The Fat Angel Sings

Coming on Dark Horse Records as part of RSD Black Friday, Joe Strummer “Live at Music Millennium”.

Joe Strummer’s November 4th, 1999 in-store performance at iconic Portland independent record store Music Millennium receives its first ever release for RECORD STORE DAY BLACK FRIDAY. The soundboard recording captures Strummer performing intimate acoustic takes on “Junco Partner,” “X-Ray Style” “Island Hopping,” “The Road to Rock ‘N’ Roll,” and “Trash City.” This RSD-exclusive vinyl release continues the ongoing celebration this year of what would have been Joe’s 70th birthday.

Receiving its first ever official release, Joe Strummer’s intimate solo set at iconic Portland indie store Music Millennium in Novembrer 1999. The set was captured via a soundboard recording and has previously only circulated thorugh bootlegs.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters – “The Boy Named If (Alive at Memphis Magnetic)” is a companion to January’s widely acclaimed album “The Boy Named If”, which was just nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. This new album features live-in-the studio renditions of “The Boy Named If” songs, a version of Costello’s “Every Day I Write the Book“, numbers by The Rolling Stones, Nick Lowe, The Byrds and Paul McCartney, and a brand-new remix by the Japanese duo chelmico.

The official audio for “Magnificent Hurt Remix (chelmico remix)” from Elvis Costello & The Imposters‘ upcoming album ‘The Boy Named If (Alive at Memphis Magnetic)”.

The album captures the band playing, as Costello puts, “Some of our favourite songs while negotiating with any tricky angles in our new tunes.”

“The Halos are back in Black! Formed in the underbelly of the Vancouver punk music scene in 1994, The Black Halos were a sneering, snotty, slap in the face to the Seattle grunge scene. Their raucous live shows garnered the attention of Sub Pop Records. The band came to an abrupt end when their van, trailer, and equipment were stolen in Montreal in 2008. Now original members Billy Hopeless, Rich Jones and Jay Millette have reunited, adding new members John Kerns and Danni Action.

Following jammed-to-the-rafters shows at Toronto’s Canadian Music Week and their hometown of Vancouver, the band are ready to win over a new generation of rock ‘n’ roll fans with a brand new album, “How The Darkness Doubled”. Rich explains “Reuniting with Billy and Jay for this new album brought my focus back to writing with a mindset that was pure, uncompromising Halos — as far as I’m concerned we’ve really achieved it.

Having our friends John and Danni on board makes this feel like the strongest lineup that we’ve ever had and you can really hear it on this record. Additionally, Billy and I had always planned to call the third album “How The Darkness Doubled”. So it seemed natural to use that title now, 20 years later, for what I consider to be a spiritual followup to “The Violent Years“.

Blood Red Shoes are an English alternative rock duo from Brighton consisting of Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell. After years spent living on opposite sides of the Atlantic world events threw Laura Mary Carter and Steven Ansell of Blood Red Shoes back together into what has become the must fruitful era of their 17 years together.

“It’s been a loooong time since we both lived in the same city”, explains Steven. “I mean we actually wrote this album in LA at Laura’s place, then came to the UK to record it…and then everything went nuts”.

Realising very quickly that they wouldn’t be able to release the album or tour until the world returned to some kind of normality, the band found their energies quickly spilled over into other projects. Laura-Mary started a podcast, Never Meet Your Idols, with her best friend in LA, interviewing everyone from Zack Snyder to Mark Lanegan to Chvrches. It is now about to start its third season. Steven started applying his love of electronic music by writing and producing other alternative artists like Circe, ARXX, Aiko and XCerts, racking up millions of streams in the process.

Having worked together on Laura–Mary’s forthcoming solo mini album “Town Called Nothing” and restless from the lack of touring, the duo started jamming out in rehearsal rooms, which led to the light-speed writing, recording and release of the impossibly-titled Ø EP in the summer of 2021. Which concludes what the band call an “off year”.

And that brings us back to “Ghosts on Tape”. It appears that like David Lynch’s The Lost Highway, nothing is linear in the world of Blood Red Shoes. Written and recorded before their most recent EP, “Ghosts on Tape” is a huge jump into new terrain for the band. Musically and emotionally their most mature work, it is a complex, imaginative, and very gothic development on their sound. Musically, it leaves almost no trace of their former selves.

“We’ve always been outsiders right from the very beginning” says Steven. “This album is really about us asserting ourselves as our own little island”, he adds. “We have made an entire career out of being told what we are “not”, of being rejected, of not fitting in, and this album is us deliberately pushing into all of our strangeness, emphasising all of the things that make us different”. Obsessed by true crime and murder podcasts, many songs on the record are told in character and explore the dark psyche of those at the pinnacle of outsiderdom: serial killers. “Ghosts on Tape” paints a picture of a dark and unsettling world. It is the sound of a unified and confident duo who know exactly who they are, even if the wider world doesn’t really get it. The sound of two people who have spent their entire adult lives making music together and who, more than ever, are finding new pathways for their creativity.

“Ultimately this album is an invitation”, explains Steven. “It’s us saying, this is our world, these are our darkest thoughts and feelings – our ghosts – caught on tape. You are welcome to join us. Come and embrace the strange”.

the new album from Blood Red Shoes; “Ghosts “on Tape”, and we’re delighted that Steven Ansell and Laura Mary Carter who make up the duo have given us an insight into each track on the album.

Produced by Tom Dalgety (Pixies, Royal Brood), the pair went into Echo Zoo Studios in March 2020 to record the album, and circumstances meant that they lived closely for a time. “It’s been a loooong time since we both lived in the same city”, explains Steven. “I mean we actually wrote this album in LA at Laura’s place, then came to the UK to record it…and then everything went nuts”. 

He’s goes on to say, of the album “We’ve always been outsiders right from the very beginning” says Steven. “This album is really about us asserting ourselves as our own little island”, he adds. “We have made an entire career out of being told what we are “not”, of being rejected, of not fitting in, and this album is us deliberately pushing into all of our strangeness, emphasising all of the things that make us different”.

And they’ve produced an album that is ascerbic and moody and dark and uplifting and ambitious and full of tunes and moments that get under your skin and inside your head. In short, Blood Red Shoes may have just made one of the albums of the year, right here. Read on and check out a stream at the bottom

COMPLY

in the book 1984, the opening references a clock striking 13. well clocks don’t strike 13. so from the very first page, you know something is uneasy, unsettling, wrong. that’s how we wanted this album to feel, so we opened the song with a haunting, piano-led, discordant song about power and domination with the line “you’re not keeping me safe, you’re keeping control. it’s quiet, it’s cold, and you won’t let me go outside”. 

MORBID FASCINATION

we wrote the entirety of this album in downtown Los Angeles in a borrowed rehearsal room, using just a piano, a guitar with 4 strings, and a laptop. this song started life literally in the street on the way to the rehearsal room, just a simple melody idea sung into a voice memo on an iphone. we built that into the whole song very very fast and it became the gateway to the whole album, unlocking the whole tone and palette of what we were trying to say. 

MURDER ME

we are obsessed with true crime podcasts. stalkers, serial killers, murderers. the intrigue and mystery of them, the fascination of the humans on the outskirts of society and the harm people can do. the weird romance and darkness of outsiders. the threat and fear that it could happen anytime. that obsession has spilled over into many of the songs on this album, especially this one. 

GIVE UP

our band has always dealt with lyrically darker and heavier themes, right from our inception. but we’ve often contrasted those ideas with energetic music and melodic hooks. well this album is the opposite. on this album the music tells the exact same story as the words, with this song following the narrative of someone overwhelmed by constant and escalating intrusive voices in their head shouting “give up”, until they finally, and completely, capitulate, and give up their very existence. 

SUCKER

this song is one of the most direct songs on the record, about the compulsion to win someone’s love, at all costs, fully in the grips of your addiction and regardless of the cost to yourself. “i’m a sucker for your love, will it ever be enough?”

BEGGING

this song fits the title of the album perhaps more than any other. a ghostly, creepy song written on a very beaten up piano, with detuned strings and backwards drums. like a david lynch nightmare. 

I AM NOT YOU

a song born from pure, unbridled, venomous rage. “i take all my strength in every step i take away from you. i am nothing like you, no nothing like you”. the song takes industrial synths, and guitars distorted through the cheapest digital interfaces we could find, and smashes them together into one harsh metallic slab of pure rage.

I LOSE WHATEVER I OWN

a song about being helpless, outcast, left behind. about feeling powerless in the face of indifference of others. a big theme of this album is the feeling of being outsiders, about being rejected, of being out on your own island. 

FOUR TWO SEVEN

across this album we switch narrators a lot. some songs are told through the eyes of characters we’ve created, and some are direct from us. this one is much more personal, about holding on to the ghost of a broken relationship because the hurt is the only part of it you have left.

Released January 14th, 2022

Written And Performed By Steven Ansell and Laura Mary Carter

On this day (November 19th) in 1977: London, UK punk band Generation X (featuring vocalist Billy Idol) had their second single released by Chrysalis Records, “Wild Youth” (backed with “Wild Dub” – a drastically remixed version of the A-side); the sessions were produced by veteran songwriter & producer Phil Waiman, who had previously worked with The Sweet & Bay City Rollers, but who was not overly impressed with his new charges…said Phil in a later interview, ‘Billy Idol kept on saying, “Do you think I’m going to make it?” I said, “Well, you’re absolutely bloody talentless, but you look great…”

Generation X released one of the most underrated album in the first wave of punk rock. With a great sound, perfect production and songs full of attitude the album should have been massive but was overlooked by many at the time for not being real ‘punk’ Has time been kind to the album? does it sound punk rock now!

‘Generation X’ took the stage for the first time in public at the Central School of Art and Design on 10 December 1976. The new band played its second gig four days later at the newly opened The Roxy, which Czezowski had also begun managing. Generation X was the first band to play at the venue

Released at the start of September 1977, “Your Generation”, with a b-side of the high-energy disaffected punk-rock song “Day by Day” (with a title taken by James from the recent publication of Robin Day’s autobiography), went to No. 36 in the UK Singles Chart, after being critiqued by Elton John in a review column in the Record Mirror as ‘dreadful garbage’.

The band played the song on the Marc Bolan’s teatime show, Marc, a few days later using Granada Television’s Manchester studio instruments for the performance, afterwards making off with the drum-kit provided then being banned by Granada for 10 years as a result.

Graphic artist Barney Bubbles, who with them created the cover for the “Your Generation” single release, drawing inspiration from the 1920s abstract geometric work of Russian designer El Lissitzky, which introduced the Russian Constructivist school into English pop music design, which would be utilized by other bands into the 21st Century. Bubbles was also commissioned by the band to design its newspaper adverts and posters.

The songs are as sharp, the performances as lively, and the sound as wiry and tough as it is here. It was the group’s second crack at recording the album. The initial sessions helmed by actual producer Phil Wainman were deemed too slick and went to Martin Rushent to try and capture more of their live sound.

The album has a live, exciting sound. The rhythm section is loud and pummeling, Tony James’ guitar is thrillingly raw, and Billy Idol’s sneering vocals ride on top of the noise like a cocky cowboy. Idol and James collaborated on the songs and they knocked out (mostly) fast and hooky punk-pop gems that had huge choruses and fist-in-the-air sentiments.

“Ready Steady Go” is practically an amped-up ’60s beat group tune, and “The Invisible Man” could have been a Kinks’ album track turned up to ten. Along with the flat-out rockers, they stretch out some on “Promises Promises” and “Youth Youth Youth,” a couple of songs that blow past the five-minute mark. The latter is a dramatic New York Dolls-inspired epic that has plenty of room for James to show off his frantic guitar soloing. They also turned in one of the first great punk ballads with “Kiss Me Deadly,” which features some great guitar parts, nice dynamic shifts, and an almost sensitive vocal from Idol. Add it all up, and it may not be the classic punk rock album of the age, but it is a whole lot of rip-roaring fun and it did prove extremely influential .

Led by enigmatic songwriter Rowan Sandle, Crake is driven by her endless curiosity. Armed with her gently cracking vocal, and inspiration from writers like Shirley Jackson and Nan Shepherd, she sings of crinoids, slime mould and pussy willow. When they supported Buck Meek at Brudenell Social Club, Buck found himself so beguiled by Sandle and her band that he invited them to support Big Thief on their UK and EU tour in 2019. Crake duly obliged and have been building towards their debut full-length ever since.

Much of the forthcoming album revolves around the death of Sandle’s friend Anna, who died in Syria after being hit by a Turkish air strike. Anna was working for a woman’s liberation group in the war-stricken country when the tragedy took place. ‘Human’s Worst Habits’ explores the grief that followed and the lessons learnt from dealing with such a significant loss.

Sandle does, however, find space to explore more themes alongside this grief, such as cruelty and queer nature. On lead single ‘Winter’s Song’ she acknowledges the cruelty and coldness that exists within us all, and questions how we can continue to grow and love whilst remaining true to that.

Speaking about the track, she said: “Winter’s Song” is about the absolute mundane beauty of being fallible. It’s a true story, I saw the moon rise but swore it was the sun setting. I think about this line a lot: “keep a little coldness in you, just wear it soft and gentle” Be soft, be kind, be honest. Being unremarkable has its own beauty.”

Sandle’s love for nature is so fervent that it makes the experience of listening to Crake akin to that of stumbling on an entirely new world. Sandle believes that life isn’t as black and white as we’ve been taught, and thinks nature holds the key to revealing the true nature of human experience.

The appearances of things like slime mould – single-celled organisms that form a single body when in search of food – brittle starfish – a type of starfish whose awareness isn’t concentrated in one place – and other such oddities furnish ‘Human’s Worst Habits’ with a folklore all of its own.

‘Human’s Worst Habits’ will send you down multiple rabbit holes and you’ll emerge from each with a newfound appreciation for the complexities of the world. Perhaps even more important than this though is the humanity that lies at the very heart of this debut full-length. Whether it’s in the sensitivity in how she portrays the loss of her friend, the depiction of our most base instincts – namely cruelty, passion and love – or the sincere, pure quality of the songwriting itself, it’s this that makes ‘Human’s Worst Habits’ essential, and invaluable listening.

Rowan Sandle – Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Russell Searle – Electric Guitar, Piano
Rob Slater – Drums / Backing Vocals
Sarah Statham – Bass / Backing Vocals

“A pensive, dejected moment of magic, but magic nonetheless”, Gold Flake Paint
“Charming and intimate alt-folk”, Dork
“Consider it a maxim: when Crake releases music, listeners will be entranced by it”, Secret Meeting
“”In a world of cynics, [Crake] make you believe anything might still be possible”, For The Rabbits
“A perfectly-timed warm blanket to block out the cold world and insulate the love”, Beats Per Minute 

released June 17th, 2022

The White Stripes have covered many Bob Dylan songs live over the years. But they busted out one song more than all the others combined: “Love Sick.” Watching this performance, you can see why. Its jagged edges and insistent beat perfectly suit the duo’s strengths. Jack gets to unleash his highest-pitched yelps while switching between guitar and organ, while Meg pounds out one of her most primal beats. It’s practically a White Stripes Greatest Hits tour – and it’s not even their own song.

“I’m sick of love, but i’m in the thick of it” I love that line. Calling “Time Out of Mind” Dylan’s comeback, as many do, overstates it a bit. After, he was only eight years on from his last “comeback” album – 1989’s “Oh Mercy” – and had released several quite respectable records in between.

Dylan, His performances from the stellar 1995 and 1996 tours . He famously reinvents his own songs with new tempos, instrumentation, arrangements, and vocal deliveries, and rarely has he done so more effectively than in the years leading up to “Time Out of Mind”.