The Fat Angel Sings

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“Truth Or Consequence” is a live album following the concert film of the same title, in which Amyl And The Sniffers perform country-influenced versions of their songs, two unreleased tracks, and a cover of the Slim Dusty classic “Lights On The Hill“. It was recorded and filmed in front of an intimate and increasingly rowdy audience at El Coyote in Los Angeles on April 28th, 2025, by the band’s long-time collaborator, 

At least to my memory, “Every Morning,” Sugar Ray‘s second Top 3 single feels like one of those halo effect songs,“Every Morning” achieved Gold status.

Interpolating Malo’s “Suavecito,” “Every Morning” is even a bigger departure from Sugar Ray’s original funk rock/nu metal sound than “Fly” was. Like “Fly,” it incorporates scratching and other hip-hop elements. Its lead acoustic guitar part is particularly distinct, sounding like guitarist Rodney Sheppard got lost somewhere partway through it.

Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin just treats it like a regular song, dropping much of what makes it distinctly ’90s. She and her band play it super conventionally. She sings the lyrics of the verse instead of the half-shouting in the original. And though the guitarist plays the riff, it’s on an electric guitar and lacks some of the original effect. There’s some chorus or similar effect on the backing vocals during the chorus to give them some of the shine from Sugar Ray’s version but they still don’t have that gloss.

There is no scratching, of course. And the Greek chorus spoken world backing vocal refrain is instead moved to the bridge where it is sung instead, almost reminiscent of the lullaby the lyrics were likely inspired by.

All in all, the changes are pretty minor, but the song feels totally different in Jacklin’s hands, removed from all the production choices that scream 1990s. Have a listen:

The Tom Waits fanbase is not entirely starved for news lately, but most of it is about Waits’s acting career. On the music side, the news is small change: something about singing on a new Pogues tribute, and similar tidbits.

Then came the announcement of “Where the Willow and the Dogwood Grow”, a star-studded tribute to the music of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan. OK, it’s not new original music (we’ve waited 15 years for a new Waits album) but whatever it is, we’ll take it!

The excitement gives way, on closer inspection, to disappointment: there’s nothing actually new in this new release. (“The large print giveth and the small print taketh away,” to borrow a classic Waits-as-huckster phrase.)

Each cover has been available for years–in many cases, for three or four decades. The most recent of the tracks on hand is “Hold On” by Madison Cunningham, but even that one dates back six years. It’s a killer version, by the way, a clear highlight of this compilation.

Still, having these covers compiled in one place serves a purpose, if only to help reassess the song catalogue. And realistically, the number of Waits devotees who have actually listened to all these songs is miniscule; they could fit in a single booth at an all-night diner. If a song is new to you, then it’s new music, regardless of its original release date.

The very title of the album suggests a new framing, a fresh lens: the notion that Waits’s song-writing changed when he partnered with Brennan, and their extensive and lengthy collaboration deserves its own celebration.

The album opens with Bruce Springsteen in concert in 1981 at Meadowlands in New Jersey. The location matters, because the song is “Jersey Girl.” Waits had released it the previous year, but Springsteen quickly came to own it. He cleans up the unsanitized language that Waits used; he sings his own lines here and there, which you get to do when you are the Boss. He gets help from a stadium full of Jersey girls and boys who cheer raucously on that triumphant line “Down the shore everything’s all right.”

With this opener the album breaks its own rules: “Jersey Girl” is not a Waits/Brennan composition, it was written by Waits alone. But the song is about Kathleen Brennan, who was living in New Jersey at the time they met. For all its rhapsodic “sha-la-la”-ing, the lyric correctly predicts they’d eventually marry.

From there the album runs chronologically through the couple’s songbook. We get two or three selections from each of the studio albums they released to date, from the magnificent ’80s trifecta–“Swordfishtrombone”s (‘83), “Rain Dogs” (‘85), and “Frank’s Wild Years” (‘87)–through to “Real Gone” (2004). Except that “Bone Machine” is represented by only one track, The Ramones tearing through “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up.” For some reason, “Bad as Me” (2011) gets overlooked entirely–another disappointment. Also getting a pass are the collaborations with Robert Wilson, the avant-garde director (so, no songs from “Black Rider”, “Blood Money“, or “Alice“). Treating that material separate from the rest seems like a good call.

The inclusion of Waits/Brennan songs written for other artists (or recorded first by them) invigorates the mid-section of the album. Three songs are in this “orphans” category: one is Marianne Faithful on “Strange Weather,” the title track to her 1987 album. Produced by the mercurial Hal Willner and featuring eclectic guitarist Robert Quine, it provides the most artful four minutes of music on the compilation. “Diamond in Your Mind” (2002) was written for Solomon Burke, who pours his considerable soul into the piece. Finally, Waits/Brennan wrote “Down There by the Train” for Johnny Cash, who rightly takes it as a spiritual, an “outlaw hymn” as Cash called it. These latter two songs were later recorded by Waits himself and surfaced on the three-disc “Orphans” release in 2006, where they got a bit lost in the shuffle.

“Where the Willow and the Dogwood Grow” seems well-balanced, too, in its stylistic distribution. Gut-bucket blues, tangos and other Afro-Caribbean rhythms, spoken-word pieces, gospel hymns, nursery rhymes, and sappy love ballads–Waits/Brennan explored all those modes and more.

In Waits’s opinion, his songs divide into “Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards,” and all are present here in strong doses. Norah Jones on “The Long Way Home” and Lucinda Williams’s “Hang Down Your Head” had me crying so hard I had to put the needle back on “Gin-Soaked Boy” by Southside Johnny to get my senses back on. For the Latin tinge that Waits embraced in the ’80s, Diana Krall slays on “Temptation,” aided by a slick band not afraid to get nasty. For the spoken-word element, how about “Jockey Full Of Bourbon” as performed by Los Lobos, complete with age-old nursery rhyme chorus.

If there’s something imbalanced about compilation, it’s that the roster skews geriatric. A few Gen X, Y, and Z artists would have added spark, and testified to Waits/Brennan’s continued relevance. Part of the issue is simple nepotism, with several of the artists being old friends of the family. David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) played on a number of Tom Waits albums. John Hammond and Southside Johnny both issued full-length Waits tribute albums in the past, with Waits becoming personally involved with both. And now here they are on the new tribute. Fair enough, I guess, but it does come at the expense of emerging artists (or anyone under the age of 50).

Springsteen brings it on “Jersey Girl” (he was 31 at the time), as does Madison Cunningham on “Hold On” (she is still in her twenties). For my money, hers is the album’s strongest track. Norah Jones in her dignified manner has a youthful vibrancy. But most of the other artists were well past their prime. There’s a reason Willie Nelson teamed with Kimmie Rhodes, and Robert Plant teamed with Alison Krauss on their contributions–they wanted youth/age balance, and that’s the kind of mix I wanted more of on “Where the Willow and the Dogwood Grow”.

Tracks

Jersey Girl – Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (Live at Meadowlands Arena, NJ – July 1981)
16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six – Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
Gin-Soaked Boy – Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes
Jockey Full Of Bourbon – Los Lobos
Hang Down Your Head – Lucinda Williams
Temptation – Diana Krall
Yesterday Is Here – Bettye LaVette
Way Down In The Hole – The Blind Boys Of Alabama
Strange Weather – Marianne Faithfull
I Don’t Want To Grow Up – Ramones
Down There By The Train – Johnny Cash
House Where Nobody Lives – King Ernest
Picture In A Frame – Willie Nelson
Hold On – Madison Cunningham
The Long Way Home – Norah Jones
2:19 – John Hammond
Diamond In Your Mind – Solomon Burke
Trampled Rose – Alison Kraus and Robert Plant
Day After Tomorrow – Joan Baez

Appearing on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, Phoebe Bridgers played two of her new songs and included a Nirvana cover for good measure. Recorded before her appendicitis diagnosis, Bridgers played her first widely available live performance of “Bobby,” from her new album “Lost Weekend“. She also played the album’s first single, “Lost Boys.”

Bridgers then played a cover of Nirvana’s “Lithium,” from their 1991 album, “Nevermind”. The performance features just Bridgers’ voice and a guitar, making an intimate song sound even more intimate. Full video of the performance hasn’t been released yet, but the BBC has aired the audio.

While her appendicitis forced the cancellation of her UK shows, her bigger “The Lost Tour” doesn’t kick off for another month, so she may be able to make up the dates before then. “Lost Weekend”, Bridgers’ third album, was just released on August 14th.

Garage rock duo Fountain shares “It’s Ordinary,” a raw, gritty offering rooted in their signature high-energy musicality. Built around the duo’s instinctive chemistry, the track blends crunching guitar tones, driving drums and distinctive vocal delivery to create a track that feels visceral and a brimming with a sense of immediacy. 

Formed by drummer and backing vocalist Alistair Wilkinson and guitarist/vocalist Jordan Noon, the duo weaves a soundscape that’s as precise as it gritty, framing soaring instrumentals with a touch of unpredictability. A catchy offering that builds with a relentless pace that adds to the spontaneity at the core of the production, the track is cinematic, atmospheric and edgy all at once. 

Having quickly established themselves as a compelling presence within the UK’s alternative scene, Fountain continue to build on their momentum with an uncompromising passion and power-packed sonic sensibilities.

U2 has released a brand new cover of the Pogues’ “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.”

It’s part of the upcoming tribute album “20th Century Paddy: The Songs of Shane MacGowan“, which also includes contributions from Bruce Springsteen (“A Rainy Night in Soho”), Tom Waits (“Summer in Siam”), Primal Scream (“A Pair of Brown Eyes”) and many more.

You can listen to U2’s new cover, The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan passed away on November. 30th, 2023 at the age of 65.

“Shane MacGowan was full of contradictions — and that’s where the truth of him lived,” U2’s the Edge shared in a press release. “He could be precise about what mattered and gloriously careless about everything else. If that sounds like a kind of performance, maybe it was. But as Oscar Wilde put it, ‘a mask tells us more than a face.'”

“20th Century Paddy – The Songs Of Shane MacGowan” will be released on November. 13th. At least half of proceeds made from the album will go toward the Dublin Simon Community, an organization that supports those experiencing homelessness in Dublin.

“What he did with that voice was remarkable,” the Edge continued. “He pulled together threads that shouldn’t quite fit — folk tradition, political memory, gallows humour, romance — and made them sound inevitable.”

Official lyric video of ‘Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’ performed by U2. Written by Shane MacGowan.

Scotland’s incomparable and influential Arab Strap are back with their ninth studio album “Half-Told Tales“: almost exactly 30 years since the beloved duo’s debut single “The First Big Weekend” was released. “Half-Told Tales” is rich with Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton’s trademark wit and dark humour, whilst creating moments from quiet brooding to a self-described “disco-metal incantation that might make you dance.”

Arab Strap’s ninth album, “Half-Told Tales”, adds another chapter to a catalogue built on emotional candour, dry humour and uneasy beauty. Following I’m totally fine with it ???? don’t give a fuck anymore ????, the duo continue to balance Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton’s familiar mix of wit and darkness, moving between hushed introspection and moments of unexpected force.

Featuring the single ‘You You You’, the album stretches their sound in new directions, including what the band describe as a “disco-metal incantation that might make you dance”, without losing the atmosphere and tension that has long defined their work. Recorded with longtime collaborator Paul Savage, “Half-Told Tales” finds Arab Strap exploring new corners of their sound while remaining unmistakably themselves.

The album was recorded with long-time collaborator Paul Savage (Mogwai, Belle and Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand). As they say: “We’re 30 years old this year, so we decided to celebrate by doing what we enjoy most: by making new music.”

The new single by Arab Strap “Glamour Magick Taken” from the forthcoming album “Half-Told Tales”, out 4th September

@ (pronounced “at”) is the art-folk project of Philadelphia-based multi-instrumentalist songwriters Victoria Rose and Stone Filipczak. On October 16th, the band will share their new album “Autosmile”, their second full-length record and first release with 4AD Records.

Across Autosmile’s 11 songs, @ reimagine the psychedelic folk tradition as an undeniably contemporary art form, carefully balancing beauty and pain and shifting between black hole heaviness and patient understanding.

“Autosmile” follows @’s 2021 debut album “Mind Palace Music” — displaying the duo’s penchant for confessional lyrics and affinity for blending digital and analog elements, the album was an organic success story via word of mouth praise and well-deserved press recognition.

In 2024, @ released their subsequent EP “Are You There God? It’s Me”, @, where they diverted from their usual acoustic instrumentation to soul-searching on a sonic side quest into more electronic music. In the time since, the band has become an in-demand live act with support shows alongside Snail Mail, Cameron Winter, and Black Country New Road.

‘Autosmile’ taken from @’s debut 4AD album of the same title, out 16th October, via 4AD.

You have to wonder why Railcard took so long to be born: their debut album feels like it should have been in your collection for years. But it wasn’t until 2025 that Rachel Love (Dolly Mixture), Ian Button and Peter Momtchiloff (Heavenly) met at a gig, realised that they were exactly the same age, and decided that this was an excellent reason to form a new band.  The shared history, the same pop references, the parallel lives… Railcard had to happen, and there was no time to lose.  “Two Steps At A Time” – the album title and theme song – express exactly how quickly Railcard have worked since then – jumping over pavement cracks and whistling past graveyards to get these songs written, recorded and released while they are still sweet and fresh. 

The band released three digital EPs in early 2026, which were then gathered onto a CD and released by Skep Wax and Slumberland. The CDs sold out very quickly. (New copies will be made available to coincide with the album release.) The critical response to a mail-order-only CD was far greater than anyone expected.

Railcard made their live debut in December 2025 and had by then recruited their fourth member: Allison Thomson (Trash Can Sinatras, The Love Band), whose flawless trumpet and swirly keyboard-playing complete the Railcard sound, allowing the band to fulfil the significant ambition and range of the songs, which are mostly co-written and often co-sung by Love and Button.  “Flannelette” and “Sunday Sun”, delicate and swoony, could almost be Slapp Happy at their most Bacharach. “Foxy”, mysterious and charming, has more than a hint of Kate Bush December magic.

The raucous duet “I’m A Disaster” is The Kinks meets deadpan Shangri-Las.  The title track could have been an alternative theme tune for Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads. “Runaround” is like a school choir doing The Raincoats. “Unstable Neighbour”, mesmerising and insistent: it might make you think of Stereolab; we might imagine an indiepop Hawkwind.  Peter Momtchiloff also contributes two wonderful songs on the album: the fragile and hallucinatory “Paper Thin” and the Love-meets-Undertones rush of “Hillman Minx”.

As with the first EPs, Railcard enlisted the sonic services of Medway psych expert Allan Crockford (of The Prisoners, JTQ and many more) who has delivered mixes that pump with vintage valve energy and reverby depth.

“Two Steps At A Time” is released on Skep Wax and Slumberland September 18th, and the band have a string of UK dates through the summer and Autumn.

Ian Button also performs with The Penrose Web, Heavenly, Swansea Sound and The Catenary Wires. Peter Momtchiloff also performs with Heavenly and Would-be-goods.

Railcard are Rachel Love (Dolly Mixture), Ian Button (Death In Vegas), Peter Momtchiloff (Heavenly/Would-be-goods) and Allison Thomson (Trashcan Sinatras).

Big Truck is the project of Laurie Vincent, stepping away from the intensity of Soft Play to explore a more melodic and reflective sound. Created with long time friend Sam Coppins and a close-knit group of collaborators, the band’s songs blend jangling indie-pop hooks with expansive arrangements and a warm, offbeat character.

“Midday at the Middleway” is a debut album rooted in honesty and self-acceptance. Its songs reflect on mistakes, contradictions and the uncertainty of everyday life, balancing humour, vulnerability and quiet optimism. Drawing on classic British indie influences while carving out its own identity, Big Truck offers a collection of direct, thoughtful songs that find comfort in the messy middle ground.

Formed alongside longtime friend Sam Coppins and a tight-knit group of players, the band feels both instinctive and expansive. Their music blends jangled hooks reminiscent of The Cure and The Smiths with richer, widescreen textures, all anchored by lyrics that are candid, wry, and deeply human – balancing life’s small joys with its inevitable lows.

Big Truck’s debut “Midday at the Middleway” is immediate and unpolished in the best way. It’s an album about acceptance of mistakes, of contradictions, of the messy middle ground, and the quiet confidence that comes with it.