The Fat Angel Sings

The Zombies have a bit of a confusing discography, with different configurations of their albums being released in the U.K. and U.S.  There have been efforts to clean things up over the years, but there are still differences.  A case in point: the release in 2019 of two different vinyl box sets examining the group’s studio work, one on Demon Records for the U.K and one from Varese Vintage for the U.S.A.

Now for Record Store Day, Craft Recordings is releasing the fifth LP from the Varese set (which was newly curated at the time).  The 13-track set gathers material not featured on the U.S. versions of The Zombies’ albums including rarities, U.K.-only album tracks and outtakes.  Collectively, this material makes a compelling listen on its own.  Some of the songs include a cover of Little Anthony and The Imperials’ “Goin’ Out of My Head,” the early B-side “I Can’t Make Up My Mind,” as well as three songs (“Remember You,” “Just Out of Reach” and “Nothing’s Changed”) from the soundtrack to Otto Preminger’s 1965 film Bunny Lake Is Missing, in which the band appeared. 

A bespoke collection of rare singles and UK-only album tracks from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. Far from being cast-offs and also-rans, the selections are every bit as essential as the tracks included on the Zombies’ primary releases.  

Side One: 1. Kind Of Girl, 2. She’s Coming Home, 3. I Must Move, 4. I Want You Back Again, 5. I Can’t Make Up My Mind, 6. I Remember When I Loved Her, 7. I’m Going Home; Side Two: 1. Remember You, 2. Just Out Of Reach, 3. Nothing’s Changed, 4. Goin’ Out Of My Head, 5. She Does Everything For Me, 6. A Love That Never Was

Pressed on 180g black vinyl, the LP includes notes from Andrew Sandoval, who also co-produced the set.  It is limited to 3,000 copies.

There are a lot of label anniversaries this year that come with fun surprises. Two days ago we got a collaboration between Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Perfume Genius for a cover of Richard Youngs’ “A Fullness Of Light In Your Soul” for the 25-year anniversary of Jagjaguwar Recordings. Today, the company’s sister label Secretly Canadian offers a gift as well: new songs for their series SC25 Singles, which includes a lovely rendition of Kacey Musgraves’ “Lonely Weekend” by NNAMDÏ. His vocals are fragile and vulnerable; at less than three and a half minutes, it’s a satisfying flash of twangy indie rock.

Folks that toured with me in the past few years know it’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Kacey Musgraves’ music. I got the dang tweet receipts and everything. Every song on Golden Hour is a bop and ‘Lonely Weekend’ is one that always pumps me up because of its immediacy. The song just starts with the vocals and you’re in it for the ride from the get go. Kacey introduced me to an album by the prodigy, bluegrass savant Chris Thile that really blew me away. Since I was gifted a really old ukulele and a funky lil busted ass banjo early last year, I decided it would be fun to incorporate some elements of that into this cover despite never having played banjo before. Lol. It’s kind of a slight homage to that with my own spin on it and a thank you to her for introducing me to one of my new favourite records.

“Lonely Weekend” released through Secretly Canadian on: 11th June 2021: NNAMDÏ

Over the last couple of years, Smoothboi Ezra has made a name for themselves crafting spare-sounding love songs; light on musical backing, and loaded with feeling. 2018’s debut track ‘Thinking of You’ paired strummed ukulele with barely-there percussion, and artfully deployed tweaks of high pass filter; it gave the song a transient quality, like a blaring car radio fading away towards the horizon. ‘A Shitty Gay Song About You’ was similarly pared-back, underpinned by twinkling chimes.

After fleshing out their sound further on their 2019 EP ‘Is It’ the County Wicklow singer released their single ‘My Own Person’ – a distinct levelling up with a live feel. Bolstered by extra instrumentation, Ezra explored their gender identity with both warmth and specificity (the musician is non-binary, and uses they/them pronouns). “I wanna blend into the background, I wanna be nobody and never make a sound,” they sang, “but I wanna start feeling like I can be myself”.

Now, six months later, Smoothboi Ezra’s new EP ‘Stuck’ knits together these two musical threads – sparse, emotive stories, and the heft of a beefier backing band. Backed by uneasy guitars, the title-track concerns a fraught relationship where both halves feel equally stuck. Ezra’s narrator is rooted by fear: “I can feel the growing resentment, but I’m too afraid to end it,” they admit. And their partner’s trapped in the worst year of their life, unable to see anything beyond it: “[It] started when you met me,” Ezra sings, “you say I shouldn’t take it personally.” Gradually, lone guitar builds into a propulsive heartbreak epic.

On ‘Without You’ languid guitar lines and scuffing snares mingle together, drawing on ‘90s alternative rock; it puts Ezra in similar territory to maybe Snail Mail and Soccer Mommy. Lyrically, the song explores the uncertain grey area of love-turned-friendship, and the slightly petty everyday struggles of outwardly thriving when your heart is secretly breaking. Specifically, the ill-advised post-breakup haircut. “I finally cut a fringe,” they say dryly, “you always said I wouldn’t so I did, but I pushed it back, I’m waiting for it to grow out again”.

The EP’s more minimal tracks, ‘You’ and ‘Palm of Your Hand’, spring up from similar ground – though they’re songs written for somebody else, there’s a gulf between Ezra’s narrator and subject. On the latter, they watch from the corner of a chaotic house party as somebody else gets as fucked up as possible – all the while, kept there by a deep care that isn’t necessarily returned. And ‘You’, Ezra has explained, is about a different kind of separation: “My autism makes it hard for me to remember how I feel about people when they’re not right in front of me,” they wrote in a statement. “I have very little emotional object permanence which makes it hard to feel loved by people but also makes it hard for me to let the people I love know and feel my love for them.”

As a whole, ‘Stuck’ is about the feeling of being a step away from something, and yet feeling rooted to the spot. And in stark contrast, it’s also Smoothboi Ezra’s freest sounding release. They might feel stuck in the ground, but musically ‘Stuck’ is continually breaking loose and building bigger than anything the musician’s done before – it’s a quiet, but convincing reinvention.

Released June 10th, 2021

“OMG I Made It”, the latest project from Pronoun — the nom de plume of emo-pop auteur Alyse Vellturo — hits like a much-needed catch-up with an old friend you hadn’t seen since all of this happened, five sparkling songs encapsulating the life of the Brooklyn-based indie label manager by day, bedroom artist by night who’s toured with your favourite formative emo bands. hits like a much-needed catch-up with an old friend you hadn’t seen since all of this happened, five sparkling songs encapsulating the life of the Brooklyn-based indie label manager by day, bedroom artist by night who’s toured with your favourite formative emo bands.

The new EP from the awesome Pronoun, following on from the excellent and charming 2019 debut full length ‘i’ll show you stronger’. 

Offering up another dose of infectious and spellbinding mixes of bedroom pop, electro-rock and an immediate influence of 90’s emo. Fans of Jimmy Eat World’s ‘Clarity’, Now Now, Day Wave, The Japanese House and Wild Pink should check this out.

One of the the first releases on (your ‘soon-to-be-new-favourite’) label, Wax Bodega.

Out on June 11th, 2021 via Wax Bodega.

released June 11, 2021

It was hard to get in touch with Pete Gill in the summer of 2018. He didn’t have a phone, car, or apartment. He had a job renting swan boats on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, where he was the oldest employee by ten years. He had a 3rd Generation iPod Touch, which he used to tell his friends whether he could hang out over Facebook Messenger on public wifi, and to listen to the Beach Boys every single day. And he had a bicycle.

Gill isn’t getting sunburned at the Harbor Park anymore. He’s got a band, and he wants everyone to hear it. He still writes songs at a Robert Pollard-pace, but he doesn’t have to play his own drums. In 2020, 2nd Grade released the 24-track LP Hit to Hit on Double Double Whammy with a band of Philly all-stars including members of Remember Sports, Friendship, and 22 degree halo. Now, the five-piece band has re-recorded eight songs from Wish You Were Here Tour. Along with remastered versions of the original fourteen and one outtake, they will make up Wish You Were Here Tour Revisited, a document of the band’s past, present, and future.

2nd Grade’s past is Pete Gill on a friend’s futon, layering guitars with a zoom recorder on his day off. Wish You Were Here Tour came before the band members, studio, and more serious genre experimentation of Hit to Hit, and is Gill at his most vulnerable. Lo-fi guitar riffs and snarky jokes are broken up by sincerity and tenderness. Despite Gill’s pan-instrumental virtuosity, Wish You Were Here Tour is still defined by personal idiosyncrasy.

The future is a nonstop rush of guitar, harmony, and gratification. 2nd Grade’s new albums are like bags of Jolly Ranchers; seemingly bottomless containers of sweet sensory overload, with every possible flavour – overwhelming confusion, new love, spite, fear, and nostalgic longing. There’s more distortion, more production, and even more guitar. Gill sings louder than he used to, whether it’s due to confidence or the move from thin-walled apartments to the recording studio. Both versions of the Wish You Were Here Tour songs develop the 2nd Grade ethos: childhood wonder, experimentation, guitar hooks, and having as much fun as possible before you die.

From the remastered “Wish You Were Here Tour Revisited” available everywhere June 25th on Double Double Whammy Records.

Back in April, we reviewed Matt Sweeney and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy‘s hugely anticipated new album “Superwolves”.

The much loved Joan Shelley and Nathan Salsburg have teamed up with Matt and Bonny to present the “Watch What Happens” b/w “Stay On My Shore” digital single.

In their usual eloquent style Drag City add: On their rendition of Superwolves’ “Watch What Happens,” Joan and Nathan slip inside the skin of the tune, adapting the original’s noirish air into a thorny folk classicism and communicating the message of self-reliance with equal parts wonder and stoic, wind-strewn beauty, streaming like nature intended from their hands and mouths. For “Stay On My Shore,” Bonny and Matt unfurl one of Joan’s best-loved tunes. Trading each other’s essential nature, Face/Off-style; they tap raw beauty into music, two ways. 

Hands across Louisville, as Joan Shelley and the Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy put on each other’s airs: Bonny and Matt Sweeney unfurl of Joan’s best-loved tunes while Joan and Nathan Salsburg reach into into the depths of the just-released “Superwolves”.

Joan Shelley & Nathan Salsburg: “Being asked to cover someone’s song is like being invited to rearrange someone’s room. Already admiring the Superwolves’ furnishings and spatial sense, we found plenty of fun and satisfaction just messing with their stuff, rifling through their drawers, sitting in their chairs, jumping on their bed, and watching what happens.”

Released June 7th, 2021