The Fat Angel Sings

Following on from their signing to Captured Tracks, Vermont’s newest group, Thus Love, share their debut single ‘Inamorato’. Utterly engrossing right from the slacker-ish get-go, Thus Love, with their pink hair, poetic nonchalance, and suburban sense of DIY, are the perfect band for a new-generation of articulately-nimble guitar-music.

Sprawling, hook-laden and pristinely drooled, ‘Inamorato’ gently seeps into every crevice it touches with effortless cool. Like city rain dripping down the up-turned collar of a leather jacket; all oversized comfort and adolescent identification, we should all know better by now than to brandish our delicate’s during an internal-hail-storm and yet, Thus Love turn naturally murky substance matter, into durable bright-ideas.

With notions of routinely-mesmerising-mundanity-  Sunday morning’s turning into a mid-week-crisis all in the stroke of some obsessively peculiar-riffage, this is “alternative” at its most sophisticated. When apprehension in its eye, ‘Inamorato’ smartly charms with displayable-sincerity; texturally pliable in the same manner mohair demonstrates fuzzy resilience with stylish warmth and lustre.

Now that their windows of opportunity are flung wide-open, there’s no shadow of a doubt there’ll be plenty more of Thus Love nimbly-authentic outlook, in the not so distant future. 

Long overdue and welcome re-issue of this 1992 debut album and shoegaze classic, Plus six additional bonus tracks chosen by the band including the limited edition 2,000-only pressing of the ‘30 Century Man’ EP, the non-album single ‘Balloon’ and live fan favourite ‘Intravenous’ which fans have been trying to get hold of for years.

Centred around re-recorded versions of four songs from the band’s two Wilde Club singles and the seven minute lovelorn “Black Metallic” – which was referred to as the “Like a Hurricane” of the ‘90s – the deeply rich “Ferment” firmly established Catherine Wheel amongst the shoegaze contingent of the early ‘90s. The band would proceed to denounce the shoegaze tag, but it was a fitting one, at least with everything they released prior to 1993’s harder edged “Chrome“.

Catherine Wheel buried their sing-along melodies in wafts of distortion and blurry production values. Rob Dickinson had yet to find comfort as a lead singer, so his somewhat fey and dazed emoting blended perfectly with Tim Friese-Greene’s comfy production. The employment of numerous guitar pedals didn’t serve as a smoke-and-mirrors ruse, and Friese-Greene knew enough to allow room for bassist Dave Hawes and drummer Neil Sims to flex their able muscles. Dickinson and lead guitarist Brian Futter were immensely skilled and complementary to each other from the band’s inception; certainly they were one of the most unrecognized guitar duos of their stylistic brethren.

Hailing from Great Yarmouth, Catherine Wheel were one of the original shoegaze bands of the early ’90s time along with Ride, Slowdive and Chapterhouse.

They had already released two independent single and recorded a Peel session before signing to the Phonogram Records imprint Fontana in 1991. Their epic debut single for Fontana, ‘Black Metallic’ brought them attention and praise from the press and fans, it also became their biggest hit in the States making the top ten in the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and is still name checked now as indie classic of the early ’90s.

The band followed this with two more singles, ‘Balloon’ and ‘I Want To Touch You’ before releasing their debut album ‘Ferment’ in mid-1992. The album was produced by Talk Talk’s Tim Friese-Greene.

Like all fine debuts, “Ferment” is varied emotionally, ranging from lust (“I Want to Touch You”) to bliss (“Shallow” and “Salt”). It’s a record that makes you want to crawl inside its sleeve and remain. It’s as welcoming as it is insular and sheltered.

On Record Store Day this year, The Who are releasing a special 40th Anniversary edition of their 1982 album “It’s Hard“. The 2-LP release includes a half speed master of the album along with rare and unreleased material, including the Roger Daltrey vocal version of ‘Eminence Front’. There’s no denying that “Eminence Front” boasts a gas pedal-mashing groove – but listen more closely: John Entwistle thunks his bass, but without the murderous intent we’ve come to expect. And that tense little keyboard figure can’t obscure the fact that Roger Daltrey is nowhere to be found. Instead of ending “It’s Hard” with a sense of newfound direction from the remaining three founding members, this sounded like what it was: The next Pete Townshend solo song as the Who went dark.

The Who’s album, “It’s Hard“, celebrates its 40th anniversary with an expanded 2 LP set. Disc One (Orange Vinyl) contains a half-speed remaster of the album, while Disc Two (Yellow Vinyl) continues the rest of the album with additional rare and unreleased material. This edition, with art by Richard Evans, also comes with a poster from the era.

“Athena” With its rumbling guitar opening, striking tempo changes, and the way Daltrey’s barking verses bleed into Townshend’s “she’s just a girl” Greek chorus, “Athena” seemed to point to a return to form for the Who on their second Keith Moon-less project. Kenney Jones, his oft-maligned replacement, even tosses in a few explosive drum rolls as a bright brass section weaves in and out. Unusual for ’80s-era Who, “Athena” was perfectly suited for Daltrey’s staccato rasp. Only now, this reliably cocksure street tough has become romantically confused. “Athena” ends with a thrilling flourish amid Daltrey’s desperate pleas.

“It’s Hard” an early version of this song, then titled “Popular,” was rejected during sessions for 1981’s “Face Dances” and reworked with a new chorus. The result is just one of the contemporary Pete Townshend tracks that doesn’t seem to have been written with Roger Daltrey’s cadence in mind, including the somehow even more wordy “Cry If You Want.” “It’s Hard” then failed to chart after the lead single “Athena” reached a high-water mark among the Top 40 in both America and the U.K. Still, a bouncy propulsion carries everything along.

“I’ve Known No War” isn’t exactly the most musical song on “It’s Hard”, but the bluntly honest “I’ve Known No War” may be the most important. Townshend thought so: “It’s possibly one of the best Who tracks we’ve ever done, I believe,” he later said. “It’s very archetypal, very ’60s issue, but it’s also bloody great.” Everything started with the very Cold War construct of a clock ticking. The underlying message – “basically we’re a bunch of spoilt brats,” Townshend admitted – would resonate for generations.

“It’s Hard“. Originally released on 4th September 1982, “It’s Hard” was the last studio album to include bass guitarist John Entwistle who sadly passed away in 2002. It was also the last studio album to feature drummer Kenney Jones. The album is spread over three sides of the 2-LP set. Side Four on the second LP includes four previously unreleased tracks including the much-anticipated version of ‘Eminence Front’ featuring a lead vocal by Roger Daltrey. The original album has been remastered by Jon Astley, cut at half speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios and pressed on orange and yellow vinyl.

Chicago duo Whitney are back with their third studio album of originals, “Spark”, which will be out September 16th via Secretly Canadian. While their soulful song writing style remains, this is a very different record than they’ve made before. After writing songs during pandemic lockdown — which they spent in Portland, OR — they teamed up with producers Brad Cook and John Congleton, who helped them incorporate synthesizers and sampled beats into their sound.

The buoyant drum loops, the effortless falsetto hooks, the coruscant keyboard lines. They suddenly sounded like a band reimagined, their once-ramshackle folk-pop now brimming with unprecedented gusto and sheen.
So in the ad hoc studio the Chicago duo built in the living room of their rented Portland bungalow, a shared 2020 escape hatch amid breakups and lockdowns, Julien and Max decided to find out. somewhere between midnight and dawn every night, their brains refracted by the late hour and light psychedelics, they’d play their latest creations while a hardware store disco ball spun overhead and slowed-down music videos from megastars spooled silently on youtube. Did their own pop songs—so much more immediate and modern than their hazy origins—fit such big-budget reels? “We’d come to the conclusion we weren’t going to be filming super 8 videos to this stuff anymore,” Julien remembers with a grin. “how about something more hi-fi, cinematic?” when the footage and the tunes linked, Julien and Max knew they had done it, that they’d finally found Whitney’s sound.

“Spark” reintroduces Whitney as a contemporary syndicate of classic pop, its dozen imaginative and endearing tracks wrapping fetching melodies around paisley-print dilla beats and luxuriant electronics. what’s more, Whitney reduces three years of extreme emotional highs and lows into 38 brisk but deep minutes, each of these 12 tracks a sing-able lesson in what it is they (and, really, we. have all survived. the recalcitrant ennui of opener “Nothing Remains,” the devastating loss of “Terminal,” the sun-streaked renewal of “Real Love”: however surprising it may sound, spark is less a radical reinvention for Whitney than an honest accounting of how it feels when you move out of your past and into your present, when you take the next steps of your lives and careers at once and without apology. “Spark” maintains the warmth and ease of Whitney’s early work; these songs glow with the newness of now.

Listen closely, and you’ll notice frequent references to smoke and fire throughout “Spark”,

Itself a double entendre for inspiring something new or burning down the old. Max and Julien were indeed in Pportland for the fall of 2020, When smoke from nearby fires choked the city at record levels. it was terrifying and tragic, but they pressed on. “we found a way to live while the world was burning/real life was caving in,” Julien sings almost merrily during “back then,” an anthem for finding out what’s on the other side of hardship.

Whitney’s circumstances were so fraught on so many levels that they hung “the past…out to dry” and began again, finding a fresh version of themselves, their relationship, and their band after the blaze. Max and Julien are back in Chicago now, sharing a cozy walk up with a little studio, where they’re already building songs for the next Whitney album. they’re both in happy romances, too. now that they let the past burn, everything is new for Max and Julien. spark is not only Whitney’s best album; it is an inspiring testament to perseverance and renewal, to best friends trusting each another enough to carry one another to the other side of this season of woe.

Katy J Pearson has shared a video for her new single, “Game of Cards.” It is the latest release from her forthcoming album, “Sound of the Morning”, which will be out on July 8th via Heavenly. View the Benjamin Spike Saunders-directed video below.

In a press release, Pearson states: “‘Game of Cards’ dates back two years ago, initially written with my friend Ben Hambro (who was the lead singer of Lazarus Kane). We hung out a lot together as I’d sing in his band, and he used to be part of the KJP ensemble. I forgot about the song for a while, then rediscovered it and sent to Heavenly who liked the chorus but the verse wasn’t quite working.

I wanted to give it a chance so took it with me to the Dan sessions where we assembled fresh verses—he really helped me work out where the song should go. ‘Game of Cards’ is about finding someone you click with on a romantic level and how it really is a game of cards in that you don’t know what hand you’ll be dealt. It’s about the vulnerability of a blossoming relationship and not knowing where it’s headed.”

“Game of Cards” is taken from the new album ‘Sound Of The Morning’, out 8th July 2022 via Heavenly Recordings.

Claud just finished a run of shows supporting Phoebe Bridgers, and they’ve now shared a new single, “Go Home!,” which they say is “about falling into that hole of feeling awkward and uncomfortable in your own skin that all you crave is going home and sliding into whatever is familiar.” Playing this song live the last couple months has given me such a great appreciation for it.

“Go Home!” by Claud, out now on Saddest Factory Records.

“90 in November”, the first full-length LP from Texas quintet Why Bonnie, crashes into existence with a squeal of feedback and a burst of distorted guitar. It’s a dynamic introduction to a more raw-edged indie sound from a band who have matured from bedroom dream pop into a sophisticated rock act, their evolving sound a reflection of the journey undertaken by songwriter Blair Howerton on this vividly rendered collection of songs.

New York-via-Texas indie folk band Why Bonnie recently announced their debut album “90 In November” (due 8/19 via Keeled Scales), and now they’ve shared two more lovely songs from it.

As much a product of songwriter Howerton’s love for the intimate song writing of fellow Texans Townes Van Zandt and Blaze Foley as it is her affection for the alt-rock of the Lemonheads and the Replacements, the eccentric pop of Sparklehorse, and “definitely Sheryl Crow,” 90 in November” is a meditation on the pains and pleasures of nostalgia and a lesson in learning how to look back at the people, places, and experiences that have shaped us, with room for both unvarnished honesty and rose-tinted melancholy. “90 in November” is about “coming to terms with your past to accept all of the sweet and all of the bitter,” says Howerton.

The songs for “90 in November” were mostly written in Brooklyn, New York, where Howerton moved from Austin in 2019. Already in the midst of a major life change, Howerton’s feeling of being between worlds was compounded when quarantine hit and she found herself, like so many others, stuck in her apartment—about as far away from the wide-open spaces of Texas as one can possibly get. It was in this environment that she began to write songs parsing out the complicated, mixed emotions associated with building a new home while attempting to make sense of the one she had left behind.

As a result, “90 in November” is a trip through Howerton’s inner world, but it’s also a road trip through Texas. Often it is both at once.

The songs are full of poetic, cinematic lyrics that flash like colourful scenes glimpsed from the window of a car as it barrels along an interstate highway cutting through the Lone Star State, each one a road stop revealing a different facet of Howerton’s experience. 

Releases August 19th, 2022

Lana Del Rey has shared her rendition of Father John Misty‘s ‘Buddy’s Rendezvous’

Lana Del Rey’s gorgeous cover of “Buddy’s Rendezvous“. Her interpretation of the song was previously only available as a 7” single included with the limited edition box set of Chloë and The Next 20th Century. In 2017, Tillman hailed Del Rey as a “genius” before covering her track ‘Ride’ the following year.

The ‘Blue Banisters’ singer-songwriter’s cover of Joshua Tillman’s ‘Chloë And The Next 20th Century’ track was first previewed back in January. It was later exclusively released on a seven-inch vinyl as part of a limited edition box set of the aforementioned record.

Featuring piano, strings and saxophone, the alternate version of ‘Buddy’s Rendezvous’ sees Del Rey and Tillman join forces towards the end. “Whatever happened to the girl I knew?/ In the wasteland, come up short and end up on the news/ Hey, hey, hey, hey/ Whatever happened to the girl I knew?” the pair sing together. This is not the first time Tillman and Del Rey have worked together – FJM appeared in her music video for ‘Freak’ in 2016.

“I’d do anything she told me to,” he explained, joking: “That’s what I enjoyed about the video, just being [Del Rey’s] puppet. I like being told what to do by a woman in that position.”

released June 16th, 2022

After “Beautiful Desolation” came out, I felt flat and lost a deeply rooted compulsion to create that I’d had as long as I can remember. For about a year, I barely touched an instrument, and didn’t write a thing. Then, in 2015, a song came out of nowhere.
 
“Heartlands“, was finished in a day, and I felt all the colour rushing back into a great void. It felt like the start of something new. The experience was like feeling a comforting hand on my shoulder from the oldest of friends – and that’s what I wanted the lyrics to represent. A gentle empathy – exploring your decisions and your dreams that made you who you are, inquisitive to how you got there.

The new Album ‘Figure in a Landscape’ will be released on September 30th on 7476.

Along with sharing my new single ‘Heartlands’ which is available now, from today you can also pre-order a limited gatefold vinyl of my new LP, featuring the beautiful expressionist artwork of Adfail (Jacob Chandler)  
7 years later, it’s the wildest, and most satisfying feeling to be able to share “Heartlands” with you, my next single. This song was the start of a long journey that’s lead me here, able to announce, that my new album ‘Figure in a Landscape’ will be released on 7476 on September 30^th.

It’s a collection of songs that I feel know me better than, at times, I have known myself. Produced by me, at home – in partnership with my two long-time creative muses Ali Thynne and Max Prior. It features collaborations with some wonderful artists; Ajimal, Hilang Child & SIVU, along with friends who play music simply for the joy of it. 

It’s terrifying, and thrilling – to share these innermost vulnerabilities with you.