Former Nothing But Happiness and Crash who were very much part of the mid 80s indie scene, indebted to the 60s but with a dark heart, songs like “Don’t Look Now” and “Almost” hid secret desires within a hushed strum of minor key jangling guitars. guitarist Ralske started Ultra Vivid Scene in 1987, was signed to 4AD Records in 1988, and released his first UVS EP, “She Screamed”, in 1988. The debut album Ultra Vivid Scene released October 1988, was written, produced and performed entirely by Ralske, whose influences include The Velvet Underground and The Jesus and Mary Chain. The first album a native New Yorker who spent stretches in Boston and London before signing to 4AD, is musically an intriguing and eclectic record that mixes pure pop and noise experiments better than any album since the Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy. (My Bloody Valentine was working similar territory at the same time, but Ralske’s fondness for the pop hook, best heard on the first single “She Screamed” was far more obvious.)
The difficulties come when one pays attention to the lyrics, which are laughably pretentious in a way rarely seen since Jim Morrison’s Lizard King heyday. The single, “Mercy Seat” The video and the song felt like they were moving in slow motion, a primal drum beat, a distorted bass line urging the song forward, some lightly psychedelic guitars and a curiously fey vocal full of religious references to mercy, release and fire. The Nick Cave-meets-Rimbaud pastiche “The Whore of God,” and that fave of pretentious gits everywhere, J.G. Ballard, gets a going-over in “Crash”.Ultra Vivid Scene is a pretty interesting record with much to offer.
The second album, “Joy 1967-1990”, was released in April 1990. The same month they played their first tour dates in the United Kingdom. Kurt Ralske claimed that the title of Ultra Vivid Scene’s second album was meant to be the inscription on a 23-year-old woman’s tombstone. “Joy 1967-1990” is a much more varied and even more pop-oriented album than 1988’s Ultra Vivid Scene. Hugh Jones’ ultra-glossy production, rather surprisingly, actually suits the narcotic haze of Ralske’s songs quite nicely and has the added benefit of leaving Ralske’s musings well behind the album’s real selling points, the gossamer web of acoustic and electronic instruments and Ralske’s knack for melodies that simultaneously sound exceptionally catchy and just a little off. Mention must be made, however, of the fact that “Special One” (which features vocals by Kim Deal) sounds so much like Big Star’s “September Gurls” that Alex Chilton could have sued for royalties.
“The Kindest Cut” mixes real viola with mellotrons and twinkling guitars. It’s a very consistent, highly enjoyable album as long as you don’t take the lyrics to heart.
On the surface the album is a precise compact selection of guitar pop, but scratch underneath and the songs deal with a similar set of ideas as the debut – more suicide, dependency, control, submission, despair. The single “Staring At The Sun” was a glorious slice of tunefulness; guitars shimmer and shine and Ralske sings in his distinctive half whisper of “an accident in progress, the smell of burning hair…”
The last album, “Rev”, was released in October 1992, and was performed by a band comprising Julius Klepacz (drums) and JackDaley (bass) with Ralske on vocals and guitar. This album was picked up by the Chaos imprint of Columbia Records (Sony Music Distribution) during the time rival Warner Bros. was having some success with its imprints’ 4AD relationships (4AD/Sire, 4AD/Elektra, 4AD/Reprise).
Ultra Vivid Scene drenches a listener with charged psychedelic folk-rock on “Rev”. With jangling, wailing guitars, deep basslines, and shuffling drums transport a listener to Ralske’s passionate dreamy realm. Evoking heady, dark imagery in his lyrics, Ralske thankfully varies his pace and tone throughout the album. One doesn’t know whether to expect a screaming guitar solo or dreamy female background vocals at any given moment. It’s quite a feat that Ralske is able to stretch his catchy hooks and melodies into songs that hover and go well past the five-minute mark. That Ralske also maintains a somewhat dour vocal style, but still manages to hold a listener’s rapt attention, expresses that fine songwriting and arrangements are on display.
“Rev” is loaded with compelling songs. “Rev” exudes timeless tunes and shows dream pop at its symbolic, aggressive zenith.
As a live act, Ultra Vivid Scene performed only a handful of US dates in support of the first album in 1989. The second album in 1990 was supported by one month of touring in Europe and two months in the US. 1993 saw one month of US tour dates for the third and final album.
Albums:
Ultra Vivid Scene (1988) 4AD/Columbia (UK Indie #10)
Heavenly were one of the pioneers of indie-pop. Formed from the smouldering ashes of Talulah Gosh, they took all that energy and attitude and used it to fuel catchy, infectious pop melodies. The influence of 60s girl groups was never far from the surface. This was girl-pop, but with the girls in control. Loved by many but derided as ‘twee’ by some, Heavenly ignored the increasingly macho environment of the contemporary UK scene and forged a separate path, along with other bands on the Sarah Records label. Later, having co-released their albums on K Records in Olympia, Heavenly toured the US, hooking up with bands in the embryonic riot grrrl scene. Heavenly’s quiet feminism became louder and more articulate, and the hostility of the UK music press became irrelevant.
Heavenly’s classic singles on a brand new compilation album!, A potted history of Heavenly…Heavenly debuted with the 7″ single ‘I Fell in Love Last Night’, followed by another 7″, ‘Our Love Is Heavenly’, both released in 1990 on Sarah Records. “Heavenly vs. Satan“, the group’s debut album, came out in 1991.
At this stage in their career, Heavenly’s songs were still mainly concerned with an innocent view of love, whether or not requited, and the instrumentation remained very much the same jangly guitar style used by Talulah Gosh.
Before releasing the critically acclaimed“Le Jardin de Heavenly”, Cathy Rogers (keyboard, back-up vocals) joined the band. Her harmony vocals and keyboards became an integral part of the group’s sound. Her harmony vocals and keyboards became an integral part of the group’s sound. Another strikingly different element of the group’s second album was the inclusion of the track, “C is the Heavenly Option,” featuring the guest vocals of K Records founder Calvin Johnson, who released Heavenly’s records in the US.
“Heavenly vs Satan”. The first LP. Recorded in the Oxfordshire countryside, the first Heavenly album was a bid to make a pure pop record. The punk noise of Talulah Gosh had exploded and expired. Amelia had had a go at making a disco hit (‘Can You Keep A Secret’, subsequently released on Fierce Recordings), which was fun, but wasn’t going to trouble the charts.
Unbothered by critical or popular reactions, the new band decided to immerse themselves in the creation of a sweet, tuneful pop record. It’s true that the punk influences aren’t hard to discern (Mathew’s favourite band was The Ramones), but it’s Pete’s elegant guitar and Amelia’s melodies and multi-layered harmonies that win out on these recordings.
The Skep Wax re-issue of “Heavenly vs Satan” includes Heavenly’s first two Sarah Records singles – ‘I Fell In Love Last Night/Over And Over’ and ‘Our Love Is Heavenly/Wrap My Arms Around Him’.
Before their next long-player, Heavenly released two non-album 7″ singles, ‘P.U.N.K. Girl’ and ‘Atta Girl’. These signalled a growing complexity in Amelia’s songwriting, particularly ‘Atta Girl’, in which Amelia and Cathy sung in rapid-fire trade-off vocals. A broadening (and darkening) of lyrical subject matter was shown in the B-side, ‘Hearts and Crosses’, which told the story of a date rape, with an upbeat keyboard riff providing an ironic counterpoint.
The band’s third LP was “The Decline and Fall of Heavenly” (1994). Here the group were at their most commercial and at their most attuned with the growing Britpop movement. The arrangements expanded even more to include strings and a large amount of percussion, and the dual-vocal trick was used on several tracks.
Lyrically, the old romantic view of love was largely banished, but the tunes remained as upbeat and joyful as ever. In 1995, the band contributed the song ‘Snail Trail’ to the AIDS benefit album “Red Hot + Bothered” produced by the Red Hot Organization.
The group’s last album was “Operation Heavenly” (1996). Arriving in the middle of the Britpop boom, the album contained such fine singles as ‘Space Manatee’ and ‘Trophy Girlfriend’. Despite the closing of Sarah Records and release on Wiiija, the album was still recognisably the Heavenly sound. Shortly before the release of “Operation Heavenly”, Mathew Fletcher, the band’s drummer and Amelia’s brother, took his own life. The remaining members announced that the band name Heavenly was to be retired.
Heavenly came to an abrupt after the tragic end. After a year’s hiatus, the group reformed as the short-lived Marine Research, before going their separate ways musically. Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey currently play in The Catenary Wires and Swansea Sound. Peter Momtchiloff plays in Would-Be-Goods and Tufthunter.
Here’s a review from 1996… “Heavenly plays like a pop fan’s wish for what might result from scrambling genres, the singer/songwriter preoccupation with relationships, punk’s linking of personal and public politics, and pop’s undimmed promise of romance. When they’re really cooking, Heavenly simultaneously suggest the Slits, Abba and Joni Mitchell. They’re not about to opt for just one thing, anymore than the girl in “Trophy Girlfriend”, of whom we’re told “She’s kissing boys/ and girls/ Trying to decide which she prefers.” – Boston Phoenix
Active for just barely two years in the mid-’80s, Oxford, England-based indie prototypes Talulah Gosh were integral to the culture of fanzines, 7″ singles, and dreamy-eyed guitar pop songs that would immediately pave the way for twee, indie pop, noise pop, and decades of future underground music. After Talulah Gosh came the Shop Assistants; a few years later Bratmobile; then even later, the Vivian Girls, not to mention the bands spawned by TG members after their breakup, like Heavenly and TenderTrap, all drawing on the melancholy melodies and reverb-soaked delivery that sound sublimely stumbled upon throughout this all-inclusive compilation.
A short promo for the upcoming TALULAH GOSH compilation ‘Was It Just A Dream?’ which is coming out on Damaged Goods Records on the 21st October 2013. It’s a 29 track double gatefold vinyl LP and digipak CD with 24 page booklet and sleeve notes by The Legend! (or Everett True if you like). Cover designed by Alison Wonderland
In their short lifespan, the band’s recorded output comprised mostly multiple singles and compilation appearances. In the years that followed, there were several vault-scouring collections, most notably 1996’s K Records retrospective “Backwash”, which gathered all known studio recordings, live tracks, and radio sessions for a 25-song megalith of the band’s work.
“Was It Just a Dream?” expands “Backwash” by just four songs with the group’s earliest demo recordings made in 1986. The sheer number of tunes can be a little overwhelming when taken one after another, but any given track holds all the inventiveness and shambling energy of the C-86 scene or the homespun esthetic of the soon-to-follow K Records approach to twee and the softer side of punk idealism. Standout tracks like a spiky live version of “Pastels Badge” or either of two versions of the band’s namesake song, provide the best windows into their sound, and the four demo recordings fall somewhere between the working-class punk of the Billy Childish camp and the group’s own fearless, introspective song writing, which was strongly stated even from the start. A ground breaking and often overlooked group, Talulah Gosh quietly made it possible for everything from Riot Grrrl to the late-2000s bedroom indie scenes to take shape, whether the artists who followed knew it or not. “Was It Just a Dream?” is essential listening for any fan of indie pop in any of its permutations.
The Complete Story Of Talulah Gosh! 29 Tracks! one of the leading bands of the twee pop/C86 scene, their name came from the headline of an NME interview with Clare Grogan. They formed when Amelia Fletcher and Elizabeth Price, both wearing Pastels badges, met at a club in Oxford. Formed in 1986, their original line-up comprised Amelia Fletcher (vocals, guitar), her younger brother Mathew Fletcher (drums), Peter Momtchiloff (lead guitar), Rob Pursey (bass) and Elizabeth Price (vocals). Rob left early on, to be replaced by Chris Scott. Elizabeth left in 1987 to be replaced by Eithne Farry. They called it a day in late 1988 with Amelia, Mathew and Peter reappearing soon after as Heavenly.
This was the first of three performances at the Bottom Line 1977. The other two were on the 10th and 11th of May, When Lou Reed returned to the studio in 1975, the resulting album was “Coney Island Baby”, an album that continued his explorations of underground inner-city life, but in a significantly mellower manner, which would end Reed’s relationship with RCA. With his contract expired, he returned in 1976 with “Rock and Roll Heart”on Arista, and he again began returning to form.
On this album, Reed’s song- writing took on a new compassion and the result was his most approachable record since the VU days. To promote the album, Reed enlisted several of the session musicians and assembled the best touring band he had worked with since his 1973 tour. Reed also began to embrace the guitar again, adding his distinct, individualistic playing to the mix, which added significantly to the appeal of his live performances. No concerts on the 1977 tour were as highly anticipated as his three-night run on his home turf in New York City in May of that year.
This performance from the third and final night of that run, recorded at the Bottom Line, finds Reed fiercely fighting his way out of the mid-’70s, post-glam doldrums, and with his new team of certified power-punks brought along to lend a hand. With a set consisting of key tracks from his solo albums, several revamped VU classics, in addition to early previews of ‘Leave Me Alone’ and ‘Street Hassle,’, this is Reed ploughing through his catalogue with renewed focus and aggression.
Recorded for live radio transmission, the full set Lou Reed played on the night of 11th May 1977, is released now on this CD for the first time.
Lou Reed Bottom Line, NYC, New York May 9th, 1977
Setlist: 01. Sweet Jane 02. I’m Waiting For The Man 03. Rock And Roll Heart 04. Heroin 05. Rock ‘N’ Roll 06. Walk On The Wild Side 07. Shooting Star 08. You Better Dance, Dance, Dance 09. 11. Lisay Says (cut) 12. Satellite Of Love 13. Coney Island Baby 14. Berlin 15. Applause/Tuning 16. Banging On My Drum 17. Kicks 19. Leave Me Alone
Singer-songwriter-guitarist David Crosby, a founding member of two popular and enormously influential ’60s rock units, the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash (later Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), has died. He was 81 years old.
Crosby co-founded The Byrds alongside Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke in 1964, after performing on the acoustic coffeehouse circuit and in other bands, including Les Baxter’s Balladeers.
David Crosby was the most vital Byrd – by all accounts, trouble to himself and those around him; but the most vivid and creative of that musical tribe. Like many great partnerships, he and Jim McGuinn chafed against each other but generated an exquisite noise between them: Crosby had a voice like honey that draped over McGuinn’s more ant-like tones. I wish I’d seen them in action – those guitars that seemed to floss your brain between the ears, coated with the warmth of Crosby’s dominant harmonies: their records alone made me want to levitate.
He was critical to their creative evolution from Beatles-inspired folkies to electric 12-string revolutionaries taking trad arr to a new dimension, bringing John Coltrane into psychedelic pop and beyond. His work with them culminated in 1967’s “Younger ThanYesterday“. He also appeared on their fifth record, “The Notorious Byrd Brothers“, before he was fired from the band in 1967.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Crosby began his music career in the 1960s as a member of the band The Byrds, where he played guitar and sang harmonies. He was an important member of the band and played on several of their hit songs, including “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” “Eight Miles High,” and “Why.” He also wrote several songs for the band, including “Everybody’s Been Burned” and “Triad.”
A year after leaving The Byrds, Crosby formed Crosby, Stills & Nash with Nash and Buffalo Springfield’s Stephen Stills. The supergroup won Best New Artist at the 1969 Grammys following the release of their self-titled debut album and played their second ever gig at Woodstock.
Released on “Younger Than Yesterday”, “Lady Friend” crossed the band into the pop charts, The song tells the story of the fear of fleeting love and being on one’s own, crashing against the drums in the live version to the group’s chants of Here it comes / It looks just like the last wave I drowned in / Here it comes / And I’m so far from shore.
The Byrds performed the song during their appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
In 1968, Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash formed the supergroup Crosby, Stills, & Nash. The band released their debut album that year, which included the hit songs “Marrakesh Express” and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” The band was known for their powerful harmonies and socially conscious lyrics, and they quickly became one of the most popular bands of the era.
In 1969, Neil Young joined the band, and they became Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The band released several successful albums, including “Deja Vu”, “4 Way Street”, and “So Far”. They also embarked on several tours, including a legendary tour with the Grateful Dead in 1974.
The title track of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s second album together, and their first as a quartet with Neil Young, Crosby wrote and sang the slow-burning “Déjà Vu,“ which explores reincarnation and karma.
Off Crosby, Stills & Nash’s third album, and their first live release, “4 Way Street”, “The Lee Shore” revisited a recurring theme in Crosby’s life, and where he liked to spend more of his time: sailing. In the same vein as “Wooden Ships,” in “The Lee Shore” Crosby references the open waters singing From the sailors of the Sandra Marie / There’s another island eight days’ run away from here / And it’s empty and free.
His first solo album “If I Could Only Remember Name” is, in many view’s, one of the greatest albums ever recorded. The end result of seemingly limitless studio time at Wally Heider, with all the great and good of the Laurel Canyon scene gathered to support Croz in the aftermath of the tragic death of the then love of his life Christine Gail Hinton. What emerged was an essentially cathartic and ultimately life affirming set of incredible music that has been a constant companion for me, and countless others, through good times and bad.
“What Are Their Names” questions the government and its real agenda in lyrics I wonder who they are / The men who really run this land / And I wonder why they run it / With such a thoughtless hand / What are their names and on what streets do they live?
“Laughing”, from his debut album “If I Could Only Remember My Name”, released in 1971.
Work on the album started after Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released the album “Déjà Vu” in 1970. Many celebrated musicians play on this album, including members of CSN&Y, Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, Jefferson Airplane and Santana.
Crosby said about the music scene in San Francisco: “There was a friendship between the musicians rather than everyone competing and being cutthroat with everyone. It was a community of people who were more than willing to help each other, the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane in particular.”
And about the song: “Written to and for George Harrison about the Maharishi, and the idea was telling him that nobody’s really got ‘the answer’, and that people who try to tell you that they have the answer are most often trying to manipulate you.”
Graham Nash and Joni Mitchell contribute beautiful background vocals on this song. Pedal steel guitar by Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh on bass and Bill Kreutzmann on drums.
David was also the most interesting element of CSN, musically, even if drugs could get the better of him and bonsai his contributions. He let jazz, folk and rock’n’roll flow into each other, like a child playing with cups of water by a sink. There was a liquid quality to his songs and music.
As a person he was wonderful yet could on occasion be ghastly, apparently – like John Lennon himself. Overbearing at times, he nonetheless was very supportive of other artists, from Joni Mitchell up to Snarky Puppy.
Because David did such a great job in pulling himself out of the narcotic vortex in the late 1980s he seemed like he’d be around forever. It’s disturbing that he’s gone, almost as much as it’s sad: people like Crosby were built to endure, the way their love of music does. So even 81 seems too soon for him to be called away.
But nurturing new talent was nothing new for Crosby. After all it was David who introduced Joni Mitchell to the world, producing her stunning debut album “Song To A Seagull”. For a brief period they were lovers too.
In the 1990s, Crosby re-formed Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and released several albums, including “American Dream” and “Looking Forward”. He has also released several solo albums, including “Another Stoney Evening” in 2011.
The excellent biopic “David Crosby Remember My Name” told the whole story of his difficult years and how he rose out of them so triumphantly, culminating in six albums since 2014 that are easily as important as anything he previously recorded. An incredibly prolific period so late in the game.
Though the James Raymond-penned ballad “I Won’t Stay For Long”—a more somber tale of being reborn was a fitting close for David Crosby’s eighth and final album,“For Free”, earlier in the track list, he goes back to sea on the more uptempo “Ships In The Night.” The album cover art, a portrait of Crosby, was painted by his friend Joan Baez.
Crosby issued his most recent solo album, “For Free”, in July 2021. Before that, he showcased his Lighthouse Band (featuring Michael League, Becca Stevens and Michelle Willis) on 2018’s “Here If You Listen”. The troupe released the “Live at the Capitol Theatre” CD/DVD set, Crosby also worked with more than a dozen collaborators — including his son, multi-instrumentalist and producer James Raymond.
Penned by Snarky Puppy bassist Michael League and Crosby,“Things We Do for Love” is a tender ballad opening Crosby’s fifth album “Lighthouse”. The song plays through all the steps one takes for love—But love is long / A little each day / You build it that way. League also co-wrote four more tracks with Crosby for the album.
That’s a lot of music to release six decades into one’s career, but Crosby still had plenty left in the tank.
“I have another Lighthouse Band studio record finished, mixed and mastered,” recorded in December 2022. “It’s ready to release already. And I’m two songs into another “Sky Trails” band record with my son, James. I’m three songs into another Lighthouse record after this one, but I have an entire one that you haven’t heard.”
Crosby recorded stellar studio albums, and a very recent live album, with the amazing Lighthouse Band, consisting of the beyond talented Becca Stevens, Michelle Willis and Michael League. And let’s not also forget the earlier, excellent CPR recordings with his son James Raymond and 2021’s remarkable “For Free” album, produced by James, who also collaborated on the “Croz” and “Sky Trails” albums.
In addition to his solo records, Crosby’s contributions are set to appear on a forthcoming compilation curated by his estranged former bandmate Graham Nash. The archival collection, which does not yet have a title or release date, will feature Nash and Crosby singing vocal harmonies with several of their musical contemporaries, including Jackson Browne, James Taylor and Carole King. (Nash has said the record has been in progress for about five years and was quick to note that it wouldn’t have signalled a reunion with Crosby.
Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young) released eight studio albums; their last was 1999’s “Looking Forward“.
Outside of CSN&Y, Crosby often collaborate with Nash, releasing four studio albums together.
Graham Nash has said It is with a deep and profound sadness that I learned that my friend David Crosby has passed. I know people tend to focus on how volatile our relationship has been at times, but what has always mattered to David and me more than anything was the pure joy of the music we created together, the sound we discovered with one another, and the deep friendship we shared over all these many long years. David was fearless in life and in music. He leaves behind a tremendous void as far as sheer personality and talent in this world. He spoke his mind, his heart, and his passion through his beautiful music and leaves an incredible legacy. These are the things that matter most. My heart is truly with his wife, Jan, his son, Django, and all of the people he has touched in this world.
Meanwhile, Stills wrote, “He was without question a giant of a musician, and his harmonic sensibilities were nothing short of genius. The glue that held us together [in CSN and CSNY] as our vocals soared, like Icarus, towards the sun. I am deeply saddened at his passing and shall miss him beyond measure.”
Neil Young has honoured David Crosby, who has died aged 81. Writing on his Archives website Young said, “David is gone, but his music lives on. The soul of CSNY, David’s voice and energy were at the heart of our band. His great songs stood for what we believed in and it was always fun and exciting when we got to play together. ‘Almost Cut My Hair’ ‘Dejavu’, and so many other great songs he wrote were wonderful to jam on and Stills and I had a blast as he kept us going on and on. His singing with Graham was so memorable, their duo spot a highlight of so many of our shows.
The Golden Dregs (aka Benjamin Woods) is releasing a new album, “On Grace & Dignity”, on February 10th via 4AD Records. Now he has shared the album’s third single, “Before We Fell From Grace,” via a music video. Joe Wheatley directed the black & white video.
Hailing from Cornwall – a county in south-west England that draws thousands of tourists on holiday, and where thousands of locals could never hope of affording one – Woods grew up with a keen awareness of that gap between idealism and reality. The Golden Dregs’ third album, “On Grace and Dignity”, considers his home and what it means to be shaped by a place – in this instance, Truro, Cornwall’s capital, home to a rare three-spired cathedral, a peaceful river and a lot of empty shops and flimsy out-of-town housing estates. Written, recorded and produced by Woods from his South London home and childhood bedroom in Truro, it was mixed by Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding) who provided additional production.
“On Grace and Dignity’s” origins lie in winter 2020 when Woods lost his job in lockdown and moved back to his parents’ house. The only work he could get was as a labourer on a poorly run building site on the grimmest outskirts of Truro. “It was such a bleak winter – waist-deep in mud digging holes and rolling out turf on top of building waste, really grim stuff, which became the backdrop to the stories I was trying to write,” he adds, citing Raymond Carver, Lydia Davis and Richard Hugo as influences.
In among the personal reflections on loss of innocence and inferiority, Woods spins subtly interweaving narratives about survival, desperate acts of violence, loss and the limitations of community in the face of rapacious gentrification. Nevertheless, it is, appropriately for an album about home, somewhere you’ll want to spend a while. Life here proceeds at a graceful pace grounded by Woods’s deep voice, which seems to resonate from his feet as he delivers the sort of meticulously written lunar wisdom worthy of Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner, or the tidy yet revelatory koans of Silver Jews’ David Berman.
For the “On Grace and Dignity”artwork, he’s commissioned Bristol-based model-maker Edie Lawrence to construct an HO-scale fictional Cornish town. Christened Polgras, the 8 ft by 4 ft model features a viaduct, an estuary, a supermarket, new-build houses and industrial buildings; every song from “On Grace and Dignity” is represented by a scene in the town. “There’s different parts of the experience of growing up in Cornwall in there,” he says. “Some of it was from me looking at it when I was down there that winter, and some of it was me harking back to the experience of growing up there. It’s defined by that sense of duality, of coexisting realities,” he explains. “You’re geographically so far away, and it has a strong identity of its own, as well as a different landscape. It’s so rugged and bleak, but beautiful – which is what I really like in music.”
Upon announcement of the new album in October, Woods shared its first single “American Airlines,” .Then in November he shared the album’s second single, “Sundown Lake”.
The Golden Dregs’ previous album, “Hope Is For the Hopeless”, came out in 2019.‘On Grace and Dignity’, out 10th February via 4AD Records.
Montreal experimental pop trio Braids have announced a new album, “Euphoric Recall”, and shared a new song from it, “Evolution,” via a music video.“Euphoric Recall”is due out April 28th via Secret City. Nima Navab directed the “Evolution” video.
Singer/guitarist Raphaelle Standell-Preston had this to say about the new single in a press release: “Evolution” in and of itself is a patient act. Our pursuit of the individual self, which comprises all realms of human emotion, is sweetened with the intention and act of patience from ourselves, from those that we love and those who love us.”
The press release describes the new album in greater detail: “A freer and wholly anew effort, their fifth studio album finds the trio abandoning strategy, burning it down, and realizing their love record. Love, all of it; the unbound bliss, the budding impulses, and the messy imperfections, a supernova swirled up in a suite of bold, melodic, symphonic pop songs surrendered to the present.”
Standell-Preston adds: “How you cultivate your heart space is extremely important to the outcome of what you are pursuing. I think that when we are operating from a place of safety and feeling loved and have intentions of loving, we can access really interesting places.”
The band wrote, recorded, self-produced, and mixed “Euphoric Recall” at Studio Toute Garnie, their Montréal studio. The band also features Austin Tufts and Taylor Smith.
Last August, the band shared the album’s first single, “Retriever,”
“Euphoric Recall” Due Out April 28 via Secret City
Asheville rock band Wednesday have announced a new album, “Rat Saw God”, and shared a new song from it, “Chosen to Deserve,” via a music video. They’ve also announced some tour dates. “Rat Saw God” is due out April 7th via Dead Oceans (their first for the label). Spencer Kelly directed the “Chosen to Deserve” video.
Singer Karly Hartzman had this to say about the new single in a press release: “‘Chosen to Deserve’ is a writing exercise I gave myself to try to recreate the iconic song by Drive-By Truckers ‘Let There Be Rock’ but with my own experiences from growing up and fucking around and getting into stupid shit. The video directed by Spencer Kelly shows the setting of my upbringing and antics: my parents’ neighborhood in Greensboro, NC and Lake Myers RV Resort.”
The band also features MJ Lenderman, Alan Miller, and Xandy Chelmis.
Last October, Wednesday shared the album’s eight-and-a-half minute long “Bull Believer,” in addition to announcing that they had signed to Dead Oceans.
In 2022, Wednesday released the covers album “Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ‘em Up”. The band’s last album of original songs was 2021’s “Twin Plagues”. Wednesday wrote “Rat Saw God” in the months soon after following “TwinPlagues’ completion. They recorded at Asheville’s Drop of Sun studio over the course of a week.
“I really jumped that hurdle with “Twin Plagues” where I was not worrying at all really about being vulnerable—I was finally comfortable with it, and I really wanna stay in that zone,” says Hartzman.
The songs on “Rat Saw God” tackle everyday life, rather than big issues. “Everyone’s story is worthy,” says Hartzman. “Literally every life story is worth writing down, because people are so fascinating.”
Atlanta band Algiers are releasing a new album, “Shook”, on February 24th via Matador. Now they have shared the album’s third single, “I Can’t Stand It,” which features Future Islands’frontman Samuel T. Herring and Boy Harsher’s Jae Matthews. It also samples “What You Don’t Want Me to Be,” a 1971 song by fellow Atlanta artist Lee Moses.
Algiers’ frontman Franklin James Fisher, who wrote and produced the song, had this to say in a press release: “It’s a very personal song about a devastating loss of someone I believed to be the love of my life which nearly ended in my suicide. I think the song’s narrative arc reflects the sense of dread and the path that led me to that moment. She put on ‘What You Don’t Want Me to Be’ the first time I heard it and I knew immediately that I was going to sample it—I just couldn’t have known the result would be a song about our own end. But every time I sing that song now it feels like I heal a little bit more.”
Matthews had this to add: “I wanted to give Algiers not so much a narrative, but a recollection of a feeling. That abstract evocation that comes when you think about someone who broke yr heart and how that pain still tethers you.”
In September, Algiers shared the album track “Bite Back,” which features Billy Woods and Backxwash. Upon announcement of the album, they shared the song “Irreversible Damage” featuring Zack de la Rocha,
Algiers’ last album, “There Is No Year”, came out in early 2020 via Matador Records.
Ron Gallo the chameleonic singer-songwriter-bandleader ended a five-year run in Music City by quietly returning to his native Philadelphia. Chiara D’Anzieri, his wife and sometime bandmate, went with him. She hails from Turin in Northern Italy and is soon to release her debut solo album in English as Chickpee.
“Back for good, at least at the moment,” says Gallo. “Being in the house all last year, questioning existential crises — questioning everything — we ultimately decided we missed family, missed Philly, and that the Northeast was much more suited for an Italian relocating across the world.”
The artist has released a series of singles throughout the year, pairing up with fellow indie artist Boyo to create “Hide (Myself Behind You)”. This song’s haziness and distortion are right on trend for the era of bedroom pop and lo-fi production.
Gallo, who has family roots in Salerno and Sicily, met D’Anzieri on a 2018 summer tour of Europe that went through his ancestral homeland. “It was crazy!” he recalls. “I saw this girl across the way — it was almost like slow motion. I ended up talking to her. She spoke a little bit of English. And we’ve been together ever since.”
The Nashville chapter “was life-changing in a lot of ways” for Gallo. This creatively fruitful period yielded an EP and two LPs — three if you count the Stones-y album “Heavy Meta”, the follow-up to 2014’s self-released “Ronny”. “Heavy Meta” was recorded in the City of Brotherly Love and issued as Gallo’s debut for Music City-based New West Records in 2017. “Peacemeal”, is his latest full-length.
“I have to admit, I know I got dealt a pretty good hand,” Gallo says. “I moved here, met the people at New West, signed the deal, went right out on tour. I made a lot of lifelong friends those first few years. But a lot of them moved. And when everyone’s gone all the time, friendship can be fleeting.”
Being away on tour for most of 2017 and 2018 made Gallo’s stints at home increasingly antisocial — agoraphobic, even. Running errands around town, he came to dread talking shop with casual music-scene acquaintances so much he made two songs about it. There’s the spoken-word “The East Nashville Kroger Conversation,” from 2018’s odds-and-sods “Really Nice Guys” EP, and “Can We Still Be Friends?” a standout from “Peacemeal”. “Can we still be friends,” the latter tune asks, “now that I can’t help you?” When Gallo, bassist Joe Bisirri and drummer Dylan Sevey returned home from touring their second New West album “Stardust Birthday Party”, Gallo found himself struggling on both a personal and a musical level.
“I needed to take a break,” he explains. “I started to notice a lot of the friendships I had that I thought were genuine, weren’t. I know any place with a music industry is going to have its opportunists, but that plastic-gentle approach sometimes made me uncomfortable. I just want to hang out, have a human connection — not talk about your business, or how many tickets you’ve sold.”
Gallo and D’Anzieri married in 2019, and he’d intended to spend much of that year in Italy relaxing and recharging. Instead, visa issues got him barred from the country for three months. “I was back in Nashville, and it felt surreal,” he remembers. “It was just me, alone, in the house. And that’s when I wrote “Peacemeal.”
Gallo played nearly every instrument on the 12-song LP, though you do hear some bass, guitar and vocal contributions from D’Anzieri. Equal parts contemporary bedroom psych-pop and optimistic classic hip-hop, its laid-back sound is a total 180 from the full-band “Stardust’s” shouty post-punk philosophizing. On the 2018 album, Gallo raved zealously on the importance of living life solely in the present moment — past or future be damned — in a manner seemingly devoid of irony or sarcasm.
Of course you can never be 100 percent certain about how to take the deadpan Gallo, who calls the late Andy Kaufman “an influence on everything I’ve done so far, especially the live show.” He cites Iggy Pop and Tyler the Creator as musical touchstones: “I’ve always been drawn to weirdos, people who live in their own universe.” On “Peacemeal”, Gallo delights in blurring the lines between music and comedy, spoken word and performance art, improvised and planned, sincere and satirical, pop songcraft and music-scene punditry. Nearly every song seems parodic or nonsensical on first listen, then burrows itself into your head before you even realize it — usually within the span of three minutes. It’s a direct line to Gallo’s mind as he navigates a transitional time in his life and career.
“I’m an overthinker in daily life, but when it comes to music I try to be a first-off, best-off person, keep my head out of it,” says Gallo. “Stream-of-consciousness, breaking the fourth wall with the listener — that’s what I love to hear. So that’s what I try and make: music that feels almost like you’re witnessing someone’s thoughts happening in their head in real time.”
The Fat Angel Sings 