astrology. I was introduced to this concept by the harp/synth duo Masal (masalbanduk.bandcamp.com), and having got my head around it, felt like it might be a good title for the album we had just happened to make.

I’m so happy to announce this new collaboration and can’t wait for people to hear it. I’m not sure how you categorise it, there are elements of ambient, classical, jazz, shoegaze, electronic and drone. All I can say is that it was a lot of fun to create. The music was composed in a semi-improvised way between the three of us and we’ll be entering that same creative space together at the Social on May 21st.”

released April 6th, 2023
Written by Andy Bell, Ozlem Simsek & Alastair Johnson

This Is The Kit, the group led by Paris-based bandleader Kate Stables, today announced the band’s new album “Careful of Your Keepers”–produced by Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals)–will be released on June 9th, 2023, via Rough Trade Records. The album’s propulsive yet introspective lead single “Inside Outside” finds Stables as magnetic as ever, joined once again by her stalwart band of Rozi Plain(bass/vocals), Neil Smith (guitar), and Jamie Whitby-Coles (drums), and accented by a cascading horn quartet arrangement by Jesse Vernon.

“Careful Of Your Keepers” is daring and soft, cutting and warm–a wild feat of complexity and combined dispositions. There’s a shared language of the band’s family experience that is as audible as ever in these recordings, which boast beautiful instrumental performances that still leave the nuanced space required for Stables’ vocals to live at the forefront. “The album was nearly called “Goodbye Bite“. And in a way it still is,” says Stables. “I went for “Careful of Your Keepers” in the end. It’s one of my favourite songs on the album, a song that for me holds the general feeling of the album as a whole. The fragility of things. Of situations. Of relationships. Of humans. What we do to look after each other and ourselves. The passing of time and what that does to us, and how we live our lives going forward.”

Guiding the ship through changing seas is producer Rhys. Stables described his role as being a “tonesetter,” watchful and attentive to the band dynamics while making sure to always follow a hunch for where a new sound could find its place in the recording. “I’ve always loved the idea of working with him somehow, and when this album started getting planned, I realized that maybe this was my chance to reach out and see if he was up for working together,” Stables explains. “And he was! As if that wasn’t enough, he was also up for doing a bit of singing on the record, which totally blew my mind and made my year. His way with harmony and melody and the tone and quality of his voice is a totally killer combo.”

This Is The Kit announced her/their new album on Tuesday – ‘Careful Of Your Keepers’ is out 9th June,

Formed in Liverpool in 1978, The Teardrop Explodes were one of the most revered British bands of the early 1980s, pioneering a post-punk neo-psychedelic sound that can still be heard in bands such as The Coral, The Flaming Lips, Tears For Fears, U2 and Blur.

“The Culture Bunker” compiles all the band’s singles and B-Sides as well as 4 discs/5 LPs of unreleased studio out-takes and a wealth of unheard live recordings. Curated by writer and long-time band publicist Mick Houghton, “The Culture Bunker” also includes the 12,000-word sleevenotes containing rare memorabilia, an essay and timeline of the band’s illustrous career.

released through Universal Music Recordings “Culture Bunker 1978-82” in June a new The Teardrop Explodes box set available as a 6CD package or a 7LP vinyl offering.

The Teardrop Explodes originated as a critical band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s, which included Echo & The Bunnymen, their former manager Bill Drummond of The JAMS/KLF, The Mighty WAH! and future pop stars Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and The Lightning Seeds Ian Broudie, who would also produce many bands from the scene. The group also launched the career of group frontman Julian Cope and keyboard player David Balfe, who later founded Food Records and signed and mentored Blur.

“Culture Bunker 1978-82” compiles all the band’s singles and B-sides as well as four CDs / five LPs of unreleased studio outtakes, a wealth of unheard live recordings and several tracks taken from ‘Zoology’, the Teardrop Explodes compilation that Cope released himself in 2004. Writer and long-time band publicist Mick Houghton has curated “Culture Bunker” and has gained exclusive access to Julian Cope’s archive. These early and later recordings show the evolution of one of the era’s most influential bands from their inception to their finale.

The 6CD set features a staggering 57 previously unreleased tracks and is packaged in a 10-inch slipcase with a 64-page hardcover book which features a 12,000 word essay from Mick Houghton (drawing from new, recent conversations with Julian Cope). That same story is told via the seven printed inner-sleeves on the 7LP vinyl box set which features 43 previously unreleased tracks (the CD box has 95 tracks in total, the vinyl box, which comes with a poster, has 82).

The audio for this new box set has been remastered by Andy Pearce wherever possible from original tapes and cassettes. 

“Culture Bunker 1978-1982” is probably the last word on The Teardrop Explodes and both editions are described as “very limited” by the record label. These boxes are not available via normal retail channels are can only be ordered via Universal direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites.

It is released on 2nd June 2023, via Universal Music Recordings.