The Fat Angel Sings

Amongst this week’s new releases listed we highlight Eric Clapton’s “The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Series“

In February 2021 Eric Clapton’s live shows at The Royal Albert Hall were cancelled due to the global pandemic. Determined to play, he brought his band together in the English countryside. In the absence of a live audience, he decided to record the performances. This release is the culmination of their sessions together at Cowdray House, West Sussex, England.

The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions. The collection of 17 songs include mostly acoustic renditions of such classics as “After Midnight,” “Layla,” and “Bell Bottom Blues,” performed with his long time bandmates Nathan East (bass and vocals), Steve Gadd (drums) and Chris Stainton (keyboards). The title arrives on November 12th, 2021, via Mercury Studios on multiple formats.

The recording was overseen by Clapton’s longtime Grammy-winning producer Russ Titelman and was recorded live at Cowdray House in West Sussex, England. The performance features Clapton standards and an assortment of other numbers encompassing blues, country and rarified originals. “The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions” also offers versions of songs that had a profound effect on his career and those of his contemporaries including the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac tracks “Black Magic Woman” and “Man of the World.”

The project was initiated as the result of the postponement of Clapton’s concerts scheduled for May 2021 at London’s Royal Albert Hall due to the pandemic. He reconvened with his band to the English countryside and staged a concert in the presence of only the participants themselves while letting the cameras roll. The mostly acoustic set was envisioned to be like an Eric Clapton Unplugged II, but not quite, as three songs are played with electric guitars.

Eric’s also has a new single entitled “This Has Gotta Stop” from Bushbranch/Surfdog. The song was written by Clapton, produced by his long time producing partner Simon Climie and is performed by Clapton, Sonny Emery on drums, Nathan East on bass, Sharon White on background vocals along with Nick Ingman as the strings arranger and conductor and Perry Montague-Mason as strings leader.

Black Bats return with their follow up album to 2019’s self-titled debut – “Daylight, even worse sunshine, are definitely not the right setting for consuming the quartet’s excellent debut album from Melbourne, Australia.”

Psychic Retreat ventures further into the realms of garage, punk, and western psych, delivered with a tighter and punchier focus. If ‘Black Bats’ was crossing the desert plains, ‘Psychic Retreat’ is the seedy motel on the other side.

Garage psych fuzz from Melbourne, Australia Out via Cactus Records

Released September 17th, 2021

David Houston – Guitar / Bass / Vocals / Organ
Tim Ryles – Drums

Anna B Savage is a London singer-songwriter and musician. Her songs are stark, skeletal paintings of moods and reflection, using a palette of mainly voice and guitar. Most prominent is her voice – strong and sonorous, yet with a vulnerability that feels as if she’s in the same room as you. Anna B Savage has delivered her version of Edwyn Collins’ “A Girl Like You”, which will feature on her new EP These Dreams.

These Dreams was first announced last month with a new song titled “Since We Broke Up”, She delivered a second outing form the EP, which is a haunting cover of Edwyn Collins’ 1994 track “A Girl Like You”.

Anna B Savage says of the cover, “I’ve loved this song for years. I first heard it in Empire Records, and remember being completely floored as to how a song could be so damned sexy. Naturally, I decided to cover it and make it kind of creepy and weird instead. It’s such a privilege and a joy to be able to enjoy Edwyn Collins’s outputs over the years. His ever-present, fostered and amorphous creativity is something I aspire to.”

These Dreams includes three new songs as well as the Collins cover, and was recorded during the “A Common Turn” sessions.

Speaking about the EP, Savage explained, “This EP traverses the expanse between possibly the most difficult and wrenching song (“These Dreams”) and the most positive and defiant (“Since We Broke Up”), and it’s not an easy listen by any means. “Hairier Now” was written about the same person as “Baby Grand“, but a year earlier, after a seven year absence.”

Released September 16th, 2021

This 1971 concert handbill promotes the band headlining “The Super Blues Jam festival” staged at the Civic Center in Philadelphia, PA. Joining them on stage were blues guitar heroes Buddy Guy & Luther Allison, plus a very special appearance from a young Bonnie Raitt who had yet to release her first album. Duane Allman, the bands founder and slide guitar master met his tragic demise just a few months after this show. The band at this time were enjoying mass critical acclaim following the release of the “At Fillmore East Album”.

Posters and handbills from Duane’s tenure are ultra scarce and have achieved world record results in auction. 

To celebrate our top 10 placing in the Rough Trade albums of the year, we’d like to present a limited edition record;• ‘live at Rough Trade Transmissions’ , we jumped at the chance to create something like this, to try and encapsulate the live sound .

If you still need convincing, check out the live performance below. Originally recorded for Rough Trade Transmissions back in June, it’s now available to watch in its full glory on YouTube.

bdrmm recorded live at Eiger Studios in Leeds in June 2021.

Tracklisting: 1. Shamen 2. Push/Pull 3. Gush 4. Port 5. Is That What You Wanted To Hear? 6. A Reason To Celebrate

“Sleepover” is the band’s second album and will be released on locked-groove vinyl, CD, tape and all digital platforms on October 22. It was recorded by the band with Tom Joyce and Seamus Constance at Sawmills Studio in Cornwall and has been mastered by Simon Scott.

It bears the influence of Stereolab, Can, Butthole Surfers, Yo La Tengo and Sun Ra, among many others. Watch Innerstrings’ video for the edited version of ‘Glen Plays Moses’. Three seemingly disparate characters from Cornwall – Matt Ashdown (guitar), Lee Wade (bass) and Louie Newlands (drums) – Mildred Maude are named after one of their grandmas and play an improvised noise that always seems to be teetering on the edge of chaos, but something incredibly beautiful at the same time, like a cross between Sonic Youth and Slowdive. It is utterly thrilling.

Sleepover is their second album, with three of its four tracks being over 10 minutes in length. ‘Trevena’ is the loping opener; ‘Elliott’s Floor’ initially turned into My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Only Shallow’ by mistake and on the vinyl version it never ends, thanks to a locked groove; ‘Glen Plays Moses’ crosses a Red Sea of sound and is just epic in every way.

The odd one out is ‘Chemo Brain’ – just under three minutes of Fugazi-esque frenzy, named after a side-effect of bassist Lee’s cancer treatment. The album artwork is also inspired by this – it’s a molecular model of cyclophosphamide, one of the drugs he was given. Mildred Maude’s DIY approach has been the only way for them to get anywhere in Cornwall, where they say they feel more in tune with Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert and the Rephlex Records crowd from the 1990s than any current scene.

They do, however, unintentionally have something in common with the medieval Miracle Plays that would take place in the Duchy. “They were notoriously noisy to attract people to them,” explains guitarist Matt, “but were also events that brought communities together, and we like our live shows to have a sense of togetherness.” Matt says he is also inspired by historic places of worship. “There are some great places in Cornwall such as St Just Church and the open air Gwennap Pit in Redruth. It’s these beautiful spaces that I try to imagine we’re in when we’re playing live – so it’s fitting that we’re releasing this new album on Sonic Cathedral.”

An edited excerpt of ‘Glen Plays Moses’, the second single from Mildred Maude’s new album ‘Sleepover’, which is released on October 22nd.

Mildred Maude will follow the release of their new album “Sleepover” with a UK tour, which calls at the following venues:

October 23 – Falmouth – Woodlane Social Club – buy tickets
October 24 – Manchester – The Peer Hat – buy tickets
October 26 – Glasgow – The Hug And Pint – buy tickets
October 27 – London – The Social – buy tickets
October 29 – Nottingham – Rough Trade – buy tickets
October 30 – Birkenhead – Future Yard – buy tickets

‘Open For Business’ is the third LP by Australia via Baltimore trio Smoke Bellow. The effects of the pandemic loom large on this LP. The title makes reference to the Maryland governor’s motto ‘We’re Open For Business’ whilst the composition of the LP took place together, as normal, and then over email once lockdown too effect.

Meredith and Christian are originally from Brisbane and Sydney, Australia. Meredith is a social worker. Christian is a nursing student. Both play guitar and sing. Manny is from Baltimore. He drums on an irregular kit. Smoke Bellow is an exercise in pastiche, catharsis, fun and positivity. 

The group blend post punk, minimalism, highlife, psychedelia and komische. A whole range of influences come from Sly and Robbie to ESG to Steve Reich.

Transcontinental, experimental duo Smoke Bellow have been at it since 2012, relocating from Australia to Baltimore, MD & back again and then BACK AGAIN (now firmly settled in Baltimore). The duo released the “Blooming/Middling” LP in 2014, followed by “Isolation 3000” in 2018 (both on Baltimore label Ehse Records) After a line-up shuffle, they eventually recruited one of their favourite drummers and dear friend, Emmanuel Nicolaidis (Thank You, Oh Hang). which found the duo refining their sound into a dizzyingly attractive mixture of kosmiche serenity, minimalist composition, test-card psychedelia, and highlife guitar.

Half of the songs were written in a room together and the second half via email (for obvious reasons). At the time they were listening to a lot of post punk and were struck with the partnership of drums and bass as propulsive instruments. The trio started writing songs around that idea – with the rhythm as a brace to hang their decorations.

Sonically, Smoke Bellow are inspired by disparate sources. The heyday of Compass Point studios’ famed rhythm section of Sly and Robbie sustained them for months. Others included good old VU, ESG, guitar hero Zani Diabate, The Raincoats (especially their under-appreciated second album, Odyshape), the frenetic sound collisions of the Flying Lizards, the ever warm blanket of Yo La Tengo, the evolving repetition of Stereolab, the understated genius of Asa Osborne, as well as Philip Glass and Steve Reich. The David Byrne/ Robert Wilson “Knee plays” reminded them of the joy of the spoken word set to music. Lyrically, Best & McHugh drew from life in Baltimore, from isolation (again), memories of life in Melbourne, their friends and each other. “We wanted to talk about resilience and resistance.” Says Best.

Releases September 17th, 2021

Smoke Bellow are: Meredith McHugh, Christian J. Best, Emmanuel Nicolaidis

From the record “Open for Business” out September 2021 via Trouble in Mind. Video shot, edited and directed by Kari Nye and David Zimmerman.

‘What A World’ is the eighth LP by psychedelic rock band Mountain Movers. Over their eight LPs the Connecticut four-piece have perfected the lolloping Crazy Horse-style rhythm section, the face melting guitar solos synonymous with stoned psych rock and the quiet/loud dynamic. For fans of Bardo Pond, Comets on Fire, Düngen and White Heaven. 

Watching the Mountain Movers’ progression over the course of the past decade has truly been a treat. Their earliest beginnings saw the band documenting Dan Greene’s vast catalogue of songs, while displaying a rotating cast of New Haven musicians’ unique skills. The band produced three albums and several singles of polished indie rock in this incarnation. However, their fourth album, 2010’s Apple Mountain, saw the band transition to stranger territory; home-recorded and employing an arsenal of miscellaneous instruments, the record bore a folk-psychedelic element not displayed on their previous work. Shortly after Apple Mountain, constant members Greene and Rick Omonte were joined by lead guitarist Kryssi Battalene and drummer Ross Menze to form, what is now, the band’s longest running lineup.

The band has since produced a series of singles, lathe-cuts, cassettes, 2015’s Death Magic; an album that melded Greene’s song writing with the bands ability to stretch out and improvise. In 2016, they previewed the “Sunday Drive / No Plans” cassingle (recorded at former drummer John Miller’s home studio), giving us – the listener – the first glimpse into the Movers’ newest modes.

Two instrumental improvisations clocking in at just under 20 minutes that bring to mind names like Neu! and Ash Ra Tempel, as much as they do any number of American psychedelic acts of the 1960’s. The band’s sixth, eponymous album “Mountain Movers” is bookended by two long-form jams with three perfect, crystalline pop songs sandwiched in between, mirroring both aspects of the band & representing the most fully realized recorded representation of the band’s live show to date. Expect it to surface in May, 2017 on Chicago’s Trouble In Mind Records.

On the Rollercoaster tour of early 1992, it seemed that if Damon Albarn couldn’t get past My Bloody Valentine, he was going to try and get over them. Or possibly under. Such was his athleticism as Blur presented their opening act set of post-Baggy, pop-psychedelia, it seemed as though while the Jesus and Mary Chain and Dinosaur Jr were there as musical diversions, Blur were partly there for sport.

On that night, as others on the tour, lots were drawn as to the order of the bill – as per the tour name, a band might ascend to dizzying heights one night, only to plummet alarmingly the next. Other tour lore which had filtered down to the audience concerned the PA system, a matter in which Blur seem not to have been consulted. Instead, the more sonically-mindful and established names on the bill (JAMC and My Bloody Valentine) were said to have reached a peaceable accord about the arrangements.

Peaceable accord, as the holocaust section of You Made Me Realise enters its tenth minute – I’m guessing tenth, my watch seems to have stopped – is, however, a long way from the state we’re in. Apparently JAMC have suggested the PA should be big. My Bloody Valentine have countered that it also needs to be clever. As the strobes fire and the noise pounds what remains of the crowd into a psychedelic submission – the revelation dawning is that something isn’t being destroyed here, but being magnificently created – you’d have to suggest they’d got the right tools for the job.

As you’ll read in this latest Uncut special, here to mark the 30th anniversary of MBV’s masterpiece “Loveless” album, among other Shoegaze landmarks of 1991, this state between song and abstraction was a place where many of our featured bands of this period made their home. We pay our respects the forebears – the architects, perhaps – of the scene, namely JAMC, Cocteau Twins, Spacemen3 and MBV.

We also celebrate with deep writing and entertaining archive features the standard bearers of the “scene which celebrates itself”, who made Shoegaze (or “Shoegazing” as we called it then) what it was: Pale Saints, Lush, Slowdive, Moose, Ride, and Chapterhouse. We swim deep in the best albums, EPs, and ephemera. We’ve covered the ongoing Shoegaze revival in a curated playlist by Sonic Cathedral supremo Nat Cramp, and got some ‘gaze legends to make us a tape of what they were listening to at the time of their ascent to glory in the late 1980s. A particularly great honour is to have reconnected with Lord Tarquin, once NME’s Boswell of the scene within the scene. He now takes a trip down memory lane on the changes the years have wrought.

All round, we’re really quite pleased with what we’ve come up with here. If anyone else likes it, as musicians used to say 30 years ago, that’s a bonus.