The Fat Angel Sings

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(*).

“The record” is the debut full length album from boygenius.

Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus formed Boygenius after booking a tour together, but the trio had subconsciously been in the works for longer than that.

Through a series of tours and performances together, and chance encounters that led to friendships – including Bridgers’ and Dacus’ first in-person meeting backstage at a Philadelphia festival, greenroom hangouts that felt instantly comfortable and compatible, a couple of long email chains and even a secret handshake between Baker and Dacus – the lyrically and musically arresting singer-songwriters and kindred spirits got to know each other on their own terms.

Due 31st March

Featuring guest appearances by Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens, The National announce their ninth album is coming April 28th. Anchored by evocative melodies and an enthralling lyrical narrative, “First Two Pages of Frankenstein” signals a thrilling new chapter in the band’s discography.The 11-song album was produced by The National at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York and features guest appearances by Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens.

The follow-up to 2019’s top five hit album “I Am Easy To Find”, “First Two Pages of Frankenstein” was initially stalled while lead singer Matt Berninger navigated “a very dark spot where I couldn’t come up with lyrics or melodies at all, and that period lasted for over a year. Even though we’d always been anxious and argued quite a lot whenever we were working on a record, this was the first time it ever felt like maybe things really had come to an end.” Instead, The National “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,” according to guitarist/pianist Bryce Dessner, whose bandmates also include his brother Aaron (guitar/piano/bass) as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums).

“First Two Pages of Frankenstein” channels the group’s revitalized chemistry into a body of work that beautifully balances elegant musicality with the National’s more idiosyncratic impulses. Tracks such as “Grease in Your Hair” and “Ice Machines” were road-tested in 2022 before they were recorded, allowing the band to hone the material in real time (another song, “Weird Goodbyes” featuring Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, was released as a standalone track last August). “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,” says Aaron Dessner.

Swift duets with Berninger on the luminous “The Alcott,” continuing her recent string of collaborations with members of The National on her chart-topping albums folklore and evermore and Aaron Dessner’s Big Red Machine project. 

The song finds Berninger and Swift inhabiting the roles of a couple attempting to resurrect a troubled relationship, forging a finely drawn story nearly novelistic in scope. “It’s about two people with a long history returning to a place and trying to relive a certain moment in time,” says Berninger. “It’s got the feeling of a last-ditch effort to hold onto the relationship, but there’s a hint of something positive where you can see the beginnings of a reconnection.

Listen to the first single “Tropic Morning News” now and watch the lyric video

The concept of the Dark Island is metaphorical: When you’re at the end of your life, taking stock of it, what will you think about? No matter what you land on, good or bad, that island is yours – the dark surely looms, but it also covers all you’ve ever experienced.

For the folk-rock quartet Villages, the concept is also literal: Hailing from Cape Breton Island, on the farthest flung northeastern corner of Nova Scotia – itself already flung far – and jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, it’s a lush landscape of great complicated beauty, its rocky coast covered in sea salt and leaning defiantly into harsh winds.

On its new full-length, “Dark Island”, Villages marries metaphor to roots on 11 tracks that offer an experience meant to echo a visit to Cape Breton itself: Otherworldly, euphoric, sobering, celebratory, and reverent. what is perhaps the album’s most Celtic-leaning track, “Play the Fiddle All Night.” All of the album’s themes are handily encompassed in just half of a chorus in this beautiful song: “Play for me the ‘Dark Island’ / till the dew lifts off the clover / play the fiddle all night.” This gorgeously infectious tune finds the band channeling the likes of Richard Thompson while marrying their Celtic roots with more of a contemporary indie folk sound. Layering in orchestral textures and soaring choruses, the song feels like it could fill an arena.

The band – Matt Ellis, Travis Ellis, Jon Pearo, Archie Rankin – tapped the JUNO-winning composer and soundscapist Joshua Van Tassel (David Myles, Great Lake Swimmers, Fortunate Ones) as producer, stepping into Joel Plaskett’s Fang Recording for a whirlwind eight days. Van Tassel directed the band to play the songs fully live off the floor (three takes max) capturing the boisterous energy of Villages’ live performances and making the album a series of present moments strung together.

Nature is, aptly, a dominant theme on “Dark Island”, befitting men who grew up in a place wild and beautiful: fields, waves, trees, rivers, and rocks figure prominently throughout the lyrics, presenting the music as a kind of soundtrack to Island life, putting you in and at home.

Detroit, MI three-piece Bonny Doon have shared a new single, ‘Crooked Creek’. It follows their recent track ‘San Francisco’, which accompanied the news that they had signed to ANTI- Records. Take a listen below.

“We were trying to be more free in our writing and I think this song is a good example,” the band’s Bobby Colombo said of ‘Crooked Creek’ in a statement. “We had a lot of fun with the words, which is sometimes not the fun part. I love writing with Bill’s voice in mind, and he was able to really capture the spirit of this one I think.”

Bonny Doon Release New Single ‘Crooked Creek’ – Bonny Doon is Bill Lennox, Bobby Colombo and Jake Kmiecik.

UK singer songwriter Fenne Lily — who moved to New York City in the time since she released her sophomore album, “Breach” in 2020 — has announced a new album, “Big Picture”, which was recorded at Brad Cook’s studio in North Carolina. Fenne Lily co-produced the album with Cook, save for one track that was produced with Christian Lee Hutson, with whom she’ll head out on an extensive tour later this year. Today, she’s sharing the album’s muted and shimmering lead single “Lights Light Up.”

“Iʼd never really written about love in the present tense before this, but even though I was still in love and not thinking about the end, there was something else going on subconsciously that led to a song about moving on before the moving on had begun,” she noted in a press release, continuing:

When it came time to record, the band and I had been playing it live for a while and itʼd become something joyful and positive, but when I started recording vocals, the lyrics made me cry. By that point the song was over a year old and I thought those wounds had healed but I guess it hurt to admit Iʼd been letting go of something while still trying to hold on.

“Lights Light Up” by Fenne Lily from the upcoming album ‘Big Picture’, out April 14th on Dead Oceans.

Ty Segall, his wife Denée, and the Cairo Gang’s Emmett Kelly recently announced
their second album as THE C.I.A. It follows their self-titled 2018 debut LP.

Step into a sick rhythm. And I mean sickly. “Surgery Channel” is a constructed world where everything is piercing and pinpointed. Every single word brings confrontation. With an intro as intimate and uncomfortable as this, The C.I.A. make you question what could be happening here…or what they’re after. Denée Segall (vocals, lyrics) is both haunting and seducing us at once with her voice. Something unhinged might be about to happen and they’re calmly dangling it over your head. Is it the possibility of dismemberment? Revenge?

There is something about “Surgery Channel” that is sterile and covered in dirt at the same time. Maybe it’s the feeling of simultaneous anger and defeat. Maybe it’s what comes after. Or maybe it’s about the ever-so-brief silent spaces between notes and words. Rhythm would be nothing without empty space. Words are rhythm at The C.I.A.

“Vicious visage / Internal monologue / Blink and stare / The metal and the glare / Intentions negating / The ego ascertaining / A pause / A cue / A push to make a move” from “Better”.

There’s nothing wishy washy about The C.I.A. or the way they sound. It’s all about precision and aim But really, it’s a warning… amplified by the suspense of tick-tocking drum machine beats that resemble a hospital room. Ty Segall (bass, percussion, back up vocals) and Emmett Kelly (bass, synth, back up vocals) have painted a jarring and dissonant landscape behind Denée’s story. Their basses could easily be swapped for bone drills and you might not be able to tell the difference. Emmett’s modular synth envisions an environment reminiscent of the instrument itself, a mess of wires and pulsing red lights. Ty’s subtle use of electronic and analogue percussion fluctuates between the sound of a metal tray hitting the floor (“The Wait”), and the swish of an ultrasound scan (“Bubble”). At times, it projects the feeling of being probed and investigated. You could assume this reality has been lived by those at The C.I.A, though most listeners could only fear it. So… just how little of this portrayal is solely a work of imagination?

“I’ve been under / I’ve been down / Stripped and bound / Coming out” from “Under”.

“It’s a slight incision / Never really knowing / If we’re dead or living” from “Over”.

Dissection is but just one of the issues here. “Bubble” is a different story… of anxious desire. We will be consumed by what we must consume. Restraint backfires and drives a person to madness. Or maybe that’s just what they want you to think. It’s one of those tracks that feels as though Denée is whispering directly in your ear.

“She needed something to eat / She wanted to dine / But it was never enough / She was feeding all the time / She needed someone to see / To look at her and to vie / She puts her fist in her mouth / Tells you she’s losing her mind” from “Bubble”.

Both “Surgery Channel” and The C.I.A’s first Self-Titled record are ripe with straightforward conviction. However this most recent installment reveals a new side of their personality. Now The C.I.A. is communicating from an electrified, pulsating, metallic playpen that wants you to strut. “Impersonator” beckons a new groove, with call and response bass hooks that resemble a sequenced dance track and background vocals that invite a very steamy dynamic. High energy “You Can Be Here” is for those who can move fast, while “Bubble” is for those who want to sway in sultry slow motion. “Surgery Channel” shows punks a new way to move while remaining loyal to the traditions of catharsis and social commentary.

This record is an astute observation and blunt critique. Both inward and outward. It is an exploration into how harshly intimate that process can be. It was written in 2021 by Denée Segall, Ty Segall, and Emmett Kelly.

The new one is baptized “Surgery Channel” and lands next year, on 20th January.

Sofia Arreguin: “Step into a sick rhythm. And I mean sickly. “Surgery Channel” is a constructed world where everything is piercing and pinpointed. Every single word brings confrontation. With an intro as intimate and uncomfortable as this, The C.I.A. make you question what could be happening here…or what they’re after. Denée Segall (vocals, lyrics) is both haunting and seducing us at once with her voice. Something unhinged might be about to happen and they’re calmly dangling it over your head. Is it the possibility of dismemberment? Revenge? This record is an astute observation and blunt critique. Both inward and outward. It is an exploration into how harshly intimate that process can be.”

Following the lead single “Impersonator” the trio unleashed a second ripper. “Inhale/Exhale” is a fuzz and buzz crackerjack.
Deranged guitars, deranged drums, and deranged vocals by Denée.

The second single from the new album: “Surgery Channel”. Out January 20th

New deluxe and epic expanded 40th anniversary edition of “Feline” from The Stranglers. It comes with ten extra tracks and rarities. The Stranglers were unstoppable throughout the seventies and eighties becoming one of Europe’s biggest bands, with “Feline” peaking at No. 4 in the UK album chart. Lead single ‘European Female’ peaked at No. 9 in the Singles chart and paved the way for the bands transition in sound, helping to cement their place in an ever-changing soundscape.

The European Female (In Celebration Of), by the Stranglers was the leading single from the album “Feline”, released in January 1983. Jean-Jacques Burnel, singer-songwriter, bass: The Stranglers’ “Feline” album was an attempt to marry the northern element of Europe – represented by synthesizers and electronic drums – with the southern element of Spanish and acoustic guitars.

“European Female (In Celebration Of)” was an attempt to address my identity and in a way it was my European version of Californian Girls by the Beach Boys. I was going out with a Parisian ballerina at the time, so I projected my idea of Europe on to a person. It was a passionate, very destructive relationship, but for three years she had me in her spell, which was the idea behind putting us in cages in the video.”

Dave Greenfield, keyboards: “The song was produced by Steve Churchyard and mixed by Tony Visconti. I just came up with something on my old synthesizer to go with the band’s bits. The best ideas come pretty quickly. The keyboard melody for “European Female” is mostly spontaneous, or very close to it. It’s just two chords, with arpeggios over them. It’s pretty simple, but it fits.”

And another great tune from the album, “Midnight Summer Dream”. Here is the Extended Version:

“Feline” is the seventh studio album by the Stranglers and was originally released on 22nd January 1983 on the Epic record label, their first for the label. The first edition came with a free one-sided 7″ single “Aural Sculpture Manifesto”. “Feline” drew heavily on two of the dominant musical influences in Europe of the time, by using primarily acoustic guitars and electronic drums as well as Dave Greenfield’s synthesizers. The American edition of the album included the British hit single “Golden Brown” as the closing track on side one of the original vinyl (and the fifth song in on the CD version)

Another Stranglers concept album, but a much lesser work than forerunner “La Folie”. While not an instant classic, it does repay repeated listening — especially the rustic English charms of “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the more Eurocentric “Last Tango in Paris” and “All Roads Lead to Rome.” Instead of the belligerent tunefulness of yesteryear, the Stranglers were trying to expand their sound and reach.

“Feline” is a long ways from The Strangler’s first two legendary punk albums: “Rattus Norvegicus” and “No More Heroes”. Here, they play very interesting pop songs featuring vocals and melody. “Feline” has stood the test of time and remains one of my favourite Stranglers records. Great songs all the way through this album with masterpieces “It’s A Small World”, “Ships That Pass In The Night”, “Let’s Tango In Paris”, “Paradise”, “Golden Brown” and “Blue Sister”. For a band that fired out the raw aggression captured in their earlier days, it’s quite remarkable that they could make such an album like this one. Even more remarkable, “Feline” does appeal to most fans of early Stranglers. It does to me. A truly great album.

This new deluxe and epic expanded 40^th anniversary edition of “Feline” from The Stranglers, will be a collectors item for years to come. This 2LP will be pressed onto red & transparent marble vinyl and features bonus tracks and rarities. 

Hugh Cornwell – vocals, guitar, Jean-Jacques Burnel – bass, vocals (lead vocals on “European Female” and “Paradise”) Dave Greenfield – keyboards, Jet Black – drums, percussion

Screaming Females is a three piece rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey. Once you start looking for them, you’ll see desire paths everywhere. In parks and driveways, parking lots and apartment complexes, in front of corner stores, libraries, schools and offices.

“Maybe there was one in your neighborhood growing up, a corner where everyone decided it took too long to go around, so they made their own pathway to cut through,” says Marissa Paternoster, singer and guitarist of Screaming Females. “There’s this cool unsaid group consciousness that comes together where everyone decides, this is the right way to go.”

Now a band for half the lifetime of its members, Screaming Females have long been pounding out their own desire path. Formed in 2005 in New Brunswick, NJ, the trio has consistently created a hearty, surprising mix of indie-, alt-, punk- and stoner-rock, all with their original line-up of Paternoster, “King Mike” Mike Abbate (bass) and Jarrett Dougherty (drums).

“Desire Pathway” was recorded at Minnesota’s Pachyderm Studios (where Nirvana recorded “In Utero”) and produced by Matt Bayles (Foxing, Pearl Jam, Mastodon, et al). Bright and full, the album captures the band at a time when nothing was certain other than their abiding desire to make music together. “Desire Pathway” opens with the Sabbathy hypnotism of “Brass Bell.” Following a swelling haze of synth, feedback shrieks, martial snares advance, and the band explodes into a bracing groove. Soon, Paternoster makes the cryptic announcement: “I have flown us to the moon,” and we’re off. The song has the effect of clearing one haze and replacing it with another, much heavier one.

Compared with their previous record (2018’s expansive “All at Once”), “Desire Pathway” feels refreshed and direct. “Beyond the Void” may gather gloomily, but it quickly releases into its jangly, memorable chorus. Lead single “Mourning Dove” successfully channels the Pixies into a tight, driving power-pop song that passionately declares “my love for you is too strong to hide.”

Now 17 years and eight albums in, Screaming Females are still making their own path in the world, still touring DIY and releasing music without compromise. The route might cut a little off the main road, but you’ll quickly see there’s a reason they’re on it. You just might like where it leads you.

We’re thrilled to announce our new album “DESIRE PATHWAY” out Feb 17th The first single, ‘Brass Bell’, is streaming now everywhere! Loads of new US/Canada/EU/UK tour dates.

releases February 17th, 2023