Ten years ago, upon the passing of Dick Clark, a long-time contributor to Dangerous Minds Marc Campbell homaged Clark by posting footage of Pink Floyd’s appearance on American Bandstand.
As Campbell pointed out, Clark would select acts for Bandstand and his choice of Pink Floyd in 1967 demonstrates how far ahead of the musical curve Dick Clark was. Treat your eyes to newly colourized footage of Floyd dreamily miming along to their third single “Apples and Oranges” on stage at ABC Studios in Burbank, California on November 7th, 1967.
Before we get to this nothing short of glorious colourized footage, I’d like to touch on the fact that it took nearly a year of work to recreate this moment and it shows. A YouTuber based in Sweden known as Artist on the Border has been creating their own visual representations of Pink Floyd for the last two decades.
The colourization adds a dream-like appearance to the members of Pink Floyd who had just arrived in America for the first time a few days before their appearance on American Bandstand. So stop whatever it is you were doing and let the colorized chill of Pink Floyd wash over you. Also, beware the colorized version of Syd Barrett may give you a hell of a contact high
I present to you my final version of “Apples and Oranges” at the American Bandstand show. Recorded at the ABC Studios, Burbank, California on November 7th 1967. The band performs a half-hearted version of “Apples and Oranges“, presumeably in pre-taped rehearsal with a somewhat absent Syd Barrett fronting the show.
There aren’t many things more unsettling than hearing the phrase “I Am You,” a jarring assertion you might expect the Mystery Man from Lost Highway to utter through a truly terrifying smile (or worse: as he calls you from your own home while staring at you in someone else’s). But one thing that is more unsettling is Just Mustard’s song that takes that phrase as its title, slowly building layer upon layer of spooky sounds both ambient and distantly familiar to the genre of rock music. The track’s lyrics even feel a bit like they were penned by David Lynch with a bit of Vertigo-inspired existential confusion tied in—the repeated refrain of “I am you with the red” somehow incorporating Lynchian tropes of overlapping identities and there randomly being some character named, like, “The Man with the Red Hat.”
The visualiser for “I Am You” from Just Mustard via Partisan Records.
Montreal based psych-pop outfit led by singer-songwriter and sitar star Rishi Dhir. The band were formed in 2008 and have made 6 studio albums so far with “Hollow” as the most recent one, released in 2020. The New EP: “Le voyage deM. Lonely dans la lune” will be released: 18th February.
“The EP follows the band’s previous album “Hollow“, and continues the themes of destruction and survival from a personal aspect, as M. Lonely comes to realize life in an imperfect world might not be so bad. Sung entirely in French, a first for the English-speaking band, the EP is dubbed a love letter to the band’s French-speaking fans around the world.
We’re very excited to announce our new EP “Le voyage deM. Lonely dans la lune” released digitally and on limited edition splatter vinyl. Today we’re sharing the first glimpse into the EP with the single + video for “La fusée du chagrin” (“The Rocket of Sorrow”), a trippy, psychedelic experience that follows M. Lonely, the EP’s titular character, on a journey into space. Yep, it’s another concept album… but this time in French!.
The song is about M. Lonely boarding a rocket ship to the moon… so I felt that the music should be high intensity, while also ebbing and flowing with the journey. I am sci-fi obsessed, so, as in the past with ‘Andromeda’, I included a snippet of audio from NASA for the intro and the middle section – maybe you can decipher the morse code?
After a 5-4-3-2-1 countdown this rocket blasts into space with supersonic speed. No looking back, full steam ahead, pushed by a banging drum/bass beat and crazed guitars. Somewhere in the middle, it’s time to reload the batteries and start all over again fuelled by swirling synths et les dernier mots de M. Lonely.
Christian Lee Huston has shared the details of his new album, “Quitters“, which will be released on April 1st via ANTI-Records . The LP was produced by Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst, and its latest single, ‘Rubberneckers’, features backing vocals from Brigders. “I made the ‘Rubberneckers’ video with my friends Zoe and Adam, who I worked with on the ‘Lose This Number’ video,” Hutson said in a statement. “The last time I danced was at the eighth grade social and it was mainly just swaying to ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing,’ but I wanted to showcase what a natural, gifted dancer I am.”
Of the album, which follows 2020’s “Beginners“, he added: “When we made “Beginners”, the aim was to make simple digital recordings of how I would play the songs in the room. With this record, Phoebe and Conor had an idea that it would be fun to make it to tape. Phoebe is my best friend and making “Beginners” with her was so comfortable and easy. So I wanted to work with her again.”
“I took a long time with Beginners,” Hutson continued. “I had those songs for 10 years, but these songs came out a lot faster. There was a little bit of insecurity with the lyrics. Having Conor there served the purpose of someone who I really respect as a lyricist and could soothe my anxiety.”
In November of last year, Hutson released the song ‘Strawberry Lemonade’,
Written by Christian Lee Hutson Produced by Phoebe Bridgers & Conor Oberst
from the album ‘Quitters’, available April 1st on Anti-Records
Vinyl reissue available now!! Limited second pressing released by Pink Lake and Bobo Integral Records.
“We’ll Go Riding on the Hearses” (2018) was first a handmade tape release before being released on vinyl. It’s an album of songs written after singer Sam lost his brother, Tom, unexpectedly in a free-diving accident. It’s maybe an album about that, but also about trying to not think about that, and often comes back to ghosts, benders, water, and pissing in the snow. The album was recorded halfway up Mount Wellington/kunanyi by Anthony Rochester in just two days to not overthink it all, and celebrates the catharsis that comes from singing with friends. All my best friends are a little broken, all the best people are. This release of this earlier album on vinyl. Watch this beautiful band emerge from the darkness of happenstance.
“Pigeons” is a perfect pop song. Am in love with this sound which invokes so many bands of my youth – The Farm, Kitchens of Distinction, The Dream Academy – but transcends them and seeks the same wisdom and joy on their own unique path.
Quivers: Sam J Nicholson (songs, guitars, piano, harmonium). James Woodberry (bass, acoustic, sings). Michael Panton (guitars). Adam D’Andrea (drums, sings)
Anna von Hausswolff is a musician and composer exploring the myriad of possibilities and the potential for new expressions on the pipe organ.
The CD/DL formats of Anna von Hausswolff’s latest release, “Live at Montreux Jazz Festival” will be released in a few days! ( January 14th!), In anticipation please enjoy another stunning track from the album: “The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra.” This particular piece captures the extraordinary and commanding nature of the live experience.
Anybody who has witnessed a live performance of Anna von Hausswolff and band can attest to the extraordinary and commanding nature of the experience. The distinctive music, as captured across five full-length albums, comes to life, shifting from hypnotic and mantra-like moods to thunderous drama, dissonance and cacophony. The musicians master playful dynamics and wield immense power.
Across six pieces, Anna von Hausswolff performs sensational renditions of fan-favourites from the two beloved albums; The Miraculous and Dead Magic, with the backing of a full band including additional vocals from her sister / cinematographer Maria von Hausswolff.
Recorded at Montreux Jazz Festival in 2018, in Auditorium Stravinsky.
Performed by : Anna von Hausswolff – vocals, organ, acoustic guitar, octatrack Maria von Hausswolff – vocals Filip Leyman – synth, percussion Ulrik Ording – drums Karl Vento – electric guitar Joel Fabiansson – electric guitar David Sabel – bass Justin Grealy – sound engineer
This EP explores dissociation, loss, and the quest for self-love. Working with sound artist Ryan Albert, we used tape recordings as a way to manipulate voice and instrumentation. To highlight a sense of detachment from the day-to-day, the slow, slightly lower drawl of the voice represents what it feels like to be in a state of persistent, mild delirium.
The saturated, tape distorted quality of the recordings evokes a sense of nostalgia, while also separating listener from original sound, the same way someone experiencing dissociation and loss is separated from regularity. In this way, the main inspiration for this EP is to capture a realization of warped reality; fragmented, but still conscious, the lyrics examine difficult feelings.
Since starting Babehoven in Portland, Oregon in 2017, Maya Bon has shown herself to be a gifted heart-on-sleeve songwriter, using music to peel back the layers of her own experiences—sometimes sad, sometimes surreal, always vividly rendered—to reveal universal emotional truths hidden in the most intimately personal of details.
After a decade sprinkling glitter into grit, building a reputation as one of the most ferociously creative art-rock groups working, the upstate New York band have eased fully into their light. This is Guerilla Toss at their most luminescent — awake, alive, and extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to soak it all up beside them.
Sub Pop Records is ecstatic to welcome Guerilla Toss to their iconic roster of artists. After a decade sprinkling glitter into grit, building a reputation as one of the most ferociously creative art-rock groups working, the upstate New York band have eased fully into their light. This is Guerilla Toss at their most luminescent — awake, alive, and extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to soak it all up beside them. Singer and lyricist Kassie Carlson, multi-instrumentalist Peter Negroponte and guitarist Arian Shafiee wrote “Famously Alive” at home in the Catskills during the pervading quiet of the pandemic year. Together with guitarist Arian Shafiee, Carlson and Negroponte cultivated a sound that spliced together psychedelic texturing and Krautrock syncopation with the gloss and glow of contemporary pop music.
The group’s debut single and album opener, “Cannibal Capital,” is a song about the exhaustion and dread of social anxiety. The song came together in a flurry toward the end of the album’s sessions. A taut bass groove erupts into competing squalls of guitar and synth that support one of the most immediate and arresting vocal hooks of Guerilla Toss’s catalogue to date.
Dig deep enough inside yourself — start treating your body as your sanctuary rather than your enemy — and eventually you’ll find yourself blooming right back out into the sun. That’s the transformation GuerillaToss trace on their newest album “Famously Alive“, their effervescent Sub Pop debut. After a decade sprinkling glitter into grit, building a reputation as one of the most ferociously creative art-rock groups working, the upstate New York band have eased fully into their light. This is Guerilla Toss at their most luminescent — awake, alive, and extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to soak it all up beside them.
Singer and lyricist Kassie Carlson, multi-instrumentalist Peter Negroponte and guitarist Arian Shafiee wrote “Famously Alive” at home in the Catskills during the pervading quiet of the pandemic year. The uncertainty of COVID-19 lockdowns and the total disruption of routine forced Carlson to negotiate with herself in new and challenging ways.
“You have to be with yourself all the time during the pandemic,” she says. “I had to figure out a way to manage my anxiety. The pandemic was hard, but it helped me get comfortable inside my own body. My peace of mind came out of being thrust into the deepest shit. This album is all about being happy, being alive, strength. It’s meant to inspire people.”
The album’s title derives from a poem written by a close friend of the band, Jonny Tatelman, who supported Carlson through the early stages of her recovery from opiate addiction. The poem comprises the entirety of the lyrics to the title track, an exuberant ode to loving your own survival and charting a course into unconditional self-acceptance. “The song ‘Famously Alive’ is about living with purpose and excitement whether you’re famous or not, accepting your strangeness and thriving even if your successes look different than other people’s,” notes Carlson. “To me, ‘Famously Alive’ means flipping the notion of dying famously to living famously,” Negroponte adds. “I also like to think of it as a way to describe living through something traumatic and coming out of it a stronger, wiser person.”
Songs like the expansive, gleaming “Live Exponential” similarly invite the listener to lean into the light. “It’s about loving yourself and finding a way to be comfortable in your own body — to live life to the fullest and beyond,” says Carlson. Throughout the record, Guerilla Toss meet themselves with curiosity, generosity, and acceptance even for the harder parts of being alive. Opener “Cannibal Capital,” a song about the exhaustion and dread of social anxiety, came together in a flurry toward the end of the album’s sessions. A taut bass groove erupts into competing squalls of guitar and synth that support one of the most immediate and arresting vocal hooks of Guerilla Toss’s catalogue to date.
Together with guitarist Arian Shafiee, Carlson and Negroponte cultivated a sound that spliced together psychedelic texturing and Krautrock syncopation with the gloss and glow of contemporary pop music. “I like to combine as many musical influences as possible,” says Negroponte. “We thought the sleekness of current radio pop would make our dense wall-of-sound aesthetic both more bizarre and more accessible and fun at the same time.” Carlson was similarly inspired by a wide range of artists from around the world after diving deep into obscure 7-inches for her weekly show on Radio Catskill, Rare Pear Radio.
While writing the album, Carlson took voice lessons online for the first time. Though she has been singing since she was four years old, at first with a vocal harmony group in her family’s church, she hadn’t formally trained her voice since joining Guerilla Toss. The lessons allowed her to deepen and broaden her range, helping her feel more embodied and connected to her voice. Underneath ripples of Auto-Tune, playful, searching vocal melodies suspend lyrics about reaching for yourself and holding fast in your own love.
Famously Alive finds Guerilla Toss coming into the fullness of their power, celebrating their prismatic idiosyncrasies from a place of optimism and abundance. “It felt like I didn’t need to force myself into this dark place to create anymore,” Carlson says. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m finally comfortable inside my body.
Directed by Lisa Schatz, you can watch their new video for “Cannibal Capital” to be released March 25th on Sub Pop Records..
Yumi Zouma’s Josh Burgess likens the band’s song writing process to gardening, “Someone brings in a seed and through collaboration, it grows into a song that is vastly different from its original form.” Like any garden, this one requires dedicated tending, a practice that seems rather inconvenient if not straight-up difficult, considering the fact that the four members live in disparate parts of the world – calling New York, London, and New Zealand home – but long-distance has always been a feature of their song writing process, not a bug. Their new album, “Present Tense“, is the product of those efforts, a work ChristieSimpson describes as “a gallery wall displaying these different moments in each of our lives.
A process of curation, revisiting the past and making it relevant to the present. ”You might assume that while some artists have struggled to rethink their processes during a pandemic, Yumi Zouma would be perfectly suited to the COVID-19 lockdown, but the opposite proved to be true.
Without looming tour dates driving them to release new music, the prolific band found themselves at a standstill. So they set a date. By September 1st, 2021, the album needed to be finished, regardless of whether they’d be able to tour it or even meet to record together. What began in fits and starts became a committed practice again as Yumi Zouma dug through demos from as early as 2018 to collaborate on and make relevant to the peculiar moment in time the band, and world, was experiencing, memorialized on album opener “Give It Hell.”
The track, a holdover from sessions for 2021’s “As Days Get Dark”, leads a new 7″ from the duo. Arab Strap have shared a new song called “Aphelion.” It’s the A-side of a 7″ single b/w “Flutter,” due out March 4th via Rock Action. Both songs are remnants of the Scottish outfit’s studio sessions for their 2021 LP “As Days Get Dark. “Aphelion” is available now; check it out below.
In a statement, Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat said of the 7″:
“These two songs were written, recorded and mixed during the sessions for “As Days Get Dark” but as much as we loved them, we couldn’t find a place for them on the final album. Maybe it’s because they seem to have their own distinct identities, but sometimes a song just sounds better on its own, when it’s not part of a crowd and vying for attention. So, to celebrate the anniversary of the album’s release, we present “As Days Get Dark’s” two runaway loners; a couple of black sheep who might not click with the rest of the family but, even though they aren’t very happy, are still worth a cuddle.”
Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton broke up Arap Strap after the release of their 2005 LP “The Last Romance”, before reuniting in 2016 to tour. The songs on “As Days Get Dark” comprised Arab Strap’s first new music since their reunion. They reissued their 1996 debut “The Week Never Starts Round Here” in 2010 and again in 2019.
The Fat Angel Sings 