The Fat Angel Sings

Hailing from the sleepy rural town of Driffield, Yorkshire, Priestgate are charismatic, angsty and euphoric in equal measure. After a stellar year of experimentation, the band have emerged in 2020 with their own brand of guitar music infusing pop hooks with dark sensibilities as popularised by The Cure and Joy Division. The band have received support from So Young, Radio 1 and 6Music.

This Ascendant Yorkshire five-piece share their debut EP “Eyes Closed For The Winter”, on Lucky Number. Produced by Nick Hodgson (Alfie Templeman) and mixed by Caesar Edmunds (Foals, The Killers, PJ Harvey) the EP is a formidable statement straight out the gates – and a window into the world of one of Britain’s most thrilling new young bands.

Raised in the sleepy town of in East Yorkshire, the band is made up of Rob Schofield (vocals), Bridie Stagg (drums), Connor Bingham (guitar), Isaac Ellis (guitar), and Kai Overton (bass). Formed as a battle-cry against the restlessness and mundanity of rural life, Priestgate began as a reaction to the sparse local music scene around them, which in turn has allowed them to craft and develop their own unique sound without the added pressure of conformity.

Priestgate have combined bright guitar-pop hooks with darker lyrical sensibilities, concocting their own angst-laden blend of the hypnotic and euphoric.

Released March 25th, 2022

Andy Bell‘s new album, “Flicker“, is a bit of sonic time travel. You notice even before listening: the album cover features a blurry but clearly much younger Bell, a portrait taken during the shoot for Ride‘s 1990 debut, “Nowhere“. And the songs are ones Bell had started but never finished from throughout his career, including a few that date back to the early ’90s. He dusted them off during lockdown, brought them into focus and recorded them at his friend and onetime Oasis/Beady Eye bandmate Gem Archer’s studio. “When I think about Flicker, I see it as closure,” says Andy. “The cognitive dissonance of writing brand new lyrics over songs that are 20-plus years old makes it feel like it is, almost literally, me exchanging ideas with my younger self.” It’s a fantastic album, and you can listen to the whole thing below.

One of the standout cuts from the album is “World Of Echo,” a jangly pop gem which owes a little to late-’80s/early-’90s band The La’s. It’s being released as a single on 3/25 and comes with a b-side cover of “Our Last Night Together” by Arthur Russell (whose album “World of Echo” inspired the title of Bell’s song). We’re premiering the very vibey, psychedelic video for it, which was directed by Innerstrings. 

Following 2019’s critically-acclaimed sophomore album,” I Spent the Winter Writing Songs About Getting Better”, Proper. is making their return with “The Great American Novel”.

“The Great American Novel” is a concept album about how genius, specifically my own, goes ignored, is relentlessly contested, or just gets completely snuffed out before it can flourish,” says vocalist Erik Garlington (he/him). “This record is a concept album that’s meant to read like a book; every song is a chapter following the protagonist through their 20s. Imagine a queer, Black Holden Caufield-type coming up in the 2010s.”

The result is an album that is both lyrically and musically heavy, the former something fans have come to expect from Garlington’s unflinchingly honest lyrical content, but the latter something that’s refreshingly new. Channelling the heavier music he listened to during his adolescence—from post-hardcore outfit At the Drive-In to progressive metal band System of a Down—Garlington and the rest of Proper.—bassist Natasha Johnson and drummer Elijah Watson push themselves in ways they haven’t before, culminating in an ambitious project that showcases the new sonic territory the band is heading in.

Produced and recorded by Bartees Strange and mixed and mastered by Brian DiMeglio, “The Great American Novel” clocks in at fifteen tracks including “Huerta,” which explores Garlington’s Mexican heritage, and “Red, White and Blue,” a commentary on the imbalance between the United States’ everyday citizens and elite class. The songs reflect the overall tone of The Great American Novel: abrasive, powerful, and beautifully poignant.
“At the end of the day, what I wanted to do with this record is take Proper. in a direction that would surprise people on first listen, but end up making complete sense on the second or third listen. I think a lot of bands tend to go more pop but I wanted to make something both challenging and undeniably catchy,” Garlington said.

“It all goes back to Black genius and how it’s ingested by the predominantly cishet, white male crowd. If they’re going to be a voyeur to the Black experience, I wanted to strip away all the cheeky song titles, lyrical inside jokes, and optimistic singalongs. I want them to hear this record and learn about our identity crises, our aimlessness, how many friends and family we know that are dead or in jail by 25. How, at eight we were told we were gifted but by 11 we were told we’re dangerous.”

Proper. is Erik Garlington, Natasha Johnson, Elijah Watson

“The Great American Novel” is out March 25th, 2022 (digital) & April 29, 2022 (LP/CD/CS) via Father/Daughter Records & Big Scary Monsters (UK/Europe). 

released March 25th, 2022

British goth and post-punk pioneers Bauhaus have released their first new song in 14 years. Check out “Drink the New Wine” .

The new song was inspired by the Surrealist movement and written during lockdown last year, during which the group’s four members (Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, Kevin Haskins, and David J)

“Drink The New Wine” was recorded last year during lockdown with the four members sharing audio files. The track employs the Surrealists’ ‘Exquisite Corpse’ device whereby each artist adds to the piece without seeing what the others have done. Bauhaus have used this technique in the past to great effect. The title refers to the very first Cadavre exquis’ drawing rendered by André Breton, Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Prévert and Yves Tanguy which included words which when strung together made up the sentence, ‘Le cadavre exquis boiara le vin nouveau’ (‘The exquisite corpse will drink the new wine.”) For the recording, the four musicians each had one minute and eight tracks at their disposal plus a shared sixty seconds plus four tracks for a composite at the end. All done without hearing what the others had laid down. The only common link being a pre-recorded beat courtesy of Kevin. The final playback came as synchronistic revelation.

Bauhaus released their last album, “Go Away White“, in 2008. They reunited for their first show in 13 years in 2019 following singer Peter Murphy making a “full recovery” from the heart attack he suffered that year. 

Written and Produced by Bauhaus

Good Morning are a band from Melbourne, Australia. Formed as a recording project in 2014 by Stefan Blair and Liam Parsons, the band’s presence in their lives has expanded slowly but surely over the better part of a decade. Due in part to a few strokes of luck, and a mysteriously unflinching desire to write and record music, Good Morning have been able to expand their scope from the lounge rooms and pubs they began recording and performing in to playing shows to people all across the globe.

In 2020 as tours began rapidly falling by the wayside, Good Morning’s plans to transition into a more full-time touring schedule quickly came to an end. Trying to re-contextualise their ‘jobs’ as musicians, Good Morning set their focus on piecing together a studio in the Melbourne suburb of Preston, and have since somewhat maintained a regular Monday – Friday recording schedule. Their latest release, the self-produced ‘Out To Pasture / Misery’ is a result of said schedule. With endless amounts of studio time Good Morning have been able to indulge more than ever in crafting layered recordings, a welcome change for the band, who for the most part have made their records within the space of a few days.

‘Out To Pasture / Misery’ marks a few firsts for the band, namely strings (performed by Melbourne based violinist Chloe Sanger) and banjo. Both songs also feature Glenn Blair on horns. Together Good Morning have released six records of varying quality and length – Shawcross (2014), Glory (2016), Prize // Reward (2018), The Option (2019), Basketball Breakups (2019), and most recently Barnyard (2021). They are currently working on their seventh record. 

Released March 23rd, 2022

Graham Nash has announced “Graham Nash: Live“, a new concert album featuring the acclaimed musician performing his first two solo LPs, 1971’s “Songs For Beginners” and 1974’s “Wild Tales“, in their entirety.

“I’ve been trying to figure out why “Songs For Beginners” and “Wild Tales” [were] so popular and I think it’s that intimacy and that immediacy of my emotions,” Nash explained via press release.

Recorded on tour in 2019, Graham Nash: Live sees the singer accompanied by a seven-piece band led by his long time collaborators, Shane Fontayne (guitar and vocals) and Todd Caldwell (keyboards and vocals).

In anticipation of the album, Nash has released the live version of “Military Madness,” originally from Songs For Beginners. In a statement accompanying the single, the rocker noted that the anti-war song continues to resonate more than 50 years after it was written.

“We’re supposed to learn from history and it doesn’t appear as if we’re learning much,” Nash proclaimed. “Songs like ‘Military Madness’…is that not relevant today? The hope that we can change the world, isn’t that still relevant today? I’m very flattered that my music seems to have lasted this long, but I’m also a little upset that we have to keep singing a song like ‘Military Madness’ right up to the present. Enough already!”

Nash is in the midst of a national tour scheduled to run through the end of October (remaining tour dates can be found below). In addition to songs from his solo career, fans can expect to hear material from his days in the Hollies, as well as Crosby, Stills & Nash.

“Graham Nash: Live – Songs For Beginners / Wild Tales” – Out May 6th, 2022.

Australian band from Byron Bay good vibe factory Babe Rainbow brings us a dripping slice of sunshine to Levitation Sessions, with a set recorded at The Music Farm with friends and family. The set features a catalogue spanning track-list of the band’s breezy psychedelic grooves, transporting us to a rural backyard setting: birds chirping, children laughing, sun shining, good vibes vibing – the chillest Session ever???

Our mission at Levitation is to be a platform where the art and music we love can thrive. Levitation Sessions are our way to support the bands and keep the music going. Just like a regular show, the majority of every dollar you spend goes to the artists we’re presenting. Thank you for supporting these artists!

“We wanted to go so big it was almost psychedelic, so much juice you’d almost drown, and we knew we had to play all the old songs at the farm in Coorabel because all the old songs were recorded there. The Babe Rainbow is a rococo palace built to the most powerful God of all… mass entertainment. We hope you enjoy and look forward to seeing you in person on tour soon…” – Babe Rainbow

BABE RAINBOW: Bass: Dr. William Elliot ‘Love-Wisdom’ O’Reilly Vibes / Backing Singer & Keyboard: Michael Meddlycott Drums: Miles Myjavec Singer: Angus Darling Guitar: Jack ‘Cool Breeze’