The Fat Angel Sings

As a 20th-anniversary boxset expands the technicolour universe of THE FLAMING LIPS’ “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots”, Wayne Coyne reveals the real story of how his band of freaks inherited the Earth. “We just embraced it all, and did it our way,” learns Sam Richards, in the latest issue of Uncut magazine.

When Wayne Coyne answers our FaceTime call, he’s just leaving his local hardware store. Presumably he’s a valued customer – down the years, Coyne has personally constructed many of The Flaming Lips’ fantasy environments, from the 10-foot-tall chrome head installation that inspired “King’s Mouth” to the makeshift film sets around Oklahoma City where he filmed “Christmas On Mars“. “We don’t have a production company,” Coyne grins, still self-sufficient after all these years. “It’s just us weirdos, you know?”.

At 61, his creative spark remains undimmed. Having just painted a whole new series of covers for the upcoming deluxe reissue of “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots” It was Uncut’s Album Of The Year in 2002 – he reveals that he’s also halfway through creating a 300-page graphic novel telling the story of the album. The Lips have been touring hard all summer and the follow-up to 2020’s “American Head” is also beginning to occupy his thoughts. On top of it all, Coyne is now the father of two boys, Bloom (aged three) and Rex (six months). “I’m the luckiest dude who’s ever been alive, it’s just amazing,” he says. In fact, the whole family are about to drive to a festival that the Lips are headlining in Arkansas. “We take them everywhere as much as we can, that’s just our life.”

Coyne didn’t have any hesitations about introducing his children to the Lips’ travelling circus. “It’s not a bad thing to be around,” he insists. “I see cool people that are laughing and having a great time and using their enthusiasm and their energy. We have a great crew and everybody in the group is fun. You know, [playing live] shouldn’t have to be some serious, stressful thing where you have to take so many drugs to get through it. It’s fucking music, it’s amazing!”

And in a way, The Flaming Lips’ stage show, with its giant bubbles and inflatable unicorns, has become something of a psychedelic soft-play zone. “I can see that if you’re three, you could like it. And if you’re the right kind of 30-year-old you’d like it, and if you’re the right kind of 90-year-old you’d like it, so it’s great.” The same could be said of “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots” itself, a multi-hued 21st- century quasi-concept classic. It contains hummable anthems, universal sentiments and vaudeville songwriting tricks, but also makes room for trip-hop instrumentals and a Japanese experimental musician screaming. Twenty years on, it feels like the moment the Lips became part of the cultural firmament, allowing them to go on and do pretty much anything and everything they wanted.

It even bagged the band a Grammy – although as Coyne reminds us, they didn’t actually win the award for “Yoshimi…” as a whole, but for its blissed-out closing track, “Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon”, which triumphed in the Best Rock Instrumental category. “We only went to the Grammys because it’s absurd to sit there with Tony Bennett and Slash,” he laughs. “But once we won, all that changes. Suddenly, you’re not the weirdo in the room – you’re just in the room. Which is great. I mean, you don’t really want to just be doing the same thing, year after year after year. We’ve been around a long, long time. But luckily, every five or six years, it’s a little bit of a new world.”

The gorgeous “Sex, Drugs, Etc.” by Beach Weather sounded an instant hit in my ears. I’m certain I’ve listened to it over 100 times on Spotify! Interestingly, the song was originally recorded in 2016, and was featured on their debut EP “Chit Chat“. After releasing another EP “What a Drag”, the band went on hiatus as the three members – Nick Santino, Reeve Powers, and Sean Silverman – relocated to different cities and began working on their own solo projects.

They reunited late last year, and began recording their forthcoming debut album “Pineapple Sunrise”, featuring their single “Unlovable”, which dropped August 11th, their first release in five years. In the meantime, “Sex, Drugs, Etc.” went viral on TikTok, and started getting airplay on AltNation and alternative radio stations. I was immediately struck by the song’s dreamy melody, Nick’s captivating vocals and the beautiful harmonies, and it debuted on both the Billboard Alternative Airplay in early September. 

Iggy Pop has unveiled a new single called “Frenzy.” The legendary punk rocker recorded the song with Chad Smith (of Red Hot Chili Peppers), Duff McKagan (of Guns N’ Roses), and producer Andrew Watt. Take a listen below.

“Frenzy” marks Iggy Pop’s debut release as part of a new label deal between Atlantic Records and Watt’s Gold Tooth Records. Watt is a pretty sought-after name these days after working with both pop stars (Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus) and rockstars (Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder).

Iggy discussed his new partnership with the producer in a statement that also included a tease of a new album. “I’m the guy with no shirt who rocks; Andrew and Gold Tooth get that, and we made a record together the old-fashioned way,” he said. “The players are guys I’ve known since they were kids and the music will beat the shit out of you. Have a great day.”

Iggy Pop’s last album was 2019’s “Free”. More recently, the punk veteran helped Danny Elfman remix his song “Kick Me,” and he honored Leonard Cohen with a cover of his song “You Want It Darker.” In 2023, he’ll headline the new festival Destination Chaos alongside Descendents, Parquet Courts, and more.

“Physical Thrills”, Silversun Pickups’ is the sixth studio album and the follow-up to 2019’s “Widow’s Weeds”, is produced by Butch Vig (Nirvana, Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Foo Fighters) and mixed by Billy Bush. “Physical Thrills” spans through an eclectic mix of distorted synths, pop-tinged danceable tunes, pared-down ballads, and a collection of “dream shanties” melodies that are all interconnected with each other into a cohesive body of work. Features “Scared Together” and “Alone on a Hill.”

New album “Physical Thrills” out now!

Cloud Nothings, Frankie Cosmos, Deerhoof, Charlotte Cornfield, Oceanator, Finom, Guerilla Toss, Mamalarky, and more have contributed to Sub Pop‘s new digital-only compilation “The Eleventh Hour: Songs for Climate Justice“. Filmmaker Adam McKay and podcaster producer Matt Dwyer curated the album, which also features previously unreleased music from Fake Fruit, Death Valley Girls, Shanon Lay, Ya Tseen, Kevin Devine, and others. Funds raised from the compilation will directly benefit Climate Emergency Fund, which supports nonviolent, disruptive climate activism.

Starting today, Oct. 28th you can now listen to “The Eleventh Hour: Songs for Climate Justice”. This digital-only charity compilation features previously unreleased music from Moby, Fake Fruit, Frankie Cosmos, Sonny & The Sunsets, Cloud Nothings, Ya Tseen, and more (See below for a full track listing.) Funds collected from this compilation will directly benefit Climate Emergency Fund, a (501c:3) that supports nonviolent, disruptive climate activism.

“The Eleventh Hour: Songs for Climate Justice” was curated by filmmaker Adam McKay (Don’t Look Up, The Big Short, Vice) and podcaster/producer Matt Dwyer (Conversations with Dwyer & Painting With John ) .

Listen to it below.

Adam McKay shared the following statement about the project:

This is a frightening moment we’re living through. The climate is warming at an increasingly dangerous pace and Governments and Businesses seem hell-bent on ignoring the problem. And it’s at exactly moments like this when we need inspired artists to interpret, express and F.S.U. Add in the fact that all of the proceeds go to the Climate Emergency Fund and support international civil disobedience and this is one hell of a
good trouble-making album.

Play it loud. Play it soft.
Released October 28th, 2022

© 2022 Sub Pop Records

“Produced by the Grammy-winning French band themselves, and recorded in Paris’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which sits in the Palais du Louvre, “Alpha Zulu” is everything Phoenix does best: Effortlessly catchy melodies married with always-innovative production, resulting in what is destined to be one of 2022’s albums of the year. Indeed, “Alpha Zulu” — the band’s first album since 2017’s critically acclaimed record “Ti Amo” — is an immediate reminder of what has made Phoenix one of the most beloved artists of the last two decades, reinforcing the band’s enduring (and continued) influence on pop culture.

Working at the Musée brought Phoenix full circle, in a way. As kids growing up in Versailles, they had rebelled against the oppressive French classicism they grew up around — the idea that culture belonged in a museum. And yet, here were four of France’s most important cultural ambassadors, making their next work in such a space. It worked perfectly: Away from the exhibits at the Musée, their studio became a holding space for a jumble of works: Dalí next to Medieval pieces and Lalanne sculptures. “The backstage of the museum is like a mashup,” says Deck. “It’s very pop in a way — like how we make music.”

The new album: ‘Alpha Zulu’ out November 4th –

Receiving a shatterproof cult following in 2019 across the Midlands, through their zesty slacker-rock psychedelia, Sancho Panza have gone from strength to strength. Through age and experience from previous musical endeavours, such as The Lizards & The Hijinks their audiences have grown each gig.

Whilst filling the capacity for both their single launch ‘The 2200 Year Event’ in Rough Trade Notts, and top billing at Rescue Rooms for Beat The Streets, Sancho Panza, have appeared as main supports around the country for the likes of Inhaler, Fling and The Rhythm Method.
Throughout 2019, the band garnered a trilogy of singles all which were played and supported by BBC’s Dean Jackson himself.

2022 sees Sancho Panza working on further releases as the curiosity amongst their cult following continues to spread.

Based in Nottingham, the quintet – Jack Burton (vocals), Cameron Harris (guitar), Harry Taylor (bass), Callum Jones (guitar) and Jay-Jay Hancocks (drums & percussion) – have already been likened to the dreamier side of C86 (think The Springfields or The Clouds) only updated with a 21st century sheen like a thrift shop Horrors or Brian Jonestown Massacre.

The past couple of years have been a whirlwind and I rarely get the chance to reflect on everything that’s happened. Over the past few months I’ve been looking back; at the music I’ve made, the people I’ve met, the incredible experiences we’ve shared together and where I’m heading on a personal level. Playing my songs on tour, seeing them out in the world, and how they’ve affected people differently has made me want to give them another life so much I’ve put them together in the order i would listen to them in now, a fresh evolution of my first two EPs.

I’ve also added a brand new song called “Can You Afford To Lose Me?” which is probably one of my favourite songs I’ve ever written. I feel like I’ve changed quite a lot since releasing some of my tracks, so I decided not to include a couple of them – while I’ll always love those songs, I wanted to highlight the ones that resonate the most with where I’m at in my life in this moment.

I hope you guys can listen to these songs in new ways, just like I have. I guess this is me closing the chapter on the first part of my journey. I’m writing my debut album as we speak and it’s going to come next year, it’s my most personal music yet and I hope I can continue to document my experiences for them to become yours. lots & lots of love, HH xx

This startling collection of rare and previously unreleased material showcases the brilliance of the Ohio trio, and reminds us why they’ve been the favourite band of artists such as The Black Crowes and The Black Keys

Among the stellar material included here are covers of “T- Model Ford”, Rocking Horse, The Nerves, and Eddie Hinton. Buffalo Killers’ sound harks back to the late 60s/early 70s when rock bands such as CSN&Y, The Band, Poco and The Rolling Stones were beginning to tinge their rock with a touch of country, but also holds its own melodically against the cream of current college rock.

The Dollyrots are a female-fronted rock n’ roll band from California.The electric version of “Rather Be A Zombie”, which originally appears on our acoustic album “Love Songs, Werewolves, & Zombies”.

We decided to cut an electric version of “Rather Be A Zombie” for Halloween! we thought it’d be fun to hear it loud and electrified!

And yes, we had our kid put a bunny head on for the single art haha!

Happy Halloween!! Hope your tricks and treats are super fun 🙂

released October 29th, 2022
Performed by The Dollyrots