Archive for the ‘MUSIC’ Category

The GOA EXPRESS – ” Be My Friend / The Day “

Posted: January 13, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Manchester’s teenage pals of the Goa Express have recently been swept up by Rough Trade for their fresh psych-infused garage rock. Although influences varying from 60s psychedelia to post-punk are obvious, their sound is distinct and compelling, with a sound that perfectly complements their fun-loving attitude and charm of the city of Manchester.

Hailing from Manchester, the group have been pals since they were teenagers, steadily making their name around the scene with their garage-rock sizzlers. Ludicrously-catchy garage rock from these NME 100 graduates. 

On recently released track ‘Be My Friend’, the group describe it as being about “taking a step away from those who’re always trying to get close to you and as both a shout out to individuality and an acceptance of rejection. It’s a dismissal of the modern world’s hyper-connectivity and a return to privacy, rather than the involvement of everyone knowing everyone’s business all of the time.”

With tons more exciting things on the horizon, based out of Todmorden/Burnley, UK, if you like : Spacemen 3, Ty Segall, Ending the who-knows-how-long Yorkshire vs. Lancashire feud with short and snappy Ramones-style hits. While their early influences ranged from Spacemen 3 to Brain Jonestown Massacre, James tells us the band now tries to “find influences in everything we see and in everywhere we go”. You’re going to love them: A precedent was set by The Goa Express when they formed in the wake of a wild, substance-heavy night seeing The Brian Jonestown Massacre – one that left them newly single and sleeping rough outside a Tesco. All about having a good time, the lads have already caught the eye of producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, Amyl & The Sniffers) and Fat White Family’s Nathan Saoudi (a fellow lover of chaos) with their jangly, loud-mouthed garage-psych.

The Goa Express are a band you need on your radar. Enjoying life under the wings of Rough Trade Management (Shame, black midi), the Manchester-based five-piece have wowed with singles The Day and Be My Friend. Their first single proper, The Day, saw them enlist the talents of Fat White Family’s Nathan Sauodi for production duties at their own Champ Zone studio in Sheffield, culminating in a 2-minute explosion of guitars, synths, and youthful energy.

The band’s tight-knit camaraderie – formed during their teenage years at school and playing intimate live shows above vintage shops – is captured in their self-produced video for Be My Friend; a lockdown-created clip pieced together using footage taken on nights out and day-to-day laughs filmed on a phone with no intention they’d ever be used in a music promo.

BBC 6 Music legend Steve Lamacq is an early champion, having invited the quintet to play their first radio session at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios.

The Goa Express are riding the tracks to the top and rightfully find their place among the exciting charge of UK and Irish outfits tearing up the rule book.  The Goa Express are very, very good. They’re five mates from the north who are more of a brotherhood than a band. Their effortless gung-ho garage rock is causing a buzz, with singles The Day and Be My Friend prime examples of a band ready to smash down barriers and shake up the establishment.

The Goa Express are James Douglas Clarke, Joey Stein, Naham Muzaffar, Joe Clarke and Sam Launder

SORAIA – ” Tight​-​Lipped “

Posted: January 13, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Philadelphia rock quartet Soraia are giving fans new music for the start of the New Year: The single Tight-Lipped, with a B-side cover of Aerosmith’s Angel, featuring a cameo by Jessie Wagner. Frontwoman ZouZou Mansour says, “Tight-Lipped is about a woman who politely refuses to challenge the status quo and direction of her life. It’s a final recognition of the part she has played in her own oppressive censoring — a soulful rebuke of her former beliefs on how to live. But by the end of the song, it becomes a triumphant declaration of who she now is: Meet Ophelia — no more promises. I refuse to be so tight-lipped.”

some fun hard rock with some really good vocals.

http://

Side A: Tight-Lipped
(Soraia Mansour/Travis Smith) Green Eyed Lady Publishing (BMI)/Real
Bad Music Publishing (BMI)
Side B: Angel (ft. Jessie Wagner)
(Steven Tyler/Desmond Child) Primary Wave Steven Tyler/Universal
Polygram International Publishing

ZouZou Mansour: Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Organ Nick Seditious: Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar Travis Smith: Bass Guitar Brianna Sig: Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals John Hildenbrand: Organ Geoff Sanoff: Backing Vocals, Organ Jessie Wagner: Featured Artist singing on “Angel” Soraia Released January 8th, 2021

SLUGS – ” Super Sane “

Posted: January 13, 2021 in MUSIC
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Los Angeles-based quartet SLUGS first appeared back in 2018 with their EP, “Cool World“, a record that caught the attention of many blogs, and saw the band share stages with the likes of Jessica Lea Mayfield, The Districts and Let’s Eat Grandma. Since then things have gone a little quiet, which all changed last month, when they returned with a brand-new single, “Super Sane“.

Citing influences from Linda Perhacs to The Oh Sees, Slugs are not a band easily pigeon-holed, with a sound that flutters from the sweetly melodic to the riotously energetic. Super Sane is probably the band at their most restrained, as washes of burbling electronics and gently meandering guitars create a gorgeous backing for vocalist Marissa Longstreet’s impassioned vocal delivery.

This is a song of sweet juxtapositions, at times it feels intimate and insular, the next fierce and strong-willed, as it seems to muse on ideas of healing and finding a path to acceptance of your lot. While plans for the year ahead remain as yet unconfirmed, there’s enough here to hint that the return of Slugs is a reason to be very excited about whatever is coming next.

Vocals/Guitar – Marissa Longstreet Vocals/Bass – Sarsten Noice Guitar – Josh Beavers Drums – Dash Hutton

“Super Sane” Written by SLUGS

JACK WHITE – ” Live At The Masonic Temple Detroit ” 47th Vault Package

Posted: January 13, 2021 in MUSIC
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Vault 47 Jack White Live At the Masonic Temple

Jack White will release his July 30th, 2014 concert at Detroit’s Masonic Temple on vinyl via Third Man Records, the singer-songwriter announced on Monday. The release will mark the 47th Vault package from his record label and will be available to those who subscribe by January 31st. A preview of the album is available now with a live cut of “Missing Pieces”.

The 38-track concert clocks in at nearly three-and-a-half hours. Over the course of the evening, White ran through memorable White Stripes tracks like the opening “Fell in Love With a Girl” as well as “The Big Three Killed My Baby”, “Icky Thump”, “We’re Going To Be Friends”, and more. The show also finds White offering up covers of Beck‘s “Devil’s Haircut”, Led Zeppelin‘s “The Lemon Song”, and Hank Williams‘ “Ramblin’ Man”.

The four, 180-gram LPs come in White’s signature solo colours of blue, black, and white. Together they are housed in a slipcase cover with photo inner sleeves, featuring pictures from the show shot by David Swanson. Along with Live at Masonic Temple, subscribers will also receive a 7′ vinyl of White’s appearance on Saturday Night Live on October 10th where he performed a medley comprised of “Ball and Biscuit”, “Don’t Hurt Yourself”, and “Jesus Is Coming Soon” as well as paid tribute to Eddie Van Halen with his performance of “Lazaretto” using a guitar modeled after Eddie’s.

Ahead of the Vault package’s release, White has also shared live audio of “Missing Pieces” from the concert, available below. 

“Live at Masonic Temple” and subscribe to Third Man Records‘ Vault series by January 31st to receive the vinyl.

PAPER BIRCH – ” Morninghairwater “

Posted: January 13, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Paper Birch are an experimental noise-rock duo, consisting of Fergus Lawrie, of Urusei Yatsura, and Dee Sada of Steve Albini-produced An Experiment On A Bird In An Air Pump. The band started working together under the enforced distance of 2020, and created their debut album, “Morninghairwater”, which received a minimal digital download release through Cafe Oto imprint TakuRoku. Now one of eight new signings to the excellent Reckless Yes label, alongside the likes of Breakup Haircut, Piney Gir and th’sheridans, Morninghairwater is set to receive a much more expansive release later this year.

Listening to Morninghairwater, Paper Birch’s sound seems to exist between an array of genres, one moment engulfing the listener in a flurry of angular shoegazing noise, before the next slipping into richly melodic moments of indie-pop. The result is a record that seems to ebb and flow, one that is far more than the sum of its songs; they seem to have almost created a sonic landscape, full of moments of real beauty, and others where the brutality of the natural world is laid bare. Particularly wonderful is Fallen, reminiscent of early-Liars or even Joy Division’s Atmosphere, as it combines dissonant guitars with easy, half-spoken vocals and a steady rhythmic pulse. While the album is already out in the world, with the backing of one of the UK’s most exciting new indie-labels, Paper Birch’s music should reach a whole new array of ears in the year ahead.

Official music video for Paper Birch’s ‘Summer Daze’ directed by Grant McPhee, written and recorded by Dee Sada and Fergus Lawrie, produced by Fergus Lawrie and mastered by Steven Ward. Taken from the album, Morninghairwater released August 5th 2020 on TAKUROKU records.

PORTUGAL THE MAN – ” Colors “

Posted: January 13, 2021 in MUSIC
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On Saturday, December 26th, Fifty plus artists and hundreds of thousands of viewers around the world came together for “Georgia Comes Alive”, a virtual music festival aimed at promoting voter participation in Georgia’s Senate runoff elections on January 5th, 2021, which saw a record-breaking voter turnout.

One of the major headliners to take part in “Georgia Comes Alive” was alternative powerhouse Portugal. The Man who performed the original song “Colors”. For this take on the Censored Colors track, the Alaskan-bred experimental outfit performed from an empty venue as the dreary blend of blue and green lights accentuated the downtempo indie crawl. As frontman John Baldwin Gourley belted out the refrain of “I’m not afraid to die/’Cause all these colors will change,” guitarist Eric Howk softens the blow with smooth phrasings on his Fender Stratocaster that round out the song.

Portugal. The Man performing “Colors” for Georgia Comes Alive, a virtual festival to get out the vote in the Georgia Senate runoff elections presented by #LiveForLiveMusic​

 

The WEATHER STATION – ” Atlantic “

Posted: January 13, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Image may contain: 1 person, standing, tree, night, plant, child, outdoor and nature, text that says 'The Weather Station IGNO IGNRANCE New Album Out Feb 5 Live Stream Event Feb 11 Pre-order www.t neweatherstation.net'

The Weather Station (the project of Toronto-based singer/songwriter Tamara Linderman) is releasing a new album, “Ignorance”, on February 5th via Fat Possum Records. This week she shared another song from it, “Atlantic,” via a self-directed video for the track. 

Linderman had this to say about the song in a press release: “Trying to capture something of the slipping feeling I think we all feel, the feeling of dread, even in beautiful moments, even when you’re a little drunk on a sea cliff watching the sun go down while seabirds fly around you; that slipping feeling is still there, that feeling of dread, of knowing that everything you see is in peril. I feel like I spend half my life working on trying to stay positive. My whole generation does. But if you spend any time at all reading about the climate situation circa now, positivity and lightness are not fully available to you anymore; you have to find new ways to exist and to see, even just to watch the sunset. I tried to make the band just go crazy on this one, and they did. This is one where the music really makes me see the place in my mind; the flute and the guitar chasing each other, wheeling around like birds, the drums cliff like in their straightness; I love the band on this one.”

“Ignorance” includes “Robber,” a new song The Weather Station shared in October via a self-directed video for it in her directorial debut. “Robber,” an atmospheric horn- and string-backed track, When the album was announced in November, Linderman shared its second single, “Tried to Tell You,” via another self-directed video for the track. Ignorance is the follow-up to The Weather Station’s acclaimed self-titled and self-produced fourth album, released in 2017 by Paradise of Bachelors.

In a previous press release, Linderman said the album was built on rhythm. “I saw how the less emotion there was in the rhythm, the more room there was for emotion in the rest of the music, the more freedom I had vocally,” she says. Linderman, who plays guitar and piano on the album, was aided in this cause by drummer Kieran Adams (DIANA), bassist Ben Whiteley, percussionist Philippe Melanson (Bernice), saxophonist Brodie West (The Ex), flutist Ryan Driver (Eric Chenaux), keyboardist Johnny Spence (Tegan and Sara), and guitarist Christine Bougie (Bahamas). Linderman co-produced Ignorance with Marcus Paquin, who also mixed the album. 

“Atlantic” from The Weather Station’s new album ‘Ignorance’ out February 5th, 2021

RAT COLUMNS – ” Pacific Kiss “

Posted: January 13, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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‘Pacific Kiss’ is the fourth album from Australian musician David West’s underground pop band, Rat Columns. It was engineered by Griffin Harrison and DW in New York City and Perth, and mixed by Mikey Young in Victoria. ‘Pacific Kiss’ sees Rat Columns plunging headfirst into an azure sea of power pop, rock’n’roll and indie. The tones are bright and optimistic, though fans of confusion and gloom will still find solace in the album’s darker moments, of which there are a few.

Rat Columns emerged from San Francisco via Perth, Western Australia in the late 2000’s with the mope ’n’ jangle of their first self-titled cassette release, from which several tracks were drawn for their first vinyl release, a four-song 7” on the San Francisco based indie label, Smartguy Records. From that moment, David West and a constantly evolving troupe of friends and co-conspirators have forged a persistent trail of albums and EP’s on a number of interesting small labels such as RIP Society, Upset The Rhythm, Blackest Ever Black, Syncro-System, Adagio 830 and now the London-based Tough Love Records, who have also released many of David’s eponymous pop records. West has also found time to play in a number of other interesting outfits, such as Rank/Xerox, Lace Curtain, Liberation, Scythe, Total Control and Burning Sensation over the years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x0QvX4WkX0

‘Pacific Kiss’ was primarily recorded in a dingy but comfortable practice space in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The core of the record is West, bassist Max Schneider-Schumacher, drummer Dylan Stjepovic and keyboard wiz Joey Fishman. Additional fairy dust was sprinkled by Amber Gempton and Raven Mahon (vocals), Jef Brown (saxophone) and Mikey Young, who found time to contribute some off the wall guitar solos during the mixing process. ‘Pacific Kiss’ is a record for those astral voyages into the spheres conducted from bedrooms, kitchens, grassy fields and open car windows. 

Releases February 14th, 2021

ANOTHER SKY – ” I Slept On The Floor “

Posted: January 13, 2021 in MUSIC
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“I Slept On The Floor” is considered a more than punishing debut for the young British band Another Sky. We frolic in a world of very varied soundscapes, resonating with the unique androgynous voice of front woman Catrin Vincent. “I Slept On The Floor” is a lyrically sharp album that makes us musically sipping touches of post-rock, dreampop, stadium rock, jazz, indie and all that we will complement after yet another listening. “Fell In Love With The City” probably includes the most hit potential, “Brave Face” the most ingenious crescendo and “Let Us Be Broken” the most catchy outburst, but don’t let that stop you from listening to the album in its entirety. These three songs lend themselves to being drawn out of the context of their album, but believe us, you experience so much more when you put I Slept On The Floor in its entirety to your ear.

It feels a bit weird given their extensive primetime Radio 1 coverage that Another Sky haven’t quite hit the dizzy heights yet. Their August released debut album ‘I Slept On The Floor’, and in particular single ‘Fell In Love With The City’, holds a special place in my heart with them being an ever-present soundtrack to my first few months living in London earlier this year and adjusting to the solitude of lockdown. When gigs are back in full flow, I’d expect their stock to skyrocket when people get to witness their beautiful post-rock anthems in the flesh. 

DAN PENN – ” Living On Mercy “

Posted: January 13, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Dan Penn doesn’t hurry. It took him a full 26 years to deliver “Living on Mercy”, his sequel to 1994’s Do Right Man, a good stretch of time by any measure, so it follows that the album itself glides by at a relaxed pace. Occasionally, the record works up a head of steam — “Edge of Love” gets down and dirty with its gritty guitars and sweaty horns — but nothing on the album is revved up, which may be appropriate for a man just a few years shy of his 80th birthday. Penn does sound comfortable in his skin, possibly even a little weathered, throughout Living on Mercy, yet there’s a honeyed quality to his singing; he’s seasoned but he’s not old.

Dan Penn, writer of such classic hits as “Do Right Woman,” “Dark End of The Street,” and “I’m Your Puppet,” among them, shines in his first release of new original material since “Nobody’s Fool” in 1973 and his first full production studio album since 1995’s “Do Right Man.” 

Recorded in Nashville and Muscle Shoals alongside their finest musicians, Penn, the pioneer of Country Soul, turns in a performance as timeless as the genre itself.

The same sentiment could be applied to the songs on Living on Mercy, some of which are new, some of which were handed out to other musicians over the years. When collected on Living on Mercy — and delivered by a crew of empathetic old pros — they feel of a piece, a sweet, soulful, and reflective effort from a masterful singer/songwriter that benefits from its mellowness and slow, assured gait.”

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