The Fat Angel Sings

The Dream Syndicate reveal two new tracks from the newly expanded 40th Anniversary Edition of ‘The Days Of Wine and Roses: History Kinda Pales When It and You Are Aligned’ (4xCD) out 23rd June. Collecting 54 songs from the original line-up, including 10 hard-to-find rarities and 31 never released recordings. Listen to ‘When You Smile (Down There EP Version)/Too Little, Too Late (Kendra Vocal, Live)’

This exciting Box Set News! “history kinda pales when it and you are aligned” is a 4-CD collection coming out this summer on Fire Records but we’ll be selling pre-release copies on our UK tour starting next Monday. The box is in the style of the “What Can I Say, No Regrets” reimagining of “Out of the Grey” set that came out last year and is comprised entirely of material from 1982–several dozen early live performances and demos that you haven’t heard before including cover songs by Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin and The Who (!)

One of the most celebrated bands to come out of the Los Angeles “Paisley Underground” scene of the ’80s, the Dream Syndicate adored the intricate wordplay and edgy energy of ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ era Bob Dylan, as well as the noisy guitars and bracing darkness of the Velvet Underground.

An exceptional early ‘80s guitar-powered gem, remastered in full and includes a wealth of unreleased material. This newly expanded 4 CD collection includes tracks from main protagonist Steve Wynn’s earlier combo 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 deluxe box features liner notes by band historian Pat Thomas and recent interviews with Kendra Smith, engineer Paul Cutler and producer Chris D.

Nine albums in and The National manage to retain their crown of one of the hardest working, and consistently great bands of a generation. Featuring yet more superb songwriting, expert production and some heavyweight special guest appearances, just like Mary Shelly’s classic novel this might just be the indie-rock stalwart’s very own masterpiece.

The National released a new album, “First Two Pages of Frankenstein“, that features guest artists Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers, and Sufjans Stevens, and shared its first single, “Tropic Morning News.” They have also announced some tour dates. “First Two Pages of Frankenstein” is due out April 28th via 4AD Records.

The National’s previous album, “I Am Easy to Find“, came out in 2019 via 4AD. Last year the band shared a new single, “Weird Goodbyes,” which was a collaboration with Bon Iver (the project led by Justin Vernon) but is not featured on the new album.

In a press release, lead singer Matt Berninger says that after “I Am Easy to Find” he found himself in “a very dark spot where I couldn’t come up with lyrics or melodies at all. Even though we’d always been anxious whenever we were working on a record, this was the first time it ever felt like maybe things really had come to an end.”

The National’s guitarist/pianist Bryce Dessner says that the band “managed to come back together and approach everything from a different angle, and because of that we arrived at what feels like a new era for the band.”

The band also features Bryce’s brother Aaron Dessner (guitar/piano/bass), as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums).

“Tropic Morning News” was partly recorded live in Hamburg. “When Matt came in with that song in the depths of his depression, it felt like a turning point for us,” says Aaron Dessner. “It’s almost Dylan-esque in its lyrics and it’s so much fun to play; everything suddenly felt like it was coming alive again.”

Berninger co-wrote the song with his wife Carin Besser and the press release says it “takes its title from a phrase Besser invented to describe the regrettably routine practice of doomscrolling.”

Berninger adds: “The idea of referring to the darkness of the news in such a light way unlocked something in me. It became a song about having a hard time expressing yourself, and trying to connect with someone when the noise of the world is drowning out any potential for conversation.”

“This was not an easy album to make. It was the first time it ever felt like maybe things really had come to an end. But at some point there was a feeling of all of us leaning into each other in a new way. We managed to come back together and approach everything from a different angle, letting go of attachment and giving way to what we do best. For all of that, we are so proud of this album and how much it means to us.

Summing up “First Two Pages of Frankenstein” as a whole, Aaron Dessner says: “To me the power of this record has to do with the intentionality and structure of the music meeting with a lot of accidental magic.”

Mega Bog (aka Erin Birgy) is releasing a new album, “End of Everything”, on May 19th via Mexican Summer, her first for the label. On Wednesday she shared its third single, “Cactus People,” via a self-directed music video.

Birgy had this to say about “Cactus People” in a press release: “This song is a transparent call to practice addressing what lies at the feared feet of abandonment. All of a sudden I realized I was running away, with a black widow bite, collapsing on a trail several hours out of town, alone. Reacting to something inevitable, something I desired even, and taking notes of images arising while pitting emotionality against logic. At the time they felt like enemies, but somewhere in there was a seed wailing, ‘just watch yourself unfold.’”

Of directing the song’s video, she adds: “While making the video for ‘Cactus People,’ similar thrills and fears had me run to Greece, where I watched old patterns rear their noses once more, but with a brazen clarity—geographically, surrounded by new and inspiring friends, all with that ancient, echoing reminder of the stones we were born to bear, who we’ll have to embrace as company to find any peace throughout this life.”

Previously Mega Bog shared the album’s first single, “The Clown,” via a self-directed music video. Then she shared the album’s second single, “Love Is,” via a music video. “Love Is” featured backing vocals from Westerman. 

Birgy co-produced the album with James Krivchenia of Big Thief, who also mixed the record and co-engineered it with Phil Hartunian. Krivchenia also plays drums on the album, which also features regular Mega Bog bassist Zach Burba, alongside Will Segerstrom, Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Jackson Macintosh (Drugdealer, TOPS), and Westerman.

As Birgy got sobre and started to work through her personal traumas, she decided to make a more direct record, writing on piano and synthesizer instead of guitar.

In a previous press release Birgy said she had the need “to feel… instantly. I didn’t want to dig into secret codes. I no longer wanted to hide behind difficult music. I was curious to give others the same with the music I create; to make music someone could use to explore drama, playfulness, and dancing, to shake the trauma loose.”

North London dream-pop ensemble Firestations are back with their first full album in five years. Preceded by the single “Undercover” – an effervescent song about depression and self-discovery ­– “Thick Terrain” will be released on limited-edition 12” vinyl and digital platforms on July 14th, 2023. A clear-eyed and bold statement, deftly combining big ideas with pop sensibilities in a captivating way, it’s the band’s best work to date. It follows Firestations’ expansive and explorative 2021 EP trilogy “Automatic Tendencies“, which garnered extensive support from BBC 6 Music including repeat plays from Gideon Coe, Cerys Matthews, Radcliffe & Maconie and in particular Marc Riley, who hailed the track ‘Small Island’ as “a perfect pop song”.

A song of, “depression and self-discovery”, “Undercover” finds vocalist Michael Cranny looking for happiness and normality in a world that can sometimes feel like it is lacking in both, “is it over? Where is the joy? Still undercover?” Musically, the track feels contrastingly effervescent, the lyrics might be questioning where have all the good times gone, yet Firestation’s music has never sounded more self-confident, adding a Camera Obscura-like pop-swagger to their usual blend of the dreamy and the driving.

This all bodes very well for their new album, a record whose title combines a love of dense milkshakes, a sense of feeling grounded and “cultural research” watching Love Island, and yes you might need to ask them for a full explanation of that, but rest assured it’s going to be excellent!

Firestations are Michael Cranny, Laura Copsey, Martin Thompson, Tom Hargreaves and Neil Walsh. Together they make music spanning genres from shoegazey indie to synth pop and harmony-driven psychedelia.

Taken from the forthcoming album “Thick Terrain” – out on July 14th, 2023 on limited edition 12″ vinyl via Lost Map Recordings

Jess Williamson’s “Time Ain’t Accidental” is the sound of a woman running into her life and art head-on, on her own terms for the first time in a long while. With a vocal dynamic kindred to artists like Linda Rondstadt and Emmylou Harris, Williamson blends the emotional immediacy and story-telling of traditional country with the artful, wholly honest transmissions of songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Terry Allen. The album’s reckoning with loss, isolation, romance, and personal reclamation signals both a stylistic and tectonic shift for Williamson: from someone who once made herself small to an artist emboldened by her power as an individual.

“Chasing Spirits” is a strong contender for the year’s most striking opening lines, “are my love songs lies now that the love is gone?” It serves as an introduction to a song that asks throughout what happens when you pour your heart into something, and then it ends. Does it invalidate those feelings you once shared, and do you chase those feelings into the spirits in the sky, or sink into the ones you find in a liquor store? In many ways, Jess seems to be picking up where “Plans”, her duet project with Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, left off.

This is many ways a classic country song, with cynicism-free emotional out-pouring, bar-room pianos and luxuriant waves of slide-guitar, it is in the lineage of Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and The Chicks. What really stands out is just how natural this shift seems for Jess, her vocal tone lending itself perfectly to standing tall and proud among the waves of musical emotion. The next stage of a songwriter who with each album never seems content to stand still, this might just be Jess Williamson’s most exciting phase yet.

“Time Ain’t Accidental” is out June 9th via Mexican Summer.

Following its exclusive premiere in London, the trailer for the upcoming documentary film, “Have You Got It Yet?: The Story Of Syd Barrett And Pink Floyd”, has been unveiled. The documentary was made with the blessing of the Barrett estate and the permission of Pink Floyd‘s surviving members, the three of whom feature as interview subjects in the film.

“Have You Got It Yet” was directed by the late Pink Floyd art designer Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis with Roddy Bogawa.

Bogowa issued a statement that reads, “Would anyone care about the story of Syd Barrett if Pink Floyd hadn’t become one of the biggest bands of all time? Would Pink Floyd have existed without Syd?

“I miss Storm probably in the same way as many of those in our film miss Syd, a friend who they dearly loved and shared fond memories and adventures — Syd just happened to become one of the most famous cult icons in music.”

Meanwhile, the official synopsis states, “Cult icon, enigma, recluse … the life of Syd Barrett, founding member of Pink Floyd, is full of unanswered questions. Until now. Piecing together his comet-like rise to pop stardom, his creative and destructive impulses, breakdown, exit from the band, and subsequent life alone, this feature-length documentary is set against the social context of the explosive ’60s.”

Barrett’s sister, Rosemary Breen, stars alongside Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Roger Waters, early managers Peter Jenner and Andrew King and musicians influenced by his art, including The Who‘s Pete Townshend and Blur‘s Graham Coxon. The name of the documentary was pulled from an unreleased Syd Barrett song.

“Have You Got It Yet” will be played in UK cinemas from 15th May, with the film moving to the US in June. At the time of writing, no Australian premiere date has been set. Barrett co-founded the iconic psychedelic rock band with Roger Waters and Nick Mason in 1965. The trio released their debut album, “The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn” and their second album, “A Saucerful Of Secrets”, in 1967 and 1968, respectively. The sole Pink Floyd releases featuring Barrett, he was replaced by Gilmour in 1968 after dealing with worsening health issues and drug addiction.

Daaistar are four piece Noise-Pop band formed in Austin, Texas in the spring of 2020.

The band takes their inspiration from the neo-psychedelic era of the 80s and 90s (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Spacemen 3, Primal Scream) and pulls it into the future with modulating synthesizers, heavy guitars, bouncing bass lines, and spiraling hooks, creating a narcotic blend of noise and melody.

They recently recorded their first studio album produced by frontman Alex Maas of The Black Angels and engineered by James Petralli of White Denim and arrives later in the year.

“There was a time in my life when I wanted to push the boundary of existence both physically and mentally. The memories I have of those days are vague and abstract just like the words written for Tracemaker, but when it’s all put together you begin to understand the meaning. It’s one of my favourite songs on the album and a good indicator of what’s to come from Daiistar. We are thrilled to set home base with Fuzz Club Records and can’t wait to share more with the world.” – Alex Capistran

“Tracemaker” swings forth and back with a wall-of-schizophrenic-guitar sound, Misti Hamrick’s sensual voice and tons of feedback. A mad motherrocker of a groove. These are the kind of bad-ass belters the on-repeat button was invented for. Bang on!

A pivotal record for contemporary times; bright, free, adamant, optimistic. “Brain Worms” is RVG’s fullest, most pristine album yet.
All throughout “Brain Worms”, it’s apparent that this is a band in very fine form. Album opener ‘Common Ground’ sets the tone for what’s to come; a shiny, thrilling, punch of an album, with all the beloved RVG hallmarks. Vager’s voice is unfiltered and commanding as ever when delivering her clever, not-quite-ironic lyrics. Here, though, those lyrics feel so much less resigned to yearning, and so much more defiant and joyous.

‘Tambourine’ is the only Covid song Vager wrote when “trying not to write Covid songs”, and it’s a painfully honest portrait of grieving mid-isolation. “Brain Worms” tells the all-too-familiar story of a person falling down the internet rabbit hole and finding comfort in conspiracies. ‘Nothing Really Changes’ is a keys-heavy new wave-ish thing, while closer ‘Tropic of Cancer’ sparkles with Vager’s self-assured new manifesto: I know what I’m like, and I know how I get. If you think I’m strange, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

“A calling card for outsiders… dynamic and vital post-punk” The Guardian
Bloxham, Nolte, and Wallace are flawlessly adept in bringing Vager’s songwriting to life. Recorded in London at Snap Studios with James Trevascus (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, Billy Nomates), all ten tracks surge with lush sounds and clear intentions — and the magic of an acoustic guitar once owned by Kate Bush, given to her by Tears for Fears (who, legend has it, wrote ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ on it).

Between the four bandmates — lead singer and guitarist Vager, guitarist Reuben Bloxham, drummer Marc Nolte and bassist Isabele Wallace — this is the most confident they’ve ever felt in RVG. They’ve moved past their influences, pushed themselves, and tried new things. And they have made a record they can, by all accounts, call their best.
“Brain Worms” feels like the antithesis to what a post-pandemic record could easily be. For a band who were already writing music about being reclusive — “we were depressed and not going outside on our first two albums” — the enforced isolation and time to think gave Vager space to write about anything she wanted. And, it turned out, she was ready to write about acceptance.
“If we could only make one more album, it would be this one,” says Vager. 

releases June 2nd, 2023

Written by Romy Vager

The Lemon Twigs’ fourth studio album “Everything Harmony” is out May 5th The album swings between moments of depression and isolation and episodes of dizzying euphoria, a tour de force that arrives as a full realization of the brother duo of Brian and Michael D’Addario’s distinct blend of sunny pop vocals with sophisticated acoustic-folk melodies and rich textures.

It was written, recorded, produced and engineered entirely by The Lemon Twigs across Manhattan, Brooklyn and San Francisco’s Hyde Street Studios. The Captured Tracks exclusive is limited to 1000 copies on grape vinyl, and comes with a flexi disc with bonus single “Some Love”.

“Every Day Is The Worst Day Of My Life”, The Lemon Twigs’ fourth single from “Everything Harmony” is out now, accompanied by a brand new music video directed by the brothers and Hilla Eden.

“Everything Harmony” is a tour de force that arrives as a full realization of the brother duo of Brian and Michael D’Addario’s distinct blend of pop vocals with sophisticated acoustic-folk melodies and rich textures, inspired by the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, Arthur Russell and Moondog. The album swings between moments of depression and isolation and episodes of dizzying euphoria. It was written, recorded, produced and engineered entirely by The Lemon Twigs across Manhattan, Brooklyn and San Francisco’s Hyde Street Studios.

The record does nothing more or less than deliver a set of great songs, impeccably produced and opulently arranged. The band’s swooning melodies, weepy strings, and standout vocal harmonies sound better than ever, coupled with songs full of equal parts heartache and longing. The greatest compliment you can give “Everything Harmony” is that it not only evokes the band’s ’70s influences but that it stands amongst them as equals, showing a keen ear for the sonic craftsmanship and pop song writing that made those records great.