The Fat Angel Sings

With their highly anticipated debut album due out later next month, Honeyglaze have shared new single “Female Lead” and announced new shows, including Wet Leg dates followed by their own headline tour in May, and numerous festivals this summer.

Their Dan Carey-produced, self-titled debut album will be released on 29th April 2022 via Speedy Wunderground.

The South London based, haiku-loving trio formed just before the first lockdown, and a combination of compelling live performances and early singles “Shadows“, “Creative Jealousy” and “Burglar” has seen their profile rise rapidly and garner support from a plethora of early fans including Steve Lamacq, Matt Wilkinson and Wet Leg – who have all declared themselves in love with their intoxicating brand of poetic lyrics and impressive musicianship. Today they also share new single, “Female Lead“, with accompanying video directed by James Ogram and the band’s Anouska Sokolow, and featuring Jojo Macari, one of the stars of Netflix’s Sex Education.

“I was overwhelmed by the state of the world during the first lockdown and constantly being surrounded by bad news,” Anouska says of “Female Lead”. “It was a time when people were playing with changing their appearance and I felt incapable of writing anything of any actual importance so I decided to write about something as completely arbitrary as dying my hair. I was inspired by the song ‘Leader of the Pack’ by the Shangri-las  and the narrative heavy pop songs that were coming out of the Brill building during the 60s.”

Of the video she adds, “Given that the song itself is so narrative heavy, we knew we wanted to make something with its own separate story. It started off with some ideas about duality and stolen identity. I had recently watched Casablanca that’s where we got the idea of this movie character coming to life and we ended up writing a full scene for a made-up, 50s adventure romance. The rest was kind of influenced by films like Mullholland Drive and Purple Rose of Cairo.”

After her visceral debut single for Speedy Wunderground, “Consistent Dedication,”  Heartworms (Aka Jojo Orme) returns with another incredible slice of gothic-tinged dystopian post/punk/rock. 

“Retributions Of An Awful Life” is magnificent, the sort of music that stops you in your tracks –   full of throbbing menace, dark poetry angular guitars and propulsive rhythms that is light years away from the vile ghastly flaccid morass of cowflop that indie music has become.  This is genuinely exciting original music from an artist who could well take 2023 by storm. The track is from her debut EP “A Comforting Notion”

Released on 24th March via Speedy Wunderground , The track arrives with an equally mesmeric video which Heartworms describes thus “The song itself lyrically is deeply unsettling, I wanted it to come alive in action. I had an idea of being kitted up in full militaria of no specific regiments, in black and white, putting my body through cold water and wet mud. This was stepping outside my comfort zone because I’m not a skilled swimmer; deep water frightens me immensely, especially when cold and in full military gear.”

Official Music Video for “Retributions Of An Awful Life” by Heartworms, taken from the band’s debut EP ‘A Comforting Notion’ – out 24th March on Speedy Wunderground.

A leap of faith reaps extraordinary rewards on “Black Bay”, an album of depth, atmosphere and daring from the collective known as Silver Moth. Recorded under unusual circumstances, “Black Bay” is the sound of seven storied musicians yielding to shared goals, a policy of trust in action. Between hushed incantations and molten guitars, 15-minute noise-rock epics and healing psalms, the record is a testament to connectivity and receptivity: to a union of disparate minds committing to something greater than the sum of its parts.

Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai, Elisabeth Elektra, Evi Vine, Steven Hill, members of Abrasive Trees, Burning House and Prosthetic Head convened to improvise the album in early 2021, inspired by a Twitter exchange between Abrasive Trees guitarist/songwriter Matthew Rochford, musician Elisabeth Elektra and fellow artist Nick Hudson about the Isle of Lewis.

A couple of Zoom meetings would subsequently lead to Rochford, Elektra, Vine, Braithwaite, Hill, drummer Ash Babb and cellist Ben Roberts visiting the dramatic location of Great Bernera’s Black Bay Studios on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, where they tracked the songs in just four days: a testament to the musicians’ focused openness to their shared mission and environment.

This is an album of elemental force and evocative poise, its controlled power focused around the ego-free chemistry between the players. By abandoning all certainties, Silver Moth have found something truly special on “Black Bay”.

Silver Moth is…

Ash Babb – drummer in Burning House/Academy of Sun
Stuart Braithwaite – Mogwai/Minor Victories songwriter/guitarist/singer
Elisabeth Elektra – singer/producer/songwriter
Steven Hill – guitarist/keyboards in Evi Vine
Ben Roberts – cellist/bassist/multi-instrumentalist in Evi Vine/Prosthetic Head/Abrasive Trees
Matthew Rochford – guitarist/songwriter of Abrasive Trees
Evi Vine – singer/songwriter/bassist/guitarist

In March, Pink Floyd will release a new deluxe box set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their classic 1973 album “The Dark Side of the Moon”.

The album has been newly remastered for this release and the deluxe box set includes both a CD and a gatefold vinyl version. A brand new Dolby Atmos Mix is included, along with the original 5.1 and the hi-res stereo, however these are spread across two blu-rays and a DVD which is an odd thing to do (The Beatles ditched DVDs for spatial audio five years ago and all this content would comfortably fit on one single blu-ray). The Quad mix (included in the 2011 Immersion box) does not feature and the unreleased tracks from that 12-year-old collection (the 1972 ‘Early Mix’ of the album and the extra audio tracks such as demos and the ‘The Hard Way’ from Household Objects) are also not part of this new package.

The “Live at Wembley Empire Pool” show (from November 1974) has been newly remastered and is made available on vinyl for the first time. The 50th anniversary deluxe box includes this live performance on vinyl and CD and both of those elements are available separately, with artwork featuring an original 1973 line-drawn cover by George Hardie. Fans in Britain would be well advised to ‘lock in’ to Amazon UK’s current vinyl pre-order price of £19 for the “Live at Wembley 1974” vinyl!

The new box also includes two replica seven-inch singles (‘Money’/’Any Colour You Like’ and ‘Us And Them’/’Time’) which brings the total number of audio discs to nine (two CDs, two vinyl LPs, two blu-rays, two seven-inch singles and a DVD). There’s no video content at all.

In terms of other ‘stuff’, there’s the 160-page book curated by photographer Jill Furmanovsky and art-directed by Hipgnosis co-founder Aubrey Powell, but this is available separately for just £30.

The box set also includes a music book of the album, and a replica ‘EMI pamphlet’ and invite to the February 1973 preview which was staged at the London Planetarium. The vinyl record comes with the original posters and stickers and the “Live at Wembley 1974” album also comes with a two posters.

There does not appear to be any standalone reissues of the 2023 remaster of “The Dark Side of the Moon”, so the three physical formats for this 50th anniversary campaign are: deluxe box set, vinyl LP of Live at Wembley 1974 and CD of Live at Wembley 1974. Unlike with “Animals”, they are not making the spatial audio available separately, so buying the box set is the only way to get the Atmos mix, physically.

“The Dark Side of the Moon” 50th Anniversary box, the “Live at Wembley 1974” release and the 160-page book will all be released on 24 March 2023. 

New box set triples the price of the Immersion edition • Includes Dolby Atmos Mix • Live at Wembley 1974 on vinyl for the first time

Brooklyn punk outfit The Men are today sharing their new single and video ‘Anyway I Find You’, the latest to be lifted from their ninth album ‘New York City’ due out February 3rd on Fuzz Club. Where recent singles ‘Hard Livin’’ and ‘God Bless The USA’ honed back in on an abrasive proto-punk/noise-rock sound, it wouldn’t be a The Men record without some detours along the way and the dusty, sun-bleached country-rock of ‘Anyway I Find You’ lives up to that promise.

The Men’s Nick Chiericozzi said of the new single: “‘Anyway I Find You’ was written in a kitchen. The album take is a bit louder and looser than the track’s original intent. It’s akin to the Bo Diddley line, ‘If I get to heaven before you do, I’m gonna make a hole and pull you through.’”

That the Men’s new album returns to a more raw, back-to-basics sound owes largely to the way in which was forged. “The New York City” album was revised, reorganized and shaped until it became clear that things fall into place like the hammer driving the nail or the scythe’s swipe through the tall grass.”

 
First completed with a different tracklist by founding members Chiericozzi and Mark Perro alone in late 2020 using a drum machine, that version was thrown out in favour of the sound of four people getting in a room together and thrashing the songs out live. With drummer Rich Samis and bassist Kevin Faulkner in tow, the resulting LP was recorded live to 2″ tape in Travis Harrison’s (Guided By Voices, Built To Spill) Serious Business studio in Brooklyn.

Out next month, ‘New York City’ is a record that doesn’t stop moving for a second, packed full of the kind of energy you can only really capture in a live setting. “These songs became the blood of the band as the band could only exist for and of these songs. There was no place else to hang their hats. Without making this record, the group would not exist, so there really wasn’t another option. NYC is fluid. It means a lot of different things to all kinds of people. We present the record in that spirit.

The Men’s incoming ‘New York City’ LP, due out February 3rd 2023 on Fuzz Club Records.

The Men have proven pretty reliable at dropping new music every few years, sometimes playing up the country rock on albums like “New Moon”, or embracing weird psychedelia on “Drift”. With songs like “God Bless the USA” and “Hard Livin’” (great titles by the way), The Men get back to basics on their latest and first for Fuzz Club Records, wherein they get back to their garage rock roots and simply rip. We’re ready to turn this one up.

‘Hard Livin” is taken from ‘New York City’, the ninth album from Brooklyn group The Men that’s due out February 3rd 2023 on Fuzz Club Records

Introducing Golden Hours Based out of Berlin and Brussels, the new project is comprised of past / present members of Gang Of Four, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Tricky, The Fuzztones and The Third Sound. A band with mileage and stories, Golden Hours trade in rock’n’roll missives that are at times dark, tense and hypnotic, at others sweaty, relentless and danceable. 

Their debut single ‘Come And Find Me’ is out now and taken from the self-titled debut album, out March 31st on Fuzz Club. Stream / pre-order here: goldenhours.lnk.to/album

Making up the Golden Hours is Hákon Adalsteinsson (Guitar/Vocals), Rodrigo Fuentealba Palavacino (Guitar), Tobias Humble (Drums/Vocals) and Wim Janssens (Bass/Keys/Vocals).

On the shadowy and macabre ‘Come And Find Me’, Wim writes: “A relentless bass brings back the ghost of The Birthday Party, drums keep a violent pace and urgently push forward. Guitars open up like a vortex and suck the air out of the room, while the singer urges you to come and join him in his deathbed. These are Sunday afternoon vibes in hell. A hit on any devil-worshipping radio station.”

“The musical backgrounds of each member are pretty broad but somehow when we come together there’s a pretty clear definition of what our music should sound like. There’s a beautiful friction between the noise we produce and the love for melody that seems to overtake at just the right moment. There never seems to be a lack of ideas when we come together. In silent agreement, every idea gets tried and will be further developed into a song or skipped in a heartbeat. No time is wasted. It all happens pretty automatically.”

Brisbane psych-pop artist Baby Cool is dropping another single from her ‘Earthling On The Road To Self Love’ LP Out today, ‘Daydream’ is a gorgeous cosmic country slow-burner,

The incoming debut solo album from Grace Cuell (also of Nice Biscuit fame) is out February 10th on the Bad Vibrations imprint! It arrives on pink vinyl and also a limited Dinked Edition with splatter vinyl, postcard and a bonus flexi-disc featuring a stripped-back version of ‘Daydream’

Part three of the Earthling’s journey- “Daydream” out now.

“I wrote this song about coming through the other side of a big event that leaves your life completely altered. For me, these events don’t always offer clarity after the dust settles, and there’s an ache in this that is difficult to bear sometimes. The aftermath of anything big always circles back to the same feelings for me – that life is intense and weird so we may as well love as hard as we can.

Performed by: Grace Cuell (Vocals, Guitar) Jess Ferronato (Drums, Guitar) Nick Cavendish (Bass) Johnny Mort (Keys) Samuel Joseph (Pedal Steel) Clea Pratt (Backing Vocals) Lisa Kelly (Backing Vocals)

Available on all platforms now via Virgin Music Australia (AUS/NZ), Bad Vibrations/Fuzz Club (UK/EU) and Greenway/Levitation Records (US).

A very special MOJO this month, as every issue comes with an actual BOB DYLAN CD of 14 hidden gems from the Bootleg Series – including two from the forthcoming “Fragments” set. Plus a startling blow-by-blow account of the “Time Out Of Mind” sessions.

New interviews with Rick Rubin, John Cale, Weyes Blood. Features on Sparklehorse and John Lee Hooker. Definitive tributes to Terry Hall and Christine McVie. Paul Simonon. Lawrence on Felt. Quasi. Lucretia Dalt. Bitches Brew remade. Sunny War. Robert Palmer. Laraaji. Mike Oldfield. Candi Staton. And much more.

Broadcast by KUSF FM radio, Billy Persons [The Falcons/Weirdos] replaces Rob Ritter on bass. Billy:”I replaced [Rob Ritter] in the fall of ’81 for a bunch of shows in Los Angeles and three in the Bay Area including the On Broadway show with The Cramps and Panther Burns. The band wasn’t doing much in the fall and winter of ’81. I would have joined permanently but Ward [Dotson] and Terry [Graham] told me they were going to quit once the “Miami” album was done as they were on salary at the time so Rob was brought back for that album.

That [On Broadway show] was a really fun show although my memory of it is pretty foggy. Jeffrey and the band spent the whole day drinking in a German restaurant in San Francisco so we were plastered at this show.” : The On Broadway theater, was upstairs at Mabuhay Gardens, located at 435 Broadway Street. It was constructed in 1919 as the Garibaldi Hall, renamed the Mabuhay Gardens in the 1970s. The Mabuhay Gardens nightclub started featuring rock shows around 1976 when Ness Aquino, the owner of the club, was approached by, rock promoter and television producer, Dirk Dirksen to promote punk rock shows at the Mabuhay. In 1983, Dirksen seemed to have enough and stopped promoting shows at the Mab and On Broadway. Ness Aquino tried to keep the shows going, but sometime in 1988 the club closed it’s doors forever.

[with The Cramps and Panther Burns]

The band were supposed to do a more elaborate live set at the Target Video studios, in between shows, like some other bands did then. But couldn’t, because Terry had injured his hand because Jeff had thrown a beer bottle that broke on the drums and cut Terry’s hand. At the time Kid Congo Powers was in The Cramps, having left The Gun Club in November 1980. Panther Burns has Jim Duckworth on guitar. Jim would join The Gun Club in January 1983.

“Sex Beat” from this show was released on “V/A:Target Presents Hardcore Vol.3” VHS (Target 1985) and also on “V/A:Underground Forces Volume III” VHS

Jeffrey Lee Pierce around this time on what would later become Tex and The Horseheads. Also, I don’t know if you are aware but Target Video taped the set and it may finally be released soon. The Weirdos on their [March 1979 recorded] “Who, What, When, Where Why” EP. Also replaced Rob Ritter in Thelonious Monster in the early ’90s for a while and was in The Joykiller in the mid-’90s (we did three albums for Epitaph).

Setlist: Watermelon Man/ Run Through The Jungle [John Fogerty/CCR]/ She Is Like Heroin To Me/ John Hardy (aka Ballad Of Dead Man)/ Fire Spirit/ Black Train/ Jack On Fire/ Sex Beat/ For The Love Of Ivy/ Goodbye Johnny(*).