The Fat Angel Sings

Joni Mitchell shared a previously unreleased recording of her performing “The Downtreader” from Cafe Le Hibou, Ottawa, on March 19, 1968. The performance was recorded by Jimi Hendrix.

Joni Mitchell recounted the day on her Instagram, “They came and told me, ‘Jimi Hendrix is here, and he’s at the front door.’ I went to meet him. He had a large box. He said to me, ‘My name is Jimi Hendrix. I’m on the same label as you. Reprise Records.’ We were both signed about the same time. He said, I’d like to record your show. Do you mind?’ I said, ‘no, not at all.’ There was a large reel-to-reel tape recorder in the box.”

If you look real hard at the photo above you can just see Jimi Hendrix kneeling at the foot of the stage recording Joni’s performance on March 19th, 1968. The original photo taker remains a mystery 

A few days later Hendrix’s tape from that evening was stolen and the recording was thought to be lost forever. It was recently discovered in a private collection that was donated to the Library and Archives Canada and returned to Joni Mitchell.

This recording of “The Dawntreader” will be released as part of Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) which will become available on October. 29th. the 5-CD or 10-LP set from JoniMitchell.com to receive an exclusive, limited edition 7” x 7” art print featuring a never-before-seen illustration by Mitchell

L.A.Exes bring on the girl-gang envy, uniting four music veterans: Sam Barbera (vocals, bass), Jenny Owen Youngs (vocals, guitar), Rachel White (lead guitar) and Steph Barker (drums). While they were a unit pre-pandemic, the global mess had the band hitting pause on announcing their glory for nearly a year. Now, having released singles “Temporary Goodbye,” “Skinny Dipping” and, “Baby Let’s Pretend”  L.A. Exes have announced their debut album, “Get Some,” will be out August. via Black Rainbow Records.

Although Barbera and Owen Youngs originally first met at a party, it was mutual friend and Grammy-winning producer Jake Sinclair (Panic! At the Disco, Weezer) that brought the queer quartet together. Barbera is best known for her electro pop group Begineers, whose singles like “Who Knows” and “Gimme Some” have proven great commercial syncs. Owen Youngs’ song writing has landed collaborations with Panic! At the Disco, Pitbull, Ingrid Michaelson and Brett Dennon, as well as syncs for “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Bojack Horseman,” “Weeds” and more. White’s multiple talents include producing, writing and even audio engineering for 5SOS, Weezer and Panic! At the Disco. Barker, whose solo project Baby Bulldog is reminiscent of Best Coast, is an award-winning jazz drummer with an international tour resumé including Kate Nash, Coast Modern and Love Fame Tragedy.

It’s all sun’s-out/buns-out with their playful, retro power-pop. The latest summer bop, “Baby Let’s Pretend,” has a classic shuffle with a charm that warrants plays on repeat. Juxtaposing cheeky lyrics with up-tempo melodies, Owen Youngs reveals that “this song deals with the sticky situation of being kept a secret. Not everybody’s been there, but anyone who has knows it doesn’t feel great. But just because something sucks doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun doing it.”

Runnner is the project of Los Angeles singer/songwriter Noah Weinman, and he just signed to Run For Cover Records, and his first release for the label will be Always Repeating, which features five re-recorded versions of songs from his 2017 debut “Awash” and all five tracks from last year’s “One of One” EP. The re-recorded version of the title track is out now, and it sort of sounds like a more rustic, twangy version of early Bon Iver. The LP drops July 16 via RFC

 Runnner will be hitting the road this fall in both the US and UK alongside Skullcrusher. 

9/05 – Glasgow, UK – Nice N Sleazy*
9/06 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club*
9/08 – London, UK – The Lexington*
9/09 – Brighton, UK – Komedia Studio*
9/10 – Birmingham, UK – Castle & Falcon*
9/12 – Bristol, UK – The Louisiana*
9/14 – Dublin, Ireland – The Workmans Club*

“Awash” by Runnner, from the album ‘Always Repeating’ out July 16th, 2021 via Run For Cover Records

Capturing a sentiment halfway between the familiarity of nostalgia and the hopefulness of looking forward, 24-year-old artist Bel makes a cerebral splash with the debut release of her EP “Muscle Memory“. The five track collection exemplifies a reserved pop sound with thoughtful lyrics and exuberant musical arrangements. As the artist herself dances between the realms of singer, songwriter and producer, so does her music, incorporating a driving pop sound with hints of country, folk and indie along the way.

“Muscle Memory is a collection of five songs I’ve written over the span of four years. From start to finish, the record tells a personal story of first love, first heartbreak, existential crisis, and finding strength and confidence on my own,” says Bel. “After years of writing and playing shows, I decided to finally start the EP recording process in 2020. I recorded some bare bones demos with my band in a friend’s living room with the goal of getting into a studio later to fully produce them. Then the pandemic hit and everything shut down. I also went through a breakup right before lockdown and was at one of my lowest points.”

The principle track for the EP, “Drive” sends you along a journey where there is no destination, just the pursuit of the self and the freedom that goes as long as you can refill your car’s gas tank. The inhibition and exploration of driving along the coast, stopping wherever you please and the careful dodging of menial conversation culminate into a familiar, deliberate and carefully constructed world where you are the driver both literally and metaphorically, a direct contrast to the anxiety of fitting into contrived spaces of social construct.

“Drive” is for the people who, like me, plan their exit strategy at a party the second they arrive,” notes Bel. “It’s about taking the power back from my anxiety and prioritizing my happiness. After being at a party where I just didn’t fit in, feeling totally in my head the whole time, I reflected on why I felt the need to fit in with people I didn’t have anything in common with. It’s ultimately a song about learning how to be comfortable on my own, comfortable in my own skin.”

Opening track on “Muscle Memory” is “Something Beautiful,” a tune that builds with a carefree ebullience, emitting a shimmery, reflective display of emotional labradorescence as you sink into feelings of acceptance and universal oneness.

The songs in between “Something Beautiful” and “Drive” build a world of internal reconnection where themes of love, heartache, self-exploration and acceptance co-mingle and find themselves merging into a low humming personal revelation. In the process, things may not always be perfectly peachy, but they all serve a purpose if you’re willing to take the time to reflect and build an understanding.

“I wrote some songs about it and went on with remotely co-producing the EP with my friend, Jimmy Keeley,” Bel notes. “We built off the living room demos and were able to re-record a few parts remotely. Pushing forward and getting this EP done during one of the hardest years of my life was something that truly helped keep me sane. I’m grateful for what this project means to me and what it helped me through. It feels good to come out the other side and have these songs to give to the world.”

With soft vocals, wistful melodies and thoughtful lyrics Muscle Memory is exactly as titled — an effortless but well trained expression of life and the individual elements that make up meaning. And for Bel personally, it’s a collection of songs written over the past few years and are a reflection of all the ways she has moved forward.

Bel will continue to build engagement with her fans through Muscle Memory in the form of music videos

my debut EP, “Muscle Memory”, is out everywhere now!!

“’Oh!’ is one of the first songs we collaborated on during the pandemic, masked and distanced on the front porch,” recalls the band. “It started with the main riff and progression Bela brought to the band. Eloise wrote the verses and Lucia and Mila wrote the choruses. The song deals with trying to help out someone and having it blow up in your face.” – The Linda Lindas

Punk and feminism have always gone hand in hand, and The Linda Lindas harness that power to amplify important messages. They went viral for “Racist, Sexist Boy,” but the lyrics of “Oh!” point in a different direction, wallowing in the frustration of someone else’s decisions. With an apathetic ambiguity, the band answers its own rhetorical questions as they wonder in the chorus what to do or say to a stubborn friend: nothing. If you really want to help someone, they have to accept your support.

The Linda Lindas recently opened for Bikini Kill at the Palladium, Then, after dropping several tunes including a political number aptly titled “Vote!,” their AAPI Heritage Month performance at the Cypress Park Library went viral. This brilliant quartet of Asian and Latinx musicians has come together for a new single—their first on Epitaph Records.

Epitaph Records is an artist-first indie label founded in Los Angeles by Bad Religion guitarist, Brett Gurewitz. Early releases from a variety of punk heavyweights helped launch the 90s punk explosion. Along the way, Epitaph has grown and evolved creatively while sticking to its mission of helping real artists make great recordings on their own terms.

Steady Holiday has shared a reworked version of one of her songs off her “Love Me When I Go To Sleep” with the new single “Love Me 2,” an upbeat and rollicking take on the previously pensive album ender. Trading in the song’s previously heart-wrenching ballad for hammered percussion lines and tumbling piano keys, “Love Me 2” pulsates on its chaotic melody playing on all the anxieties Dre Babinksi so beautifully but woefully effuses.

The rework is also accompanied by a music video directed by Andrew WK and sees a wild Babinski pounding away on a drum kit in a dimly lit garage to the song’s raucous energies. Although now a heavy metal rocker “Love Me 2” doesn’t lose any of its affecting lyricisim in the translation and Steady Holiday’s eviscerating abilitiy to cut right to the heart is only made that much more potent by the song’s newfound rambunctiousness.

“The original song is about love and mortality, and how they inevitably intersect,” Babinski said of the changes to the song. “As much as I love the song, I’m not always interested in going to that place, especially during live performances.”

“Love Me 2″ is the sequel to Love Me When I Go To Sleep. The original song is about love and mortality, and how they inevitably intersect. As much as I love the song, I’m not always interested in going to that place, especially during live performances. So I made a more raucous version for times when I want to enjoy the song at face value. Same message, more digestible. Love Me 2!

Young Winona is an alternative rock trio originally from New Zealand now living in Los Angeles. Bringing together the distinctive guitar styles and song writing sensibilities of their homeland mixed with an industrial-city edge.  a manic power-rock anthem that writhes under the anxious but virulent wails of lead singer Cassie Gaffaney. Inspired by the feelings of isolation Gaffaney endured when she and her bandmate/husband Nick left their home to pursue their musical careers in Los Angeles. Cassie — the adopted daughter of a Singaporean Muslim mother and an indigenous New Zealand Māori father — brought with her the guitar her father had given to her years previous as a show of support for her musical talent.

New Zealand ex-pats Young Winona (fka Santa Barbara) announced their signing to Poor Man Records early this year when they released the single “L.A Waste”  The trio — Cassie and her husband Nick Gaffaney, along with Geoff Maddock — continued their sticky grunge explorations with the track “Confess” and now they have followed up with “Killer Daises”  a wild thing about menacing flora. “I’m walking in a field full of flowers / that are turning into teeth that want to eat me,” Cassie Gaffaney sings. There’s a fun video too.

“Killer Daises,” with its off-kilter drums and gritty, jangly riffs cuts a jagged path through Cassie’s feelings of solitude. And while the woozy pop-hooks that fill the spaces in between are just as poignant — her “woo-ing” stays with you as a sublime echo in your ear long after the song ends — it all whiplashes abruptly back at the end of the “Killer Daises” crashing crescendo. “What’s happening?! / I don’t seem to be / Remotely in control,” she howls despondently along to the final rousing surges of the song’s finale.

Young Winona – ‘Killer Daisies’ [Official Video]

Formed back in 2019, Owen Williams and George Nicholls, formerly of Joanna Gruesome, connected in rural North Wales to expand on what they’d done in their previous outfit, taking on styles from jangly guitar post-punk to traditional British folk. The ‘I Don’t Know How It Works‘ 7-inch arrived on Prefect Records in early 2020, with a run of shows following seeing them share stages with the likes of Porridge Radio, Flasher and Public Practice.

‘Two Person Love‘ sounds like everything we love right about now – moving at a clip like all the best Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever songs with a bit of guitar flash that calls to mind our favourite Atlanta trio Omni. A proper ripper on the quiet we reckon.

From note one, the “Names” EP is all business, with “Illusion”s punchy riffs (suitable for stargazing or naval-gazing) gallop forward, with Williams pontificating on his reflected reality vs. the illusion of self; a two-minute earworm on gender confusion. “The Name Song” is next, with its persistent jangle, laundry list of Williams’ favorite Seventies names & instantly memorable chorus of “I don’t care about anyone” coyly delivered with a sardonic wink and nod. “Two Person Love”s fuzzy lead line opens side two, (an ode to “erotomania”) barreling forward like a Fairport deep cut on ephedrine. A woozy cover of Felt’s “Crystal Ball” ends the EP, a faithful love-letter to an obvious influence, draped in a gauzy flange. 

With ‘Two Person Love‘ now out in the open, it comes with it the announcement that The Tubs have got a new record on the way at the end of July – the EP ‘Names‘ 7-inch EP, due for release on Trouble In Mind Records (their first 7-inch release in four years!) and Prefect Records in the UK. Sleeve design comes care of Total Control’s James Vinciguerra!

Off the back of the EP, The Tubs are looking to head into the studio to record their debut album. From the “Names” EP, out July 30th, 2021 via Trouble In Mind Records