The Fat Angel Sings

Mo Troper is one of the premiere power pop songwriters of our time. Since his tuneful, fuzzed-out solo debut “Beloved” in 2016, the Portland-based musician has been steadily releasing LPs that have added muscle definition and ornate arrangements to his classic throwback hooks and witty-but-withering lyrics. For his latest release, Mo Troper undertook a challenge worthy of lofty songwriters from Elliott Smith to Booker T and The MG’s and R. Stevie Moore alike: recording a full covers album of The Beatles’ “Revolver”, with all of the proceeds going towards Defense Fund PDX and Austin Mutual Aid.

Released in the summer of 1966, “Revolver” saw the Fab Four transition from the reigning pop mop-tops of the first half of their career to the countercultural trailblazers that would solidify them as arguably the most influential and certainly most documented and scrutinized rock band of all time. John Lennon’s comments earlier that year about the group becoming “more popular than Jesus” sparked an apoplectic response from the social and religious Right—the Ku Klux Klan picketed Beatles shows, records were ceremonially burned, and their songs were pulled from radio stations. They would never tour again. As such, the album has developed an enigmatic mystique, and many modern listeners consider it to be the ultimate Beatles LP.

More than a rote imitative exercise or novelty tribute, Mo really absorbs himself in what makes “Revolver” actually special: That in its heart of hearts, even for being inarguably peak Beatles, it’s the mother of all DIY bedroom pop albums.

Released March 12th, 2021

Mo Troper: vocals, guitars, bass, keys, drums, programming, Tyler Blue Broderick: vocals on “Yellow Submarine”

recorded and mixed by mo troper at home in late 2020/early 2021,  Top Beatles album covers but I love the homemade jangly vibe. Wafts of Olivia Tremor Control. Giving all the funds to charity too. 

all songs written by Lennon-Mccartney, with the exceptions of “Love You To,” “Taxman” and “I Want To Tell You,” written by George Harrison. recorded and released with permission from sony/atv music

Shortly after their “bigger than Jesus” remarks rocked the United States, The Beatles released “Revolver”. They never toured again after that, maintaining a credibility and untouchability that gets reissued and remastered every three years. Mo Troper, after releasing his full-length cover of “Revolver”, announced and abruptly cancelled a tour because something much bigger than Jesus was rocking the planet. You’d hope it was Mo himself. It wasn’t, but Mo’s rocking, anyway.

“Dilettante” also known as Mo Troper IV—combines decades of power-pop worship, scholarship, and penmanship into a 28-track collection of sprints. The playlist-as-album pundits might call it a data dump, but Mo brands it as a relaxed way to finish song sketches in unprecedented times. IV is a work that some of his friends call a musical, but this claim remains unverified. If there’s anybody aching to spin up a limiter-drenched production centered around scrolling a cluttered inbox for serotonin, prototype theme songs for public access shows plugged into the scene, and gasp-long dips into math rock, 1990s video game cheese, and medieval revelry, get in touch. (You might have to cut Mo’s rejected jingle for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, even though the stage needs to hear it.)

For those less dramatically inclined, there’s plenty here to pick up the slack. Mo gushes about “The Perfect Song” with syrupy, undeniably guitar pop that’s a remarkable stand-in for the gold he describes. False showtune “Sugar and Cream” goes medium about the wizardry found in a cup of coffee. Clipped moments like the sub-minute love song “Skyscraper Sized Bong” are as ephemeral as they are effective, shoving callouts to Big Star and Teenage Fanclub into pocket- sized arrangements.

“I think that’s the thing about this album – I don’t even really care about touring or making vinyl anymore, I’m generally pretty sick of the PR rigmarole, I just want to release as much stuff as I can before I’m dead,” Troper explains. Call it information overload or a heaping of odds and ends, but “Dilettante” finds Mo Troper at his most sincere, present, and challenged. It doesn’t take fifty million screaming fans to prove him right.

Originally released in digital version on October 15th, 2021, vinyl version ready by April 8th, 2022.

Unique among their furrowed brow peers, The Besnard Lakes are unafraid to marry textured, questing headphone sonics to the honeyed pleasure of radio hits past: the rapture of My Bloody Valentine entwined with the romance of Fleetwood Mac. Imagine dreamy Beach House riding Led Zeppelin dynamics, with unabashedly androgynous vocal harmonies.

Following the triumphant, epic “Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings” album released in early 2021, The Besnard Lakes have shared a new track recording during those album sessions in the form of “She’s An Icicle”.

“The original had many parts strung together and it was all a bit goofy,” say the band.

“We eliminated most of the other parts and then Oggy said it was too boring so we reworked one of the parts to make it less goofy and shoved it in the middle of the track.” The song starts off sounding like it was beamed in from those early Spiritualized records, morphing then into that signature Besnards sound, with Jace Lasek’s falsetto gliding over the widescreen psychedelic shimmer – all of which making us very excited for the band’s forthcoming European tour dates, kicking off on 19th April in Belgium.

Full Time Hobby  “She’s An Icicle” Released on: 2022-04-07

May
Sun 1: Glasgow (UK), Hug & Pint
Tue 3: Leeds (UK), Brudenell *
Wed 4: Liverpool (UK), District *
Thu 5: Guildford (UK), The Boileroom *
Fri 6: London (UK), Oslo *
Sat 7: Wrexham (UK), Focus Wales

Last Sunday Johnny Marr and his band played in Cardiff, Wales. To pay a tribute to Taylor Hawkins,
the Foo Fighters’ drummer who passed away recently (March 25th at the age of 50), he played
a classic Smith’s song he wrote with Morrissey for his former band.

Before going into “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” Marr said: “This is a song
that we’d like to dedicate to our friend Dave Grohl. Lots of love going out to you guys and
all the Foos family. We miss you Taylor, we won’t ever forget you. God bless you. This is
from all of us.”

Johnny Marr – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (BBC6 Music Festival 2022)

Neal Francis’ sophomore album ‘In Plain Sight’ offers up a body of work both enchanting and painfully self-aware, recorded entirely on tape with his bandmates. Mixed by Grammy Award-winner Dave Fridmann (Spoon, Tame Impala, Flaming Lips), the album spotlights Francis’s refined yet free-spirited performance on piano, an instrument he took up at the age of four. The album came to life over the course of a tumultuous year spent living in a possibly haunted church in Chicago. The result: a portrait of profound upheaval and weary resilience, presented in a kaleidoscopic sound that’s endlessly absorbing. ‘In Plain Sight’ ultimately reveals the possibility of redemption and transformation even as your world falls apart.

“When I started the process of writing these songs, I was so emotionally out-of-sorts and really kind of hopeless that I’d be able to come up with anything,” says Francis. “But then I sat down and started working, and embraced whatever inspiration came my way. Sometimes it felt like beating my head against a wall, but I tried to trust that it would lead somewhere. The whole thing was like a weird dream—this very strange time of terrible, wonderful isolation.”

Released November 5th, 2021

Regarded as the greatest, most influential debut release from any artist!, “…sonically (prior editions) can’t touch this new Bernie Grundman mastering using the original tapes and pressed UHQR flat profile on 200g Clarity vinyl at QRP. I compared this new version to the original and to all of the other Experience Hendrix reissues and Bernie’s got them all beat in terms of dynamics, three-dimensionality and especially transparency — a quality I never thought to assign this recording but one listen will convince you that it’s there. I’ve been playing this record in one version or another since August of 1967 and I knew there was a ‘mouth pop’ on ‘Purple Haze’ but nonetheless when it came I jumped and adrenaline flowed so present and 3 dimensional was the ‘pop.’ This is one of the classic albums from the rock era and it’s never sounded this good. This version will most likely never be bettered” —  Music = 10/11; Sound = 10/11 – Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com.

Analogue Productions presents another UHQR classic title — Jimi Hendrix’s classic “Are You Experienced”. And working together with Quality Record Pressings, this reissue is a true collector’s gem — an Ultra High Quality Record (UHQR) release!

This stereo UHQR reissue will be limited to 20,000 copies, with gold foil individually numbered jackets.

When it was first released in 1967, “Are You Experienced” turned the music world upside down, as Hendrix showed everyone exactly what it meant to be “experienced.” Hendrix synthesized various elements of the cutting edge of 1967 rock into music that sounded both futuristic and rooted in the best traditions of rock, blues, pop, and soul. It was his mind-boggling guitar work, of course, that got most of the ink, charting new sonic territories in feedback, distortion, and sheer volume. It wouldn’t have meant much, however, without his excellent material, whether psychedelic frenzy (“Foxey Lady,” “Manic Depression,” “Purple Haze”), instrumental freak-out jams (“Third Stone from the Sun”), blues (“Hey Joe”), or tender, poetic compositions (“The Wind Cries Mary”) that demonstrated the breadth of his song writing talents. Not to be underestimated were the contributions of drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding, who gave the music a rhythmic pulse that fused parts of rock and improvised jazz.

Jimi’s thoughts on the recasting of his debut album in the U.S. by Reprise Records, who added “The Wind Cries Mary,” “Purple Haze” and “Hey Joe” to the original 11-track list, aren’t entirely known. But Jimi did vocalize his frustration during later stage performances that “Red House,” his superb original blues composition, had been pulled from the U.S. album.

The U.S. track version released in August 1967. Included are the group’s first three U.K. singles “Purple Haze,” “Hey Joe” and “The Wind Cries Mary.”

This UHQR is remastered by the legendary Bernie Grundman from the original analogue master tapes. Each UHQR will be pressed at Acoustic Sounds’ industry-leading pressing plant Quality Record Pressings (QRP) using hand-selected Clarity Vinyl® with attention paid to every single detail. These records will feature the same flat profile that helped to make the original UHQR so desirable. From the lead-in groove to the run-out groove, there is no pitch to the profile, allowing the customer’s stylus to play truly perpendicular to the grooves from edge to center. Clarity Vinyl allows for the purest possible pressing and the most visually stunning presentation. Every UHQR will be hand inspected upon pressing completion, and only the truly flawless will be allowed to go to market. Each UHQR will be packaged in a deluxe box and will include a booklet detailing the entire process of making a UHQR along with a hand-signed certificate of inspection. This will be a truly deluxe, collectible product.

Dublin quartet Pillow Queen chase last fall’s “Rats” EP with “Leave the Light On“, a 10-song collection that digs further into the group’s fuzzy, guitar-driven sensibilities. According to singer Pamela Connolly, album opener “Be by Your Side” is “about the mechanisms that are used to hide your vulnerabilities and carry on,” as well as the catharsis of letting out emotions. 

Two years on since the release of “In Waiting”, Pillow Queens release their new album “Leave The Light On” on Royal Mountain Records.

“Leave the Light On” is an exploration of the uncertainty of emotions as they are in process, and an intuitive outpouring of ideas as they form. It’s about being intimately honest with yourself, and as a band. It’s about trusting that this state of vulnerability can be held as it emerges, by you, by us.

What do queer dream blues sound like? More importantly, what do they feel like? Leaving home at night, driving through the black back roads until the tungsten light starts to glow. “Uaigneas an chaldaigh”, the Irish sense of loneliness experienced on the shore. The confusion and discombobulation of waking and feeling unfamiliar. The liminal space between dreaming and being conscious. The unmooring that happens when a sense of self is being explored and sometimes slipping away.

But gravitating towards the unknown and the ambiguous can often yield the kinds of sounds and feelings that provide creative certainty, where the art is coming to you, as much as you going to it. “Leave the Light On” fills vast new sonic plains for Pillow Queens. It’s an album that encourages duality; to be soft and hard, delicate, and muscular, intimate and anthemic, alone and together. Collaborating on lyrics, a shared emotional experience fills these songs of hope and home, insecurity and estrangement, songs that track time passing and a sense of reflection grows deeper every day.

When real movement is stillness, when to be stationary feels transitionary, and when the most vital journey in life is to go within, then it’s time to leave the light on, and open up. For fans of PJ Harvey, Big Thief and Waxahatchee.

Released April 1st, 2022

San Jose slowcore band Duster have inspired countless indie-rock staples who came in their wake, experiencing enough of a resurgence in the past few years that they reformed to release their self-titled album (their first in two decades) in 2019. Now, band members Clay Parton, Canaan Dove Amber and Jason Albertini have returned once again with a surprise album, “Together“. The band released the album in its entirety on YouTube Thursday night, sharing an official music video for each track before it hit streaming services this morning. The music and the visuals both slot perfectly into the hazy, fuzzed-out musical world they’ve continued to build on-and-off since their 1998 debut. Hypnotic and cohesive, it makes a worthy addition to the Duster canon, so likely to seep into your system upon re-listening that it’ll feel like it’s always been there,

from the album “together” released April 1st, 2022 Numero group

Mick Jagger has released “Strange Game,” the theme song for the new Apple Original series Slow Horses. The song, co-written, recorded and performed by Jagger with film composer Daniel Pemberton, and out via Polydor Records / Universal Music, coincides with the global premiere of the series’ first two episodes now available globally on Apple TV+.

From the announcement: The atmospheric and infectious title track “Strange Game” captures “Slow Horses’ dark and mischievous premise, and the surreal world of espionage and exclusion the main characters find themselves in. Underpinned by Jagger’s powerful and eerie vocals, the poignant, moodily strutting theme tune, which references elements of the show’s original score, encompasses both contemporary off-kilter sound design and delicate piano arrangements, highlighting the narrative of yearning for the days to “dance with the big boys again.”

“Early on in the pandemic we got asked to cover a 1980s punk rock song for a special edition release of the comic What’s the Furthest Place From Here. Mike immediately said “We should do a ska song” to which Jarrett replied “Cool. It should be The Selecter” followed quickly with Marissa stating “Great. “Let’s do On My Radio” It happened over the course of about 30 seconds. I don’t know if we have ever made such a quick decision as a band. Many people are familiar with The Specials but The Selecter should be just as renowned. Their first string of singles and first LP are legendary and Pauline Black’s live performances, as captured in Dance Craze, are absolutely transcendent.”

Screaming Females have released a cover of the two-tone classic “On My Radio” by The Selecter! It’s streaming everywhere now.

The band heads out on a spring tour starting next week.