The Fat Angel Sings

 “You’re Going To Need Somebody,” the third single from “Evolution Here We Come” is out, streaming everywhere. This is one of my favourite Richard Thompson-penned songs, as much for the lyrics as the musical content. Nick Millevoi plays some great lap steel on this and Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate) and Linda Pitmon (Baseball Project) contribute backing vocals on this take.

“Evolution Here We Come” is out in it’s entirety via No Quarter. Vinyl has been in for weeks (kudos to NQ for managing the vinyl slowdowns so gracefully!) and there are dwindling numbers of the “black tie-dye” coloured vinyl, which are limited to 500 copies in the US only. Order now to lock down if that’s up your particular breezeway. The vinyl edition of the album also includes a vinyl-only side-long bonus track that will not be available in any other format or streaming.

In late October/early November, I’ll be embarking on an eight-date co-headline tour with Meg Baird in the Northeast and Midwest. We’ll be sharing a band of killers including Douglas McCombs (Tortoise, etc) on bass, Ryan Jewell (Ryley Walker, etc) on drums, and Charlie Saufley (Heron Oblivion) on guitar. Each night Meg will do a set with them, then I will play a set with them, then some kinda collaboration. I’m a huge fan of Meg as an artist and she happens to be one of my oldest friends, so I’m really looking forward to this run.

While Chris often nets comparisons to Television, his works seem more indebted to the protean guitar work of Robert Quine. Like Quine he’s able to slip easily between barbed, brutal moments and the quicksilver ripples of pop. Both impulses shine through on the new record. Where the opener spars with Bill Nace’s tatters of tashigoto and Marshall Allen’s Electronic Valve, by the time he’s slid into the first few notes of “Heaven For A Few,” the amber glow of afternoon sun has washed away the brittle battle that preciously ensued. The angst of “Bad Moon Risen” boils down with the smoke curl resolve of “Hey Evolution,” but both erode in the relief of Stuart Bogie’s flutes on “Long Beach Idyll.”

Certainly it’s easy to argue that any of the last three of Forsyth’s records are high water marks. His live staple, “Dreaming in the Non-Dream,” set the tone for the half-decade to come, balancing his punk hackles with live improv desires. Just as on the last two he ends the album with another side-long stretch that will surely find further legs in the live setting. “Robot Energy Machine” embraces Chris’ motorik pulse, while craning for something a bit more cosmic. The song reflects the tone of the title’s “evolution,” but clouds the benefits of whether that progression is welcome or not. Like much of the album, the closer is conflicted about the future — shining bright with a roiling tension, but looking tentatively at the darkness on the horizon.

releases August 29, 2022

Chris Forsyth – guitar, vocal
Tom Malach – guitar
Douglas McCombs – bass guitar
Ryan Jewell – drums, percussion, vibes

with

Dave Harrington – congas, pedal steel guitar, Wurlitzer electric piano, Farfisa organ, PrimeTime guitar, bamboo flute, tambourine, Marshall Allen – Electronic Valve Instrument on (1), Bill Nace – Metal Machine tashigoto on (1), Linda Pitmon – backing vocal on (4), Steve Wynn – backing vocal on (4), Nick Millevoi – lap steel on (4), Stuart Bogie – flutes on (6)

Pink Floyd’s Animals is being released in a variety of new formats for its 45th anniversary. The 1977 title is being made available on Deluxe Gatefold, CD, LP, Blu-ray and SACD, all with a 2018 remix. The individual versions will be available on September 16th, 2022 with the Deluxe version available on October 7th via Sony Music [Warner Music in Europe]. This is the first time the album will have been available on 5.1 Surround Sound.

Animals is the tenth studio album by Pink Floyd, originally released in January 1977. It was recorded at the band’s Britannia Row Studios in London throughout 1976 and early 1977, and was produced by the band themselves. The album peaked at number 2 in the U.K. and number 3 in the U.S., and is considered as one of the band’s best works. The album was recorded by band members David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright.

The Deluxe Gatefold version includes LP, CD, audio Blu-ray, audio DVD and a 32-page book. The Blu-ray and DVD audio include the 2018 remix in Stereo, 5.1 Surround (both by James Guthrie) and the original 1977 Stereo mix. The 32-page booklet features rarely seen behind the scenes photographs of the album sleeve shoot along with live images and memorabilia. The album artwork has been reimagined for this release. From the June 30th announcement: “Animals” is a concept album, focusing on the social-political conditions of mid-1970s Britain, and was a change from the style of the band’s earlier work. The album was developed from a collection of unrelated songs into a concept which describes the apparent social and moral decay of society, likening the human condition to that of animals. Taking inspiration from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the album depicts the different classes of people as animals with pigs being at the top of the social chain, dropping down to the sheep as the mindless herd following what they are told, with dogs as the business bosses getting fat on the money and power they hold over the other. Although it’s been a long time since 1977, the narrative of the album still resonates today as our social and economic situation mirrors that of the time.

The album’s iconic cover shows an inflatable pig (now known as Algie) floating between two chimneys of the Battersea Power Station, conceived by Waters, and designed by long-time collaborator Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis Studios.

For this new release, the artwork has been re-designed for the modern era by Storm’s Hipgnosis partner Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell. Taking new shots of the building as it appeared during the recent conversion work, Po experimented with new angles and produce some striking new takes on the classic original. Po elaborates: “With the original 1977 album cover being such an iconic piece of stand-alone art, I had the chance to update it, which was a rather daunting task, but Hipgnosis took the opportunity to re photograph the image to reflect a changing world, and by using modern digital colouring techniques I kept Pink Floyd’s rather bleak message of moral decay using the Orwellian themes of animals, the pig ‘Algie’, faithful to the message of the album.”

Indigo Sparke returns with her magnetic second full-length album “Hysteria”, recorded with producer Aaron Dessner (The National, Taylor Swift). It’s a huge and beautiful sweeping work, one that possesses a rare, reflective power. From the first few notes, in the first song, “Blue”, something chilling and captivating pierces straight into the listener’s chest. With harmonies reminiscent of the voices in our heads, she examines love, loss, grief, a newly realized rage, her history, dreams, and the emotional weather patterns surrounding those sensations: her words tell the stories, and the sounds act them out.

It’s a diary built for big stages. “Hysteria” arrives just a year after her striking, minimalist debut, “Echo“. Here though, Sparke offers an more expansive body of work—it’s a simultaneously nostalgic yet clear and complex collection that expands her sound and outlook.

While the world that Sparke inhabits is a rich tapestry of sound that pulls the listener into circular spaces of seemingly never ending minimalistic textures and harmonic suspensions, what’s most clearly on display is her voice and her song forms. Deceptively simple structures wind like labyrinths in a whirlwind of lyrical expression and vocal pageantry calling to mind the early works of PJ Harvey, Meredith Monk, and the like. These compositions are a warm invitation into her world.

the album “Hysteria“, out October 7th 2022, via Sacred Bones Records

Taking its title from the astrological term for when a planet is in such close, specific proximity to the sun that it’s considered to be in the heart of it, “Cazimi“ finds the listener at the moment with its examination of trauma, chronicling “the slow motion unravelling of somebody’s life” in the aftermath.

“I was living that ‘combust to the sun’ narrative and the burnout was inevitable” a standout staple of Nashville’s rock scene, rose is “witty, brilliant company” (pitchfork) and a “promisingly wry lyricist” (the guardian) with a “wily and impressive blend of melancholy and cheek.” (new york times) her 2011 full-length “Own Side” now earned her praise for her “sweet, knowing voice and a penchant for lyrics that are far darker” (new york times), nestled in “simply adorned song-craft which…never seem constrained by Nashville tropes, old or new.” (bbc music) after a seven year absence following the release of her sophomore album, “The Stand-In“.

In February of 2020, singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose settled in at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios for a week of tracking with William Tyler, Brian Kotzur, Jack Lawrence, and Luke Schneider. After a seven year absence following the release of her sophomore LP, “The Stand-In” a self-described Sisyphean nightmare of false starts and career blocks, Rose was ready, with the encouragement of close friend and producer Jordan Lehning, to give the rock a final push. “It happened so fast that there was no time to worry about what could go wrong; all I walked in with was the excitement,” she says. When she and Lehning planned to return for overdubs in early March, neither expected that the world would turn on its head in little more than a week, that a tornado would soon wipe half of east Nashville off the map, or a global pandemic would, as it has for so many others’ projects, further delay completion.

Paradoxically, though, sitting with her songs a little longer turned out to be exactly what Rose needed. “I had all the pieces,” she says. “It just took a while to make them fit. The initial charge of going into the studio with people I trusted and seeing it through was so inspiring, and then the world just stopped. It was a terrifying shift, but Jordan set the path for us and figured out how to utilize this new uncomfortable freedom of time. It led to a process more joyful than any I’ve experienced making music.”

The resulting record, “Cazimi“, on Names, finds itself released into the world at the exact right time. We’re not quite post-pandemic but we’re certainly post-vibe shift. Things are falling apart, systems are failing in front of us; chaos and danger await us the moment we step out our front doors. The perpetual mood is that of a constant hum of anxiety as we try to cope, with varying degrees of success, with the collective trauma that has consumed us unrelentingly for the past few years.

Taking its title from the astrological term for when a planet is in such close, specific proximity to the sun that it’s considered to be in the heart of it, “Cazimi” finds the listener at the moment with its examination of trauma, chronicling “the slow motion unravelling of somebody’s life” in the aftermath. The thing about “Cazimi“ is that it’s fleeting, accidental, even—a moment of exaltation that goes just as fast as it comes. It’s a phenomenon that Rose could relate to: “I was never prepared to take on everything that happened to me in my early twenties. Being all of a sudden thrust into spotlights that I had little business being under was rarely empowering, often more so debilitating, and being in the rush of it all, I never could quite catch up,” she explains. “I was living that ‘combust to the sun’ narrative and the burnout was inevitable”

“Cazimi“, comes out November 18th, 2022 on Names, finds itself released into the world at the exact right time.

Michael Collins’ first new album with the project since 2019, arrives in October, Aka Drugdealer have announced a new album, which is the follow-up to 2019’s “Raw Honey“. The Michael Collins–led, Los Angeles–based project will release “Hiding in Plain Sight” on October 28th via Mexican Summer Records. Check out the video for lead single “Someone to Love,” directed by Collins and James Manson.

The third and most seasoned Drugdealer album, “Hiding In Plain Sight”, almost didn’t happen at all. Frustrated and insecure with his own singing voice prior to the pandemic, Drugdealer founder and primary songwriter Michael Collins was nearly ready to throw in the towel. With hits like “Suddenly” and “The Real World” (from the band’s 2016 debut, “The End Of Comedy”) and “Honey” (from their first album for Mexican Summer, 2019’s “Raw Honey”), 

“Someone to Love’ came out of an impromptu extended jam that my band and I developed show by show on the last full U.S. tour,” Collins said in a statement. “Then when we got home and I started working on this new stuff I realized it was one of the best moments of us naturally playing. I turned it into a fully fleshed out song about wanting to be truly loved unconditionally, and pretty instantly became my favourite thing I had written and pretty much still sits there.” The song features contributions from John Carroll Kirby and Video Age.

Drugdealer have also announced a headlining tour in North America

Nigerian wonder guitar band Mdou Moctar shares an unreleased 13-minute guitar jam in new 6-track collection, “Niger EP Vol. 1” The offering, which also contains tracks recorded at “weddings, picnics and impromptu house concerts”,

The Electric guitar virtuoso Mdou Moctar has announced “Niger EP Vol. 1”, a six-track offering that contains an unreleased 13-minute guitar jam titled “Imouhar“. Joining the extended epic are live renditions of four tracks lifted from a handful of Moctar’s studio and live albums, including “Afrique Victime” (2012), “Afelan” (2012) and “Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai” (2015).

These tracks – “Sibidoul”, “Afelan”, “Layla” and “Afrique Victime” – are joined by the guitar jam, as well as a drum machine version of “Chismiten”, the opening track of “Afrique Victime”. Mdou Moctar’s latest EP has been released in its entirety today (August 24th), but it’s “Imouhar” that steals the spotlight. Unsurprisingly, it’s a thrilling addition to Moctar’s repertoire, with the Nigerian guitarist flexing his soloing stamina by opening the track with more than six solid minutes of lead playing.

The flurries of fiery licks give way to some roots-y riffing – coloured with sporadic melodies – around the halfway mark, but Moctar soon picks things back up again to close “Imouhar” out with one final fretboard workout.

“Niger EP Vol. 1” was conceived back in 2021 when Moctar and his producer/bass player Mikey Coltun began working on the Mdou Moctar mixtape series. Compiled from old audio recordings, interview clips and voice memos, the project turned into the EP, which aims to “examine the roots of the Mdou Moctar band”.

As such, the live recordings contained in the EP are performances of the Mdou Moctar band at weddings, picnics, rehearsals and impromptu house concerts. As Coltun explains, “Early Mdou Moctar recordings were contained on cassettes, though the humble tape was soon replaced by the quick and easy facility of cellphone technology. Long bus rides are common in West Africa. 

“On one of these rides, you might be seated next to a stranger and ask, ‘What are you listening to?’” he continued. “Then a song exchange would begin over Bluetooth. This is a very real way artists found their music distributed far from home. 

“In that vein, the Niger EP series features solely recordings taped in Mdou Moctar’s home country of Niger. “Volume 1” begins the series with a mix of recordings from 2017-2020, documenting the band at weddings, picnics, rehearsals, and even impromptu house concerts.”

The “Niger EP Vol. 1” track list can be found below.

1. Imouhar (Drum Machine Version)
2. Chismiten (Drum Machine Version)
3. Sibidoul (Live)
4. Afelan (Live)
5. Layla (Live)
6. Afrique Victime (Live)

Matador Records Released on: 24th August

Los Angeles-based DIY rock band The Paranoyds share new single and accompanying video, “BWP” out everywhere now. Alongside the single, the band announces a UK tour with tickets on sale now here, in addition to their North American dates, ahead of their highly anticipated sophomore LP, “Talk Talk Talk” due out September 9th via Third Man Records.

Before the official fall tour kicks off, The Paranoyds will support Jack White for three dates this September including Asheville, NC, New Orleans, LA and Shreveport, LA. before concluding in their home city of Los Angeles in November. Then, the band heads to the UK for a string of dates through the end of November beginning in London and concluding in December in Ramsgate. After some audio feedback and a steady guitar loop begins, “BWP” opens the album with an attempt to escape the monotony of daily life. Over warbled vocals, expressing disappointment with how the once-alluring future turned out, guitarist and vocalist Lexi Funston sings, “Up on my bed / I’m looking to mend / I contend I’ve got a case / A fight in my head / I’ve got a ten I’m willing to spend / A day is long when not much is coming in / Cross off 60 more, this future was a bore” Funston explains the fuzzy jam is inspired by feeling stuck in an endless routine for so long, daydreams no longer feel special or significant–they’ve just become the norm. “Every now and then there are those days and sometimes even weeks where it just feels like you’re in a rut–for me they’re usually induced by some sort of gnarly LA heatwave or fire (if i’m really unlucky, it’s both!). All you can really do to escape the heat is daydream, but daydreaming day-to-day…it’s just not the same.” Speaking to what the title’s three letters stand for, Funston adds, “I wrote the demo for the song at a time where it felt like all of a sudden Spotify was overcompensating for years of only boosting male rock bands, in this super disingenuous way (2019). There was this playlist called “Badass Women’s Playlist,” which I thought was such a cringe title for a playlist (looking at the playlist now, they dropped the “Women’s”). “But, on the other hand,” Funston admits, “I wanted our music to be on this playlist…I figured if I wrote a song with that intention in mind and named it after the playlist, we might finally get some subliminal love from Spotify…I guess that makes it a self-referential song about selling out.” Directed by Max Flick, the track’s accompanying video allows each band member and their instrument shine as each shot corresponds seamlessly with each note played. Against a black backdrop, hues of red, yellow and blue along with a single spotlight bring the floating heads of each band member in and out of view. Similar to previously shared visuals, the band brings their retro spirit with them into the future, creating something brand new altogether. Flick, who has previously collaborated with the band, was thrilled to be able to direct the latest video. “Since the first time I saw The Paranoyds play at the original Non Plus Ultra I was an instant fan and knew I wanted to make a video together. We have worked on many projects over the years, but this is my first time directing for them.” After listening to the track, Flick had a clear vision for the visual. “Listening to “BWP” immediately provided me with these vivid images that we were able to make come to life and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.”

The Paranoyds’ latest single and video, “BWP” out everywhere now, brightens life’s dullest moments as the band plots an escape from their daily routine. “Talk Talk Talk”, the expansive sophomore album from the four-piece is due out September 9th via Third Man Records and is available for pre-order now. Connect with The Paranoyds on Instagram, YouTube and Face book to keep up with the rising rockers.

from “Talk Talk Talk“, releases September 9th, 2022

The National are back with a new single “Weird Goodbyes,” featuring vocals by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and strings by the London Contemporary Orchestra (arranged by the band’s Bryce Dessner). It’s just the second new song they’ve shared since the release of their 2019 album “I Am Easy to Find”, following “Somebody Desperate,” their contribution to the Cyrano (2021) soundtrack.

“It’s about letting go of the past and moving on, then later being overwhelmed by second thoughts,” vocalist Matt Berninger explains of “Weird Goodbyes” in a statement.

“‘Weird Goodbyes’ was one of the first new songs we made,” Aaron Dessner recalls. “I was misusing drum machines, as usual, and stumbled onto this beat that got stuck in my head—it felt like something only [drummer] Bryan [Devendorf] could naturally play. We built the song around the beat. Matt’s melody and words felt so elegant and moving from the beginning—mourning a loss of innocence and motivation, holding onto memories and feelings that inevitably slip away and the grief we all suffer in weird goodbyes.”

Aaron Dessner adds, “I somehow could hear our friend Justin’s voice and heart in this song from the beginning. We sent it to him and it moved him—he then sang with Matt so powerfully.”

The National have been playing new material live this summer, including “Weird Goodbyes.” In an Instagram post announcing the track’s then-impending release last week, the band revealed they had “reconvened at Long Pond [last spring] to begin writing and recording new music that we’ve been working on ever since.” They noted that “Weird Goodbyes” “felt like the right track to share first,” adding, “We’re so grateful to our friend Justin Vernon for joining us on this song.”

The band will continue touring through the summer and into the fall, with appearances at All Points East in London (Aug. 26) and the inaugural Sound on Sound festival in Bridgeport, Connecticut (Sept. 25). “Additional worldwide touring is planned for 2023,” per a press release.