Archive for the ‘MUSIC’ Category

MIDDLE KIDS – ”  Today We’re The Greatest “

Posted: March 19, 2021 in MUSIC
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From their first, self-titled EP in 2017, to debut album Lost Friends, the Sydney band has always had a knack for wrapping their listeners up in warmth and instant comfort. On their folow up album, “Today We’re The Greatest”, Middle Kids keep up that spirit of optimism. Yet in the song writing and delivery of its 12 tracks, “Today We’re The Greatest” feels more grown up. 

There’s no denying that Middle Kids are very good at what they do. They’re pros – consummate songwriters and performers. But what happens when the impressionable indie kids grow up? When life takes hold and points them in different directions, how does that affect the musical output?. For Middle Kids, it’s made for an album that reflects not just the change in their band and their personal lives, but also a realisation that your relationship with music can change over time.

“I want to make music that loves its listener,” songwriter Hannah Joy says. “Music that makes people feel seen, seen in the tiny little places that hide away in their hearts. I want people to hear our music, and feel a sense of love. And when I say love, it can be challenging, intense and tough. But it’s in the guts.” It’s an interesting way to describe music’s effects. When that unique connection is struck, a moving piece of music can make you cry, get you through, rile you up, make you intensely happy.

The way Today We’re The Greatest deploys Middle Kids’ sentimentality and romanticism stands out as one of its biggest drawcards. The front end of the album is stacked with moods. The slow burn of album opener ‘Bad Neighbours’ with its stream of consciousness storytelling. The shimmering nature of ‘Cellophane (Brain)’ that punches things into bright indie rock territory. 

Songs like ‘R U 4 Me?’ and ‘Questions’, which revel in the type of emotional upswings that could easily put them on an Arcade Fire record. 

Although all of the above are different in their energy and impact, the boldness that Middle Kids have applied to their production and creation – that we see throughout the rest of the album – shows how they themselves have changed in between albums. Notably, Hannah and bandmate/husband Tim Fitz were preparing to become first-time parents while making the album.

Recorded at the end of 2019, Today We’re The Greatest would be in mixing and post-production for much of 2020. It proved to be a shift of pace for Middle Kids who, before this point, had been living life largely on tour. Now, settled in Sydney with a new life about to come into the world, the band was given the opportunity to look at the way they made music differently. For the first time in a long time, they had the opportunity to breathe.

“We use the word ‘beauty’ in terms of shaping it,” Hannah said, reflecting on the recording process. “I think because we were trying to create more beautiful moments, there’s been a different emphasis [compared to] some of our older stuff. I think there’s beauty in there, but I think it’s been more edgy, empowering…those classic indie pop sounds. This has been about trying to sit in the space a little bit more and seeing what happens.”

Middle Kids’ forthcoming album ‘Today We’re The Greatest,’ out March 19th, 2021.

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SLEATER KINNEY – ” Dig Me Out ” Released April 8th 1997

Posted: March 19, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out

Hailing from Olympia, Washington, Sleater-Kinney are pioneers in the riot grrrl movement. At its core, “Dig Me Out” is an album leading listeners through vigorous emotional strains — and the tension implodes on nearly every track. The record was released just barely a year after the bomb-hitting Call the Doctor, but the trio somehow managed to upstage themselves with “Dig Me Out”. This is the record where they first teamed up with Janet Weiss, and the change only did amazing things for them.

This album shows a sense of confidence. Sleater-Kinney were still an underground band when this record came out; Call the Doctor was a critical hit, but still wasn’t smashing numbers, and the band had shifted from a tiny indie label to a less tiny indie label. Dig Me Out is an album that will always push first into people’s minds when they think of the band, because it’s the record where everything first clicked for them — the record that marked their territory as a defining rock band in American history. 

“Dig Me Out” was the third studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on April 8, 1997, by Kill Rock Stars. The album was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded from December 1996 to January 1997 at John and Stu’s Place in Seattle, Washington. Dig Me Out marked the debut of Janet Weiss, who would become the band’s longest-serving drummer. The music on the record was influenced by traditional rock and roll bands, while the lyrics deal with issues of heartbreak and survival.

The album cover is an homage to The Kinks’ 1965 album “The Kink Kontroversy”. Two singles were released in support of the album: “One More Hour” and “Little Babies”.

Call the Doctor confirmed the band’s reputation as one of the major musical acts from the Pacific Northwest, rebelling against gender roles, consumerism, and indie rock’s male-dominated hierarchy. After the release of Call the Doctor, drummer Janet Weiss of Quasi joined the band. Previously, the band had had a number of temporary drummers, including Misty Farrell, Lora Macfarlane, and Toni Gogin. Weiss would eventually become Sleater-Kinney’s longest serving drummer. For its third album, Sleater-Kinney worked again with producer John Goodmanson.

Both Tucker and Brownstein remarked that Weiss became an essential part of the band’s sound. According to Tucker, “Musically, she’s completed our band. She’s become the bottom end and the solidness that we’ve really wanted for our song writing”. In addition to playing drums, Weiss provides hand claps and tambourine in “Turn It On”. Dig Me Out also contains more guitar and vocal interplay by Tucker and Brownstein than Call the Doctor. As Brownstein explained, “If you were to separate our guitar parts I don’t necessarily think they would fully stand on their own. Our songs aren’t really complete until the other person has put their part over it, and their vocals”. The lyrical themes on Dig Me Out deal with issues of heartbreak and survival.

The band left Chainsaw Records and decided to release the album through Kill Rock Stars, another independent record label which singer and guitarist Corin Tucker thought had better resources to ensure the band’s distribution. Goodmanson also remarked that Kill Rock Stars afforded the band a generous amount of studio time for an independent label, stating that Call the Doctor only took four days to record while Dig Me Out was recorded over the period of eight days.

The song “One More Hour” is about the breakup of Tucker and Brownstein’s romantic relationship.

Dig Me Out also features songs that show frustration with sexism and gender stereotypes. “Little Babies” is a protest against the traditional maternity role, while the title song “Dig Me Out” exposes a woman in a dominant role. The album’s title was inspired by the fact that the band had to literally dig out the recording studio after a heavy snowstorm that took place in Winter 1996 in Seattle. Musically, the song “Words and Guitar” was said to “[leap] and [skit] with the just-released repression of early Talking Heads”, while “Dance Song ’97” was said to “sport Devo-esque keyboards of a distinctly ’80s vintage”

Sleater-Kinney:
  • Carrie Brownstein – guitar, vocals
  • Corin Tucker – vocals, guitar
  • Janet Weiss – drums, percussion

ACID DAD – ” Take It From The Dead “

Posted: March 19, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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We’re pumped to announce that we’ll be doing an exclusive Fuzz Club Edition of the incoming album from Acid Dad. Titled ‘Take It From The Dead’, our version comes on 180g blue marble transparent vinyl and includes an exclusive 7″ flexi-disc with a live version of ‘Living With A Creature’ recorded at the Greenway Records studio in Queens, NY during the pandemic. Out today, Acid Dad are now sharing the new latest single from the record, ‘BBQ’ – an almost-criminally infectious slice of garage-y, fuzzed-out slacker-pop. You can pre-order the Fuzz Club Edition here. 

Acid Dad is an American alternative-rock band composed of singer-guitarists, Vaughn Hunt and Sean Fahey, and drummer, Trevor Mustoe. Vaughn first started recording the band in his Bushwick, NY basement releasing singles “Brain Body” and their first EP “Let’s Plan a Robbery.” Appearing live in the New York City rock scene in 2016, Acid Dad quickly moved to a world stage with their self-titled debut album, released by Greenway Records in 2018.

During 2020, the band spent their time building a new studio space in Queens, NY, while continuing to independently produce all their own music, art and even building their own guitars. With a new space and vision, the band produced their second LP, ‘Take It From The Dead,’ set to be co-released in June 2021 by Brooklyn’s Greenway Records and psych powerhouse Levitation’s label, The Reverberation Appreciation Society. Following live / session albums from Dead Meadow, The Black Angels and Acid Mothers Temple, the forthcoming Acid Dad LP is the latest addition to our new partnership with Levitation/RAS – in which we’ll be brining you special, exclusive pressings of the majority of their incoming releases.

‘Take It From The Dead’ features an array of different influences ranging from 90’s neo-psych, modern post-punk and 70’s rock-n-roll. Acid Dad has crafted a record that sounds new, yet feels nostalgic. In contrast to their earlier work, they make use of slower tempos and expand their sound to include songs that are both more intricate and more hypnotic. To accompany the new record, the band spent the last year collaborating with video artist Webb Hunt, producing psych and glitch art videos that form a visual counterpart to the dreamy distortions of their sound.

“BBQ” is the second single from the bands new record “Take It From The Dead” out this summer via The Reverberation Appreciation Society and Greenway Records.

ARCADE FIRE – ” ‘Her ” Original Soundtrack

Posted: March 19, 2021 in MUSIC
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Composed by GRAMMY Award-winning band Arcade Fire & their long-time collaborator and bandmate Owen Pallett, the score for Spike Jonze’s critically acclaimed 2013 film Her has never been released, until now. The film’s lush, piano-driven soundtrack received a nomination for “Best Original Score” at the 2014 Academy Awards and is regarded as one of the best film soundtracks of the past decade. Wistful, delicate and brimming with nostalgic warmth, the Her soundtrack is a stunning sonic companion to a story of modern love. Set in Los Angeles, in the near future, Her follows Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a complex, soulful man who makes his living writing touching, personal letters for other people. Heartbroken after the end of a long relationship, he becomes intrigued with a new, advanced operating system, which promises to be an intuitive and unique entity in its own right. Upon initiating it, he is delighted to meet “Samantha,” a bright, female voice (Scarlett Johansson) who is insightful, sensitive and surprisingly funny.

As her needs and desires grow, in tandem with his own, their friendship deepens into an eventual love for each other. From the singular perspective of filmmaker Spike Jonze, Her, which won the 2014 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, is an original love story that explores the evolving nature—and the risks—of intimacy in the modern world. This 180-gram white vinyl release comes housed in package including 2-sided printed LP sleeve featuring a new liner note from Win Butler of Arcade Fire.

NEW BUMS – ” Last Time I Saw Grace “

Posted: March 19, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Ben Chasny (Six Organs Of Admittance) and Donovan Quinn (Skygreen Leopards) return this week with their long-awaited second New Bums LP, channelling acoustic guitar rock ‘n’ roll in the vein of The Replacements or Johnny Thunders, albeit with a wee bit more of a psychedelic folk approach like their other projects. Released on the ever-reliable Drag City label, this ticks all the right boxes for us.

Seven years and a handful of lifetimes ago, New Bums came out of nowhere with their debut album, “Voices In a Rented Room” – a record the New York Times described as “feeling like it’s falling apart.” New Bums took this as a compliment and, thus emboldened, they toured relentlessly in support of the release: criss-crossing the USA in the spring of 2014, with a European run that summer. Then, silence descended, as the Bums withdrew to the place from which they’d mysteriously emerged.

Now, the New Bums are back. 2021 finds them with a new album in hand. Following a West Coast US tour in late 2019 it’s clear that the duo of Donovan Quinn (Skygreen Leopards) and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance, Rangda, etc) are fully reanimated, as evidenced by the songs and sounds of “Last Time I Saw Grace”.

Retaining the drunk-dog-locomotion of their debut, New Bums sprinkle a bit of fresh fancy into their signature twin guitars- and-vocals sound, with cleaner recording techniques, further developments in harmonies and a new appreciation for a song with more than two parts, making ‘Last Time I Saw Grace’ nothing less than the perfect progression from the purposefully murky mixes of their debut.

Continuing to embrace an acoustic rock ’n’ roll sound, inspired by artists such as Jacobites, Robyn Hitchcock, Johnny Thunders, Replacements and such, New Bums push the words and the stories to the front of the line, crafting tales with satiric glee on Last Time I Saw Grace. However, this world of empty perfume bottles, bodies tied to masts and moving onward to devastation (after the bottle on the table pulls out a gun) feels much more Gombrowiczian dreamscape than drunken night on the town. Yes, everything is wasted but this is an existential wasteland rather than a substance-laden one. This combination of arch Californian post-aristocratic melodrama with torn and frayed acoustic guitars opens up a new genre entirely, one those at Drag City Records are tempted to call Rent Control Romantic.

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Back in slagtion, New Bums, that duo nobody thought to ask for – Six Organs of Admittance’s Ben Chasny and Skygreen Leopards’ Donovan Quinn – are deeper in their nocturnal jungle where all the folly and failure in the world is like an elegant fever dream you want to have every night, and do. Dry humour and pathos pop in a collapsed acoustic vein!

“Tuned to Graffiti” is a track from “Last Time I Saw Grace,” available on March 19th, 2021 on LP from Drag City Records.

KIM CHURCHILL – ” Waiting For The Sun “

Posted: March 19, 2021 in MUSIC
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I hope everyone has been having productive and enjoyable years so far. Obviously I write to you all within odd times and I hope everyone is finding ways to cope and get what they can out of each day. I’ve had my moments that’s for sure! The music industry is a very uncertain place currently and it’s been real easy to start freaking out on occasion. But hey, we can only do our best to live each day to its full potential and enjoy and create within every moment that it is possible. I’m by no means maintaining that attitude but its what I aim for most days haha. 

The final piece of the release puzzle for the Australian EP, ‘The End’, is ready to go! Its a documentary style short film created by my good friend and collaborator Connor Rancan. The film goes into the adventures we had through the blue mountains recording ‘The End’ and how the cathartic nature of the songs has given quite the apex of energy to this 4 EP project. That energy and excitement is brought to you via a bunch of footage of me walking around the tops of mountains and singing from the edges of cliffs. 

In the final instalment of Kim Churchill’s 4 EP collection, ‘I Am Forgetting The End Again’, Kim sets out to show the completion of a cycle – As he moves through an ending and on to a beginning. ‘Waiting for the Sun’ is the gentle pinks and golds that spill into the sky before dawn. The small stirrings of the wind as a beautiful bold summers day approaches. We are still contemplating the darkness that surrounds us, but with the notion we will soon be rising and moving into something completely bright and unknown. It is the end of an exhale – where we consider the breath we’ve taken and sit in humility for a moment – before, again, breathing in.

The good news is ‘Again’ comes out Today! Its a bit of a surprise release. I’m just so keen to get it out there and sometimes find the endless building of excitement around a release a little performative. I wanted to simply throw this one into the world and see how many times it skipped across the surface. Kim Churchill

NICK DRAKE – ” Bryter Later “

Posted: March 18, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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English folkie Nick Drake barely created a ripple during his lifetime. He recorded three albums of beautiful acoustic folk, but barely sold a copy during his lifetime. His acoustic music was sophisticated, with flourishes of jazz, and his acoustic guitar finger-picking was beautiful; he used alternative tunings to create tone clusters. Drake studied English literature at Cambridge and enjoyed the poetry of Yeats, Blake, and Vaughan; his lyrics have the same evocative spirit, with images drawn from nature.

Nick Drake passed away in 1974 from an overdose of anti-depressants, leaving a legacy of three studio albums. He didn’t enjoy playing live, and languished in obscurity despite his immense talent. The release of the “Fruit Tree” box set in 1979, shout-outs from famous fans like The Cure’s Robert Smith and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, and the use of his song ‘Pink Moon’ in a US car commercial all contributed to Nick Drake’s growing stature.

By the 1990s, Nick Drake’s work, overlooked at the time, had been reassessed. Drake’s three albums are now all critically acclaimed.

Each of Nick Drake’s three studio albums provide a different angle on his acoustic folk sound. His 1969 debut, “Five Leaves Left”, is a pretty mood piece, with Drake’s guitar often accompanied by the bass of Danny Thompson (from contemporary folk-rock band Pentangle) and by Robert Kirby’s string arrangements. 1971’s “Bryter Layter” is more detailed – Drake is accompanied by a rhythm section on almost every tune. 1972’s final album, “Pink Moon”, is stark, with Drake performing completely solo – it was recorded quickly in two late night sessions.

Additionally, Time of No Reply and Made to Love Magic are overlapping compilations that mop up Drake’s studio out-takes, most notably the four songs that he recorded in July 1974. It’s worth hearing one of them, but they’re not as essential as his studio records.

All of Nick Drake’s albums require some persistence to enjoy, as Drake’s songs are subtle and nuanced, but the diversity of Bryter Layter makes it the most accessible. The fuller sound also helps; the Fairport Convention rhythm section of Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks appear, while Fairport guitarist Richard Thompson plays lead guitar on ‘Hazey Jane II’. Robert Kirby reprises his role of orchestral arrangements from Five Leaves Left, although John Cale’s beautiful arrangements on ‘Fly’ and ‘Northern Sky’ are next level.

Choosing a favourite Nick Drake album is purely an academic exercise, as all three are essential, but it’s the magical contributions of the other musicians, particularly John Cale, that elevate Bryter Layter as Nick Drake’s best album.

“One of These Things First” On the gentle and jazzy, Drake is joined by a cast of American musicians – rhythm section Ed Carter and Mike Kowalski were both involved with The Beach Boys, while pianist Paul Harris later joined Stephen Stills in Manassas. The gently meditative song was later featured in the film Garden State.

John Cale, at a loose end after his dismissal from The Velvet Underground, was sent a demo from Drake. Cale was impressed by Drake, particularly his “sensuality”, and added his arrangements to two songs on Bryter Layter. The classically trained Cale is a terrific foil for Drake, adding an exquisite beauty to his songs without drowning them in sentimentality. ‘Fly’ is the more ethereal of Cale’s two arrangements, with his viola colouring Drake’s delicate song.

The other song arranged by Cale, ‘Northern Sky’ is a romantic tale of wistful longing. While the subject of the song has never been confirmed, it was reported to have been inspired by Linda Thompson. Cale augments the song with beautiful work on celeste, piano, and organ. None of Nick Drake’s records were popular upon release, and none charted.

A contemporary review of the compilation Nick Drake in Rolling Stone by Stephen Holden read: “An incredibly slick sound that is highly dependent on production values (credit Joe Boyd) to achieve its effects, its dreamlike quality calls up the very best of the spirit of early Sixties’ jazz-pop ballad. It combines this with the contemporary introspection of British folk rock to evoke a hypnotic spell of opiated languor.”

All three of Nick Drake’s albums are included in the original edition of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

KING HANNAH – ” State Trooper ” Bruce Springsteen Cover

Posted: March 18, 2021 in MUSIC
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We have always loved the Bruce Springsteen album “Nebraska”, how sparse and raw it sounds, and how it is effectively a live demo recording. We wanted to keep that live-feel when covering State Trooper and so we tracked the song live in our little home studio. We tried to do justice to the atmosphere of the original when arranging the track, with rumbling tom-heavy drums, warm creamy guitars and intimate slap-back vocals.

 

 

Performed by – King Hannah

Players:
Hannah Merrick (vocals)
Craig Whittle (guitar, vocals, synth)
Ted White (synth, additional percussion)
Jake Lipiec (drums)
Olly Gorman (bass)

Released March 17th, 2021

PICTISH TRAIL – ” ‘Slow Memories “

Posted: March 18, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Pictish Trail announces new track ‘Slow Memories (BAMBOO Remix)’ from new EP ‘Dream Wall’ coming out 1st April with remixes from the ‘Thumb World’ sessions,

Listen to the new remix here: “I’m a huge fan of the progressive synth-pop music made by Rachael Horwood and Nick Carlisle, aka BAMBOO. On this expansive remix, they stay true to the original’s beatless structure, and concentrate on building of swells of cinematic ambience and atmosphere” Pictish Trail – Johnny Lynch

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Releases April 1st, 2021

MARINA ALLEN – ” Candlepower “

Posted: March 18, 2021 in MUSIC
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Marina Allen glides on angelic highs, surfing the husky deep; she is one of the great new voices of her generation. Writing songs that carry notes from other realms; these are kitchen table tales about love and fear, the capturing of the wild heart, sketching the breaking of dawn, bringing real life back to life.

Every song on stunning debut album ‘Candlepower’ is a tick box of influences, asides, inspirations, quickfire theories, storylines and melodic progressions that galvanise a chemical reaction for each dramatic scene that unfolds on this genre-traversing seven song epic.

One listen to opening track ‘Oh, Louise’ underlines the range of Marina’s talent, it’s a filmic play on words, with an arrangement that’s like a Kate Bush dream sequence. It’s the perfect foil for the plaintive strum of ‘Sleeper Train’, a haunting, folky paean fit for Judee Sill brought up to date with some echoey electric guitar; or the conversational ‘Believer’; with a nod to Joni Mitchell in the lyrics it sounds every bit like Simon And Garfunkel at their Big Apple best listening to the ‘7 O’Clock News’ re-imagined on Sunset.

The stuff of legend for a voice that surfs many musical tangents, hovers, and persists, that stings with honesty; morphing from Karen Carpenter’s gentle reverence to Laura Nyro’s soulful grit, moving through the phases like some possessed Dada performance artist before throwing in a melody from Joni at her jazziest or from the close harmonies of the lamented Roches when they flipped out with Robert Fripp.

‘Candlepower’ is a juxtaposition of melodies, an achingly beautiful set of songs set against the clank of the mundane world, a beguiling commentary on the everyday and everywhere. It’s all here, in under 20 minutes… every second counts.

Marina Allen’s music is like that rollercoaster ride you have in your dreams, a moving, hard-to-believe balancing act that crosses tracks, occasionally leaves the rails and invariably flows unapologetically, succinctly and spine-tinglingly to a glorious conclusion.

Marina Allen pours every ounce of her being into her music.

A songwriter is rare skill and intensity, the California based talent seems capable of shaking the ground beneath your feet.

Debut album ‘Candlepower’ will be released on June 4th – and it’s the broadest example yet of her artistry.

A rich, vivid experience, it’s led by her wonderfully enticing new single ‘Oh, Louise’ and its intoxicating video.

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‘Candlepower’ will be released on June 4th. on Fire Records.

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