The Fat Angel Sings

“Lammas Fair” is an album of transformation, movement and fluidity. One that encompasses landscapes, nature and wilderness and intertwines them with stories and characters that brings those places bursting to life. Much like the flow of water from the hills to the local towns near Parker that inspired ‘Return to the Sky’, Lammas Fair is an album that travels seamlessly, connecting worlds along the way.

The record was made in scattered sessions between 2020-21 and while Parker’s voice and guitar are the guts of the machine, the contributions from other players are key and elevate the album to a place that goes far beyond singer songwriter territory. Richard Curran adds delicate yet forceful presence with his violin and cello, the ghostly hum of the Fender Rhodes, flute and piano comes from Theo Travis, Hugh Bradley’s double bass dances quietly, Brendan Bache adds deft percussion work, Robert McNicholas’ bass work is both reserved yet rhythmic and Louis Berthoud’s drum work thoughtfully sets much of the pace and tone for it all to swirl around.

The album explores an intersection between past and present, using the groundwork of folk music set out decades and centuries ago and moving it into new terrain, as it explores ideas, themes and lyrics that explore both historic and contemporary settings. The title “Lammas Fair” refers to a historical annual celebration held across Europe on the 1st August, which heralded the first harvest of wheat.

While on his debut “Silent Spring”, Parker paid homage to guitar greats such as Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, here he’s evolved into a style that is distinctly his – a meeting between 60s and 70s folk music, the northern moorland landscape and the heavy metal background of his childhood. (2021) 

Psych-folk with a late 60s / early 70s flavour. If you like Nick Drake or Fairport Convention you will enjoy this. It’s an observation of change and a celebration of a hazy, high summer harvest. The music transports you to the moorlands and mill towns of Northern England. Dark and open and embellished with beautiful melodies and thoughtful lyrics.

Henry Parker – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar
Robert McNicholas – Electric Bass
Louis Berthoud – Drums
Hugh Bradley – Double Bass
Brendan Bache – Congas, Percussion
Theo Travis – Flute, Piano, Fender Rhodes
Richard Curran – Violin, Cello

Out on Cup and Ring Records 5th November 2021

Tori Amos doesn’t really do ‘bad’ albums, she went through a period 15 or so years ago when they were fairly challenging, with 15, 16, 17-track song-cycles that often felt hermetically sealed to all but her hardcore following. In recent times, a shift has been noticeable, and while she’s unlikely to be troubling the pop charts anytime soon, “Ocean to Ocean” is arguably her most commercial and ‘listenable’ work for some time. It’s a collection of songs in a variety of styles and sounds but it never feels overblown or dragged down by weighty concepts.

She say’s I can’t wait for you to listen to ‘Speaking with Trees’, which is the first song to be released from ‘Ocean to Ocean’. ‘Flowers Burn To Gold’ written for Tori’s late mother. The former boasts a full band arrangement with Tori’s production and arrangement skills brought to the fore, while the latter is the one and only time on the record that she keeps things simple with just voice and piano (to great effect).

Tori Amos released her new album, “Ocean To Ocean”. So far, we’ve heard “Speaking With Trees,” and now Amos has shared the lush, orchestral “Spies.” It’s actually a cheeky peek into the Amos home in Cornwall, England, where “bats and other creepy-crawlies terrorize” the singer’s daughter Tash. 

We have all had moments that can knock us down,” Amos has said about “Ocean To Ocean”, which primarily grapples with the singer’s lockdown experience. “This record sits with you where you are, especially if you are in a place of loss. I am fascinated when someone has gone through a tragedy, and how they work through their grief. That is where the gold is. When somebody is actually at that place, thinking ‘I’m done,’ how do you reach that person? Sometimes it’s not about a pill, or a double shot of tequila. It’s about sitting in the muck together. I’m going to meet you in the muck.”

Tori Amos‘ 16th studio album, “Ocean to Ocean”, is out digitally on 10/29 via Decca Records, and she’s shared the latest single, “Spies.” The nearly six minute orchestral pop track, Is when they found their way into their home in Cornwall during COVID lockdown, and it has the same gently mischievous feel of songs like Unrepentant Geraldines’ “Giant’s Rolling Pin.” .

‘Spies’ is fun, frothy and almost lightweight, ‘Devil’s Bane’ is sweaty and swaggering Americana, while ‘Metal Water Wood’ starts ponderously before falling off a cliff into a killer chorus; catchy and hypnotic with wonderful work from Matt Chamberlain on drums.

It’s apparent that “Ocean to Ocean” a very personal work and great though the previous album was (2017’s Native Invader), the songs’ meaning was not always clear. This time around, with no travel available for inspiration, the focus was closer to home and Tori wrote songs specifically for family members past and present, including herself, since ’29 Years’ reflects on her journey from her acclaimed solo debut, “Little Earthquakes“, in 1991.

Never one to shirk a challenge, Amos even casually rewrites ‘Happy Birthday’ as ‘Birthday Baby’ in a dramatic tango-style at the end.

“This is a record about your losses, and how you cope with them,” Tori says. “Thankfully when you’ve lived long enough, you can recognise you’re not feeling like the mom you want to be, the wife you want to be, the artist you want to be. I realised that to shift this, you have to write from the place where you are. I was in my own private hell, so I told myself, then that’s where you write from – you’ve done it before…”

A Decca Records Recording; ℗ 2021 Tori Amos, under exclusive licence to Universal Music Operations Released on: 2021-10-14

To be honest, and admit that the last two Crowded House outings – 2006’s “Time On Earth” and particularly 2010’s “Intriguer” – had left me with the feeling that I’d never really like another Crowded House studio album again (always a great live band). So when “Dreamers are Waiting” came along this year, I did approach it with a fair degree of trepidation and, at first, thought my worst fears were justified. The album initially felt too low-key, seemingly lacking the trademark big pop hooks and the song writing craft of yore. It rather drifted by, politely, without making its mark.

These first impressions were off the mark and the album revealed itself as a classic ‘grower’. The listeners’ persistence and patience is dutifully rewarded as “Dreamers are Waiting” unfurls its charms and presents its assets in a slow and controlled manner. The band reshuffle felt harsh on the excellent multi-instrumentalist Mark Hart (who found himself surplus to requirements), but the new line-up – Neil Finn; sons Liam & Elroy; original member Nick Seymour and the band’s classic-era producer Mitchell Froom (on keyboards) – works very well. In fact, everyone contributes in a song writing capacity to the excellent ‘Playing With Fire’, which is the second song on the 12-track album. ‘To The Island’ was the single, so you may well know that number, but the nostalgic and melancholic ‘Sweet Tooth’ already sounds like a classic.

But it’s on side two (in vinyl parlance) where the album really stretches its legs and impresses, with a wonderful run of songs, brilliantly arranged and performed. ‘Too Good For This World’ has the lo-fi charm of 1995’s FINN album (which makes sense, since this track is co-written by Neil and brother Tim) and ‘Start of Something’ drips with atmosphere, features some brilliant harmonies and offers a sublime chorus. Neil’s ‘Real Life Woman’ is arguably the best song on the record and rather punches you in the heart as it holds off it’s wonderful and simple chorus line for two long verses and it’s hard not to love the chaotic but charming ‘Love Isn’t Hard At All’.

This album was rather under-promoted in the UK and deserved more than it’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance on the UK chart (it peaked at #6). A COVID-delayed UK tour didn’t help and this record will possibly get a second wind next year when the band finally perform in Britain. Sublime.

Chris Buck’s new rhythm and blues quartet Cardinal Black arrived to surprise us all earlier this year, but three of the group have previously played together as the Tom Hollister trio. In the ensuing years, Hollister pursued a solo career, and Buck’s reputation evolved worldwide through his growing YouTube presence and his work with Buck And Evans, the group he co-founded with singer/ pianist Sally Ann Evans. That band were coming off a set of dates in early 2020 when the pandemic put the hand brake on the world. 

With lockdown to fill, Buck, Hollister and Roberts reconnected over the material still in their locker and, with the crucial addition of talented bassist Sam Williams Cardinal Black was born. A left-turn from Buck’s previous gigs, Cardinal Black sound like the complete package – big songs, in the pocket jams and a fine platform for Buck’s astonishingly soulful lead work.

“This band’s been going four months,” says Cardinal Black’s Chris Buck, “or ten years, depending how you look at it.” Indeed, this hot Welsh quartet seemed to appear out of the blue and fully formed back in May with the single Tell Me How It Feels. 

Featuring the rich, powerful voice of Tom Hollister and a kick-ass, all-the-feels solo from modern-day guitar hero Buck, this cool, soul-soaked slice of mid-tempo rock reached the top of the iTunes rock chart. But, as Buck says, this ‘overnight success’ was a decade in the making. 

He, Hollister and drummer Adam Roberts were once the Tom Hollister Trio – a hotly tipped band looked after by Guns N’ Roses’ former manager Alan Niven – with label deals on the table back when that meant something. But singer and reluctant bassist Hollister felt stifled by the trio format, the bass hanging heavy on him, compromising his vocal performance. 

“Tell Me How It Feels”, the debut single by Cardinal Black Out Now!

Because of their attitude, their sound, and the pure potential for them to break out and connect to the disaffected youth, “Nirvana meets Oasis” is the best way to describe the four teenagers who play in Stereotyped. Coming from Manchester, England, Stereotyped is set to carry on the great musical legacy brought forth from their home city that gave the world The Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Smiths, The Fall, The Stone Roses, James, Doves, Oasis, and many more. Stereotyped is young, full of angst, and ready to rip rock and roll from the ground up and to take on the world. They have those loud distorted guitars perfectly soaring over aggressive Pop melodies, and catchy songs that you just know are gonna be great live. Stereotyped have signed a multi-album deal with Grunge Pop Records and are currently finishing up their debut album with producer Chris Hope (Echo & The Bunnymen, Travis, Pulp) at Milkshed Studios in Lancashire, England.

Lead-off single “The Only One” from their forthcoming debut drops August 27, 2021.

Just when any music form becomes an antique with a very definite history and trapped in the past then a pesky bunch of teenagers reinvent it! Grunge is now so entwined in the Nirvana narrative and the subject of books and docs that it would feel like dead form but in the hands of teenage Manc band Stereotyped (check out their Instagram)  it’s an explosive thing and their debut single “The Only One” is dynamic, intense and thrilling and released by Grungepop Records who have a whole stable of this stuff! 

Seb Lowe has burst out of nowhere. (Ok Saddleworth…) with an upcoming 7 track mini-album that is perfect for the moment. Perfect in that this is a young kid with a head full of words that are his weapons and telling his truth and a guitar that is a machine gun of riffing. This is the teenage frontline with poetry and scrubbed acoustic guitar choppy chords and a poetic angry voice full of passion and melody.

The teenage frontline singer songwriter with a headful of poetry political  and scrubbed acoustic guitar choppy chords and an angry voice of a generation full of passion and melody.

With brilliant political lyrics sung in a thrilling voice that spits the words out somewhere between a rap attack and the melody of a singer-songwriter there is a voice of a generation anger, pathos, dark humour and a wise wise old head on very young shoulders.

Brilliantly he has broken out on Tik Tok before anyone else heard of him and in a platform where guitars virtually don’t exist he is the shock of the new but then a brilliant talent will shine at any time and these songs capture the underlying anger and confusion of these times and are yet another twist on the never-ending lineage of Weller, Sleaford Mods, Billy Bragg, Ewan MacColl or anyone who ever believed a guitar could change the world.

Another brand of post-punk that we adore, this time hailing from Edinburgh, Scotland. We don’t know a lot about the band but we’re happy they released a single this year and hope to hear more from them in 2022. Garage rock four-piece Cheap Teeth based in Edinburgh have been showing up on various radars like BBC Introducing, Radio X and NME following their debut EP “Give Me More, Show Me Less” released in May 2021.  It’s post punk garage that we can’t wait to hear more of in 2022. 

Permanent Creeps Records Released on: 2021-08-25

Charismatic Brazilian duo, living in Bristol. Fabulous, inventive psych meets art-punk sound. Debut album due in 2022 from the couple who plan a docu-fictional film to accompany the release. White Stripes type potential and a Kleenex vibe. 

Ged Babey says: “It’s cool. And it’s a great song. A feminist empowerment anthem – but performed by hetero-norm-couple. Watch Glauco’s face when ‘She doesn’t need a man..’ is sung at him. I have to admit that the way their accents and enunciation affect the vocal is what makes it uber-cool. It brings to mind Nico, Kleenex and the Mo-dettes: artists with vocalists who sang in English, when it wasn’t their mother tongue.”

Official music video for AlterModerns – “She’s Not Yours” on This Could Prove Fatal. (Ananda Kuhn/Glauco Caruso)

Spirit Of Spike Island Records are single handily relaunching and reinventing the Manchester thing. Their own band, Afflecks Palace took the simmering psychedelic guitars of the Roses debut and reinvented it for the now and took their debut album into the top 20 last week. Not content with that they were relating the tripped out guitar mantras of teenage Manc band who mash the Roses and early The Verve with current gurus like The Brian Jonestown Massacre into an unholy now!. This is the NEON PINK vinyl for “Deeper Than Holy” – the debut 4-track EP from Pastel, the UKs most exciting young guitar band.

“She Waits For Me” the new single from Pastel – released on Manchester indie label – Spirit Of Spike Island recordings.

Pastel will tour the UK in January 2022, Rescue Rooms – Nottingham, Thursday 13th January 2022. The debut Pastel EP – “Deeper Than Holy” which is Out Now.

Art School Girlfriend has delivered a cover of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U”, which features backing vocals by fellow singer songwriter Marika Hackman.

On Boxing Day (26th December), Art School Girlfriend shared a cover of “one of my favourite Prince tracks” “I Would Die 4 U”.

The cover is Art School Girlfriend’s first outing since releasing her debut album “Is It Light Where You Are” arrived in September, and features Marika Hackman on backing vocals.

Art School Girlfriend, real name Polly Mackey wrote of the cover, “I’ve been tinkering with it for a while and finally finished it a few weeks ago – it’s an amazing song and I wanted to do it some kind of justice!”

A Wolf Tone Records release Released on: 2021-12-26 Producer, Performer, Vocals, Synthesizer Programming, Drum Programmer: Polly Louise Mackey Performer, Background Vocalist: Marika Hackman,