The Fat Angel Sings

This show was recorded for the German TV series Rockpalast in Cannes in January 1986. Pete Townshend’s Deep End were touring in support of his solo concept album “White City: A Novel”. Several of the musicians that appeared on the album were featured in the line-up of the Deep End including Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour on lead guitar.

The set list has tracks from the “White City” album, other Townshend solo tracks, Who classics, David Gilmour’s song “Blue Light” and a couple of surprises.

Pete Townshend is pleased to announce that Mercury Studios will be releasing on Record Store Day 2022, for the very first time on vinyl, his “Face The Face” album recorded live at MIDEM in Cannes in 1986 and broadcast live by Rockpalast, the German TV show. The album was previously released on DVD/CD in 2016.

The new 2 LP set is pressed on bright yellow vinyl and includes 14 songs from the concert. Pete’s band, Deep End, featured Pete on guitar and vocals backed by Peter Hope-Evans: harmonica, Chucho Merchan: bass, Simon Phillips: drums, John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick: keyboards, Jody Linscot: percussion and special guest, David Gilmour: guitar.

Also featured are the Kick Horns: Simon Clarke, Roddy Lorimer, Tim Sanders, Pete Beachill and Dave Plews. Backing vocals are: Billy Nicholls, Ian Ellis, Chris Staines, Gina Foster and Coral Gordon.

The Who’s Pete Townshend also seems to be making a new solo album, We do not know yet if the new recording sessions are related to the production of these unreleased tracks or to the packaging of a new solo album. Over the weekend, Townshend was spotted in the studio with session bassist Guy Pratt (whose portfolio includes work with Pink Floyd, Madonna, The Smiths and more) and drummer Ged Lynch (a long time collaborator of Peter Gabriel). The former posted a photo of the trio on Twitter, writing: “To say the last couple of days recording has been beyond magical would be an understatement.”

2021 would have been the 50th anniversary of the “Who’s Next” album and a good opportunity to do a box set and to have conversations about it. But we missed it for obvious reasons. And so in 2022, there is a box set and the box set is to some extent being perfumed by the fact that I’ve been working with a guy called Jeff Krelitz on a “Lifehouse” graphic novel, and we’re hoping that that will come out around the same time.

After 26 years, Pete Townshend has parted ways with his residence in Richmond, London, leaving behind his home studio.

Originally the solo project of vocalist and guitarist Genevieve DeGroot, who’s now joined by guitarist Jon Cox, bassist Tabitha Ahnert and drummer Amelia Swain, The Philadelphia four-piece Sadurn interweave folk’s rustic warmth and indie-pop/rock hooks around an intimate, poetic singer/songwriter core—the result sounds a bit like Frances Quinlan fronting Pinegrove. Sadurn are downright anthemic on the lead track from their forthcoming debut album “Radiator”, February standout “Snake,” but as seen on this week’s “Golden Arm,” they also excel amid more tranquil compositions, with DeGroot’s delicate vocals and evocative lyricism bringing the band’s understated Americana to life.

There’s a palpable feeling of intimacy throughout every moment of “Radiator“, the debut album from Philadelphia’s Sadurn. The band’s spare-yet-satisfying instrumentation, diary-like lyrics, and graceful vocal harmonies bring you in extraordinarily close, breaking down any walls between artist and listener to offer fleeting glimpses of life’s most internal moments—as well as one of the most compelling debut records in some time.

Genevieve DeGroot, who picked up the guitar in 2015 in an effort to delve deeper into song writing. “I came to the game really late relative to most people,” DeGroot explains, “I didn’t start playing guitar and really writing songs until after college. I’d always been a singer but I just felt like I needed an instrument to really write songs on.” It wasn’t long until DeGroot was creating the music that would eventually become Sadurn. “When you reach into a new creative outlet, it’s really exciting because there’s just so much there. I didn’t have this idea that I was going to go and become a musician, but I was learning new chord progressions and writing, and I’d moved to Philly and was surrounded by other songwriters.” One of these fellow musicians was guitarist Jon Cox, who joined up with DeGroot to form an early incarnation of Sadurn. The two started playing DIY shows in the city and released several homemade, charmingly lo-fi EPs

That warmth and familiarity permeates “Radiator“, with its roomy recording and lean instrumentation nimbly serving the songs, bolstering DeGroot’s stunning vocals and conversational lyrics. Sadurn’s affecting indie folk draws on a range of influences from Jason Molina, to Gillian Welch, to Alex G and Elliott Smith, working in the tradition of songwriters whose melodies are as captivating as the words within them. “Radiator” explores the struggles and eventual beauty of grappling with multiple emotional realities, particularly when it comes to relationships. “I definitely write as a way of processing what’s going on,” says DeGroot. “I’m usually making space for a feeling or a thought that, for some reason, I can’t talk to other people about because it’s too destructive.”

Indecision, doubt, heartbreak, the idea of being forced to choose–these internal conflicts are wrestled with throughout “Radiator“. Tracks like “snake,” the album’s instantly powerful opener, and “golden arm,” an unhurried ballad that shows its truest colours with time, are full of memorable moments and emotional detail. Elsewhere “moses kill” tries to make sense of unresolved feelings around identity and family overtop acoustic guitars recorded so closely that you can hear fingers moving from fret to fret, while mid-album highlight “special power” is an unabashed breakup song with a soaring chorus that belies its aching lyrics. “If you’re having doubts about a relationship, there aren’t many places you can air them,” DeGroot says. “Writing about that kind of thing is a way to wrap your mind around them.”

“Radiator” culminates in the penultimate song, “icepick”–a mix of gentle guitars, a hazy drum loop, and DeGroot’s revealing lyrics that slowly tumbles into album closer “ This final track is a cascading reversed version of “icepick” that plays almost like an instrumental plea to go back in time, armed with the perspective and knowledge gained from a challenging experience. A sense of daring-but-necessary honesty emerges as “<—” abruptly ends, and you start the album over. True closeness isn’t always easy to achieve, but with Radiator, Sadurn prove that it’s worth the risk.

With Sadurn’s sound you’ll carry it with you wherever you go next. from their upcoming album ‘Radiator’ out May 6th 2022 via Run For Cover Records.

Italian-bred, London-based punk band Qlowski fall at the interesting intersection of indie rock, art punk, synth-pop and noise rock. Their first album “Quale Futuro?” arrived last year, and it feels like a treasure trove for anyone who loves to geek out about their favourite underground indie or post-punk bands from decades past. And sure, they scratch a lot of stylistic itches, but they always emerge sounding like themselves. Tracks such as “Folk Song” and “To Be True” spill over with euphoric pop thrust, while others like “All Good” and “Ikea Youth Pt. 2” ring out with jolting discordance. Qlowski are also a gem for anyone who loves dual vocalists with clear tone contrasts—Mickey Tellarini has a bold, gothic voice that flickers between tender and moody, while Cecilia Corapi’s is of the delectable indie-pop variety, rife with light-hearted ease and enchanting imperfections.

This is Quale Futuro? their debut LP for Maple Death Records. London based twee-punks Qlowski entered the studio in late January 2020, basically before everything. Crammed in a small studio room in Tottenham Hale with producer Lindsay A. Corstorphine (Sauna Youth, Cold Pumas, Middex) they created a striking, full blown manifesto, where their early post-punk nuances are heightened by an extremely poetic and compelling vision that encapsulates words, imagery and noise.

Propulsive rhythms, a modern spin on kiwi-pop and a weird combination of dark punk, noise rock and flower pop are still the foundation of their sound but it’s the combination of bandleaders Mickey and Cecilia’s voices that creates an eerie effortless sense of familiarity. It’s no wonder they’ve known each other since they were young kids.

Ferocity, heart, art and conviction travel together on Quale Futuro?, placing Qlowski in that beautiful lineage of bands trying to escape the masculine showmanship of borderline rock’n’roll and outsider punk. Martin Newell, Television Personalities, Half Japanese, The Raincoats, The Clean, Killing Joke, Aussie Punk. Music narrating life through all the artistic forms. If concrete-punk was just a fun label thrown around to define Qlowski in the early days, now it has become a calling, a statement defining their future.

If you’re looking for a stylish, versatile guitar band you’ve never heard before, you should catch Qlowski

Dublin band Pillow Queens marry fuzzy guitars with pleading lyrics, often reconciling their Catholic upbringing and their queer identity: “Well, I won’t worry about the gay girls / I pray for them when I wring my hands / Marie, Marie, Marie / Tell me where to find you when I lose my way,” Pamela Connolly sings on “Gay Girls,” off the band’s 2020 self-released debut, “In Waiting“. Shedding guilt and embracing one’s true self has rarely sounded this beautiful. Connolly shares lead vocal, rhythm guitar and bass duties with Sarah Corcoran, with Cathy McGuinness playing lead guitar and Rachel Lyons on bass. The quartet’s second album “Leave a Light On” is due out in April on Royal Mountain Records.

Two years on since the release of In Waiting, Pillow Queens will 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.

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.

New album ‘Leave the Light On’ comes out April 1st.

Oakland quartet Fake Fruit were easily one of my favourite finds of 2021. Their self-titled debut album dropped last year via Rocks In Your Head, and its brand of bouncy, distorted post-punk was a breath of fresh air—and not just because it’s a break from the popular talk-y wing of the genre. Hannah D’Amato has a capital-R rockstar voice, channelling new wave-era greats and cult punk figures alike, and wields it with more finesse and emotion than just about any current rock vocalist.

They also take the broad theme of yearning for reciprocated connection and understanding, and use very few words, but still manage to write songs with charm and artfulness. Perhaps equally as exciting as their first LP was the one-off single that followed it, “I Am the Car.” The track shows a softer side to the group, and although they delve into the crowded field of melancholy classic indie rock, it’s arguably their best song yet, with D’Amato’s vocal melodies harnessing a staggering amount of heavy-hearted beauty. A band with this much personality and this level of song writing chops is not to be missed. 

The single from the debut record of Oakland’s Fake Fruit, available on Rocks In Your Head Records March 5th.

Asheville indie rock band Wednesday have announced a new covers album titled “Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ’em Up”. The 9-track collection is out March 11th via Orindal Records and includes their versions of songs by Vic Chesnutt, Smashing Pumpkins, Roger Miller, Drive-By Truckers, and more. Check out a video for the lead cover ‘She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)’, originally recorded by Gary Stewart, below.

“Wednesday owes so much to our musical influences,” vocalist Karly Hartzman said in a statement about the project. “The music we love is a big part of what brought us together. My bandmates Margo and Xandy both had infamous Asheville house show venues, Jake was in like a billion different bands which often played in their muggy basements and Alan was usually the one who brought the PA. Our immersion in music predated us trying to make songs together ourselves.”

“Our common interests in noisy ‘90s guitars, good lyrics, and country music was quickly what permeated into our voice as a band,” she continued. “Most decisions in our songs are made by an amalgamation of all five of our inputs, which happens pretty naturally because of this thread of influences that ties us together. So when we got an opportunity for some recording time with Alli Rogers at Betty’s studio in Durham, NC we decided to record covers, and hopefully repay in part the huge debt we are in to the artists who contributed so much to the music we write ourselves.”

Wednesday released their latest album, “Twin Plagues“, last year. Wednesday Announce New Covers Album ‘Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ’em Up’

Alex Cameron announces “Oxy Music”, his new album out March 11th on Secretly Canadian, and shares its opening track “Best Life.” Additionally, Cameron announces a spring tour, The album is released this Friday, . 

Cameron has always been a great storyteller, finding his ways into the depths of the places where not many others are looking, and “Oxy Music” continues on that trajectory. It’s filled with stories of people who fall outside the system and exist in the grey areas of life. In its design its music, lyrics and track list – lies the journey a person can take, if the circumstances present themselves down the road of heavy drug and alcohol abuse. Initially inspired by Nico Walker’s Cherry, Cameron was spurred into yet another commentary on American Life, this time about the opioid crisis that has taken over the country. He says about “Oxy Music“: “The album is a story, a work of fiction, mostly from the perspective of a man.

Starved of meaningful purpose, confused about the state of the world, and in dire need of a reason to live a person can, and according to the latest statistics, increasingly will, turn to opioids. This is one of those people.”

While “Oxy Music” could be dark, it’s instead brighter and more buoyant than much of Cameron’s previous work, a shift in mood first seen across 2019’s “Miami Memory“. It’s told from a place of optimism and through the lens of Cameron, in the way that only he can tell it. As with the previously released, “Sara Jo,” “Best Life” gives a context of drug use to distort the confronting nature of contemporary reality as Cameron sings of the feelings of insecurity brought about by life online: “I guess I’m just winning / But I get no reaction / My comments just don’t rank / Or my post tanks.” Directed by Jemima Kirke, produced by Jim Larson and starring Kirke and Cameron, the song’s video explores the idea of what it means to find one’s “best life” by accepting others’ insecurities in this instance, a skin condition such as eczema as loveable qualities.

Released March 11th, 2022

All songs written by Alex Cameron
With contributions by:
Justin Nijssen
Roy Molloy
Lloyd Vines
Jason Williamson

Recorded and produced by Alex Cameron

CD, Limited Edition Opaque Pink Vinyl 

The Districts return with their biggest, boldest and most naturally pop album. It’s upbeat and has a real XTC mid period edge. It’s a bundle of fun and a real surprise. This record is a new era. The desire to create something larger than yourself, that will infiltrate people’s hearts like well oiled machines, to paint pictures that will shake them and create a resounding push forward towards something more. In our pandemic isolation, what we wanted was to play a loud collage of music, unconfined by preconceived notions of what it should be, and to transcend ourselves in a room full of breathing, screaming, vibrating human beings – to let the darkness out in a cathartic squeal of noise, eclipsing it with light.

We wanted to feel it all at once with you and to escape this fucked up world and find our way into a better one together.

Rob Gore (frontman): “The thing I value most in music is when an album expresses some sort of pain or frustration, or hope that I also feel. I hope this album makes people feel like something within themselves is reflected in the wider world, and I hope that makes them feel less alone.”

“Great American Painting’ is a record that is strongest for its instrumentation, featuring The Districts’ typical cross-streams of guitars that amply lamenting vocals, intriguing listeners by making reference to social issues within America. The Districts paint a “Great American Painting” that taps its toes in the pool of social justice without feeling overbearing or holding the holier-than-thou attitude we’ve come to know of some rock bands’ reinventions.” .

I really love this band and have followed their progress since the beginning. They proved over and over again that they can write sonic anthems with big sentiments and big guitar-driven orchestration, and they do it again here. With a more refined sound now – think maybe Band Of Horses – they’ve constructed several tunes where riffs, hooks and licks fall into place like pieces of a puzzle.