I’m very excited and really quite emotional to tell you that this is taken from my new album; “Cacti”
what an truly strange time to be alive. we’re navigating an ever more hostile environment. I know this record only exists because people supported and lifted me at an incredibly fragile time. we have to keep going. creating. what people make helps me to make some sense of it all. sometimes we have to shape-shift. other times we firmly root exactly where we are, as what we are.
The artist known as Polly Jean Harvey confounds; it’s simply her nature. This year marks the 30thanniversary of her debut album, and therefore her entry into the public consciousness, and we’ve yet to pin her down. She sounds like nobody else, not even herself, from release to release. She’s accomplished the feat of building a carefully crafted aesthetic, sound and even vocal style for each piece of work she puts out, setting stringent barriers between one album era and the next. She picks apart relationships, gender, and her own darkness with more wit than anyone else in the business of writing and performing. She creates characters that go toe-to-toe with the devil himself, narrate an empire’s expansion from above, and seem to run on air between city rooftops. The only constant in the shape-shifting is that each character she creates shares her name. Perhaps only rivalled in duration and consistent acclaim by her contemporary (and one-time performance partner) Bjork, Harvey remains as vital an artist as ever.
Even more impressive is the general consensus that PJ Harvey has never released a truly bad album. Many would argue that every release is a necessary piece of understanding the ever-shifting audiovisual web she weaves.
For the past few years, Harvey has been revisiting the worlds she created with each of her albums for a series of reissues, with each project accompanied by a sibling album of demos. These full-length demo records follow the format first set by “4-Track Demos”, released shortly after 1993’s “Rid of Me”, featuring rough versions of the songs from the studio album to which it was attached.
This marked the first full-length work Harvey had released as a true solo artist “Dry” and “Rid of Me” were technically released under the banner of her band, also called PJ Harvey, whose members decided they should go their separate ways following the tour for the latter album. The message “4-Track Demos” sent was clear: The band was great, but the spark of these songs lay completely in their writer’s head, and they were just as brilliant when she was the only person who had touched them. Each new demo project we’ve finally gotten to hear only solidifies this idea.
Anticipating the final installment of the reissue/demo series with 2016’s “The Hope Demolition Six Project” (and also in light of these recent pictures of Harvey in the studio, hopefully working on a new album),So here are her nine studio albums and two collaborative albums with John Parish, we think you should have all.
The Hope Demolition Six Project (2016)
Named after the HOPE VI program, a U.S. government HUD initiative that was initially created to revitalize public housing complexes (allegedly often just making space for further gentrification instead), “The Hope Demolition Six Project” broke new ground for PJ Harvey, even 24 years into her career. With many of the songs inspired by a trip to Washington, D.C., she picks up where she left off on “Let EnglandShake” five years earlier in terms of observational, slightly removed social and political commentary.
It’s also notable that the whole thing was recorded in front of a crowd in 45-minute periods of time as part of an art installation at Somerset House in London, inviting outsiders into Harvey’s creative process more than ever before. The sense of community behind the record comes through even if you knew nothing about Harvey or the sessions beforehand, and though it may be ranked last here, the album still has some of the most beautiful moments she’s ever committed to record.
The deep, choir-like backing vocals on “River Anacostia” and loping stomp of “The Ministry of Social Affairs” (which features Harvey on saxophone) tower over the torn-up Capitol beneath it, growing to such an overwhelming fever pitch that you’re just waiting for the songs to collapse. “The Community of Hope” also stands as a clear highlight, with the half-joyous, half-sardonic finishing cry of “They’re gonna put a Walmart here!” serving as proof that Harvey hasn’t lost her keen songwriter’s ear or her sense of humour.
Dance Hall at Louse Point with John Parish (1996)
Harvey has been working with musician John Parish since she was a teenager, previously collaborating with his band Automatic Dlamini and later inviting him to produce and/or play on five of her solo albums. With music by Parish and lyrics by Harvey, “Dance Hall at Louse Point” marked the first collaboration under both of their names, and they entered this new phase of their careers in the boldest way possible.
The album is a disarming, atmospheric walk through a long-standing musical partnership where both feel safe enough to try whatever they want. The results were raw and occasionally frightening; Polly had sung about showdowns with the devil before, but the sinister side of her writing had never quite been put on display like it was here. From the absolute horror of “Taut,” with its eerily whispered “Jesus save me” refrain scattered throughout, to the wobbly, organ-tinged lament of “That Was My Veil,” both musicians are given the room to stretch in the direction of their sparser, more experimental tendencies. The tonally perfect cover of “Is That All There Is?” ties the whole thing up in a bloodstained bow, serving as the center-piece of a project that keeps giving if you’re willing to put the time into it.
From the first of two collaborative records with co-conspirator John Parish came this twanging bluesy piece. The emotive, scratchy guitar of Parish mixes perfectly with PJ’s vox in a performance that captures the air and space of the room in which it was recorded.
White Chalk (2007)
So few artists have discovered so many different ways to unsettle their listeners. After Harvey decided to learn piano and write new music on it after having relied on guitar for so long, ghosts filled the hollows in the barebones soundscapes she created, and “White Chalk” was born. “Disappears in the ether / One world to the next,” she sings on “When Under Ether,” describing the sound of her own voice twisting in and out of these sparse songs that build up around her as they go on, seemingly inventing themselves out of nothing. Details like the repeated, “Oh God, I miss you,” cracking like a revelation carried on the wind on “The Piano,” or the rushing harp runs on “Grow Grow Grow,” reveal a deep-seated urgency that becomes more obvious with each re-listen.
“White Chalk” might stand as one of the most sonically uniform PJ Harvey releases, but still manages to surprise, delight and turn itself inside out with no warning. Clocking in at a relatively brief 33 minutes, it leaves none of its short runtime wasted.
The Peel Sessions 1991-2004
PJ Harvey “The Peel Sessions 1991-2004” album on vinyl, this May via UMC/Island Records. The compilation features choice selections of her sessions with BBC Radio 1 DJ and presenter John Peel from across 1991 to 2004.
The album was originally released in 2006 following Peel’s death in 2004, and is accompanied by a tribute from Harvey, an extract of which reads as follows: “Every Peel Session I did, I did for him. It is with much love that I chose these songs, in his memory. A way of saying ‘Thank You,’ once more. Thank You, John.”
Uh Huh Her (2004)
Following the major mainstream attention “Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea” brought Harvey, she almost reflexively stepped back into the slightly weird, sonically risky shadows, a niche in which she’s always been much more comfortable. Marking the first time she had produced a project on her own, she aimed to go back to basics, prioritizing eclecticism over everything else, and this album is what came out. “Uh Huh Her” is a living being, bouncing between styles on a dime as if its aim is to slap you awake, to make sure you’re paying attention.
As she had done before, PJ responded to the success of “Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea” (one of her most popular albums) with a return to a more lo-fi, less commercial sound on “Uh HuhHer”. ‘Pocket Knife’ is a highlight on a record full of them, with its tumbling percussion, and folk-blues acoustic feel. PJ’s genius for a lyrical couplet is again played out, as the song’s protagonist rebukes a suitor: “Can you see my pocket knife? You can’t make me be a wife.”
Moments of beauty on more conventional tracks like “You Come Through” and “It’s You” stand as steady anchors that tether sketches like “Who The Fuck?” and “No Child Of Mine” to the ground. Even if not every musical mask Harvey puts on is to your liking, it’s still fun to watch the balancing act of her constantly switching between them. The fact that she pulls any of it off is impressive in itself.
A Woman A Man Walked By with John Parish (2009)
In order to follow up their already fairly inaccessible first collaboration, Harvey and Parish pulled even further away from what one might have been expected from either of them next. Where “Dance Hall” is sparse and burns slowly, easing you into its world of discomfort, “A Woman A Man WalkedBy” is equally impossible to sit and easily digest, but is dense, brutal and really gets up in your face about it. Within the span of individual songs, the sound swings wildly between creaking ballads that feel like they might fall apart at any second and soaring, propulsive rock that eventually peters out after its big crescendos. Polly’s theatrical vocal range is perhaps put on display more prominently here than anywhere else in her discography, seemingly switching between who she’s playing in a given scene, moving between menacing growl and full-throated cry with a flip of the switch.
Also, no other project of hers puts such stock in instrumental invention, adding even further depth to the complex song writing, which demands it. Tracks like “Passionless, Pointless” and “Black Hearted Love” remain major benchmarks in Polly’s ever-evolving catalogue of straight-up excellent songs. It’s also notable in that it’s the only album featuring her barking like a dog ( … so far).
Dry (1992)
It’s rare to come across a debut album that sounds so fully fleshed out, but Harvey had been preparing for the chance to record her own material for years, and wasn’t about to waste it. At this point, “PJ Harvey” was still a band, consisting of its namesake, bassist Steve Vaughn and drummer Rob Ellis. Believing they would never get another opportunity to make a record, they made what, even now, sounds like a core thesis statement that Harvey would only embellish with each subsequent release.
Harvey’s debut record after playing in the band Automatic Dlamini, released through excellent indie label Too Pure, is a thrashy riposte to women-fearing men, using the sheela na gig, or pagan fertility goddess, as a symbol of power. Wrapped in heavy guitars and drums, with a bellicose blues riff at its centre, this strong start remains one of Harvey’s very best songs.
Though that means the production remains fairly simple, with most of the instruments played by the core trio, it’s impressive what they accomplished with their limited resources. The theme of gender roles that Harvey would revisit again comes up early, evident in the sing-along playfulness of singles “Dress” and “Sheela-Na-Gig” (“Heard it before, no more!”). Elsewhere, the immense atmosphere of the incredible “Plants and Rags” and “Water” showed Polly had the song writing and arranging chops of someone who had been doing it professionally for decades. Sure, lots of people had picked up a guitar and made compelling music before, but never quite like this.
Though it’s an easy statement to make when we have hindsight and a whole discography to back it up, let’s make it: Even if this had been the only thing PJ Harvey released, as they’d believed it would be, we’d still regard it as essential.
Let England Shake (2011)
Harvey’s second Mercury Prize winner “Let England Shake” marked another major pivot in a new creative direction, one that required not only historical research, but also the search for an appropriate vocal delivery, quite literally: She spent time crafting a warble higher than any she had attempted before to serve the new material, which saw her acting as omniscient narrator of England’s history of conquest and war. Specifically pulling from the history of the U.K.’s involvement in World War I, as well as the more recent casualties that came as a result of the then-ongoing British army presence in Afghanistan, the record reads as a love letter that can’t help but scorn its deeply problematic subject, even as it holds the nation close.
Of course, she’s since returned with “The Hope Six Demolition Project”, but “Let England Shake“, a record that explores the evils of war, could be Harvey’s most profound statement to date. From it, ‘The Glorious Land’, tackles the legacy of Britain waging war overseas. Wrapped in a distorted, haunting jangle of guitars, and PJ’s FX laden voice, it’s a shiver-inducing masterpiece.
There’s a grandiose elegance to every track, feeling as large and seminal a project as the ever-sprawling story it tells. Though not the most sonically adventurous version of PJ Harvey that we’ve seen thus far, it doesn’t really need to be. It’s difficult to argue that any extra flourishes would have improved the results, which teem with poetic lyrics and effective arrangements. Taking the idea that the artist stays vital by reinventing themselves to a whole new level, “Let England Shake” marked the first time Harvey, known for writing about the darker fringes of human nature, held her lens up to history at large, inventing her own type of epic wartime ballad in the process.
Rid of Me (1993)
For any artist with a devoted fanbase, it’s common that people who get into them have a first album they listened to that changed their life, and therefore, will always represent what that artist means to them, holding a special place in their heart. “Rid Of Me” is that PJ Harvey album for me. The combination of Steve Albini’s divisive (but certainly distinctive) production and Harvey’s daring lyricism sends shivers up the spine every time. Songs like “Man-Size,” “Me-Jane” and “50ft Queenie” twisted all expectation in how someone could write about masculinity and misogyny, not only with a sense of humour, but also with a sense of real danger, like this one person might single-handedly topple everything about the gender roles we force ourselves to fit into.
The closer from her breakthrough album “Rid of Me” is a hell of a way to end a record. Accompanied by Rob Ellis on drums and Steven Vaughan on bass (her core band at this point), PJ delivers a slow, deadly slide guitar riff that could tear the sky in two, while producer Steve Albini captures the trio’s intensity perfectly. Menacing, indigo blue, full of longing, PJ channels Leadbelly via David Lynch.
The way this voice seethed through her teeth on “Man-Size Sextet,” truly howled on “Snake” and sounded like it could collapse into a fit of rage at any second on “Legs” (“And I might as well be dead / But I could kill you instead”) felt powerful, like it held something so heavy, you couldn’t even fathom the substance it contained.
You simply weren’t meant to question her conviction—you just believed her. Yes, she’s king of the world, no follow-up questions. It was this idea of indestructible strength I had never thought someone like me could wield before, building upon what something like Horses had already instilled in me. Never shying away from its own intensity, the album builds a monument to the self that’s both vengeful and freeing. Also, in a career of everlasting songs, the title track might be (or at least should be considered) the definitive PJ Harvey track.
Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea (2000)
“How could that happen again? / Where the fuck was I looking / When all those horses come in?” The line opens “Kamikaze,” but it could easily be repurposed to express how it feels every time Harvey transforms into yet another version of herself, as she does on this Mercury Prize winner. Inspired by a trip to New York in 1998 to film with Hal Hartley, which she ended up extending for nine months after falling in love with the city, she began writing for the project she would refer to as “pop according to PJ Harvey.” Perhaps the most singularly triumphant work in Harvey’s catalogue, “Stories” does defiance in a way she hadn’t yet explored, and feels confident in a way that floats above the rest of the world, rather than fighting back. What else in her discography captures the head-on swagger of something like “Big Exit” or “This is Love”? What else sounds like the gentle glide of Thom Yorke’s voice underpinning Polly’s in “Beautiful Feeling” or the heavy, warm piano march that carries “Horses In My Dreams”? Even the gentle collapse and defeat of “We Float” feels like light flooding your senses in the best possible way.
Although “Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea” marked a return to indie rock and a glossier sound after various musical experiments, the standout on this excellent record comes at the end in the form of the breakbeat-laden ‘We Float’. In its moody piano and lyrics about “heading to black out”, it strikes a disquieting note, before it rises into a beautiful redemptive chorus. It’s hugely uplifting, all the more so for its unexpectedness.
Though it’s unlikely that Polly will ever make anything this purposefully polished again, it’s a little blip of calm in the eye of the larger storm, a moment of shimmering assurance among a back catalogue that largely aims to make the listener uncomfortable. Few albums by anyone have captured that precise feeling, making Stories something truly special.
To Bring You My Love (1995)
You could easily argue that PJ Harvey’s third album – and first truly solo record – “To Bring You My Love”, is her finest work, and it’s tough to single out a particular song from this 1995 set. Yet the exquisite minimalism of ‘Working For the Man’ could be its best bit. PJ’s voice barely louder than a whisper, she weaves a creepy spell over skeletal drums and buzzing dub bass, with eerie western guitar and organ the icing on the cake.
Harvey’s collaborated with Nick Cave, Björk, Josh Homme, Marianne Faithfull, Moonshake, Tricky, and her back catalogue is enormous. It’s hard to know where to start (although “To Bring You My Love” should be your first port of call). Several collaborative projects, will help kickstart your own PJ Harvey addiction.
Aiming to write her own versions of the blues standards and Captain Beefheart songs she had loved for years, Harvey re-emerged in the public eye with the devil and God on her mind, and what she called her “Joan Crawford on Acid” look smeared on her face. Despite her assertion that the new theatrical stage look was a cover for how lost she felt in her personal life, it still stands as a lot of the public’s mental image of what PJ Harvey looks like, playing a dragged-out version of herself that communicated these stories of a lost love and literally diving into the pits of hell to retrieve it.
Mirroring the old blues tales of meeting the devil at the crossroads or sacrificing a physical representation of the soul (like, for instance, an imaginary daughter) to him, “To Bring You My Love” balances terror and tenderness effortlessly. Songs like “Meet Ze Monsta,” “Long Snake Moan” and “I Think I’m A Mother” bare their teeth until they split; Harvey growls, “I’m not running / I’m not scared,” and yells, with a smile you can practically hear, “In my dreaming / You’ll be drowning!” and you can’t help but cower like she’s in the room with you.
On the flip side, the ballads reveal a bleeding heart beneath the spiky exterior without ever feeling saccharine or overdone (“Teclo” still stands as one of the loveliest songs we’ve heard from her). Regardless of each song’s specific plan of attack, not a single shriek or whisper sounds anything less than fearless. She hisses, “Come back here, man,” painted grin stretched wide, and you can imagine whatever deity exists down below shaking in their boots.
Is This Desire? (1998)
The follow-up to “To Bring You My Love” was the low-key “Is This Desire?”, a more opaque collection that reveals its treasures slowly. The persistent though are rewarded with tracks such as the haunting ‘The Wind’, which builds from dark, strumming guitars into a crisp hip-hop beat laden with weird FX and PJ’s moving, half-spoken, half-sung paean to St Catherine.
Harvey herself has said she considers this the greatest thing she has ever done, despite the fact that its writing and recording period took place while she was at her lowest point emotionally and mentally (according to an interview from the era, it was during a playback of “My Beautiful Leah” that she decided she needed professional help), most likely compounded by the fact that she was going through a fairly public breakup with another well-known musician. As you can expect from that information alone, “Is This Desire?” is hardly an easy listen, arriving like a visceral, uncut diamond stuck chronologically between two of her more commercially viable releases. However, it’s simply the most impressive and daring collection of songs she’s ever put out.
There’s not a single wasted moment on it. It marks one of the few times where Harvey sounds like she’s not taking total control of her situation, instead sitting back and letting the moving, often cruel world wash over her. That newfound openness is hardly a negative; the album also sees her musical backing shifting from straight-up, guitar-driven rock to layered, diverse soundscapes that incorporate elements of trip-hop and electronic music.
Not all of it is immediate, but it certainly demands your attention, pulling beauty from the jagged parts of ourselves that we usually attempt to ignore. This openness also means Harvey writes in the third person about other characters more than she had before, often from the perspective of vulnerable women: Angelene, Catherine, Leah, Joy and Elise each get their own song. They could all be facets of Polly as she sees herself, or even facets of us, the faceless mass to whom she bares her soul for a living.
The album is an open wound willing to receive, not offering any direct solution, but wearing its pain as a sign of life in hopes that we’ll bare our souls back. For this brief moment, Polly Jean Harvey couldn’t get a grip on what was haunting her, so she started haunting us, and what came out of it was sheer magic.
PJ’ Harvey’s lyrical frankness – in her discussions of longing, loss, sexual and global politics – is key to her appeal. What is most worthy of recognition though is her ability to shape-shift. With each record Harvey’s done something new, dabbling in everything from minimalist post-rock to trip-hop, acerbic punk to piano ballads, heavy metal to weird pop, and making these styles her own.
British primal psych band Loop was formed in London in 1986 by Robert Hampson on guitar and vocals and Beki Stewart (Bex) on drums.
With the arrival of James Endeacott on second guitar, drummer John Wills, and bassist Neil MacKay, Loop adopted a more primal, rhythmic approach and put out their debut full-length, 1987’s “Heavens End”.
The band hypnotized all with their discordant, trance-like spell which served as an antidote to the prevailing trends in British pop at the time; they resurrected the concept of loud, out-there rock for a new era, creating droning soundscapes of bleak beauty and harsh dissonance loosely influenced by The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, The MC5, but retaining the avant-garde and experimental edge of Can, Faust, Neu!, Rhys Chatham, Glenn Branca, and minimalist systems music.
Loop, who broke up in 1991, reactivated for some reunion shows in 2013 and ‘14. By the end of 2014, it had reconstituted in a new line-up, with Hampson the sole continuing member. “I don’t think it would’ve worked if we’d continued working with the line-up as it was,” Hampson reflects. “We’d all outgrown each other. I don’t think it would’ve been very successful. We deliberately kept it brief.” Following the 2015 release of the EP “Array 1”, the group’s been silent on the recording front. But in November of last year, they announced “Sonancy” the first proper Loop’s full-length since 1991’s “A Gilded Eternity”.
“Heaven’s End” originally released 1987 ,
Track Listing : 1.Soundhead 2.Straight to Your Heart 3.Forever 4.Heaven’s End 5.Too Real To Feel 6.Fix to Fall 7.Head On 8.Carry Me 9.Rocket USA 10.Soundhead (original mix) 11.Head On (original mix) 12.Soundhead (Peel Session) 13.Straight to Your Heaven (Peel Session) 14.Rocket USA (Peel Session)
The Paranoyds are Southern California DIY rock royalty. Fuelled by the fiery energy of their live shows paired with raw lyricism and subtle societal commentary, The Paranoyds are unafraid and unapologetically in perpetual pursuit of a good time. The four-piece is made up of Laila Hashemi (keyboardist-vocals), Lexi Funston (guitars/vocals), Staz Lindes (bass/vocals) and David Ruiz (drums, vocals) who together masterfully blend light-hearted playfulness with sharp sincerity over fuzzy guitar, dreamy vocals and punchy, punky rock-n-roll.
“Talk, Talk, Talk”, the new album from The Paranoyds gives the band space to expand, evolve and above all, have fun. Over 11 tracks, the band experiments with sounds that span an eclectic array of genres–from jazz, to lo-fi punk-rock, to groovy R&B–that melt together showcasing the innovative range of The Paranoyds.
The Los Angeles-based DIY rock band The Paranoyds share their highly anticipated sophomore LP “Talk Talk Talk” out everywhere now via Third Man Records. Alongside the release of the album, the band shares new single & live video shot on VHS, “Freak Out” ahead of their lengthy fall tour across North America and the UK.
The track “Freak Out” embodies an otherworldly, massive crush that is impossible to ignore, complete with call-and-response style vocals that reinforce it. The track ultimately inspired the title of the forthcoming album as it includes the words, “talk, talk, talk” several times throughout. Guitarist and vocalist Lexi Funston adds that the song is about, “having a big ol’, out-of-control, teenage crush. There are flashes where you realize that you might be coming on a bit too strong, but they are brief, and you continue to lose yourself to the obsession. You can’t help it!”
Its accompanying DIY video was shot over the course of December 2021 through May 2022 by Funston and friends. It peels back the curtain and documents the band in their most natural state, from the studio, to the stage and in the moment.
The Paranoyds second album, “Talk Talk Talk”, is a sentimental, sci-fi-infused testament to their almost lifelong unbreakable bond that gives the band space to expand, evolve and above all, have fun.
Over 11 tracks, the band experiments with sounds like vintage synthesizers, sampling, and multi-layered drum tracks that melt together showcasing the innovative range of the rising rockers and best friends.
Get an incredible Pink Floyd performance on colour vinyl with this unmissable release. During this 1974 concert, Pink Floyd storm through a virtuoso set, showcasing every track from their seminal “The DarkSide of the Moon” album. Also included is a performance of the prog masterpiece “Echoes”. Pressed on heavyweight 180g transparent silver vinyl, this double-LP encapsulates the magic of Pink Floyd in the live arena and brings it right to you at home.
This has to be about the best set list ever…in Pink Floyd’s…or anyone’s history! Does it get any better than this?. originally Broadcast on the Alan Freeman Show on 11th January 1975. BBC Radio 1 FM.
“Live at the Empire Pool” is a recording of live concert by the band, Pink Floyd, recorded by BBC Radio 1. The record has not been released as a standalone album but has been released in parts as part of other Pink Floyd releases; namely the “Dark Side of the Moon” and “Wish You Were Here” immersion box sets (2011) and “The Early Years 1965-1972” box set (2016). The album was recorded during the British Winter Tour, 1974 at the Empire Pool (now Wembley Arena), England. The shows are notable for showcasing an early version of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” as well as very early versions of “Sheep” and “Dogs” under different titles – “Raving and Drooling” and “You’ve Got to Be Crazy”, respectively. The tour also featured the whole of “The Dark Side of the Moon” album played as well as one of the final performances of “Echoes” before being resurrected briefly in 1987; this performance of “Echoes” is notable for featuring saxophone performed by Dick Parry.
The show was recorded by the BBC and broadcast on BBC Radio 1 (Dark Side set only), on 11th January 1975 as part of Alan Freeman’s programme.
The tracks on the “Wish You Were Here” Immersion box set were recorded on 15th November 1974. The tracks from “Speak To Me” to “The Great Gig in the Sky” were recorded on 16th November 1974, while the tracks from “Money” to “Eclipse” were recorded on 15th November 1974, with patches from the 16th. “Echoes” was recorded on 16th November 1974.
The first three tracks were released as part of the “Wish You Were Here” Immersion box set in November 2011. The whole performance of “Dark Side of the Moon” was released two months earlier, in September 2011 as part of the “Dark Side..”. Immersion box set. The encore, “Echoes”, was not released until November 2016 when it was included in “The Early Years 1965–1972” box set as part of “Volume 7: 1967–1974 Continu/ation”.
Setlist: 01 Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-IX) 02 Raving And Drooling 03 You Gotta Be Crazy 04 Speak To Me 05 Breathe 06 On The Run 07 Time 08 Breathe (Reprise) 09 The Great Gig In The Sky 10 Money 11 Us and Them 12 Any Colour You Like 13 Brain Damage 14 Eclipse 15 Echoes
David Gilmour – lead guitar, vocals Roger Waters – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals Richard Wright – keyboards , vocals Nick Mason – drums Dick Parry – saxophones, with The Blackberries, Vanetta Fields – backing vocals, Carlena Williams – backing vocals
Vinyl release of Pink Floyd – “Live At The Empire Pool 1974” (Silver & Clear Vinyl. Released through SECOND RECORDS and available on 2LP.
Tigers Jaw will follow last year’s great “I Won’t Care How You Remember Me” with a four-song new EP, “Old Clothes”, due October 28th via Hopeless Records. The EP was recorded during the same Will Yip-produced sessions as “I Won’t Care How You Remember Me”, and the just-released title track is an instantly-catchy song in the same power-poppy vein as that album. It’s great stuff and you can check it out below. We’re also thrilled to be teaming with Tigers Jaw on an exclusive coke bottle clear vinyl 7″ of the EP, limited to just 300 copies!.
Ben Walsh says, “We’re so excited to finally share this song and announce the EP. We tracked these songs in the same sessions as the songs on “I Won’t Care How You Remember Me”, and when we were deciding which songs to include on the record, these four songs felt like they could be special on their own as an EP. ‘Old Clothes’ is a song about wanting to exist in a moment for as long as you can.”
Tigers Jaw are about to begin a tour supporting The Gaslight Anthem.
The visual for Tigers Jaw’s new single “Old Clothes” off the new EP ‘Old Clothes’ out October 28th, 2022 on Hopeless Records.
Having reissued her studio albums over the last few years, PJ Harvey is further digging into her archives to release the 59-track compilation “B-sides, Demos and Rarities” on November 4th via UMe/Island. It’s available as either a 3-CD or 6-LP set, each including liner notes and rare and unseen photos.
The compilations spans PJ Harvey’s career, with most of the tracks unavailable physically or digitally for decades. Fourteen of the tracks are either previously unreleased or in previously unreleased versions.
Of the collection, PJ Harvey says, “To have this collection of songs released to the world means a great deal to me. For every album song I have written there have been accompanying brother/sister songs that for many reasons don’t quite have their place in the world at that time, but do find their way eventually, and are no less important for being later. In fact some of these lesser known works are closer to my heart.
“Now having all these works collected and released together in their own right feels at last to give them the place in the world they deserve. I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I do.”
You can listen to three songs now: a previously unreleased demo version of “Dry” an unreleased demo of “Missed” and “Somebody’s Down, Somebody’s Name” which is officially available digitally for the first time. Most of the 59 tracks in this 6LP boxset are currently unavailable physically or digitally; 14 tracks are previously unreleased/previously unreleased versions. Mastering and vinyl cutting by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering, under the guidance of long time PJ Harvey producer John Parish.
Polly is working on a new album, and recently covered Leonard Cohen’s “Who By Fire” for the “Bad Sisters” soundtrack. Loved working with composer Tim Phillips on the new tv series Bad Sisters. When Sharon Horgan approached me to be involved I said yes immediately as I have followed her work and loved it for years. It is a thrill to now be working with her.
It was a very enjoyable day spent recording the version of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Who By Fire’ with Tim. I had spoken to Sharon in advance of the recording session, so I understood why she felt the song’s lyric was so perfect for the series, but also understood what nuances of Leonard’s performance she most loved, and therefore what to try and recapture but in my own way.
B-Sides, Demos & Rarities released Island Records recording;
Fuelled by youthful bravado and an explosive retro-futuristic sound, this young punk-rock power trio blasts the lid off your expectations with their debut, “Versions of Modern Performance”.
Since the dawn of garage rock, basements and carports across America have played host to untold thousands of high school friends looking to fulfill that insatiable need to form a band. And, of course, it’s never easy, but even when everything clicks, it’s probably safe to say that not many of them wind up getting signed to the genre-defining indie rock label Matador Records on their first try.
‘Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)’ is a scuffed-up, guitar-driven piece of garage-pop that sea saws between discordance and fragments of melody. The track’s lyrics brim with alliteration and slanted rhymes, and as the instrumentation rises, the song rides out with a chorus of “oohs.”
It’s a fine example of the Chicago three-piece Horsegirl‘s kinetic connection and playful sense of humour their reinterpretation of noise pop follows a lineage but doesn’t ape it, it’s charmingly ramshackle, personal, and endearing.
“For us, it started purely as three teenagers who were doing it for fun,” gushes Penelope Lowenstein—at 18, the youngest member of the teenaged three-piece Horsegirl, who in the short span of three years have gone from jamming together in their parents’ basements to, this October, opening for the legendary alt-rock outfit Pavement on their much-touted reunion tour. “I don’t know how it usually happens for bands, but it was just this weird moment where suddenly we were on peoples’ radar. Eventually we recorded a bunch of demos, put them on Soundcloud, and sent them to all the labels who had become interested, and that’s how we were connected with Matador.”
There’s more to the story, but for now here’s the nitty-gritty: “Versions of Modern Performance”, Horsegirl’s debut album, is 34 minutes of voluminous sonic joy, tracked in its entirety at Steve Albini’s stalwart Electrical Audio and produced by studio vet John Agnello, whose prestigious credits include work with Dinosaur Jr.,Sonic Youth, the Dream Syndicate, and Kurt Vile, to name just a few. Lowenstein switches off on guitar, bass, and vocals with Nora Cheng. They met and cemented their friendship while taking part in the School of Rock program in their native Chicago. (Sidenote: They first played together in a cover band that featured, you guessed it, Sonic Youth songs on the setlist). Gigi Reece, Horsegirl’s drummer, joined in early 2019, bringing an instant powerhouse backbeat to the band’s sound, which surges with a psychedelic fervor that conjures tastes of the Velvet Underground and Nico, My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab, and Yo La Tengo—again, to name just a few.
“We were brought together by this shared love for the same kind of music,” says Cheng, describing how the resurgent Chicago scene, tough-to-crack but nurturing when it counted, eventually helped propel Horsegirl into the spotlight. They recorded their first single, the cavernous and hauntingly folk-tinged “Ballroom Dance Scene,” with their friends Jack Lickerman and Niko Kapetan (whose own band, Friko, has carved out a distinctive dream-pop niche).
Eventually the Chicago Tribune came calling, running a high-profile feature on Horsegirl that sparked a critical buzz. “This was after more and more bands had started popping up that seemed to share similar influences with us, or the same ethos, I guess you could call it,” Cheng observes. “I don’t know exactly how it happened, but it all turned into a very supportive, young community.”
In a sense then, “Versions of Modern Performance” is as much a reflection of the scene that elevated Horsegirl as it is the band’s full-throated statement of purpose.
From the sharp angles and resonant chords of the uptempo opener “Anti-glory” to the layers of sludge and whistling guitars in the mournful “Billy” (loosely inspired, with its E–B–E–B–E–B tuning, by the music of Nick Drake), the album conveys a warm, enveloping analog atmosphere where heavy-leaded psych rock, recombinant proto-punk, wistful indie-pop melodies, and volcanic blooms of guitar feedback all collide in a crucible of spontaneity. Infuse all that with a healthy dose of controlled chaos and the multi-coloured picture of what Horsegirl is all about begins to take shape.
The Brooklyn music scene over the last 15 years has changed dramatically and often, moving further East to the point where it might now be in Queens, and some of the biggest names of the ’00s now call Silverlake home. Yet Nicole Schneit, is still here, still writing simple, honest, direct guitar pop as Air Waves. If that makes it sound boring, it is not. Nicole has a way of getting to the heart of things with the fewest words and chords possible that sinks in quick, and they’ve gained a reputation as a musician’s musician. Having signed with Fire Records, home of The Chills, The Bevis Frond and Throwing Muses, Air Waves have released their first album for the label and Nicole gets some help from Cass McCombs, LukeTemple, Frankie Cosmos and others. Cass McCombs who duets with Nicole on “Alien,” you might not even realize there are any guests on the record at all. Nicole’s songs continue to feature the sparest of arrangements gently strummed guitar, light keyboards and backing vocals, minimalistic drumming — that keep the focus on her way with melody and low-key but emotive delivery.
Heady with hooks and unforgettable melodies, gliding on deeply danceable grooves, always with AirWaves’ innate compassion, concision and uncanny pop sense shining throughout. A masterpiece that’s beautifully simple, instantly accessible and entirely addictive. Also on the album, Skyler Skjelset (Fleet Foxes, Beach House), Brian Betancourt (Hospitality, Sam Evian), Rina Mushonga, Lispector, David Christian, Ethan Sass, and Ben Florencio. ‘The Dance’ has waited three years to see the light of day and it comes to us now, blinking, smiling in the widening light of 2022 feeling more needed and necessary but also more joyous than ever before. It’s both a snapshot of these songs as they were recorded but crucially, in the intervening time those songs have had additional arrangements crafted by Nicole, created remotely and virtually, with a few like-minded collaborators. The result is simultaneously Air Waves freshest, most spontaneous yet finessed album yet.
You won’t find a better soundtrack for the solidarity, strength, romance and movement we all need right now than ‘The Dance’ – Air Waves’ is their best album yet.
The Fat Angel Sings 