The Fat Angel Sings

“Dream Violence”, Michael Beach’s fourth full-length, is an epic album that explores the duality of the human condition. Or, as Beach himself puts it, the album is about “human futility, passion, desire, anger, frustration, and the struggle to maintain hope in a somewhat hopeless time. ”Dream Violence“, then, addresses the existential crisis of being an artist in 2021.

Known for his work touring with the Australian guitar pop band Thigh Master and the late, brilliantly eccentric Israeli guitarist Charlie Megira, currently the focus of a number of reissues by the Numero Group, Beach is the architect of a sound that is both well-built and ramshackle, straightforward and indeterminably complex, out of the norm yet familiar in all the best ways.

“Dream Violence” unfolds like a revelation, filled with sonic tumbleweeds that reference Neil Young’s On the Beach, Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, the Velvet Underground’s Loaded, and the Go Betweens’ Before Hollywood. Influences ranging from the enigmatic outlier Megira to Glenn Branca to the Oblivians are combined to create a new, exhilarating sound, part of the path that Beach has been on since 2008’s Blood Courses. A veteran of year-end indie rock round ups beginning with Golden Theft in 2013 and continuing with Gravity/Repulsion, released in 2017, Beach distills the best of those early albums and adds sharpened intent.

“Dream Violence” works beautifully as a start-to-finish album. There are magnificent stand-alone moments: “Spring,” a raggedly building ballad that perfectly captures the ennui attached to new beginnings; “De Facto Blues,” a born-to-lose anthem that, says Beach, “is the sound of people totally at their wits end;” “Curtain of Night,” a simultaneously derelict and bright tribute to the late Megira, which sounds like it could’ve been cut at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio after the Rolling Stones wrapped up sessions for Sticky Fingers; and the delicately vulnerable “You Found Me Out,” which evokes equal parts Lou Reed and Joni Mitchell. On the latter, the lyrics “You found me out, on a ship at sea, you pulled me in, made a wreck of me,” encapsulate “the aimless of a modern world view in a future without hope and the draw/dependence of love in those times,” Beach explains.

“Dream Violence” splits its considerable artistic breadth between mid-‘70s and ‘90s alt rock sounds, with occasional bouts of perfectly executed Neil Young worship. “You Know Life Is Cheap” has been a go-to song for most of the year.

Through music, Beach strives to convey both passion and compassion, energy and action. “My hope is that something gets communicated that makes people think outside of themselves or their surroundings,” he says. “To ask questions, and consider the effects of their decisions. To communicate some essential part of the human spirit that understands intuitively how to feel connected to each other rather than divide, exploit, separate, ignore, and all the other heinous shit we have the ability to do with each other.”

Recorded on two continents, “Dream Violence” documents Beach’s move from Oakland, California to Melbourne, Australia as he navigated a new music scene, plenty of bureaucratic red tape, and, ultimately, citizenship. Parts of the album were recorded and mixed at Tiny Telephone Recording in Oakland, at the end of a 2019 tour with Kelley Stoltz producing. Other tracks were recorded at Beach’s new home in Melbourne, where he could be “relaxed and sloppy in all the right ways,” and partially remixed at Phaedra Studios.

In Melbourne, Beach worked with Matthew Ford and Innez Tulloch of Thigh Master (Beach has played bass on tour with the group), with Peter Warden on drums, to capture an off-the-cuff feel on songs like “Curtain of Night,” “Spring,” and “Life is Cheap.”

“The dynamic of Pete, Matt, and Innez is a totally unique, very Australian sound,” says Beach, describing those sessions as “loose and tight, serious and taking the piss. A great balance and really fun. As a songwriter, I have a pretty laborious process of writing, editing, and arranging, and Matt and Innez were a perfect foil for that. Likewise, Pete’s self-taught and totally intuitive drumming complements perfectly.”

Beach went for more production on “De Facto Blues,” “Metaphysical Dice,” and “Irregardless,” which were recorded at Tiny Telephone with drummer Utrillo Kushner of Colossal Yes and Comets on Fire. “We had jammed in Oakland earlier in the year, then mostly made up stuff on the spot. Utrillo is an absolute pro at that sort of thing no performance is ever the same, but they are always great,” Beach says. “We were totally fried from a month of sleeping on tours, we were stressed financially, we were pretty tired of each other, but despite that, everyone worked hard.”

At the Memphis-based Goner label, Beach joins an increasingly unique roster of international musicians that reaches far beyond garage or indie rock to encompass artists like gospel singer Rev. John Wilkins, Kentucky rockers Archaeas, New Orleans iconoclasts Quintron and Miss Pussycat, and no-wavers Optic Sink. Dream Violence will be released on Goner Records on March 19th, 2021. In Australia and New Zealand the album will be released on Melbourne-based Poison City Records. 

Released March 19th, 2021

On Des Demonas’ new 7-track EP, “Cure For Love” there’s a walloping drum beat driving everything. But the throbbing, pumping bass, clanging, slashing guitar and whirling, swirling Farfisa are no mere passengers in this vehicle! I’m told by the other band members Paul, Joe, Mark and Ryan that vocalist Jacky Cougar Abok is the loudest drummer they’ve ever heard.  But here he sings! In motifs. He sings out a beat, he sings minimalist melodic hooks. He half speaks half shouts his lyrical content in rapid fire that is closer to beat poetry than rap. His voice is insistent and demanding to be heard! And it is! By having it slightly submerged, the listener is forced to strain to hear the words because they won’t wanna miss something important!  

The sonic fuel of the band is a blend of post punk, punk, funk, blues, psych rock, Afro beat, even bubble gum but the noise you hear is pure Des Demonas! Titles like the “Ballad of Ike And Tina” and “Black Orpheus Blues” add to the intrigue rather than explain the content. The listener is both confronted and lured by something bigger than themselves!  Desire, intrigue, fear and exuberance are the rewards to those unable to resist! But will Your love be cured? You could look to Shakespeare, or simpler, you could buy this record and find out!

From the new EP: “Cure For Love“

Back in November, Peter Wagner released “Fisher King”, his debut album as Furrows. Tip-toeing the line between chamber pop and psychedelic folk rock, the release was a synthesthetic’s dream, composed of colourful, textured melodies that seemed to float in the air before you, shimmering and morphing with grace in a manner akin to the northern lights. “An attempt to work through the feelings of alienation that come from pursuing an artistic life in a society that only finds value in profit,” the Wagner embedded in the music the quiet frustrations of the transient lifestyle he found himself in for most of his life, which he later discovered only music can reconcile. Within “Fisher King’s” vast, atmospheric expanse lies something beautifully tangible and material, a far-away chance, however hazy and fragile, to be rooted, stable, safe after so many years without a sense of place. 

Released October 15th, 2021

All Songs by Peter Wagner

Citizen have always eluded definition. The Toledo, Ohio-based three-piece have been making dynamic, wide-ranging guitar music for over ten years, challenging expectations with each new album and refusing to fit neatly in a box. On their fourth full-length, “Life In Your Glass World“, Citizen have crafted their most singular work to date completely on their own terms—proving that only the band themselves can define their identity.

Since forming in 2009, Citizen—vocalist Mat Kerekes, guitarist Nick Hamm, and bassist Eric Hamm—have endlessly pushed themselves with each successive release, actively resisting the comfort zones that often plague bands as they grow. The band has fearlessly taken risks with their sound on each new album, and shown themselves capable of exploring impassioned post-hardcore, raw noise rock, shimmering indie pop, anthemic alternative, and more—often on the same album, and sometimes even the same track. But growth isn’t always painless, and the band has been navigating the fraught music industry from a young age—learning as they went and sometimes feeling pulled in different directions at once.

When it came time to make “Life In Your Glass World”, Citizen’s need to continue moving forward creatively went hand in hand with their desire to be fully in control of their creative destiny. Nick Hamm explains: “I don’t have a lot of regret but there have definitely been times when we felt powerless during the band’s existence. This time we really owned every part of the process. It’s easy to feel like you’re on autopilot when you’re in a band, but that’s not a good place to be this far into our existence. We consciously knew we wanted to break free.”

For Citizen that meant taking the entire album-making process home to Toledo (the Glass City) and creating everything in-house. Kerekes built a studio in his garage, a project that was both empowering and practical. “It’s super easy and convenient,” he says. “But I also felt like building the studio was a way to prove we don’t need anything but ourselves.” Hamm adds, “This is the first self-sufficient Citizen record. There was no pressure at all and moving at our own pace allowed the songs to be a little more fleshed out.” The looser recording process afforded the band time to focus on each song’s individual mood, making their signature blend of aggression and melody all the more pronounced, and even capturing appealing imperfections. The result is an album that represents the members’ vision in its purest form, something that feels distinctly Citizen while also marking the start of a fresh chapter.

One of the most immediately striking elements of Life In Your Glass World is the band’s attention to rhythm. Many of the songs feature undeniably danceable beats and sharply grooving guitar lines, which give both the barnburners and the brooding atmospheric tracks a pulsating heart. “When you write songs the same way for X amount of years, you start to want to try something new,” Kerekes says. “These songs were mostly built from drums and bass first, which was different for us. I’d start with a completely different beat every time to get a certain energy.” The band’s desire to assert themselves is palpable both in the music and Kerekes’ lyrics, mirroring not only their creative frustrations but also a long year of personal upheavals. “There’s a lot of anger in these songs and we wanted the music to communicate that,” Hamm says. “I think a lot of people expect bands to slow down or chill out when they get to where we are, but we consciously didn’t want to do that.”

The opening one-two punch of “Death Dance Approximately” and “I Want To Kill You” exemplifies the acerbic-yet-buoyant feel of “Life In Your Glass World“, and the latter sums up the album’s defiant themes. Kerekes puts it plainly: “Sometimes you feel like you’re being used. A lot of the lyrics are liberating, they’re reclaiming control.” The band wastes no time in showing their range, pivoting to the melancholy haze of “Blue Sunday” and the bounce of “Thin Air,” both of which meditate on the struggle to invest so much in something only to be let down and retreat inside oneself instead. Elsewhere tracks like “Call Your Bluff” and “Black and Red” showcase Citizen’s knack for big choruses, while “Pedestal” features towering drums and a distorted bass line that’s as malevolent sounding as Kerekes’ vitriolic words. “Fight Beat,” with its tense mix of otherworldly menace and memorable hooks, takes the band’s rhythmic-centric writing to its furthest point yet; lyrically, the song grapples with the realization that one has passed a point of no return, a sentiment that permeates the attitude of “Life In Your Glass World“. “This isn’t a baby step,” Hamm says. “It’s exactly what we want to do.”

Much of Life In Your Glass World deals with the bleak and challenging aspects of being human, and the album often feels like an exorcism of pent up negative feelings. But those feelings give way to a sense of hope with the closing track “Edge of The World.” Interweaving guitars rise around Kerekes’ voice as he considers past pain with the kind of clarity that can only come from time and distance—and finds promise in looking towards the future. The song builds to a soaring finale as the clouds part and Kerekes declares, “At the end of the day there was beauty in tragedy.” It’s one last turn, the kind of affirmation that makes you re-examine everything you just heard with a newfound perspective. It’s a fitting conclusion for “Life In Your Glass World” – borne of the confidence gained through years of trials, tribulations, and self reflection – and one that asserts that Citizen’s true identity is rooted in the raw energy of constant evolution. 

Released March 26th, 2021

In “Rattler“, his previous album as Petite League, Lorenzo Gillis-Cook swapped out the signature baseball bat that has always more or less graced every previous release for a cowboy hat, hinting at the idea of constant movement, a nomadic rambler’s life marked by his ex-pat status. However, in this year’s offering, “Joyrider”, the persona changed ever so slightly and gracefully – this time, we saw Gillis-Cook hang up the hat, sit for a spell, pull out a worn guitar, and reminisce for a moment before hitting the road again. 

The majority of “Joyrider” felt heavier, more lived in than in albums past, with the vocals and instrumentals, while warm and inviting, always clawing and clutching at the deeper, darker recesses of the sentimental human heart, armed with narratives full of some of the finest writing Gillis-Cook has ever done. This is also the feeling that I feel only Petite League’s specific brand of hyper-jangly, gorgeously unquiet lo-fi can facilitate, something that seems akin to half-lit fireworks locked in a glass jar – muffled, but always threatening to shatter into a million pieces. What makes “Joyrider” wonderful is how familiar it feels, yes, but moreover, it’s music that tells us that what we should rely on, at the end of the day, is ourselves, our shortcomings, our future potentials. 

Lorenzo Gillis Cook: Vocals, guitar, bass
Henry Schoonmaker: Drums

Released January 8th, 2021

Inspired by the storage units she was forced to familiarize herself with from moving every few years with her family while growing up, Hana Vu’s sophomore album “Public Storage” speaks to the essence of compartmentalization – the conscious containment of the material versus the immaterial. An accumulation of concentrated bursts of memory in one windowless sonic room, each of the twelve boxes and containers of sound are packaged differently with the same bright red tape, with Vu standing before them, knife at the ready, eager to unpack. “Public Storage” is a perfectly balanced mix of grunge and dream pop, always at the edge of catharsis; when writing these songs, Vu explained that, though she is not religious, she was imagining “a sort of desolate character crying out to an ultimately punitive force for something more.” As a result, it’s vulnerable and honest, and often, about the existential, though not always obvious on the surface.

Los Angeles-based artist Hana Vu makes her Ghostly International debut with “Maker,” a commanding first glimpse into new material. The track builds on the sound of the 20-year old’s previous work: brooding, melodic pop driven by guitar and Vu’s distinct contralto. For the first time, she welcomes a co-producer, Jackson Phillips (Day Wave), who helps Vu create an atmosphere with a deeper sense of luster, sophistication, and urgency. 

Vu’s relationship with music began when she picked up a guitar her dad had lying around and taught herself to play. She’d wake up every day and listen to LA’s ALT 98.7, home to ‘90s and ‘00s alternative rock; later in high school, she found LA’s DIY scene. She remembers, “A lot of my peer musicians were surf rock/punk type bands and so I tried to fit into that when I was gigging around. But what I was listening to at that time [St. Vincent, Sufjan Stevens] was very different from what I performed.” Ultimately she’d do her own thing, keeping a journal of bedroom pop experiments on Bandcamp, including a low-key Willow Smith collaboration and covers of The Cure and Phil Collins. She caught the ear of Gorilla vs. Bear, who released Vu’s self-produced debut EP in 2018 on their imprint Luminelle Recordings, followed by a double EP the next year. 
Unpacking “Maker,” Vu explains, “I am not religious but I imagined a sort of desolate character crying out to an ultimately punitive force for something more.” Tender banjo plucks and piano keys serve as the base for Vu’s escalating harmonies, overcome by remorseful exhalations, the song culminates on the lines: “save me oh my angel / are you angry / cos I’m not stronger and I crumble / oh that’s my nature / just like you.”  

Released November 5th, 2021

 I loved Van Halen during their original David Lee Roth era, and being a guy who pays too much attention to the “wrong” members of bands, I was really into bassist-vocalist Michael Anthony. So when Roth returned late in the group’s run, I was happy, but then disappointed to learn that Anthony was replaced by Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang. After Eddie’s death, and with this, Wolf’s debut album out, Wolfgang is an incredibly talented musician, writing, singing and playing every note on this exceptional album. Plus, “Distance,” his song about his Dad’s death, made my eyes admittedly misty. And that takes some doing, .

Wolfgang Van Halen had to thread quite a narrow needle while launching his solo career: establishing a musical identity separate from his father Eddie’s massive shadow while still living up to his family’s high standards, just months after the guitar legend’s death. No pressure, right? But he pulls it off with seeming ease on “Mammoth WVH“, acting as a one-man band on an impressively sharp and hook-filled collection of songs that draw from a completely different set of influences than Van Halen. You won’t find any of David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar’s cocky vocal swagger or winking sexual foreplay here. But there’s a big dose of pop smarts along with plenty of clever, complex instrumental bits to reward repeated listens.

Mammoth WVH is the debut, self-titled album of Mammoth WVH – the band created by Wolfgang Van Halen – that includes 14 new songs on a double vinyl, CD, Digital Download and streaming. This collection includes the #1 Hit Single, “Distance” plus “You’re to Blame”, “Don’t Back Down,” “Epiphany,” and more. At the beginning of 2015, Wolf broke ground on what would become Mammoth WVH with producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette [Alter Bridge, Slash] behind the board. Wolf began to embrace his voice, inspired by everyone from his father, to bands like AC/DC, Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails, TOOL, and Jimmy Eat World. In addition to writing and singing every song on the self-title debut album, remarkably Wolfgang plays every instrument.

For those who are unaware, the WVH in Mammoth WVH are the initials of the band’s creator Wolfgang Van Halen. And whether you want to embrace or ignore the last name, what’s clear is that Wolf is ready to chart a legacy all his own. Like Prince and Dave Grohl before him, Wolf wrote every song, played every instrument, and sang every song on this album. That is a tall task for any artist, but especially for one making their debut album, and the offspring of a man forever linked to rock and roll greatness. From the hard rocking “The Big Picture,” and “Don’t Back Down,” to the grungy, Alice In Chains-esqe “Circles” with it’s harmonizing vocals, Wolf took various approaches to the songs on this album, and as a whole, put together an excellent rock record.

Mammoth WVH Album features the Hit Song ‘Distance’, ‘Don’t Back Down’ + many more!

Dirty Honey abide by retro-rock’s Golden Rule: You’ve got to steal from more than one source. The Los Angeles foursome’s eponymous debut full-length incorporates Led Zeppelin’s thunder-god riffing, the Black Crowes’ barroom boogie and Aerosmith’s streetwise snarl, all topped with an air of Sunset Strip hedonism. Singer Marc LaBelle and guitarist John Notto ape the archetypal frontman-guitarist duos of yesteryear; hear the skyscraping howls on “The Morning” and the slash-and-burn solos on “Gypsy.” Dirty Honey may not do anything new here, but the bluesy, album-closing ballad “Another Last Time” signals more ambitious and grandiose material on LP2.

After blowing up the rock charts in 2019, there was an excitement to see what would come next for Dirty Honey. The plan was for the band to fly to Australia in early 2020 to get into a studio and start on the next record. Those plans changed when the pandemic caused nations to close their borders to international travel. But the band was able to adapt, and the additional downtime became a benefit as Dirty Honey we able to write and record their first full length record.

Released in the spring of 2021, the self titled LP continues where the self titled EP left off, pulling from the classic rock and roll sound that generations grew up with, and advancing it in a way that sounds fresh for a younger generation.

This California band bring us their first full length album and let me tell you it sounds like it is from California.  And that is a good thing.  This 70’s inspired band captures the magic of music of old.  The high pitched gritty vocals of Marc LaBelle and the killer guitar work of John Notto along with a unmatched rhythm section of Justin Smolian on bass and Corey Coverstone on drums you don’t find new bands with this much talent very often. Songs “California Dreamin’” and “The Wire” are only a couple of the amazing tracks.

Dirt Records Released on: 2021-04-23

Free’s blues heritage is undeniable. Guitarist Paul Kossoff and drummer Simon Kirke came from a blues combo called Black Cat Bones. Vocalist Paul Rodgers arrived from the similar sounding Brown Sugar and bassist Andy Fraser had been a Bluesbreaker. Free was a formidable coming together of raw British blues rock talent. And they didn’t disappoint, coming up with their own distinctive brand of blues on their debut. They didn’t pummel like Zeppelin, caress like Cream or strut like The Rolling Stones. Rather, Free loped and grooved, driven by Kossoff’s aching guitar, Fraser’s throbbing bass and Rodgers’s sonorous voice. Free, back then were aged between16 and 17 when they made “Tons of Sobs“. They were a very young band. Although, from their lyrical content they were very mature for their ages and had obviously done a lot of living from the kind of songs that they were writing.

“Tons Of Sobs” begins and ends deceptively with the pastoral sounds of Over The Green Hills (parts one and two). But in-between there are all-time blues rock classics such as Worry, Walk In My Shadow and I’m A Mover. Such is their authenticity, these songs sound like they were recorded by crusty old blues legends instead of raw new kids on the block. (Andy Fraser, let us not forget, was barely out of his school uniform at the time of the album recording.) The standout track on Tons Of Sobs is The Hunter, a swaggering version of the blues rock staple originally written for Booker T And The MGs.

No one else sounded like Free.  They didn’t play fast or punishingly loud, but when they locked onto a groove their mid-tempo sound was unmistakable and their fierce, soulful brand of raw blues unparalleled.  Paul Kossoff’s emotion-drenched guitar playing, if not especially flashy, rivalled the best in the world, while Andy Fraser’s adventurous, walking bass lines made the band sound like they had two guitarists much of the time.  

Fraser had briefly been a member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, while Kossoff and Simon Kirke came from Black Cat Bones so their blues credentials were unimpeachable.  Add to this the world-beating vocals of Paul Rodgers and you’ve got a recipe for success.  

It’s hard to think of a more impressive debut album than “Tons Of Sobs“, especially as none of the band members were yet twenty and the youngest, Andy Fraser, was barely sixteen years old when it was recorded.  All tracks were band originals except Jimmy Oden’s classic “Goin’ Down Slow” The most memorable part of this album for me is the introduction to “Goin’ Down Slow“. We are drawn into a smoky bar room with the drawly piano and then Kossoff plays that first note which sends an electric shock up your spine. More than any other group, Free were truly out there with their emotions.

Booker T’s “The Hunter” which had been a 1967 hit for Albert King.  The later Free albums may have been more successful – especially “Fire and Water” which spawned the worldwide hit “All Right Now” – but none of them tapped into the heart of the blues boom more comprehensively than “Tons of Sobs”.

It has such a mysterious cover, with a clown looking at Mickey Mouse in a coffin and a rabbit in a graveyard. On the inside cover, you have the band looking very mysterious. Paul Kossoff looks like he could rule the world!. The USA cover was completely different with just a picture of the band members.

• The US LP version of Tons Of Sobs on was on A&M used different sleeve photos taken from the inside sleeve of the UK release 
• The 2001 CD issue contained eight bonus tracks, including three BBC recordings
• Producer Guy Stevens ran the UK branch of Sue records under the wing of Island records, and he was the man who named both Procol Harum and Mott the Hoople.  He also produced records for the band Art (pre-Spooky Tooth), Mighty Baby and, later, The Clash  
• Standout track: “I’m A Mover”
• Blues highlight: “Goin’ Down Slow“

The 2016 remasters were done by Andy Pearce who has done a sterling job and these are the best the Free albums have sounded on CD. There’s something about the sound stage, the clarity of the musicians, the warmth of it. It’s probably as close as you’ll get to vinyl without having all the cracks and pops! “Tons of Sobs” was released in 1968 it is a very raw blues-rock album and Kossoff is simply on fire on this. Andy Fraser had not quite got his mojo for writing the songs yet with Paul Rogers. They are nearly all Rogers’ compositions, apart from “Moonshine“, which is written with Paul Kossoff. “Going Down Slow” is over eight and a half minutes long and the notes just pour out of Paul Kossoff’s guitar. “Sweet Tooth” is actually my favourite track. I think Kossoff’s playing is just absolutely fantastic. If you’re a fan of blues guitar, this is where Kossoff made his mark. He might have later on pulled back on the number of notes he was playing. (He never played millions of notes) but all the notes he plays are on target, and this is a classic piece of blues classic rock and every home should have one.

Paul Rodgers: Vocals, Paul Kossoff: Guitars, Andy Fraser: Bass guitar, piano, Simon Kirke: Drums, Plus: Steve Miller: Piano

Released: 14th March 1969