Birmingham folk rock band “Boat To Row are known for delivering an intricate set woven with strings and vocal harmonies, layered with an ever-expandingcollection of instruments. They combine a genuine ease in each other’s musical company with an energetic, skilfully crafted sound. We thought we’d give you an update on what we’ve been up to and invite you to celebrate our second album ‘Rivers That Flow In Circles’ first birthday this weekend.
We’ve been working on some new music, we finished a recording session days before lock down in March and since then we’ve been exchanging demos via email. We can’t wait to be able to properly get together and work on these new ideas but it’s been something to keep us sane during the long weeks at home. ‘Rivers That Flow In Circles’ turns one this weekend. With all that’s happened in 2020 we’ve not been able to get put playing live as we’d hoped but we’re still very proud of what we created and we hope you’re enjoying listening to it.
Our pre-recorded live session that was programmed at Moseley Folk and Arts Festival 2020. All tracks are taken from our latest album release, Rivers That Flow In Circles. We joined Moseley Folk and Arts Festival for their virtual festival earlier this month and recorded this four song set. It was our first time together in 6 months, let along playing together and it felt like a great release to play. Hopefully we’ll have the chance again soon. Moseley Folk are running a crowd funding campaign to help keep the festival running following this year’s cancellation.
TRACK LIST: Moth to the Light Fairest Flaws Spanish Moss On Your Own
Released on 20th September 2019 on Static Caravan Recordings.
Kurt Wagner, and his rotating cast of musicians who’ve make up Lambchop at one point or another have been making music since the mid-1980’s and have tried their hand at pretty much every style going. Back in the autumn of 2019, Kurt had an idea, instead of heading out on a financially unviable tour, he would instead invite his current band into the studio to make a covers record. Each member would bring a track of their choosing and in a single day, take control over recording their chosen song. The result is the upcoming album, “Trip”, out in November, and previewed this week in the shape of the band’s take on the Wilco-classic, “Reservations”. Lambchop announced a new covers record. Titled Trip, the album includes six cover songs, each selected by a different member of the band.
In addition to songs popularized by the Supremes, George Jones, and Stevie Wonder, Trip includes “Weather Blues,” a previously unreleased song written by Yo La Tengo bassist James McNew.
“Reservations” was picked by Matthew McCaughan, after much stressing about his choice, “I decided I would pick a song that, while I love it, and know it, it wasn’t one that had been on repeat for months at some point in my life, nor was it one that is permanently tied to some memory of my own“. Part of the thinking behind the choice was not so much about the original, but instead what Lambchop could make of it, here Kurt’s vocal is pushed up in the mix, with the fizz and the hum of the original chorus replaced by cooed vocal harmonies and dancing woodwind melodies. What Lambchop’s version hangs onto is the beautiful simplicity of Jeff Tweedy’s lyrics, the line, “I’ve got reservations about so many things, but not about you”, still every bit as wonderful as the first time you heard it. As Kurt says of the project, and his career as a whole, “it’s been a trip”, if they also sound this enticing it’s a journey we’re going to want to make many more times.
Taken from Trip, out November 13th, 2020 on Merge and City Slang.
There are 1,271 words on this record but it’s hard to find the right ones to send it into the world with. I’ve been waiting for this day to come for a long time and it feels surreal to say that “Breach” is yours now — I hope it gives you something. it’s given me a lot. Isolation is nothing new for Fenne Lily – in fact, she’s written an album of songs all about it. “It’s kind of like writing a letter, and leaving it in a book that you know you’ll get out when you’re sad – like a message to yourself in the future,” she says, referring to Breach, her Dead Oceans debut she wrote during a period of self-enforced isolation pre-COVID. It’s an expansive, diaristic, frequently sardonic record that deals with the mess and the catharsis of entering your 20s and finding peace while being alone.
Fenne was born in London and moved to Dorset as a toddler, where she grew up in the picturesque English countryside. She was a “free range kid,” as she calls it, after her parents took her out of school for a period at the age of seven. Over the following year, they taught her while the family travelled Europe in a live-in bus. Even after she returned to traditional school at 9, her home education never ended, extending to music. Her mother gifted Fenne with her old record collection, through which she discovered her love for T-Rex and the Velvet Underground and Nico.
Soon after she fell for the strange genius of PJ Harvey and came to worship Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, and the richly crafted worlds of Feist, which inspired Fenne to pick up a guitar. It’s that journey to find peace inside herself that underpins the whole of Fenne’s second album. Its title, Breach, occurred to Fenne after deep conversations with her mum about her birth, during which she was breech, or upside down in the womb. The slippery double-sidedness of the word – which, spelled with an “A”, means to “break through” – drew her in. “That feels like what I was doing in this record; I was breaking through a wall that I built for myself, keeping myself safe, and dealing with the downside of feeling lonely and alone. I realized that I am comfortable in myself, and I don’t need to fixate on relationships to make myself feel like I have something to talk about. I felt like I broke through a mental barrier in that respect.” Even though it also carries implications of awkwardness, rebellion, and breakage, it’s a widereaching word, representing new beginnings and birth.
This 9LP set gathers together all three of the ‘Jewel Box’ vinyl breakouts housed in one box. Curated by Elton himself and taken from the ‘Jewel Box’ 8-CD boxset, this 4LP gatefold black vinyl album takes a trip through a glittering career encompassing hidden gems and overlooked classics from a staggering body of work. which features an astonishing amount of rarities, deep cuts and B-sides.
Elton John recorded significantly more music in the Sixties and Seventies than the public ever got a chance to hear, and on November 13th, he’s finally sharing much of it with the world with the release of his 8-disc collection Elton: Jewel Box.
The latest preview from the set is John’s lost 1968 tune “Regimental Sgt. Zippo,” which has been paired with a new animated video. “The title track of an unreleased debut album, this track captures Elton and Bernie in full 60s psychedelic mode,” reads a press release. “Recorded and produced at the DJM studios, the same building that housed the Beatles’ publishing company, Northern Songs, the song is an affectionate nod to Sgt Pepper and the era.”
Fans can also hear “Les Aveux,” “Stone’s Throw from Hurtin’,” “(Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket,” a demo of “Sing Me No Sad Songs” and “Snow Queen” from the forthcoming box set on streaming services now.
Elton: Jewel Box begins with John’s 1965 work in his early band Bluesology and goes all the way to his Academy Award-winning song “(I’m Gonna) Love Me” from the soundtrack of his 2019 biopic Rocketman. There are 148 songs in total and several of them have never been released or even bootlegged prior to this box.
Deep Cuts 4LP Vinyl curated Rarities And B-Side Highlights 3LP Vinyl. This gatefold 3-LP set brings together highlights from the ‘Jewel Box’ 8-CD box set and includes selections of Elton’s much sought-after 1960s and early 1970s demos, never previously released, and a series of Elton’s non-album B-sides “And This Is Me” 2LP Vinyl.
This collection contains 148 songs spanning 1965 to 2019, of which 60 are previously unreleased. The first two CDs feature ‘Deep Cuts‘, a selection of personal favourites curated by Elton himself and what follows that are three CDs of Rarities. The rarities include many, many piano demos and band demos mostly recorded before he was signed or had released his first album, Empty Sky, in 1969.
There are 65 tracks in total across the three rarities discs, including the first song ever written by Elton and his debut appearance on a record (both ‘Come Back Baby’– 1965), Elton and Bernie’s first composition (‘Scarecrow’ – 1967), and newly-unearthed piano/vocal demos of some of Elton’s most acclaimed songs from his early albums.
Coinciding with the release of the updated paperback edition of Me, and taken from the 8-disc CD box set ‘Jewel Box’,‘And This Is Me’ celebrates the songs mentioned by name by Elton in his acclaimed memoir, closing with the Elton and Bernie Taupin’s 2020 Academy Award winning ‘(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again’ – a duet with Taron Egerton.
Discs six and seven are B-sides compiled together for the first time. These start from 1976 and go all the way through to 2005. Many of these are being offered on CD for the first time.
The eighth and final disc is Elton’s ‘Mike Yarwood’ CD, it’s called ‘AndThis Is Me‘. It’s a bit of an excuse to sneak a few proper hits into this set although the justification is to collection songs that are mentioned in Elton’s biography, Me, which is coming out as a paperback edition soon.
The CD set comes in hardcover book-style packaging (it’s not totally clear how big this is) which slots into an outer slipcase. Each section comes accompanied with extensive notes including a track-by-track commentary by Elton for his ‘Deep Cuts’.
In terms of vinyl, you have three options: all 31 ‘Deep Cuts‘ from the first two CDs in the box set are available as a 4LP set. Additionally there is a ‘Rarities & B-sides 3LP vinyl package. This features just over half (‘highlights’) of the 65 rarities from the CD box and just five of the 36 B-sides from the eight-CD box. Finally the ‘And This Is Me‘ compilation which completes the box set is also available as a 2LP vinyl package. Speaking about this Jewel Box release Elton says:
“To delve back through every period of my career in such detail for Jewel Box has been an absolute pleasure. Hearing these long lost tracks again, I find it hard to comprehend just how prolific Bernie and I were during the early days. The songs just poured out of us and the band were just unbelievable in the studio. I always want to push forward with everything I do and look to the future, but having time during lockdown to take stock and pull these moments from my memory from each era has been a joy. As a devout record collector myself, this project has really excited me and I couldn’t be happier with the level of craft involved in such a carefully curated, lovingly constructed box set. I’m sure my fans will enjoy it as much as I have.”
All the audio for Jewel Box was mastered by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios and all formats will be released on 13th November via UMC/EMI.
Elvis Costello returns with a new album, Hey Clockface, in October.
It was recorded in Helsinki, Paris and New York and mixed in Los Angeles. The album features the songs ‘No Flag’, ‘Hetty O’Hara Confidential’ and ‘We Are All Cowards Now’. Following the solo recording of those three tracks at Suomenlinnan Studio, Helsinki in February 2020, Costello immediately travelled to Paris for a weekend session at Les Studios Saint Germain. Costello says: “I sang live on the studio floor, directing from the vocal booth. We cut nine songs in two days. We spoke very little. Almost everything the musicians played was a spontaneous response to the song I was singing. I’d had a dream of recording in Paris like this, one day.”
Like 2018’s Look Now, the album is produced by Elvis Costello and Sebastian Krys. It’s available as a 2LP vinyl set and on CD. The official (US-based) store has an enormous array of bundles, with some signed options.
Elvis Costello is also working with Universal Music on a major reissue campaign which will start with a six-record set based on his 1979 album “Armed Forces”.
Speaking to promote the forthcoming album Hey Clockface, Costello said that his “catalogue has been in some disarray for a number of years” and that he recently “went to a meeting at a record company for the first time since the ’90s” to discuss reissue plans”.
He added: “who better than the person who wrote the songs to tell you what else is there [in the archive] – things that I never released, live recordings”.
He tells us that Armed Forces will be “the first” thing to come out and that “the package will include three live recordings ranging from the summer of ’78 to the summer of ’79, so it traces the development of the Attractions as a live act, from a club combo to a successful pop group – it’s quite interesting to hear. I had expert help in photographing my handwritten notebooks. So you’re getting something”
Curiously, Elvis also says: “We’ve done a new version of one of my albums from my back catalogue, and that’s going to come out next April. And we’re making a compilation based on [1998 album with Burt Bachararch] Painted From Memory in the hope that we’ll complete the picture with some other songs we’ve written that people still haven’t heard”.
When asked if he was going to do this with all his albums, the response was “If we can”.
Interesting stuff. Elvis Costello and Demon Records were early pioneers of the expanded CD reissue’s Of Costello Albums with a series of excellent releases in early-to-mid 1990s. The same albums were reissued about 10 years later with even more material – an extra CD’s worth. Despite these seemingly exhaustive reissues, Universal Music still managed to release new 2CD deluxe editions of My Aim Is True and This Year’s Model in 2008.
Elvis Costello’s new album, Hey Clockface will be released on 30th October 2020.
You could say that 2013’s “Honky Tonk” was Son Volt’s “country” album, and the group’s latest is its “blues” album. Reality is rarely that cut and dried, however. So it’s probably best to say that the new “Notes Of Blue” on Thirty Tigers toys with the achy bluster of ’90s Son Volt—though within an intermittent blues framework. “Overall, the end result winds up being more of an exploration of how various styles intersect with the blues,” says Jay Farrar of the band’s eighth studio release.
Twenty-two years ago, Son Volt kicked off Farrar’s post-Uncle Tupelo run with a definitive bang. Equal to or greater than anything his former group could muster, Trace has been a tough act to follow and it doesn’t help that the album sounds as wrenchingly relevant now as it did in 1995.
As if to simultaneously acknowledge and contain Trace’s considerable shadow, Farrar embarked on a series of subdued shows in 2015 to promote an expanded 20th-anniversary reissue. This was not the Son Volt of old. “It was a good opportunity to reassess those songs and present them in a different way,” says JayFarrar of his last tour.
Self-produced with help from the revered John Agnello, Notes Of Blue actually benefits from some bait-and-switch tactics. After opening with a pair of tunes—“Promise The World” and “Back Against The Wall”—that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Trace, Farrar abruptly puts on his blues big-boy pants for a series of songs that are as much a departure from the SV formula as you’re likely to hear. On “Cherokee Street,” “Midnight” and the skull-rattling “Static” and “Lost Souls,” Farrar’s sheer determination to work within the limitations of the idiom—the alternate tunings; the simple, succinct lyrics addressing sin, struggle, escape and redemption—actually frees him up to explore new instrumental textures and vocal approaches. Nothing dramatic, mind you just enough to signal growth and evolution for a guy who just turned 50.
To keep things honest, Farrar adhered to the tunings of Mississippi Fred McDowell and Skip James, even cribbing lyrical snippets from old blues numbers as starting points. For further inspiration, he turned to the ragged rural beauty witnessed in the field recordings of music historian George Mitchell (think R.L. Burnside). “The guys at Fat Possum gave me that box set years ago,” says Farrar. “It’s that cross-pollination over centuries that sparks such creativity in music.”
On Notes Of Blue, it all comes together with ferocious perfection on “Sinking Down,” courtesy of Farrar’s darkly orchestral slide guitar and a relief valve of a bridge that emerges with all the beauty of an unexpected vista on a long, unrelenting drive through our country’s Trump-crazed midsection. “After doing those acoustic Trace shows, I definitely wanted to get back to playing some electric guitar,” says Farrar. “I even brought out the Webster Chicago amp used in the photograph for Trace, and this is also the first time I’ve played lead since Trace. So there’s a thread of continuity there.”
Although The National are not slated to be releasing music in 2020, the members have been keeping more than busy. Aaron Dessner has worked with Taylor Swift on Folklore, Matt Berninger has a new solo album out in October, and now the band’s drummer Bryan Devendorf has released his debut solo album under the name Royal Green. The album takes on a more electronic, experimental approach, and features contributions from Aaron Dessner and Muzz’s Josh Kaufman. The eight-song effort showcases Devendorf’s individual strength as a songwriter, with each track containing multitudes of instrumental and lyrical depth.
Considering that The National are taking some time off, you’ve probably seen their name mentioned a lot lately – what with frontman Matt Berninger‘s anticipated solo record and guitarist Aaron Dessner having a big hand in Taylor Swift‘s latest release, drummer Bryan Devendorf arrives with the surprise release of his new project Royal Green, but he’s not here for any headlines or glory!
“I’m trying to keep it low-key,” before the record is due to drop. “I’m just the drummer checking in!”. The self-titled album consists of four originals and three covers of the likes of The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Fleetwood Mac. The lyrics were written by a friend, and I adapted them. I definitely relate to them. It’s quite introspective. It’s trying to not take itself too seriously, but be serious about it! There’s a nostalgia theme to the whole album. I’m taking stock of my life and memories and putting them to song.” ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac is one of those songs I heard on the radio when I was three or four. It blew me away – her voice, the drumming, it was all so appealing. As for The Beatles song, well, all my life I’ve been accosted by people saying, ‘Hey man – you look like John Lennon!’ I liked The Beatles as a kid and thought this song was cool so I set it to different chords. The Dylan song reminds me of a transitional time in my life when I was trying to develop a more permanent relationship with my current spouse.”
Royal Green, the debut album from Bryan Devendorf (The National, LNZNDRF) with sound designer Nate Martinez.
Told Slant is Felix Walworth’s dark and evil band, Told Slant, the solo project of Brooklyn songwriter Felix Walworth, has announced a new album “Point the Flashlight and Walk”, out on November 13th via Double Double Whammy. It’s the follow-up to 2016’s Going By. Told Slant also unveiled two singles from the new album— “Family Still” and “No Backpack”—which come with lyric videos shot by Emily Sprague (Florist).
“Family Still” is a poetic exploration of interpersonal dynamics. “Power isn’t taking / It’s making you give in freely / And I hope you don’t come home / and think it’s enough to be near me,” Walworth sings in a gentle tone. This layered acoustic track excels in its dissection of the complicated shades of intimacy: “What can be said of desire / when every longing instilled in my heart was instilled in such a violent world?”
“No Backpack” also delves into closeness, mixing in both cynicism and romanticism. There’s cherished imagery of angled zippers on a leather jacket and a life packed inside a Honda, which plays into the song’s core conflict—its competing views of love: cautious and self-protective or idealized and reckless. “I don’t want to run with you / when there’s someone you’re devoted to / You’re always living with a trapdoor under you,” Walworth sings.
Walworth said of the new songs:
“Family Still” and “No Backpack” are meant to be listened to in succession. They explore the concepts of devotion and togetherness as both liberatory and self-negating, and mount these explorations from a place of sober reflection and indulgent fantasy.
Julian Shah-Tayler a.k.a. ‘The Singularity’ presents ‘Devil Knows’, his new swagger-filled single with the A-single featuring the original version, the B-side involves three notable members of alternative rock royalty – David J, MGT (Mark Gemini Thwaite) and drummer Marc Slutsky.
Aptly named ‘Devil Knows Ruby Rock Version’ due to the fact that all three of these collaborators were involved in Peter Murphy’s extensive international Bauhaus Ruby celebration tour. Bassist David J needs no introduction, having founded Love and Rockets and Bauhaus. Mark Gemini Thwaite is best known for his prolific work and touring history with the likes of Tricky, The Mission UK, Peter Murphy, Ashton Nyte and The Wonder Stuff.
This new track follows hot on the trail of his single ‘Evolution’, which also involves contributions by MGT and Gene Micofsky (and the b-side remix by Mark Gemini Thwaite himself)
“This song is about losing people. The devil is always present when we lose the connection with people. The death of Love, a break in the heart. Communication breakdown. But we try and try,” explains Julian Shah-Tayler.
Hailing from Leeds, England and now LA-based, singer, writer and producer Julian Shah-Tayler makes electro rock new wave ‘intellipop’ for the 30th century. He is currently working with the legendary Robert Margouleff (Stevie Wonder, Devo) on his next album, releasing a few tasters along the way.
Having spent much time as a touring musician, Julian has experienced the pain of meeting and “breaking up with” people every night.
After completing his degree at York University, Julian moved to London as a singer-songwriter with classical training on piano and self taught on guitar. After several abortive record deals with music industry legend Alan McGee, he joined the hip electro clash outfit Whitey as co-writer/ guitarist, recording many of those songs in his nascent home studio.
After parting ways with his bandmates, Julian moved to L.A. to launch his own project The Singularity. There, he has had considerable success with TV and film licenses, known for his work on ‘Plush’, ‘Riot on Redchurch Street’ and Disney’s ‘Maleficent’. He won a Golden Trailer award, along with Daisy O’Dell, for his work with Lana Del Ray on the trailer for the latter film.
In addition to scoring music with O’Dell for the two-time Emmy winning ‘Actors on Actors’ TV show, his music has been performed for Robert De Niro, Bill Clinton and Martin Scorsese via the Unite for Humanity charity at the Oscars.
Julian also recorded a unreleased album with Joaquin Phoenix and Antony Langdon (Spacehog), as well as directing Island Def Jam artist Kerli 4 for songs he co-wrote with Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama, Shakespear’s Sister). His remix of Nico’s ‘These Days’ with Daisy O’Dell was featured as KCRW’s “one to watch”. He also cofounded the ‘Art Angeles’ charity, teaching underprivileged kids music in Watts.
When he is not writing and recording original material or producing other arists, Julian Shah-Tayler is selling out venues with his David Bowie tribute band ‘The Band That Fell To Earth’, his Depeche Mode tribute band ‘Strangelove’ and moonlighting as singer-keyboardist in The Cure tribute band ‘The Cured’
‘Devil Knows’ is now available released August 21st, 2020
Dawes a group of road warriors who’ve carved out their blend of amplified folk-rock, the music is nuanced and collaborative, with no single instrument dominating the track list. “We’ve learned so much over the years about what it means to be A Band” says drummer/free range dog farmer Griffin Goldsmith, “I used to want all our records to be Only drums, but I’m finally starting to realize, maybe a lil’ bass, keys, guitars and vocals ain’t so bad after all.”
“It feels very natural to outsource our problems. Telling ourselves “once I have this job, this partner, this amount of money, etc, I will be happy” is really effective and convenient. Unfortunately no one’s life actually works that way. I’m sure we all know plenty of miserable people who seem to have it all and plenty of blissful people that seem to have close to nothing. This song is about the efforts one makes to find some easy fix, unable to recognize that it will never work that way, that we are in the end our own responsibility.”
‘Didn’t Fix Me’ is here!.
‘We wanted to make a video that felt like all our old favourite children’s books. We thought the song’s simplicity and subject matter could withstand a more direct telling of the lyrics within a video and we love the way it came out. Art by Joshua Swallow
The Fat Angel Sings 