Archive for the ‘MUSIC’ Category

BLACK MIDI – ” John L” & “Despair “

Posted: March 26, 2021 in MUSIC
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Just about two years ago, everyone named Black Midi as a Band To Watch on the strength of their contorted, bugged-out, wholly idiosyncratic debut “Schlagenheim” which also turned out to be one of the best albums of 2019. Even with a pandemic derailing Black Midi’s ability to tour (and our ability to see their mind-altering live show), they’ve kept busy in recent times. They took to performing radio plays during early quarantine, and later joined their fellow London experimentalists Black Country, New Road for a tribute show at the Windmill Brixton, at which they all covered “Born To Run.” They even made time for some surprisingly conventional Christmas covers. All along, the group were also preparing a sophomore album. It’s called “Cavalcade”, and it’s out at the end of May.

Thematically, Cavalcade is a series of character sketches, anything from a cult leader whose following is turning on him to Marlene Dietrich. “When you’re listening, you can imagine all the characters form a sort of cavalcade,” Cameron Picton said in a statement. “Each tells their story one by one and as each track ends they overtake you, replaced by the next in line​

Musically, the band went into the album with a completely different approach than on Schlagenheim. “It’s easy to get wrapped up in the improvisation myth of divine intervention, that if a song doesn’t happen in the room naturally without it being guided by someone specifically, when we’re all just feeling the vibe, then it’s not proper and it’s not pure,” Geordie Greep said of their process. The individual members wrote more at home, and brought in collaborators to add piano, saxophone, and violin — all in an effort to make something that was more complex and arranged vs. how they had coaxed Schlagenheim‘s songs out of jams.

Along with the announcement, Black Midi have shared lead single/opening track “John L,” the aforementioned cult leader song. It comes with a pretty wild video directed by choreographer Nina McNeely, who’s also worked on projects like Rihanna’s “Sledgehammer” clip and Gaspar Noe’s Climax. They also shared its B-side, “Despair.” 

The second studio album “Cavalcade” is out 28th May 2021

YES – ” Visual Biography “

Posted: March 26, 2021 in MUSIC
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978-1-912782-68-0-Yes-Visual Biography

“Yes: A Visual Biography” by Martin Popoff documents the progressive rock pioneer’s first 12 years from the release of their eponymous debut album through to 1980’s “Drama.”

A suitable name for a band whose career has been full of drama as documented in Martin Popoff’s narrative that charts Yes’s ups and downs as the band glided out of the sixties with a full-on assault on the seventies music scene that saw them become one of the biggest acts in the world—selling out venues from New York’s Madison Square Garden to London’s Wembley Arena.

Popoff takes you on a journey from the early days of the band with original members Chris Squire, Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Peter Banks and Tony Kaye; to the hugely successful seventies when the likes of Steve Howe, Patrick Moraz, Rick Wakeman and Alan White all added their individual stamps on the band’s identity. Then the surprise union with The Buggles that saw Yes enter the eighties a world apart from the way they had entered the seventies but continuing to delight their legion of fans.

Throughout the book Popoff draws on his own interviews conducted with various band members throughout the last two decades, leaving much of the story to be told in their own words, along with a smattering of album reviews by the author and others.

Weighing in at over 1.5kg this large format coffee table book is fully illustrated throughout, documenting the story visually from the late sixties through to 1980. As well as an abundance of concert images the stunning photographic content is topped off with many off stage shots including a selection of photos taken at Morgan Studios in London during the recording of 1973’s audacious and extravagant Tales From Topographic Oceans.

Yes A Visual Biography will augment any Yes fan’s collection.

GRATEFUL DEAD – ” Skull & Roses ” 50th Anniversary Edition

Posted: March 26, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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On June 25th, Deadheads will get their hands on the new, 50th anniversary edition of the Grateful Dead’s second live LP “Skull & Roses”, The release including 60+ minutes of unreleased audio from the band’s July 2nd, 1971 performance at the Fillmore West.

As 2021 marches along so do the reissues for classic 50th Anniversary celebrations of some titles. For The Grateful Dead, which has a solid following even among newer generations who were not around at their peak, the albums, in their order, are moving along. Last year, “Workingman’s Dead” arrived in definitive CD and LP editions. The year before it was “Aoxomoxoa”. Now, it’s the turn for the ‘Skull and Roses’ collected live tracks album officially titled Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead’s second live release was an eponymously titled double LP whose cover bears the striking skull-and-roses visual motif that would become instantly recognizable and an indelibly linked trademark of the band. As opposed to their debut concert recording, Live/Dead (1969), this hour and ten minutes concentrates on newer material, which consisted of shorter self-contained originals and covers.

Explains GD legacy manager/archivist David Lemieux, “Skull & Roses” captures the quintessential quintet, the original five piece band, playing some of their hardest hitting rock ‘n’ roll (‘Johnny B. Goode,’ ‘Not Fade Away’), showing off their authentic Bakersfield bona fides (‘Me & My Uncle,’ ‘Mama Tried,’ ‘Me & Bobby McGee’), and some originals that would be important parts of the Dead’s live repertoire for the next 24 years (‘Bertha,’ ‘Playing In The Band,’ ‘Wharf Rat’). Of course, the Grateful Dead were never defined by one specific ‘sound’ and amongst the aforementioned genres and styles the band brought to this album, they also delved deeply into their psychedelic, primal playbook with an entire side dedicated to their 1968 masterpiece ‘The Other One.’.. Skull & Roses sounds as fresh today as the first time I heard it in 1985, and as fresh as it was upon its spectacularly well-received release in 1971.”

To celebrate, Grateful Dead HQ has shared “The Other One” from the previously-mentioned Summer ’71 rarity at San Francisco’s Fillmore West. Grateful Dead perform “The Other One” live from Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA 7/2/71.

The standout centerpiece of the 1971 live album was Side 2’s “The Other One”, and this one from a little over two months later is every bit its equal. Every version of “The Other One” from 1971 is unique and different, but they all maintain a hold on the spirit of the song and can be viewed as one big, continuous piece of music.

The release is out June 18th, Rhino Records will unleash a 2CD and a separately available 2LP (Black) 180g-weight vinyl 50th Anniversary set for fans. The album, of course, will be newly remastered for this package. It will also contain a previously unreleased July 2nd, 1971 concert on the expanded bonus disc. This set will also be made available on DD format in both the expanded edition and the remastered album only. Hi-res DD (FLAC and ALAC) can be purchased at Dead.net. There will also be a limited edition collectable black and white propeller-coloured vinyl set that is limited to 5,000 copies only.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS – ” Tiny Music…Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop ” Deluxe Edition

Posted: March 26, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Stone Temple Pilots are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their 1996 LP “Tiny Music…Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop” by releasing a three-disc/one-LP deluxe edition featuring a remastered version of the original album, alternate versions and mixes of several of the songs, and a complete concert taped at the Club La Vela in Panama City Beach, Florida, on March 14th, 1997. Released 25 years ago on 26th March 1996, the album is a pitch-perfect amalgamation of the band members’ musical personalities, yielding three us #1 hits – “Big Bang Baby,” “Lady Picture Show,” Rhino records announces the upcoming release of a newly remastered version of tiny music… expanded with unreleased studio and live recordings.

It’s coming out July 23rd, but you can hear a previously unreleased version of “Big Bang Baby” right here.

“Tiny Music…Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop” landed in stores after a very difficult period in the group’s history marked by Scott Weiland’s arrest for heroin and cocaine possession and guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo, and drummer Eric Kretz’s decision to form the side project Talk Show with vocalist Dave Coutts.

But they came together with producer Brendan O’Brien in late 1995 at the Westerly Ranch in Santa Ynez, California, to create the album, which generated the hits “Big Bang Baby,” “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart,” and “Lady Picture Show.”

“Coming into our third album, we knew we wanted to get into uncharted waters as a band, and not just make an album that was a continuation of the first two, but really experiment with a homegrown mentality,” said Kretz . “Deciding to record in a house instead of a proper studio was our collective first choice. Once we started recording, we tried different songs and different overdubs in every nook and cranny the house had to offer.

For Dean DeLeo, going through the tape vault to assemble this new edition of the album was an emotional experience. “Re-listening to this album brought back some beautiful memories of all of us living, writing, and recording the record in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley,”  “And of course, every time I revisit this stuff I miss Scott.”

It also gave him the chance to hear music he hadn’t thought about in many years, including “Kretz’s Acoustic Song.” “I always really loved that song, even when Eric laid it out for us back in ’95 or ’96,” DeLeo says. “What I dig most about it is that Eric played everything.” The very first stop on the Tiny Music tour was the Panama City gig they are releasing on the set. It was filmed for an MTV Spring Break special. “Back in 1997, MTV was a tour de force in the music world,” says Kretz. “To play a whole set in the surroundings of a beach with a crowd that was having more fun than us was really fantastic.”

Stone Temple Pilots parted ways with Scott Weiland in 2013, two years before his death. They are now fronted by Jeff Gutt. A year ago, they released their 8th LP, “Perdida”.

HARKER – ” Axiom “

Posted: March 26, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“Axiom’ is a statement of intent, a hit back against the apathy of modern living, an attack on idolisation and a call for all the marginalised to take the helm.

Foundations built upon a love for pop music, while leaning into their obsession over the golden era of dischord records & 90s college fuzz sounds. since 2014, the band have put out releases through well established labels, including their EP ‘A Lifetime Apart’ and their frst full length ‘No Discordance’ which followed in 2018 to critical acclaim – becoming a powerful punk/emo shot to the arm for the UK’s indie scene, seeing the band go on to support the likes of the Wildhearts, Mercy Union & Spanish Love Songs as well as a string of UK and international tours including a successful tour of Japan in 2019.

2021 brings their sophomore effort ‘Axiom’ – recorded by producer Bob Cooper, and mastered by Alan Douches (japandroids liars, frightened rabbit) the new album cuts into the state of modern living, discussing themes on isolation, social class and environmental change. not content with sitting still in their punk-pop bubble and retracing steps, Harker have pushed against the grain with ‘Axiom’ – a middle finger to force fed algorithm produced pop.

This release sees Harker at their most experimental yet, delving into new sonic territories evolving out of the bands earlier radio-popfuzz rooted sound – pulling in more left field infuences, such as sonic youth, jets to brazil & Black Sabbath.

Harker are a 4 piece ’emogaze’ band from Brighton,

TUNE-YARDS – ” Sketchy “

Posted: March 26, 2021 in MUSIC
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The absolutely glorious Tune-Yards are back and we couldn’t be happier, every second of everything Merill Garbus does is drenched with idiosyncratic, artistic sunshine. Tune-Yards return with their fifth studio album, “sketchy”. The 11-track record is out on the 4AD records label. Tune-Yards’ 2018 release I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life, was a self-reflexive question mark at the end of a decade of outspoken, polyphonic indie music. From 2009 to 2018, Tune-Yards released four albums, travelled the world relentlessly to play live shows, Unlike the lyrical introspection of their previous outing, on the project’s fifth studio album Sketchy, Merrill balances self-inspection and reflection with bombastic rallying cries, reminiscent of the furious tones of early days Tune-Yards. The result is a colourful and joyous record with lyrics that cut to the bone.

Tune-Yards’ last release ‘I can feel you creep into my private life’, was a self-reflexive question mark at the end of a decade of outspoken, polyphonic indie music. From 2009 to 2018, Tune-Yards (both Merrill and her partner and collaborator Nate Brenner) released four critically acclaimed albums, travelled the world relentlessly to play live shows, and composed the psychedelic score to Boots Riley’s surrealist cinematic masterpiece Sorry To Bother You.

“We had really been non-stop hustling,” Merrill reflects. “And when we’re hustling, we’re complicit in all of the systems that I really don’t believe in.”

Interrogating these systems and her role within them had left Merrill feeling heavy with grief and lost about how to move forward. The duo pressed on, inspired by the Beastie Boys Book and Questlove’s Creative Quest, and began jamming daily for hours in their home rehearsal studio “like athletes”. They ditched computer screens for live instruments (Merrill on drums, Nate on bass) and before long full songs started to emerge.

Unlike the lyrical introspection of previous outing I can feel you…, on “Sketchy”. Merrill balances self-inspection and reflection with bombastic rallying cries, reminiscent of the furious tones of early days Tune-Yards. The result is a colourful and joyous record with lyrics that cut to the bone. “I started remembering that people come to us to be entertained, to move, to feel joy. And together, I think, we can wake up.”

‘Nowhere, Man’ out now on all platforms:

SKEGGS – ” Rehearsal “

Posted: March 26, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Skegss Vinyl Giveaway

Hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the most intoxicating acts to come out of Australia in years,” Byron Bay power trio Skegss deliver their new Catherine Marks (Manchester Orchestra, PJ Harvey, The Killers) produced album “Rehearsal”. A thrill ride through the band’s laissez-faire lifestyle and sun kissed narratives of love, friendship and youthful musings, they combine surf, garage, and slacker elements to create their dynamic sound here. The trippy cover art comes courtesy of frequent collaborator Jack Irvine

Released today, the highly-anticipated album from the Byron Bay rockers offers up 13 tracks of garage rock goodness.

Described as a “thrill ride through the band’s laissez-faire lifestyle and sunkissed narratives of love, friendship and youthful musings,” the second full-length record from Skegss sees the trio create a collection of tracks that “push the band’s ethos of rolling with the punches and making it out on top.”

Now that the album is finally out in the world, we thought we would celebrate it with everyone by running a very special Skegss giveaway!

Thanks to Loma Vista Recordings and Caroline Australia, 

New album “Rehearsal” Under exclusive license to Loma Vista Recordings. Distributed by Concord.

JOHN MURRY – ” Oscar Wilde (Came Here To Make Fun Of You) “

Posted: March 26, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Singer songwriter John Murry is gearing up to release his next record, following the success of A Short History of Decay, which was praised by Uncut, Q Magazine, The Quietus, MOJO Magazine and Sunday Times. First from the upcoming album is ‘Oscar Wilde (Came Here To Make Fun Of You)’, a cryptic Americana single that walks the line between the comedic and the serious.

Out now. Both the track and video for Oscar Wilde (Came Here To Make Fun Of You), directed by Aiden Gillan is out now. Really glad to be getting new music out there and hope you’re digging it.

Y’all know we love music that’s left-of-centre here at Unrecorded. Stick indie or alternative before a genre and no doubt we’ll be giving it a spin. One sub-genre that doesn’t get enough light on the blog is alternative Americana and so we were stoked when John Murry‘s new single ‘Oscar Wilde (Came Here To Make Fun Of You)’ made it’s way into our inbox. 

It’s a hard hitting piece of song writing that derives inspiration from some of life’s darkest moments, but as we can see from the music video, this doesn’t mean Murry takes himself too seriously. Directed by Irish actor Aiden Gillen (who you may know from The Wire, Game of Throne or Peaky Blinders), the visuals are obscure and avant-garde, making space for the watcher to figure out the meaning behind it all for themselves.

“We had been talking about various ideas for videos for a while,” Gillen says, “And I had this idea of John floating around my house – or did that happen in real life? – anyways I liked the idea of a John puppet floating around upside down and mentioned this to him, His ex had made this puppet with an uncanny likeness and I used whatever technology I had to hand – a phone camera, a stabilising gimbal and a two-euro macro lens to try and make something that looked nice for the puppet part. I mean, it’s not all in focus, but there a bit too much of that these days. I was asked for the puppet back, but I’d already lost it somewhere.”

‘The Stars are God’s Bullet Holes’ is not an album for an ordinary world, because it’s not an ordinary album.

It’s an album to dive deep into and submerge yourself in, and to emerge from aware that this world is a remarkable place, and that John Murry is a remarkable artist. John Murry’s third album is starlit and wondrous, like being wrapped in the softest black velvet. it’s an album of startling imagery and insinuating melodies, of cold moonlight and searing heat. it’s a record that penetrates to the very heart of you, searing with its burning honesty, its unsparing intimacy and its twisted beauty.

John Murry is gearing up to release his next record, following the success of A Short History of Decay,

BAMBARA – ” Shadow of Everything ” Reissue

Posted: March 26, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Reissue of Bambara’s “Shadow On Everything“, released in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim, the album represented a decisive step forward for twin brothers Reid and Blaze Bateh – frontman and drummer, respectively – and their childhood friend, bassist William Brookshire.

Bambara is a grimy noise-rock band whose release “Shadow on Everything” is a cinematic achievement. The loose concept record mashes cowboy jangle with aggressive post-punk to form a scummy, empty landscape for characters to inhabit. Laced throughout is a winding, poetic tale of relationship strife and vignettes from the character’s hometown.

While prior to its release they had always been adept students of noise rock and post-punk, mining the work of bands like Swans and The Birthday Party to construct what NPR called “beautifully dynamic nightmares,” on “Shadow On Everything”, they boldly redefined their sound to create an album that clearly transcended their early influences and dramatically quickened the pace of their ascent from the underground. Consistent with their frenetic live set, the musical centre of Shadow On Everything is Bambara’s impossibly tight rhythm section, with Blaze’s manic drumming and William’s rock-steady bass-lines serving as the perfect canvas for Reid’s wild guitar squalls and howled vocals.

But the album’s recording marked the first time that Reid’s voice was pushed to the front of the mix, highlighting the damaged characters and seedy locales that interact and overlap throughout its 12 songs. A stridently experimental record, Shadow features everything from violin to saxophone arrangements, and is meticulously interspersed with outré ambient noise loops distilled down from hours of manipulated vocal collages.

Just two years after its release Shadow On Everything may seem like it was the logical next step for a band with experimental and punk origins that would go on to construct the intricate compositions displayed by its follow up Stray. In fact, Shadow On Everything  memorialises Bambara putting everything on the line, because they knew they could be more than what anyone may have seen in them up to that point in time.

Released 26th March 2021 Wharf Cat Records

The CLEAN – ” Mister Pop ” 2021 Reissue

Posted: March 26, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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In 1978, The Clean were the seeds of New Zealand punk. In the years since, they have carved out a big sandbox for everyone to play in, and their influence resonates not only in NZ but around the world. A group that thrives when free of expectations, The Clean’s Robert Scott, Hamish Kilgour, and David Kilgour are, as Tape Op described, “a casually wonderful band.” This is a double reissue on the Merge Records label from The Clean’s ‘Unknown Country’ and ‘Mister Pop’ on vinyl. Originally released in 1996 and 2009, respectively.

“The Clean have always exuded a casual grace that suggests they’d still be making the same records even if no one was listening, employing the same set of devices ramshackle locomotive rhythms, buoyant basslines, swirling organ lines, and wide-smile melodies irrespective of prevailing fashions, technological developments, or geopolitical unrest. And yet, the Clean’s periodic resurgences serve as a reminder that, in a world of uncertainty, there are still some things you can rely on.”

David Kilgour on Mister Pop: “Mister Pop began in Brooklyn, NY, at Gary Olson’s Marlborough Farms studio and was completed in the basement hall of First Church Dunedin. There is more synthesizer on this album than the others, mainly an old Juno synth. I do remember having a bath in Brooklyn while Robert was downstairs singing and writing. I thought he was singing “he’s a factory man,” so I dried off and went down and wrote “Factory Man” while thinking heavily of The Kinks. Rainy and Geva from Haunted Love did some great work on backing vocals for “Loog” and “Dreamlife.” And old friend and longtime Clean collaborator Alan Starrett makes an appearance on “Moonjumper.”

Robert Scott on Mister Pop: “I remember thinking at the start of the NY sessions with Gary Olson, “Is this the start of a new album?” We were coming up with quite a bit of new stuff, and of course, Gary is great to work with. We carried on at Burlington St in Dunedin with (engineer and Heavy 8) Tex Houston at the controls, good fun from what I remember, lots of mucking around with keyboards and synths. We were going for that Krautrock groove and we sure got it on “Tensile,” one of my faves along with the pure pop of “Dreamlife.” “Loog” was a fun song to put together. “Asleep in the Tunnel” is written about being stuck in traffic in a tunnel under the Hudson River in NY.”

There are two notable moments of self-indulgence here, namely the hypnotic and repetitive buzzdrone of “Moonjumper,” which sounds—aptly, given the format of this re-release—a bit like a persistently skipping record, and the insistent, trippy groove of “Tensile,” which similarly gets stuck in a rut it can’t quite get out of, albeit for a much shorter time than the former song.

Still, Mister Popis a veritable demonstration of the idiosyncratic charms of these Kiwis, and a reinforcement of their rightful place in the pantheon of quirky alternative rock. Will it spur them on to make another record? We can only hope. This reissue is a timely reminder of their influence, but 22 years since it originally came out is more than a long enough wait for new music.

Though The Clean formed in 1978, in that four-plus decades the New Zealand band has only put out six full-length studio albums. Mister Pop was the last of these, first released in 2009 but only now—alongside the simultaneous reissue of 1996’s experimental Unknown Country—finding a home on vinyl in the U.S. for the first time.

Released on Merge Records

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