There are collaborations you didn’t know you needed and then there’s the bizarre joy of Crowded House teaming up with Tame Impala for a remix that Neil Finn has described as “an exotic fantasy”. As the story goes, Finn reached out to Tame Impala, aka Kevin Parker, with hopes the Perth psych-rock juggernaut would put a unique spin on the band’s current single “To The Island” a proposition that was accepted and resulted in what you hear below:
“With all the world upended and nothing in its right place we became curious to hear how our favourite contemporary musicians and record makers might reimagine a Crowded House song,” Finn said.
“I emailed our version of To The Island to Kevin Parker (Tame Impala) with an invitation to take it apart and reassemble in his own unique way. Happily, he really liked the song and it was an absolute delight to hear what he made from it, an exotic fantasy I would call it.”
Tame Impala’s remix of To The Island is set to be released on 7” vinyl alongside a previously unreleased remix of the track from Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard member Cook Craig’s solo project has dominated this week’s ARIA Vinyls chart.
Craig’s Pipe-eye has taken out the top two spots with the extended version of 2015 debut Cosmic Blip and limited edition version of 2017’s Laugh About Life respectively. Cook Craig’s 2017 follow up to Cosmic Blip, “Laugh About Life“, is an album that explored new territory for him aesthetically, moving away from the reverb drenched approach of previous recordings. More tight and succinct in its delivery, the songs were short, snappy and pop oriented.
Still present were interludes peppered throughout the record, however this time they delved into a whole other sphere entirely, sounding like something from a nostalgic other-worldly toy box, bouncing between the songs like a slow paced game of pong. These ‘Acts’ set the mood for the preceding songs, as the album unfolds into a melodious and symphonic play of sorts. Laugh About Life is a humorous and jovial musical campaign, always heading in one direction, yet disappearing swiftly in its conclusion, like a dream or an elusive memory.
The Pipe-eye debuts managed to hold Artic Monkeys‘ AM at #3 and Skegss‘ Rehearsal at #4 which debuted at #1 on the Albums chart last week.
The news comes a month after King Gizzard’s 17th studio album, LW, debuted in the chart’s top 40, with the vinyl of that record also expected to drop soon.
A collection of songs created in an attic.. up-and-coming Minnesota artists to introduce themselves to our audience. Today: young Minneapolis-based band Ivers, who’ve been working with producer Whistler Allen (of Hippo Campus). Henry and Ivan went to arts high school together, so they met there. Henry and I know each other through a mutual friend, so a while back, we just started playing music. Really starting in early 2020, right around when COVID hit, is when we realized that this kind of trio was a good bubble to keep ourselves in, [in regards] to people that we could see. That’s when I feel like we discovered that we work so well together, and have similar sounds [and] similar desires for what we want out of our music. I feel like with “Push,” I had kind of a few different things talking about me leaving for college. I feel like, once I got the first line of melody down to that guitar piece, it just kind of all came together very quickly, lyrically, and melody wise. That one got moving really quickly. But yeah, it’s usually off of a random idea that I have that I decided to expand into this one song.
Today we’re thrilled to announce a new EP from Wombo!, The weird world of Wombo is a stitched-together tapestry of avant pop and angular post punk that’s generated industry buzz and led the band to open for now-labelmates Dehd as well as White Reaper and the Nude Party. Out digitally & on cassette, new EP “Keesh Mountain” is a snapshot of Wombo’s wide-ranging aspirations that criss-coss post punk, avant pop and wonky indie with a sky’s-the-limit approach to translating the mundanity of regular life into their own high-frequency language.
To mark the announce the band are sharing single “Dreamsickle” alongside a self-produced video the trio created at home in Louisville, Kentucky featuring cosmic animations that adapt the band’s aesthetic imagery with a mercurial quality that has its own sense of playful, adventurous allure. They explain:
“Dreamsickle is about the frustrating yet comforting truth that no one can ever see or feel exactly what you experience in a dream. How no amount of explaining can be done to put an image from your dream into someone else’s mind. The visual was roughly based off “A trip to the moon.” We wanted a whimsical video that complements the dreamy feeling of the lyrics. Also we wanted something that looked very tactile with the textures of the fabrics and clouds to feel like a children’s story book.”
Wombo’s New EP Keesh Mountain is Out May 28th, on Fire Talk Records
It has been eleven years since Cathal Coughlan committed his voice to record – and the moment you hear it, you will be painfully aware of how much you have missed it. He has a voice like no-one else, expressive and sullen while somehow not coming across as grumpy. Originally from Cork, Ireland, Cathal Coughlan is the co-founder and singer of acclaimed 80s/90s groups Microdisney and Fatima Mansions, and widely considered to be one of Ireland’s most revered singer/songwriters, beloved by fans of caustic literate lyricism and erudite songcraft.
Although I still prefer his work in Microdisney together with Sean O’Hagan to his Fatima Mansions and solo records, the new album is certainly the best thing he has made since those days.
Maybe the renewed inspiration is related to the fact that Coughlan was instrumental in reforming Microdisney for a number of concerts, Not only do some of his old mates appear on this record; the songs are great, there is lots of drama in the arrangements, and the intense lyrics are filled to the brim with chaotic pictures expressing the life of alter-ego Co-Aklan.
The high point on the album is probably ‘The Knockout Artist’, what a pop song! It is also great to hear Sean O’Hagan contributing some synth on it. O’Hagan reappears on the closing track ‘Unrealtime’, this time on vocals.
A real keeper.
Recorded in London, the album features contributions from members of long-time collaborators the Grand Necropolitan Quartet as well as Luke Haines (The Auteurs, Black Box Recorder), Sean O’Hagan (Microdisney, The High Llamas), Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti), Eileen Gogan and Aindrais O’Gruama (Fatima Mansions).
“I had this album finished last year and then the world stopped and I had to stop,” James Vincent McMorrow says. “I remember sitting in my car crying after I heard that we’d be parking the work until 2021, and then I wrote ‘Waiting.’ It’s a song about feeling sorry for myself, and then going home and talking to the one person in my life who understands just how awkward a fit all of this is for me, and who loves me for the actual human I am and not what I curate in order to feel like the person I need to be.” It’s from his new album, Grapefruit Season, due out July 16th via Columbia Records.
Music video by James Vincent McMorrow performing “Waiting” (Official Video). Columbia Records. Sony Music UK Limited
Former Pains of Being Pureat Heart bassist Alex Nadius leads Los Angeles band Massage whose debut album, Still Life, was produced by Jed Smith (My Teenage Stride) and will be out June 25th. Opening cut “Half a Feeling” has a definite Jesus & Mary Chain vibe to it.
The kind of music Massage makes — sunny, bittersweet, tender — is less a proper genre than a minor zip code nested within guitar pop. Take a little “There She Goes” by the La’s, some “If You Need Someone” by the Field Mice; the honey-drizzled guitars from The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love”, a Jesus & Mary Chain backbeat, and you’re almost all the way there. Indie pop, jangle pop, power pop—whatever you call it, pushing too hard scares the spirit right out of this sweet, diffident music, and Massage have a touch so light the songs seem to form spontaneously, like wry smiles.
Still, on their sophomore effort, Still Life, they manage to take a quantum leap forward in song writing, production, and depth, all somehow without seeming to try. These 12 deft songs are full of late-summer sunlight and deep shadows, pained grins and shared jokes, shy declarations of love and quietly nursed heartbreak. Still Life resurrects a brief, romantic moment in the late-’80s, right after post-punk and immediately before alt-rock, when it seemed like any scrappy indie band might stumble across a hit.
The result is the finest batch of songs they’ve ever produced. From Naidus’ velvet-lined JAMC tribute “Half A Feeling” to Ferrer’s Let It Be-era Replacements-tinged lament “The Double” to Romano’s “In Gray & Blue,” these are gold-standard indie-pop gems from emerging masters of the form. The lyrics are downcast, empathetic, and quiet, little sketched portraits of evanescent feelings. “I got half a feeling/you’re not the one who’s really alive,” Naidus sings on first single “Half A Feeling,” while overdriven guitar churns up dirt clouds and the do, do-do, POW drumbeat sends the song racing towards sunset. “At the end of the world/Where were you?” he wonders on “At the End or the World,” a simple, affecting plea for pure companionship and love as structures large and small crumble outside.
Nashville-based rock and soul singer-songwriter Maggie Rose is unveiling a trilogy of music videos to be released accompanying her forthcoming album “Have A Seat”, due out on August 20th via Starstruck Records. The first clip is for the gospel-charged single, “What Are We Fighting For” which was produced by Jared Rauso/Bolo Brothers and directed by Ford Fairchild.
Ahead of a pair of socially distant shows in Denver, “rock n soul” singer Maggie Rose has shared a new music video for “What Are We Fighting For.”
The tune is bolstered by B-3 organ as well as Rose’s belting vocals, and fans can hear it alongside 10 other tunes on her forthcoming LP Have A Seat. These songs were written during a contentious time, and there are undertones to the lyrics that are influenced by the state of our world politics and the politics of the music industry. The title Have a Seat is responsorial, placing an emphasis on inclusivity — like, ‘Here, sit down. Let’s try talking to each other.’ One of the most loving things we can do is listen and make others feel heard give people the space to speak their mind and be themselves. However, there’s also an intended meaning to the title that points to the power in occupying the seat that’s designated to you: I am claiming a seat I believe is rightfully mine, and I want others to do the same. I can’t wait for you to hear it front to back, but until then, the first single, “Do It” is available now.
The album is Rose’s third full-length and was produced by Ben Tanner of Alabama Shakes at the iconic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals,. In a series of pre-pandemic sessions, Rose recorded live with a line-up of heavy-hitters that includes bassist David Hood of the Swampers (the group of session musicians who played on records from legends like Aretha Franklin and Etta James) and guitarist Will McFarlane (Bonnie Raitt, Levon Helm), along with her long time bandmates/collaborators Larry Florman (background vocals/percussion), Alex Haddad (guitars), and Sarah Tomek (drums) of Them Vibes, as well as guests such as Marcus King, among others.
On April 28th, Rose will host her podcast Salute The Songbirds as a live concert event at City Winery in Nashville, TN. The event, presented by Osiris Media, will feature performances from Elizabeth Cook, Jillette Johnson, Kalie Shorr, Nicole Atkins and Nicki Bluhm. Fans can also tune in to live stream the show via Mandolin A portion of proceeds from the event will benefit Women in Music and can be purchased HERE.
Micro-legendary DIY Garage-Pop-Psych provocateurs! The Prefab Messiahs Evolutionary genre grinders practicing art-damaged power pop, rock, crunch, jangle and general mind-infiltration.
Pandemics rage, the climate boils, politics putrefy, economies rot, and mass culture crumbles. Luckily, The Prefab Messiahs ring in their 40th(!) anniversary with a timely new batch of mind-expanding, genre-twisting sonic nuggets to distract us — and with any luck, to help inspire some fair turnabout. ‘Music For Concerned Citizens’ — the perfect prescription to pop your brain’s socially-distanced bubble!
Last year Joni Mitchell and Rhino stunned fans with the announcement of the Joni Mitchell Archives, an ongoing series of releases that look back at the career of the multifaceted songwriter, singer, producer, and visual artist.
Joni Mitchell and Rhino announced the next volume in the series: “The Reprise Albums (1968-1971)”, to be released June 25th, just fifty years and three days after she released the classic album “Blue” on June 22nd, 1971. This 4-CD or 4-LP set collects her first four albums, which feature some of her most enduring work:Song To A Seagull (featuring the essential tracks “Cactus Tree” and “Marcie”), Clouds (“Chelsea Morning” and “Both Sides Now”), Ladies of the Canyon (“Big Yellow Taxi,” “The Circle Game,” “Woodstock”) and the timeless Blue (featuring “River” and “A Case of You”), which recently landed on Rolling Stone‘s list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Joni Mitchell released Blue, concluding her prolific four album run for Reprise Records with an album considered by many to be one of the greatest of all time. Its stirring, confessional songs have been celebrated by music lovers and critics alike for decades while inspiring a wide variety of artists as diverse as Prince and Taylor Swift. Even today, its stature as a masterpiece continues to grow. Just last year, the album was named #3 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” To celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary, Rhino is releasing “The Reprise Albums (1968-1971)” the next installment of the Joni Mitchell Archives series, featuring newly remastered versions of Blue (1971) and the three albums that came before it: Song To A Seagull (1968), Clouds (1969), and Ladies Of The Canyon (1970).
In the case of Song To A Seagull, the original mix has been recently updated by Mitchell and mixer Matt Lee. The cover art for “The Reprise Albums (1968-1971)” features a previously unseen self-portrait Mitchell sketched during the time period. The collection also includes an essay by Grammy winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, another artist who’s been influenced greatly by Mitchell.
All the music on The Reprise Albums (1968-1971)has been newly remastered by Bernie Grundman and it also premieres a new mix of “Song To A Seagull” by Matt Lee and Joni Mitchell. In interviews, Joni has applauded her producer David Crosby’s choice to keep her songs sparse as in her live shows, but also expressed dissatisfaction over the chamber reverb that it had been said was baked into the tapes. The new mix honours the sonic fingerprint of the original while dialling back some of that reverb. For fans, it will be a whole new way of experiencing Joni’s first artistic statement.
The box set is handsomely packaged in a deluxe slipcase and adorned with a newly discovered self-portrait of the artist from the era. You’ll also find new liner notes by Brandi Carlile, a friend and admirer of Joni Mitchell and 6-time Grammy winner in her own right. If you purchase directly from Joni Mitchell’s online shop (in the U.S. or through the new EU storefront launched today), you’ll get a 7″x7″ print of the album artwork – one per copy purchased, no matter the format. But vinyl enthusiasts will want to act quickly on this one, as the LP edition of The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) is limited to just 10,000 copies.
And speaking of Mitchell’s online store, today marks the launch of the first official Joni Mitchell merchandise line. You’ll find a plethora of exclusive Joni Mitchell Archives-emblazoned memorabilia, as well as album cover T-shirts.
As for the vault material that fans are craving? Joni and Rhino promise that Joni Mitchell Archives Vol.2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) will follow later this year with a wealth of unreleased studio and live recordings. “Mitchell continues to be intimately involved in producing these collections, lending her vision and personal touch to every element of the projects,” Rhino representatives said in the press release. “Future releases in the Archives series will arrive in a similar manner, with a boxed set focused on studio albums from a specific era, followed by an official Archives release looking at unreleased audio from the same period.”
As Brandi Carlile writes in her notes, “No matter what we are dealing with in these times we can rejoice and know that of all the ages we could have lived through, we lived in the time of Joni Mitchell.” The four albums on The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) remind us how lucky we are with a stunning portrait of an artist finding her voice.
The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) arrives on 4-CD, limited edition 4-LP, and digital on June 25th. You can pre-order your set from the links below and preview the set with the new remaster of “A Case of You.”
Joni Mitchell,The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) (Rhino, 2021)
The Fat Angel Sings 