A track featuring on the soundtrack for “Montana Story”, a film I scored last year alongside Rob Barbato, is out everywhere digitally. Vinyl will come later. I’m very proud of my first film score and the single that closes out the film is a song called “Like A Flower” that I wrote for the film and we made a video for it and that too is also out today. More on all of this later, but for now, enjoy
“Like A Flower” by Kevin Morby from Music From “Montana Story”, A LOT to announce today. First off I am going on tour. In the US and across Europe / UK. Erin Rae, of the Erin Rae fame, will be joining me in the states. We can’t wait to get back out there!!
Lead singer/songwriter of The Icicle Works, Mercury-nominated solo artist McNabb (62) has made twenty-two studio albums since 1984. He has worked with Peter Buck, Jason Falkner, Crazy Horse, Ringo Starr, Waterboys, Lightning Seeds and Danny Thompson amongst others. Ian lives in Liverpool and performs solo or with a band as and when he can.
Hot on the heels of Ian’s ‘Space Trilogy’ and the collection of re-worked Icicle Works material known as “Ascending”, Fairfield Records of Liverpool bring you “Nabby Road”
The album features the core Power Trio of Ian McNabb (Vocal, Guitar, Keyboards), Roy Corkill (Bass) and Nick Kilroe (Drums). Ian has returned to the three-piece line up and the result is the most Icicle Works-sounding music he has made in a long time. As some of you are aware there is a long wait for vinyl at the moment, however there will only ever be 500 copies of any McNabb album released on Fairfield Records so it’s an investment.
They go very quickly so grab them now. Utopian is already selling for silly prices. The vinyl is already ordered so we hope to have it with you by June/July ’22 at the latest.
The latest chapter in Columbia/Legacy’s highly acclaimed Bob Dylan Bootleg Series takes a fresh look at ‘Time Out of Mind’,Dylan’s mid-career masterpiece, celebrating the album and its enduring impact 25 years after its original release on September 30th, 1997. ‘Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol. 17’ follows the evolution of songs written for the album, from intimate early incarnations in the previously unreleased 1996 Teatro sessions featuring Dylan (vocals, guitar, and piano), Daniel Lanois (guitar and organ), Tony Garnier (bass) and Tony Mangurian (drums and percussion) through incandescent live renditions (also previously unreleased) showcasing Dylan and his touring ensemble channeling the songs on-stage from 1998-2001.
I heard “Time Out Of Mind’s” miracle on a preview cassette in a friend’s parked car, our jaws dropping to at least four plainly great songs from a hero who’d seemed spent. Then there was Daniel Lanois’s production: an inescapable, miasmic atmosphere thicker yet than his work on “Oh Mercy”, technologically mutating the echoing ’50s sound Dylan had requested. Twenty-five years on, “Standing In The Doorway”, “Tryin’ To Get To Heaven”, “Not Dark Yet” and “Highlands” are still peaks, and Lanois’s work still sometimes tips from essential to overwhelming, just as he and Dylan fiercely wrestled for control during the record’s fraught Miami sessions.
“Fragments“, the new five-disc Bootleg Series excavation of those sessions, reimagines “Time Out Of Mind” in a Michael Brauer remix which strips away Lanois’s arguable excesses, leaving it closer, it’s claimed, to how the music sounded in the room. It also disinters initial, autumn 1996 sessions at Lanois’s funky Teatro home studio in Oxnard, California, discovering mind-blowing sketches for a radically different, R&B-flavoured album, its death-haunted lyrics less important than Dylan’s lusty exuberance at his creative rebirth. Seemingly lesser songs now dance from the speakers, reborn.
“Fragments” also traces the work’s January 1997 shift in Miami towards its final form, adds Never-Ending Tour reimaginings of the songs and, in a fifth disc, relevant tracks already released on “Tell-Tale Signs“. That collection’s motherlode of great unreleased songs seems exhausted, the Bootleg Series now instead focusing on showing facets of Dylan’s many jewels in a new light.
It’s a moot point just how stripped back this remix really is, as Dylan’s voice retains a Sun Studio echo, and the same worked-over takes are used. The album’s vinyl incarnation also anyway steered much closer to the jumping ’50s sound Dylan wanted. Here, though, lost verses return, and that voice is the absolute focus – driven on by massive drums on “Love Sick”, left still more bereft on “Standing In The Doorway” and upfront in its gorgeous articulation of disaffection on “Not Dark Yet”.
“Dirt Road Blues”’ skipping roadhouse groove is bettered by “Million Miles”’ slinky urban simmer, its cymbals’ jazzy, crystalline glint and rock’n’roll guitar’s rough, metallic grain sounding like a Shadow Kingdom refit. The drums then stormily whip up “Cold Irons Bound”, Dylan seeing “nothing but clouds of blood” in this version. “Make You Feel My Love” is a glorious gospel ballad carried by hushed organ, “Can’t Wait” is sexy, funky and funny with a steam-hammer beat. “Highlands”, enlivened by spectral touches of wild mercury guitar, reveals its unsuspected, close connection to more phantasmagoric mid-’60s epics, as he follows “the snap of the bow” into the titular, mythic hills.
Discs 2 and 3 detail the sessions that led to this, opening with the Oxnard “Dreamin’ Of You”, wildly different to both its “Tell-Tale Signs” take and evolution as “Standing In The Doorway”. Now Dylan sounds like an Al Green loverman in a dimly lit club as dawn breaks, and feels like “a ghost in love”. “I squandered the years of my youth,” he finally confesses. “It’s a scary thing, the truth.” “The Water Is Wide” switches to a humbly prayerful folk vocal, and “Red River Shore (Version 1)” sounds straight off The Basement Tapes, Dylan deliberately choosing from a wealth of styles.
The R&B mood then returns in Miami. “Not Dark Yet (Version 1)” is more unbelievable yet, up-tempo Memphis country-soul with Willie Mitchell-style guitar. “Nah, it’s not dark yet,” Dylan decides.
“Can’t Wait (Version 1)” is a mighty take, the band meeting Dylan’s rasping roar with smashing drums. Excised lyrics are equally majestic, cutting to “Time Out Of Mind’s” heart: “Well my back is to the sun because the light is too intense/ I can see what everyone in the world is up against”; and, “I’m getting old/ Anything now can happen to anyone.” People revere Dylan’s 1979-80 ‘Gospel’ shows, captured on the Bootleg Series’ “Trouble No More”. His blues and soul singing here is still more fiercely potent, these session performances ranking among his very best.
“Cold Irons Bound” is good Lanois sonic weirdsville, guitars and keyboards blurring. “Make You Feel My Love (Take 1)” already sounds like an AOR classic Clapton would kill for, studio applause breaking out at Dylan’s sensitive balladeer singing. As the sessions progress towards their familiar destination, interest inevitably falls away. On “Not Dark Yet (Version 2)”, the tone we know locks tights, as Dylan finally accepts his words’ deathly weight
The live disc draws strongly on what sound like audience recordings of Dylan’s landmark 2000 tour, when his voice and intent were at their strongest for years. Birmingham’s “Tryin’ To Get To Heaven” is unrecognisable, of course, refashioned as the sort of lacily delicate old-time ballad “Love And Theft” would soon introduce. Nashville ’99’s “Can’t Wait” adds a reggae lope to its funk, Dylan pushing his voice hysterically high. Last comes “Highlands” in Newcastle, Australia in 2001, a shaggy-dog talking blues told in stand-up nightclub fashion, so jauntily uptempo it shaves six minutes from the album.
No one thought that Dylan would make one of his finest albums in 1997 (or maintain that hot streak for the next quarter-century). No one thought, either, that the outtakes from such sessions could fill a compelling, sometimes revelatory box set.
Pour yourself a glass of wine or a cup of English Tea and prepare yourself to go back in time. This epic five-CD/book set includes music from The Who, Traffic, Small Faces, The Move, Procol Harum, Incredible String Band, Family, Crazy World of Arthur Brown and many more with nearly an hour of unreleased music.
There are also demos from Tintern Abbey, The Soft Machine, Mabel Greer’s Toyshop, Genesis, Mandrake Paddle Steamer, Dantalian’s Chariot and others plus numerous hard to find singles from (July, Caleb, Vamp, Blossom Toes, Sweet Feeling, etc) and deep album cuts from Tomorrow, Fairport Convention, Kaleidoscope, The Deviants and Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera.
The booklet goes through each track in detail with photos and memorabilia from the time.
Perhaps most enticingly of all, the collection includes a number of hitherto-unknown recordings by bands who are only now gaining their first public exposure including Eyes Of Blond, Tinsel Arcade, Crystal Ship (whose contribution features lyrics from Pete Brown) and the semi-mythical 117, such a legendary name from the era’s handbills and posters that they even had a UK psych fanzine named after them in the ‘90s.
A dazzling feat of licensing and research, ‘Think I’m Going Weird…’ comes in a 60-page A5 book format with 25,000-word track-by-track annotation with some extraordinary and rare photos and memorabilia.
For anyone even remotely interested in British psychedelia, it’s simply an essential purchase.
Robyn Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. After leading The Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the influential “Underwater Moonlight”, Hitchcock launched a prolific solo career.
Music without words embedded in it becomes more like a picture: I close my eyes and I can see the shapes of what I’m listening to – or playing – as it writhes between my ears. I’ve been playing long guitar instrumentals since 1969: “Life After Infinity” is the first time I’ve recorded them as an album.
These instrumental songs were all recorded in 2022 & early this year with my friend and co-producer Charlie Francis in Cardiff. The album is a pre-order and lands on April 23rd, 2023. I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I enjoy playing them.
He lives in Nashville, TN with the singer-songwriter Emma Swift.
releases April 23rd, 2023
All songs written and performed by Robyn Hitchcock
Seattle‘s grunge pioneers Mudhoney are back from never being away. They made/make lots of noise since 1988 and – with a long hiatus here and but they still fabricate new music. The band is back with Their 11th album “Plastic Eternity“, the first in 5 years, is canned and ready for release on April 7th via Sub PopRecords.
The first appetizer, named “Almost Everything” is a bass/bongos-driven rocker with a fervent flow. Mudhoney (vocalist MarkArm, guitarist Steve Turner, bassist Guy Maddison, and drummer Dan Peters) remain the underground group, their gnarly primordial punk stew and Arm’s sharply funny lyrics as potent a combination as they’ve been since the band’s formation in the late 1980s. From taking on climate change from the perspective of the climate if the climate tried to play guitar like Jimi Hendrix (“Cry Me An Atmospheric River”) to a driving rock and roll song about taking drugs meant for livestock (“Here Comes the Flood”) to a classic punk attack on treating humans like livestock (“Human Stock Capital”),
“Plastic Eternity” is a heady run through all the proto-genres of guitar rock with a keen eye on the inanities of the world in the 2020’s.
The recording of “Plastic Eternity” delivered several firsts for the band. With Maddison planning on moving his family to Australia, Mudhoney was forced to work on a deadline, booking nine days at Crackle & Pop! in Seattle with longtime producer Johnny Sangster. Since the pandemic had made it impossible for them to convene in their practice space for nearly a year and a half, this meant they were going in to make a record with an assortment of half-forgotten riffs and nascent ideas rather than fully-fledged, well-rehearsed songs.
“Almost Everything” by Mudhoney from the upcoming album “Plastic Eternity”, out on Sub Pop Records April 7th, 2023.
The Chemistry Set is a cult band from London that was founded in 1987. Veterans of both the alternative label Imaginary and the cassette-only label Acid Tape, they were part of the late 1980s-neo psychedelic boom and are back with their 35th anniversary album, “Pink Felt Trip” is one of the best albums. It’s Psychedelic rock a lot of it is just blues/raga rock + fuzz & reverb, but “Pink Felt Trip” stands out more than most psych albums. There is a definite feeling of doom throughout “Pink Felt Trip“, as the music and imagery feels apocalyptic.
The opening track, “Pink Felt Trip” evokes this imagery with talk of hydrogen bombs, vaguely militaristic imagery, and F-8 Air Force Ones. It sounds like Armageddon is here, the distortion is heavy, and the vocals are frenzied. Like a lot of the tracks on this album, though, the song shifts gears midway through. It takes on a mellower sound and just when you would expect it to get heavy again, it never does. It’s the sonic equivalent of the “peace” that would follow a nuclear strike.This is followed by “The Witch”, a song with a much spookier vibe to it. Starting with the feeling of mellow doom, it slowly develops into a droning nightmare and evokes the feeling of a bad acid trip.
The anxiety one feels while listening to this steadily builds throughout the song…and it’s fantastic!Things get a bit poppy with “Lovely Cup of Tea”, which could easily serve as the lead single. Opening with a nice shuffle, the music eventually takes on a cabaret sound.“Firefly” comes next, and it opens with a heavy, raunchy riff that contrasts nicely with the previous songs. This is more anthemic than the other tracks. It has a grunge vibe and the fuzz gets pretty wild. “Firefly” has a menace to it that most psychedelic songs lack.
The first raga-rock inspired song on the album, this has a much more mystical vibe than the previous songs. It get especially trippy during the break that occurs around the middle of the song. There’s a moment of silence after this break, then it starts to build back up again. After this, it completely ditches any semblance of raga music and becomes a rollicking tune that inexplicably incorporates sampling from TV shows. It eventually calms down, though, and returns to a more mellow, raga-inspired piece that includes a lot of repetitive lyrics and ends with a sample of an anthropologist talking about pharaohs and a sarcophagus. Things take another turn in the pop direction with the cover of the Moody Blues’ “Legend of a Mind”. This is a dreamy song that has one of Chemistry Set’s trademark stylistic shifts midway through the song.
The vibe gets heavy again on “Paint Me A Dream”, which has a strong blues influence. This is one of the shortest songs on the album and, for some reason, feels shorter than it actually is. Then “Sail Away” opens with slide guitar and is a psychedelic country hoedown with raga-rock percussion.Then the album ends with “Self Expression”, which opens with a long, slow, funeral dirge. This is one song, but it feels like a medley of five or six different songs. I like the fact that it deviates from the classic psychedelic rock formula. This band has been around a long time without much fanfare, so now is the time to check them out.
The Modern Lovers were formed in 1970 by teenage singer, songwriter, guitarist Jonathan Richman, augmented with Jerry Harrison (keyboards), Ernie Brooks (bass) and David Robinson (drums), with Richman’s friend and original band member John Felice joining them occasionally.
In 1975, Richman moved to California to record as a solo singer/songwriter with the independent Beserkley Records label. His first released recordings appeared on 1975’s “Beserkley Chartbusters” compilation, where he was backed by members of Earth Quake and the Rubinoos. The four songs on the compilation also appeared on singles released by Beserkley.
Richman’s work with the first incarnation of Modern Lovers is a major influence on punk rock. One critic called him the “Godfather of Punk”. On his second solo album, Brian Eno made mention of Richman’s band in his lyrics, and the Sex Pistols and Joan Jett were among the first artists of note to cover the song “Roadrunner” in the 1970s. A version of “PabloPicasso” performed by Burning Sensations was included in the 1984 cult film, Repo Man. David Bowie covered “Pablo Picasso” on his album “Reality“. Velvet Underground founding member John Cale has a version of the song on his 1975 album, “Helen of Troy”, and continues to include the song in his live shows. Iggy Pop has performed “Pablo Picasso” live and wrote an extra verse for it. Echo and the Bunnymen covered “She Cracked” in concert in 1984 and 1985 and Siouxsie and the Banshees have a version of the song on “Downside Up”.
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
In January 1976, Richman put together a new version of the Modern Lovers, which included original Modern Lovers drummer David Robinson, former Rubinoos bassist Greg ‘Curly’ Keranen and Leroy Radcliffe on guitar. The new group, now billed as Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, found Richman turning away from the harder, Velvet Underground-influenced electric rock of the original Modern Lovers, toward a gentler sound mixing pop with 1950s rock and roll, and including a bigger emphasis on harmony vocals. During this period Richman recorded a mix of original songs and material by other writers,
Originally released in 1976, this debut album from Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers was released shortly after Richman relocated to California and created a new version of The Modern Lovers, who helped 2 singles from this record bring more visibility to Richman’s inimitable rock formula. In 1972,
“Rockin’ Shopping Center” opens the listen with a bouncy bass line, as Richman’s distinct talk/singing enters the jangly rocker, and “Back In U.S.A.” puts a very fun twist on the Chuck Berry original with crisp drumming, meticulous guitar and plenty of rock’n’roll energy.
Packed in the middle is the cautious and eastern spirit of “Lonely Financial Zone”, that’s heavy on mood, while “Hey There Little Insect” is very much drum focused and recruits backing vocals for the nearly tribal like climate.
Approaching the end, “Springtime” is an acoustic guitar, folk friendly love song, and “Amazing Grace” exits with a very unique version of the classic that moves quicker and even with an upbeat demeanor as Richman and company really do make the tune their own.
Richman is joined by David Robinson (drums, vocals), Leroy Radcliffe (guitar, vocals) and Greg ‘Curly’ Keranen (bass, vocals), and together they dive right into Richman’s vision of more acoustic and harmony fuelled song craft that would quickly gain them a cult following all across the globe.
One of four releases from Richman that Omnivore is reproducing in CD and LP for the first time since their original releases, this one has clearly aged well, much like everything they’ve done.
The Modern Lovers
The band recorded a series of demos with producer John Cale (formerly of the Velvet Underground). Among these songs were the seminal “Roadrunner” and “Pablo Picasso”, which were eventually released on the group’s post-breakup album, “The Modern Lovers” in August 1976.
Originally released on the Beserkley label in 1976 (though most of the material was recorded in 1973), The Modern Lovers is a universally accepted proto-punk classic. It’s an album that bridges the gap between The Velvet Underground, a band whom leader Jonathan Richman was obsessed with, and the first wave of punk rock. While also displaying the goofy wit that would later be Richman’s signature, The Modern Lovers is equal parts geeky, emotional, angst driven, life affirming, and, from start to finish, absolutely brilliant.
Compiled of demos the band recorded with John Cale in 1973, The Modern Lovers is among one of the great proto-punk albums of all time, capturing an angst-ridden adolescent geekiness which is married to a stripped-down, minimalistic rock & roll derived from the art punk of the Velvet Underground. While the sound is in debt to the primal three-chord pounding of early Velvet Underground, the attitude of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers is a million miles away from Lou Reed’s jaded urban nightmares.
As he says in the classic two-chord anthem “Roadrunner,”Richman is in love with the modern world and rock & roll. Bringing in all of Richman’s signature songwriting flourishes, including references to his home and a fondness for youth distilled into one perfect chord progression, ‘Roadrunner’ helped invent and perfect power pop. Excitement has rarely been bottled into such an effective package.
He’s still a teenager at heart, which means he’s not only in love with girls he can’t have, but also radios, suburbs, and fast food, and it also means he’ll crack jokes like “Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole…not like you.” “Pablo Picasso” is the classic sneer, but “She Cracked” and “I’m Straight” are just as nasty, made all the more edgy by the Modern Lovers‘ amateurish, minimalist drive.
But beneath his adolescent posturing, Richman is also nakedly emotional, pleading for a lover on “Someone I Care About” and “Girl Friend,” or romanticizing the future on “Dignified and Old.” That combination of musical simplicity, driving rock & roll, and gawky emotional confessions makes The Modern Lovers one of the most startling proto-punk records — it strips rock & roll to its core and establishes the rock tradition of the geeky, awkward social outcast venting his frustrations. More importantly, the music is just as raw and exciting now as when it was recorded in 1973, or when it was belatedly released in 1976.
From the moment you heard The Modern Lovers, it was clear that Jonathan Richman was an individual. While completely enamoured with old-school rock and roll, Richman was happy to pair those sounds with a fresh look at the themes and messages that pervaded those songs, as he does on ‘Someone I Care About’.
Richman was also unafraid to go against standard lascivious rock star views of relationships and love. Richman puts lust in the back seat on ‘Some I Care About’ wanting something more than just a girl to have fun with. He’s looking for a connection, which is wonderfully wholesome for a rock and roll tune.
‘I’m Straight’, produced by Kim Fowley in October 1973. This ended up being The Modern Lovers final recording session. The band were plagued with creative differences during the course of recording what would have been their debut LP. They had just signed with Warner Brothers but were dropped almost immediately when they were unable to complete an album.
Inevitably, they band split. Drummer David Robinson went on to find huge success with The Cars (band). Keyboardist Jerry Harrison too was greatly successful, joining Talking Heads (official). Ernie Brookes went on to work for Rounder Records. And Jonathan Richman….well ‘There’s Something About Mary’, of course.
Rock ‘n Roll with the Modern Lovers
“Rock ‘n Roll with the Modern Lovers” is the second album released as Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers. The band, which is build around singer-songwriter and guitarist Jonathan Richman, almost totally focuses on the sound from the ‘50s. The lo-fi record breathes folky roots music and rock ‘n roll as it would sound ages ago. “Egyptian Reggae” (earning them a UK Top 5 hit) and “Roller Coaster by the Sea” are all superb songs, uncomplicated and wonderful. This is one of the most remarkable projects recorded by Jonathan.
“The Sweeping Wind (Kwa Ti Feng)” opens the listen with intricate eastern influences on guitar in the instrumental climate, and “Ice Cream Man” follows with Richman’s signature raw, distant vocals amid minimal instrumentation.
Elsewhere, the playful strumming of “Afternoon” welcomes well timed, conversational backing vocals, while “South American Folk Song” is full of warm guitar playing that’s quite breezy and packed with culture.
Further along, “The Wheels On The Bus” puts a charming spin on the traditional with call and response vocals, and “Angels Watching Over Me” continues the formula with finger snapping, group vocals and plenty of Richman’s minimal sensibilities.
Richman was shifting towards an acoustic/harmony based formula at this point in his career, and with his new drummer D. Sharpe on board, he hit #5 on the UK charts with “Egyptian Reggae”. An aptly titled affair, there’s certainly plenty of rock’n’roll spirit to be found here, surrounded by Richman’s garage-rock and proto-punk leanings.
The Modern Lovers were formed in 1970 by teenage singer, songwriter, guitarist Jonathan Richman, augmented with Jerry Harrison (keyboards), Ernie Brooks (bass) and David Robinson (drums), with Richman’s friend and original band member John Felice joining them occasionally.
Back in Your Life
“Back in Your Life” was released in 1979 under the Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers moniker. Half of the album features Jonathan playing solo and the other half The Modern Lovers are supporting him as a backup band. It’s a very pleasant album where Jonathan brings his melancholy mood to the quiet and reflective songs. He’s a very talented and creative musician and that’s exactly what he’s bringing to the rock ‘n roll rhythms and pop. The music will remind you of the late ‘50s, early ‘60s, but still it has stood the test of time very well.
The third studio release from Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers features the U.K./European single tracks, “Abdul AndCleopatra,” “Buzz Buzz Buzz” and “Lydia.”
Jonathan Richman’s intended Beserkley catalogue is available again. His true releases, “Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers” and “Rock ’n’ Roll With The Modern Lovers” are back among these other reissues, as originally intended, on CD and LP with exclusive coloured variants.
“Back In Your Life”. While credited to Jonathan and the Modern Lovers (which now included Andy Paley—Brian Wilson, Chris Isaak, NRBQ, John Wesley Harding), the release was Jonathan, accompanied on about half of the material by the Lovers. It followed the ‘Live’ record”
Another musician on the record, and co-producer, was Kenny Laguna, whose work with Buddah Records (The Ohio Express, 1910 Fruitgum Company, The Lemon Pipers,) plus Tommy James & The Shondells, Crazy Elephant, Bow Wow Wow, and Joan Jett. Laguna was a perfect person to put Jonathan’s sound where it needed to go.
Featuring the Richman staples, “Abdul And Cleopatra,” “Affection,” and the title track, “Back In Your Life” signals the ending of his Beserkley tenure, but with much more to come…Richman went on sabbatical for a few years, staying in Appleton, Maine, and playing at local bars in Belfast, Maine.
So… you don’t come to Richman for his ear-frazzling sonic experiments. But his rudimentary arrangements are part of what makes him unique. There is almost nothing to his songs but the words and melodies, and there is nothing to his words except his own thoughts and emotions.
There is no filter, no irony, and the nearest he ever gets to adopting a persona is when he is pretending to be a little dinosaur. That’s why so many of his album titles have his own first name in them: I, Jonathan; Surrenderto Jonathan; Jonathan Sings. Yes, his songs are crafted, but they are so direct and intimate that he could be confiding in a close friend – and, while you’re listening, you feel as if you’re that friend yourself.
Omnivore label did us a favour and reissued 4 Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers albums this year, and here we’re treated to his sophomore record, originally released in 1977.
The new band Angel Electronics is the duo of Ada Rook and Ash Nerve, an LA-based musician and producer who’s a member of the Oracle, a production group that worked on Rook’s “2,020 Knives” album. In Angel Electronics, Ash Nerve is the lead singer, though both Nerve and Rook contribute vocals and production. But the real news with Angel Electronics’ debut album “Ultra Paradise” isn’t the names of the people involved; it’s the freaky and disorienting sound of the thing.
Talking to Bandcamp, the members of Angel Electronics describe their sound as “brutal euphoria wave.” Basically, they take a frantic, synthesized take on harsh, juddering metalcore, and they combine that with the sweetest, catchiest forms of bubblegum pop. Some moments on “Ultra Paradise” remind me of 100 gecs, and others remind me of Andrew WK. It’s sensory-overload music, music that captures a certain giddy confusion.
Absolutely epic, I can’t stop dancing thinking of the better days to come. Always such a wide reach of musical & vocal talent displayed by Ash & Rook.
released January 23rd, 2023
ASH NERVE – Lead vocals, lead songwriting, piano, drum programming ADA ROOK – Vocals, songwriting, guitar & bass, drum programming
The Fat Angel Sings 