La Luz has always been a band with a vision. Their discography is a study in balancing both heavenly and haunting sounds for a lush style of rock music that’s all their own. On their self-titled fourth album, La Luz fearlessly launch themselves into a new realm of emotional intimacy with a collection of songs steeped in the mysteries of the natural world and the magic of human chemistry that has found manifestation in the musical ESP between guitarist and songwriter Shana Cleveland, bassist Lena Simon, and keyboardist Alice Sandahl.
To help shape La Luz, the band found a kindred spirit in producer Adrian Younge. Primarily known for working with hip-hop, soul, and jazz acts, Younge saw in La Luz a musical kinship that transcended genre. “We both create music with the same attitude, and that’s what I love about them,” he says. “They are never afraid to be risky and their style is captivating. I don’t work with many bands, but I love taking chances on people that share the same vision. We both love to be ourselves, and it was an honour to work with them.” The album was recorded at Linear Labs Studio in Los Angeles.
On the heels of La Luz’s previously launched single “In the Country,” the group is sharing a new video for “Watching Cartoons,” directed by Nathan Castiel.
This mixed media adventure follows the band as they spend the day watching cartoons but it becomes clear that something is not quite right! After being gifted a mysterious TV, the band starts getting sucked into their favourite cartoons. Will Shana save Alice and Lena before it’s too late? Tune in to “Watching Cartoons” and find out.
La Luz recently announced a 34-date world tour with North American shows in 2021 and European dates following in April and May 2022.
The follow-up to “I Wanna Be a Dog” a song that’s about exactly what the title says — “It’s Nice to Be Nice” is the new single from Colleen Green’s forthcoming album “Cool” … and a song that’s about exactly what the title says. She adds, “This song is my ‘You Get What You Give’ by New Radicals except without the incongruous aggressive sentiment about kicking other rock stars’ asses. The title, though, the title’s sentiment is right on. “Cool” Green’s first album since 2015, is out September 10th on Hardly Art Records.
Watch Colleen Green’s official video for “It’s Nice to Be Nice,” a new single from “Cool” her forthcoming new album out on September 10th, 2021 worldwide from Hardly Art. The visual was directed by Renee Lusano and shot on a boat off the coast of Los Angeles. Green calls it “A nice video for a nice song.”
“It’s Nice to Be Nice” by Colleen Green from her album “Cool” (Out September 10, 2021)
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 “TemporaryGoodbye,” “Skinny Dipping” and, “Baby Lets Pretend”
L.A. Exes have announced their debut album, “Get Some,” will be out August 20th 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, “Beginners” 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, OwenYoungs 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.”
Get ready, because you’re about to feel. That’s what Tim Heidecker warns on Fear of Death’s opening track, “Prelude to Feeling.” And he means it. This is a Serious Album about Serious Topics – a doomed future, abandoning life in the city, and, you guessed it, the inevitability of death – and without a warning, those feelings might just sneak up on you.
Fear of Death is the follow-up to 2019’s What the Brokenhearted Do…, which chronicles a fictional divorce from his wife and the accompanying depression. Just like that one with its morose theme of a contentious breakup, the new album puts Heidecker squarely in the tradition of comedians and actors like Steve Martin, Hugh Laurie, and Donald Glover, eschewing his funny side in his music and leaving the jokes for the screen.
“I didn’t know that Fear of Death was going to be so focused on death when I was writing it,” Heidecker says. “It took a minute for me to stand back and look at what I was talking about to realize that, yes, I am now a middle-aged man and my subconscious is screaming at me: ‘You are getting old, dude! You are not going to live forever! Put down that cheeseburger!’”
We first saw Heidecker and Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering performing together in the summer of 2019 when a video of the pair singing “Let it Be” backstage at a charity event went viral. But their story began earlier that year when Heidecker, having just become familiar with the singer, hosted her as a guest on his Office Hours Live podcast. Months later at a Weyes Blood record release show, Mering’s friend and keyboardist Drew Erickson (Jonathan Wilson, Dawes) proposed that the three of them go into the studio together. “This was a Thursday night,” recalls Heidecker. “We were recording on Monday. The rest of the story is on the record.”
“Drew was the perfect co-conspirator,” Heidecker says. “He knew all the right people to come play with us, and he had impeccable musical chops and taste! And Natalie, I believe, is a generational singer/songwriter, a major talent who glided into this project with so much grace and a good attitude. I think she could harmonize with a doorstop and make it sound dreamy.”
The all-star band on Fear of Death includes The Lemon Twigs’ Brian & Michael D’Addario, frequent collaborator Jonathan Rado, and string arrangements by Spacebomb’s Trey Pollard (Foxygen, Bedouine, The Waterboys, Natalie Prass). Weyes Blood sings principal on “Oh How We Drift Away,” and contributes backing vocals on the album. The resulting record is Heidecker’s biggest sounding and fleshed out album yet, featuring winding guitar, slow-building percussion, gentle keys, and a 14-piece string ensemble.
The album’s lead single, “Fear of Death,” is “about as ‘Dead’ as I get,” says Heidecker. Over an intricate guitar line, Heidecker’s voice intertwines with Mering’s elevative vocals as he swears off partying and risky decisions: “I don’t see the value in having fun // I think I’m done growing // fear of death is keeping me alive.” And while “Fear of Death” is an upbeat take on avoiding potentially fatal choices and avoiding death, “Nothing” comes to terms with it. “Nothing, that’s what it amounts to, they say // A black void waiting down the road for us one day,” Heidecker sings from a recording session that he calls “one of the more spiritual and emotional moments of my creative life.”
The band nods to J.J. Cale in the bluesy and smoky “Say Yes To Me” and The Faces in the uptempo ode to country living, “Come Away With Me.” The album’s haunting and sad closer “Oh How We Drift Away” began as a Bernie Taupin/Elton John-style writing experiment, with Heidecker supplying the words and Mering setting them to music. “I was very interested in trying to do something big in scope and otherworldly,” Heidecker says. “I hope it leaves you thinking.”
While this is serious music about serious topics, it’s not all doom and gloom. Heidecker says, “I hope my observations and meditations on death, the afterlife, the future, while at times a little dark and grim, offer a little comfort and catharsis for some people, as I don’t think I’m the only one who occasionally thinks about this stuff.”
“This record is a dream come true for me,” he continues. “I got to work with some of the best, and nicest, musicians in town who helped me take some shabby, simple tunes and turn them into something I’m really proud of.” Occasionally, an idea with the shabbiest, simplest beginnings will grow into something more special than ever intended. With Fear of Death, Heidecker and his band of friends have achieved just that.
Released September 25, 2020
Tim Heidecker – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass
Josh Adams – drums, percussion Eliana Athayde – bass Mike Bloom – guitar Brian D’addario – bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, mellotron Michael D’addario – drums, electric guitar, vocals Zach Dawes – bass Drew Erickson – piano, organ,drums, celeste, wurlitzer, mellotron, string synthesizer Connor ‘Catfish’ Gallaher – pedal steel Jordan Katz – horns Benji Lysaght – electric guitar Natalie Mering – vocals Stella Mozgawa – drums, percussion Jonathan Rado – bass, acoustic guitar, mellotron, piano, percussion, EMS Synthi David Ralicke – horns
Strings arranged and conducted by Trey Pollard Violins – Ellen Riccio, Adrian Pintea, Alison Hall, Jeannette Jang, Naima Burrs, Stacy Matthews, Treesa Gold, Meredith Riley Violas – Molly Sharp, Kim Ryan, Johanna Beaver Cellos – Schuyler Slack, Peter Greydanus, Stephanie Barrett
Their ear for melodic pop hooks remains intact but the indie jangle of their earlier work has given way to a more dramatic heavier sound. And their latest single “anyway” adroitly demonstrates how the band has developed and embraced that more expansive, widescreen sound. It’s a song of soaring emotion fuelled by grunge-fuzzed guitars and more hooks than a pre-Brexit Scottish fishing trawler.
It’s also a song that addresses the issue of trying to talk candidly about mental health as singer Alice Johnson explains: To maintain a healthy mental state, we are advised to talk to others about how we feel, but that can be easier said than done as certain people might not feel confident in opening up. For the lyrics in “anyway” I wanted to highlight how it may be difficult for people to simply open up to others.
It’s challenging to try to explain an unexplainable feeling to someone and expect them to understand what they are going through when they don’t even understand it themselves. The chaos of imagery in the first 4 lines of the chorus that is then followed up by the lyrics “you never notice it anyway” expresses that even though they are trying to explain what they are going through; they feel like the person listening doesn’t care nor notices. As mental illness is an invisible illness, it is easy to feel that others don’t care about your mental state when the case may be, they haven’t even noticed.”
Swim School’s debut EP – ‘Making Sense of It All’ Releases Friday 13th August.
The Music of the Neal Casal will be honoured with a 41-song tribute album box set, Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal, featuring J Mascis, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Steve Earle, Cass McCombs, Fruit Bats, Hiss Golden Messenger, Vetiver, Warren Haynes, Jonathan Wilson w/ Hannah Cohen, Jonathan Rice, Eric Krasno, Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks, The Allman Betts Band, Puss N Boots (ft. Norah Jones), Neal’s own band Circles Around The Sun, and many more.
The album comes out November 12th, and all proceeds will benefit the Neal Casal Music Foundation, a “501c3 non-profit formed in 2020, which provides musical instruments and lessons to students in New Jersey and New York state schools where Casal was born and raised, while also donating proceeds to mental health organizations that support musicians, including MusiCares and More info on the box set, via press release:
‘Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal’ is a tribute to the life and music of the gifted singer, songwriter, musician, and friend to many.
Featuring 41 of Neal’s songs on 5 LPs or 3 CDs, the collection brings together a galaxy of rock and roots music luminaries to reimagine the body of work he left behind, while celebrating his enduring impact as an artist. Within the limited edition vinyl and CD box sets are sleeves with rare and previously unpublished photos of Neal, a booklet presenting song lyrics, Neal’s own iconic photography and an essay by early career champion Jim Cardillo. Additional collectibles include a poster and baseball card with photos of Neal by photographer Jay Blakesberg and stickers designed by poster artists Alan Forbes and Marq Spusta.
The music was co-produced by Widespread Panic’s Dave Schools and 7-time Grammy-Winner Jim Scott. Song previews: Bob Weir / Jay Lane / Dave Schools, “Time And Trouble” Jimmy Herring with Circles Around The Sun, “BirdWith No Name” Leslie Mendelson, “Feel No Pain” Shooter Jennings, “Maybe California” Billy Strings with Circles Around The Sun, “All The Luck In The World” Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, “Day In The Sun” Beachwood Sparks & GospelbeacH, “You Don’t See Me Crying”
Beachwood Sparks & GospelbeacH – “You Don’t See Me Crying” from ‘Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal’
In addition to 41 performances of Neal Casal songs by 130 participating musicians, the box set includes LP sleeves with rare and previously unpublished photos of Casal, a 48-page booklet presenting song lyrics, Casal’s own iconic work as a photographer and an essay by early career champion Jim Cardillo.
Additional collectibles include a poster and baseball card with photos of Casal by photographer Jay Blakesberg and stickers designed by poster artists Alan Forbes and Marq Spusta. The Neal Casal Music Foundation and record label Royal Potato Family who partnered to release the collection will also be working with ClimeCo to voluntarily mitigate the carbon emissions from the manufacturing and shipping of the box sets.
Bob Dylan will release his next archival package, “The Bootleg Series Vol. 16: Springtime in New York”, on September 17th. The latest chapter in Columbia/Legacy’s highly acclaimed Bob Dylan BootlegSeries revisits an often-forgotten, rich vein in Dylan’s vast and complex catalogue, shining fresh light on the provocative new musical directions Dylan was taking as a songwriter and a recording artist from 1980 through 1985.
The newist installment of his ongoing out-takes and demo’s highlights the years 1981 through 1985. The project will be available in three formats: a two-CD version, a two-LP edition and a five-CD deluxe box set.
According to a press release, the set will include “unreleased outtakes, alternate takes, rehearsal recordings, live performances and more.” A full-band take on “Too Late,” a folky early version of an “Infidels” outtake “Foot of Pride,” has been released in advance of the set. (“Foot of Pride” appeared on 1991’s The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (rarte and Unreleased) 1961-1991.
The track listing for The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 – which includes material surrounding the making of 1981’s “Shot Of Love”, 1983’s “Infidels” and the 1985 “Empire Burlesque” is available to order at Dylan’s website.
In June, Dylan released a two-hour compilation film, Bob Dylan “Odds and Ends”, featuring archival footage, unused clips from earlier Dylan documentaries and other material from throughout his career.
He also recently issued “Shadow Kingdom” -taped concert that marked his first performance since 2019; the 12-track movie, directed by Alma Har’el, starred Dylan fronting a small house band in a speakeasy.
Over fifty years ago on July 20th, 1969, arguably two of the most important moments in mankind occurred at the same time. First, at 10:56 p.m. ET the American astronaut Neil Armstrong put his left foot on the lunar surface and famously declared, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Also at 10:56 p.m. ET Iggy and the Stooges were playing in Detroit, Michigan. No doubt, equally important to civilization.
In the summer of 1969, most of the world simply didn’t know what to make of Iggy Pop and the Stooges. The brash and abrasive band blasted out of the Detroit underground with a seething vengeance, armed with caustic songs laced with bracing titles, like “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” But The Stooges essentially laid out the blueprint for punk rock to generations of noisemakers eager to plug in and turn it up to 11. The album’s brutal and violent approach was reflective of the mood of a nation dealing with the atrocities of the Vietnam War, and civil unrest bubbling up across the country.
“My memory of the original years was a transfixed, frozen attention,” Iggy Pop told Rolling Stone in 2007. “Few people wanted to be anywhere near the stage. They would just stare. It was as if the audience was a gigantic cardboard cut out, a diorama. Nobody moved. Nobody went to the bathroom,” he cracked. “Little by little, people started liking it. It was mostly high school kids — tenth graders,” Pop continued. “What we did didn’t bother them. They thought the riffs were cool. The songs said something to them. And then there were the Ramones, sitting in Queens, going, ‘I can get with that. It’s kind of simple.’ It didn’t bother them at all.”
The Stooges were a late addition to the bill at the Grande Ballroom on July 20th, 1969. Audience accounts of the evening recall Iggy being told on stage that Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. Ecstatic at the news, Iggy proclaimed “I’m gonna play a special dedication” and the Stooges played “1969” in honour of the event. Well fifty years later, we’re going to honour it all with an out-of-this-world Iggy and the Stooges print by the one and only Godmachine: I think Iggy is theee best and I send all my love. It’s fucking Iggy man, this is my chance, ya know?! I hope I did him proud, my aim was to make it for the Stooges fans in my style with space references to the gig too. – GM
By naming a song “Showstopper” you’re immediately setting yourself a pretty high bar and it’s not exactly the easiest branding to live up to. Fortunately, this is W.H Lung we’re talking about here – so settle in and enjoy the pièce de résistance.
It’s a dreamy take from the quintet who previously have made spaced out sounds so well that it’s a surprise they weren’t tapped up for the new Space Jam film. The pulse behind this one keeps you on the right path as various vocal entries and guitars try to capture your attention as they flicker away, racing from side to side and throwing your head around the room. It’s genuinely beautiful in its creation and will hit all those right notes to release the sweetest endorphins your brain has to offer.
So settle in one last time and get this down you, it’ll be good for you. Congratulations to the band on managing to make sure they lived up to that ambitious name. What a way to end the show.
They’re named after a Chinese supermarket in their native ManchesterW.H Lung are releasing their sophomore album “Vanities” in September. The Dancey lead single “Pearl In the Palm” got us to be plenty excited for the LP. And now they’re back with another track, the new wave banger “Showstopper.”
“‘Showstopper’ is about The Fear. It’s the day after the night before when you’ve let it all go or let yourself go large or let yourself get vulnerable, thinking ah no what happened last night? what did I say?” W.H. Lung say. “And yet the song does contain testimony of the beauty and transformation that can be found in a very good night out. softlizard’s verse is saying, alright stop thinking so much, get up and dance.”
“Showstopper” (ft. softlizard), from upcoming album “Vanities“, out September 3rd on Melodic Records.
The Fat Angel Sings 