The Fat Angel Sings

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard opened up the vaults for “Live in Brisbane ’21“. the live album captures the band’s December 19th acoustic show at The Princess Theatre in Brisbane, Australia.

Beyond seeing the genre-fluid psych-rockers don acoustic instruments for the entire show of newly-arranged versions of old favorites, “Live in Brisbane ’21” is significant for another reason. In the wind-down of 2021, KGLW had planned a number of five-night residencies across Melbourne, Sydney, Parth, Hobart, Adelaide, and Brisbane, with all of them except Brisbane getting cancelled ahead of time. Brisbane was cancelled as well, but not until the fourth night.

It was a miracle this show happened. We’d planned 5 night residencies in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Hobart, Adelaide and the Brisbane jaunt was the only one which wasn’t cancelled. Well… it was cancelled, but not ‘til night four. In hilariously unlucky circumstances I had severe food poising the night before night one. Laying on the cold tiles in a puddle of my own sweat, I asked myself “how and I supposed to play a show tomorrow?” I ran to the toilet to vomit green stomach bile once again and shat myself on the way. It raced down my leg and made a reverberant “slap” as it landed on the carpet. “This show is gonna be interesting.” And it was. The music was healing. A purge. Melodic medicine. Injected by my Gizzard comrades and propelled by the punters enthusiasm, the vibrations warmed the body and soothed the stomach. And now, a spoonful of miracle for all of you. Love stu xox

Live At The Princess Theatre, Brisbane December 19TH 2021

The Band:

MICHAEL CAVANAGH: Drums
COOK CRAIG: Guitar / Mellotron / Piano
LUCAS HARWOOD: Bass
AMBROSE KENNY-SMITH: Harmonica / Vocals / Piano / Mellotron / Percussion / Saxophone
STU MACKENZIE: Vocals / Guitar / Flute / Piano
JOEY WALKER: Vocals / Guitar

Release date 8 April 2022

Limited-edition first and only 12-inch version of Pavement’s “Spit On A Stranger” EP. Issued to accompany the deluxe 23rd anniversary edition of “Terror Twilight”. Includes never-before-released live recording of “Harness Your Hopes,” from Pavement’s final shows at the Brixton Academy in 1999.

Lucy Dacus released “Home Video” via Matador last year, solidifying her place as one of music’s best storytellers. After a remarkable showing on year-end lists, she returns with the new single, ‘Kissing Lessons’, and an accompanying video directed by Mara Palena. Complete with hand-drawn hearts and Polaroids, ‘Kissing Lessons’ is another gem mined from Dacus’ childhood in Richmond, Virginia. It was recorded and mixed during the “Home Video” sessions, and stood out with its sweet and relatable reflection of childhood infatuation as Dacus sings atop infectious guitars, “We’d take turns being seduced // Imagining the day it would come into use // Imagining the day we’d start breaking hearts // And taking names.”

The package features beautiful 14″ x 14″ double-sided insert that includes a comic detailing some of the story behind “Thumbs”. Complete with hand-drawn hearts and Polaroids, ‘Kissing Lessons’ is another gem mined from Dacus’ childhood in Richmond, Virginia.

“Kissing Lessons,” the new single from Lucy Dacus, out now on Matador Records.

If fate didn’t quite ordain the circumstances for Interpol’s seventh album, it was at least fortunate that the band had happily concluded their Marauder cycle on stage in front of 30 thousand-odd Peruvian fans. Rather than be sent scrambling like so many other musicians on tour or promoting new music, when lockdown clamped in March 2020, Interpol quickly got into a productive mood.

Coming from a group whose early work was characterised by Polish knife-wielders and incarcerated serial killers, you might expect Interpol’s pandemic record to be an emotional tar pit — doubly so, given the presence of towering producer-engineer duo Flood and Moulder on the boards. But Banks felt the call to push in a “counterbalancing” direction, with paeans to mental resilience and the quiet power of going easy. “The nobility of the human spirit is to recover and rebound,” he says. “Yeah, I could focus on how fucked everything is, but I feel now is the time when being hopeful is necessary, and a still-believable emotion within what makes Interpol Interpol.”

“Fables” is taken from the upcoming album ‘The Other Side of Make-Believe’ by Interpol.

Mdou Moctar has announced details of part two of the “Niger” EP series – featuring live and alternate versions of songs spanning the band’s discography recorded in their native Niger – which will be released digitally on October 25th. It follows “Niger Vol.1″ EP which is out now digitally. A physical release date for both EPs on limited vinyl has additionally been announced for March 10th.

Niger EP Vol. 1 features recordings captured in Moctar’s native country, including previously unreleased 13-minute drum machine and electric guitar epic ‘Imouhar’, four live versions of songs from across Moctar’s albums Afrique Victime, Afelan and Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai (translating to “Rain the Color of Blue with A Little Red In It”, the soundtrack to Moctar’s Tuareg-language film remake of Prince’s Purple Rain), as well as a drum machine version of Afrique Victime opening track ‘Chismiten”. Watch a visualiser for ‘Chismiten’ (Drum Machine Version).

A preview of “Vol. 2” is available to listen to with a live version of ‘Ibitilan’. First appearing on 2019’s Blue Stage Session, the latest iteration of ‘Ibitlan’ captures the band’s renowned live energy in unmediated form, pushing the faders to their very limits.

“Ibitlan” is a love song,” says producer and bassist Mikey Coltun. “Mdou sings about his love for a woman, comparing her to a beautiful valley with a stream running through it, how her skin is a yellow flower and her smile is like lightning. This particular recording was done in Agadez in 2017 at a wedding. Mdou and I had played three weddings a day for about a month and a half on that trip. It was like bootcamp. I loved it. “Ibitlan” is one of Mdou’s oldest songs and is covered by pretty much every Tuareg guitarist. We’ve played versions of this song lasting over 20 minutes. It’s definitely one of my favorites to play!”

An innovative alchemy of Tuareg folk, blues and rock, electric guitar pyrotechnics, field recordings and electronics with poetic call-to-arms lyrics about the plight of his homeland of Niger, Moctar’s 2021 album “Afrique Victime” swept end of year lists, achieving high placements in The Economist, The Guardian, The New York Times, Uncut, MOJO, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, NPR, Rolling Stone, Dazed & Confused, DJ, Crack and many others.

Even if it’s somewhat surprising for the Flaming Lips to record an album of Nick Cave covers with a previously unknown 14-year-old singer/songwriter, it’s not entirely without precedent. After all, the Lips have reinterpreted albums by the Beatles and Pink Floyd with flair, and their work with Kesha and Miley Cyrus shows their willingness to take young female artists seriously. In particular, their work with Cyrus revealed how striking the combination of a young woman’s voice with their layered psych-pop could be, and it’s a blend they take to new levels on “Where the Viaduct Looms”.

After meeting young Canadian superfan Nell Smith at a 2018 show in Calgary, Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne ultimately arranged for Smith and the band to collaborate on a selection of Nick Cave songs, figuring that her lack of knowledge about Cave’s music would lend a fresh perspective to their renditions. Smith’s soft-spoken soprano could hardly be more different than Cave’s craggy, powerfully enunciated baritone, and her guileless vocals are the bridge between his dark and deeply felt lyrics and the band’s ornate sounds. “Where the Viaduct Looms” shares some of Oczy Mlody’s desolate sweetness, particularly on “The Ship Song”‘ blissful electronic haze. The Lips seize every opportunity to re-create Cave’s songs with adventurous production, transforming the hymn-like “Into My Arms” into a lush track worthy of a futuristic Phil Spector. And, as Coyne had hoped, Smith’s vocals help push “Viaduct’s” songs further into new territory.

We shot this video at the Criterion in Oklahoma City.

At times, the distance between her youthful tone and the world-weary lyrics almost sounds like she’s singing in a foreign language. Smith and the Lips use that gap brilliantly on the album’s most poignant moments. Their version of “Girl in Amber” — which Cave himself praised — distances itself from the lifetime of mourning he poured into the Skeleton Tree track, resulting in a lighter yet spookier reading that’s just as powerful in its own way. Since Cave and the Flaming Lips both know a thing or two about trying to encompass the enormity of mortality and loss in their own very different styles, it’s not surprising that the simple, haunting versions of “Weeping Song” and “We Know Who You Are” are also among “Viaduct’s” standouts. Occasionally, the album feels overwrought:

The sound effects sprinkled through “The Kindness of Strangers” and the grandiose instrumentation on “O Children” undermine the songs’ impact, and Smith is out of her depth on “Red Right Hand,” which comes off as mischievous instead of diabolical. Nevertheless, “Where the Viaduct Looms” is a daring and mostly rewarding undertaking, especially for Smith. Performing the songs of one of alternative music’s most acclaimed acts with another backing her, she uncovers meanings and feelings that weren’t fully present in the original material — and that bodes well for what she might be capable of with her own songs.

released November 26th, 2021

Multi-RIAA Platinum and Gold certified singer / songwriter and producer Cavetown, also known as Robin Skinner, releases a highly anticipated new album “Worm Food”.

Finally …. my special song for my special frog…. and now for your special ears.

The first full length since 2020’s “Sleepyhead”, “Worm Food” finds Cavetown unpacking the inner workings of his mind and delivers some of his most intricate lyricism to date. The announcement is a long time coming for fans of Cavetown, who have been patiently awaiting news of a new album for over two years. In that time, the popularity of Cavetown songs has continued to snowball, with an ardent community of fans proliferating around the world.

Sister act Larkin Poe fronted by Rebecca Lovell (guitar and keys) and Megan Lovell (lap steel and resonator guitar) issued their latest full-length studio LP, “Blood Harmony”, today. The pair co-produced the follow-up to 2020’s “Self-Made Man” with Tyler Bryant, who also happens to be Rebecca’s husband. “Blood Harmony” was recorded in large part at Rebecca and Tyler’s home studio. Additionally, the duo enlisted members of their longtime live band, namely drummer Kevin McGowan and bassist Tarka Layman, to contribute to the 11-track collection.

“Blood Harmony” showcases Larkin Poe’s command of the blues, and their ability to write and deliver songs that reveal the shadows and light through which we pass in our everyday world.

“When steering by your own stars, you never quite know where you’re going to wind up,” noted Larkin Poe. “Our true north is unique to us, and in following our true north without compromise, we have been out freewheeling this world on the ride of our lives. And it still feels like just the beginning. “Blood Harmony” is a creative step we are proud to have taken together as sisters. We grew these songs in a sweet part of our hearts and we hope they bring beauty.”

Don Giovanni Records has just released the new album from singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Franz Nicolay. The album – titled “New River” Nicolay is known as a long time member of The Hold Steady and World/Inferno Friendship Society as well as for countless featured performances both live and in-studio with other artists including Against Me!, Dresden Dolls, Worriers and more.

Franz Nicolay is a musician and writer living in the Hudson Valley, NY. In addition to records under his own name (most recently 2015’s “To Us, The Beautiful!“), Nicolay’s first book, The Humorless Ladies of Border Control, was named a “Season’s Best Travel Book” by The New York Times. His second book, the novel Someone Should Pay For Your Pain was called “a knockout fiction debut” by Buzzfeed; and was named one of Rolling Stone “Best Music Books of 2021” (“finally, the great indie-rock novel… like Dostoyevsky in a DIY punk space”).

“It’s a hopeful song in its way, that takes in the past and sees a little room to plant a future. The closing line is from Anne Carson’s translation of Sappho, and I think captures some of the emotional ambivalence of the project. Ara Babajian (the Slackers) played some particularly soulful drums, Peter Hess (Philip Glass Ensemble) wrote a fantastic horn arrangement, and Steve Selvidge (The Hold Steady) added the tasty licks.”

One would think that between writing and releasing his acclaimed debut novel, recording albums and touring with The Hold Steady, writing journalism about the Ukrainian resistance to Russian invasion, performing session work, and teaching as a professor of music and creative writing at Bard College would keep Franz Nicolay plenty busy. For awhile, it did. But as he reflects on the period of time writing and recording the songs that would make up his forthcoming album “New River“.

Nicolay stated: “For several years after my last record, I needed a break, and actively tried to keep from writing songs. But the combination of working on new Hold Steady material, writing my second book, and having unexpected time on my hands like everyone else in spring 2020 eventually primed the pump for a record’s worth (including a co-write with my Hold Steady bandmate Steve Selvidge).

The years off had constituted a time in which I thought I was finished as a musician; they were time characterized by the loss of several musician friends to suicide both acute and de-facto, and by consideration of the cost of ‘working the art muscle.’ I was approaching a familiar sort of life crossroads which I’ve traditionally addressed on the principle of “blow it all up and see if that fixes things.’” The material was assembled in the period of time between April 2020 and spring 2021 and recorded at Atomic Garden in Oakland with drummer Ara Babajian (the Slackers) and bassist Frank Piegaro (Worriers); with help from friends including Jeff Rosenstock and Mike Huguenor (Death Rosenstock), Deanna Belos (Sincere Engineer), Lauren Denitzio (Worriers), Peter Hess (Philip Glass Ensemble), Steve Selvidge (The Hold Steady), and Todd Beene (Lucero, Chuck Ragan). 

“A natural-born star…really something special”—Pitchfork

“Sad, wild folksongs from the unconventional multi-talent.” — Rolling Stone

“The sorrowful storytelling of Franz Nicolay may be unmatched. Each song seems to be the gripping tale of a tragic hero.” — The Huffington Post