JAPANDROIDS – ” North East South West / Near To The Wild Heart Of Life “

Posted: August 13, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Canadian garage rockers Japandroids shared their first live album, “Massey Fucking Hall”, recorded at the aforementioned iconic Toronto venue from their 2017 tour with Cloud Nothings. “We’ve actually recorded a number of shows over the years, and for one reason or another, they just didn’t turn out,” drummer David Prowse explained. “We both like where this show catches us. We are at a bit of a crossroads in some ways between the band that put out Post-Nothing back in 2009 and where we are going. This setlist captures the first three albums really well and shows how much we’ve changed since those Post-Nothing days. We still have the energy but we have better command of our instruments and our voices. It feels a little less off the rails but still has a ton of momentum.

After playing the last of their 200 shows in more than 40 countries in support of their critically acclaimed 2012 album Celebration Rock, Japandroids took a much needed break to rest and recover after their last show in November of 2013. The band would not play again for three years. This month, they made their triumphant return to the stage, playing intimate shows in Vancouver, LA, Toronto, London and NYC, in which they treated fans to their favourites from Celebration Rock and Post-Nothing, and previewed a handful of new, unreleased songs. 

Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, was written clandestinely throughout 2014 and 2015 in Vancouver, Toronto, New Orleans, and Mexico City. It was (mostly) recorded by Jesse Gander (who had previously recorded both Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock) at Rain City Recorders in Vancouver, BC (September-November, 2015). One song, True Love And A Free Life Of Free Will, was recorded by Damian Taylor during an exploratory recording session at Golden Ratio in Montreal, QC (February, 2015). 

Like Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, the album is 8 songs. This is because 8 songs is the standard template for a great rock n roll album: Raw Power by The Stooges, Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen, Marquee Moon by Television, IV by Led Zeppelin, Horses by Patti Smith, Paranoid by Black Sabbath, Remain In Light by Talking Heads, Master Of Puppets by Metallica, etc.

Like Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, the album was sequenced specifically for the LP. On Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, side A (songs 1-4) and side B (songs 5-7) each follow their own loose narrative. Taken together as one, they form an even looser narrative, with the final song on side B (song 8) acting as an epilogue.

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Back in October we played at Massey Hall. It was surreal to play such a beautiful and historic venue. The people at Massey Hall filmed and recorded the entire show and have put together this mini concert documentary, which shows some of the songs we played that night along with some clips from an interview we did right before the show. It’s a pretty cool document of an unforgettable night.

Band Members:
Brian King & David Prowse

CAR SEAT HEADREST – ” Commit Yourself Completely “

Posted: August 13, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Offering a raw, loose take on the band’s material from 2016’s Teens Of Denial and 2018’s Twin Fantasy, the nine-track live album will feature eight Car Seat Headrest originals (plus a cover of Frank Ocean’s “Ivy”) culled from performances across the U.S., U.K. and France. The band recorded every show they played in 2018 and combed through upwards of 50 recordings to piece together the final tracklist for the album. “The recordings we made of the shows came out very clean, so rather than try to artificially recreate how it sounded in the different venues night to night, I tried to give the whole album that in-your-face feeling, like we’re playing the songs right in front of you,” frontman Will Toledo said in a statement.

It only makes sense that Car Seat Headrest put out a live album. Rather than follow the more conventional route of releasing a single live show or selections from a residency at a particular venue, group leader Will Toledo selected nine songs from over 50 gigs from around the globe recorded during 2018. The sites include several American towns including Kansas City, Olympia, Portland, and Columbus as well as one from Wales and two each from France and England. The disc features some stage banter (but not too much) that helps identify the locations and lots of appreciative noise from the various audiences.

The tracks on Commit Yourself Completely are among Car Seat Headrest’s best known. There is a powerful version of “Destroyed by Hippie Powers” with lots of amplified feedback, a quietly intense “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales”, and a trippy conversational rendition of “Drugs With Friends”. Toledo sounds comfortable disclosing innermost and intimate states of conscious. Car Seat Headrest also covers Frank Ocean’s “Ivy” with its lyrics of love and hate and lost youth. Toledo sings with an ache in his voice over a sparse acoustic guitar accompaniment. He comes off as naked and vulnerable. For a guy who was once so insecure that he recorded his music alone in his automobile (hence the band’s name), this suggests how much he has grown as a performer.

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Most of the cuts are five to seven minutes in length, long enough to build to climaxes but short enough to maintain interest. There is little improvisation or hot-dogging by the band members and enough noise to rock hard when the song calls for it. The two longest tracks frame the album. It begins with the 10-plus-minute “Cosmic Hero” recorded in Cardiff that starts with stray instrumental noises as if the band is just warming up for the first two minutes and 20 seconds before Toledo sings, “If you really want to make it last, you have to commit yourself completely.” As this is where the album’s title comes from, it suggests Toledo is uprightly pledging his duty to the audience. He’s putting it all out there.

The album ends with a loud, 13-plus-minute version of the epic too scared to come out of the closet love song “Beach Life-in-Death”. It’s a weird choice for the final cut with its final chorus of “The ocean washed over your grave / The ocean washed open your grave” before ending abruptly. It may offer a sense of finality but not one of closure, like a concert without an encore

You can’t stop this band from amazing you. And nothing can stop them from playing so passionately. Every song is strong and energetic, thus so harmonic between every instrument. The production makes you feel like you are standing on the stage and performing with them.

released June 17, 2019

Will Toledo: vocals, guitar on 8
Seth Dalby: bass guitar
Ethan Ives: guitar, vocals
Andrew Katz: drums, vocals
Grant Mullen : guitar, vocals
Gianni Aiello: guitar, keyboards, vocals
Henry LaVallee: additional percussion

produced by Will Toledo

JOHN MAYALL & The BLUESBREAKERS – ” European Union (Live In The UK & Germany) “

Posted: August 13, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Buy Online John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers - European Union (Live In The UK & Germany) Blue

The legendary John Mayall’s various bands were a revolving door of musical greats.
This superb new collection gathers performances by three separate outfits, featuring outstanding performances by Eric Clapton, John McVie, Mick Taylor and others. Originally performed live for radio and TV broadcast, they’re presented in superb fidelity here, together with background notes and images.

Incredible collection of performances, live in session from the UK and Germany, Includes BBC radio, Radio Bremen and WDR-TV broadcasts, Digitally remastered for greatly enhanced sound quality
Background liners and rare images First time on vinyl with Hand numbered editions.

Track Listing:
Side One
SATURDAY CLUB
March 19th 1966 | BBC Radio
1. On Top Of The World (John Mayall) 2.31
2. Key To Love (John Mayall) 2.00
3. Hideaway (Sonny Thompson / Freddie King) 3.20
4. Little Girl (John Mayall) 2.45
5. Tears In My Eyes (John Mayall) 4.28
6. Parchman Farm (Mose Allison / Bukka White) 2.21

John Mayall – vocals, keyboards, harmonica, guitar
Eric Clapton – guitar John McVie bass Hughie Flint – drums

DIE GLOCKE KONZERTHAUS
Bremen, Germany May 22nd 1969 | Radio Bremen
7. Love Me Baby If You Can (John Mayall) 5.53
8. Checkin’ Up On My Baby (Sonny Boy Williamson) 5.09

Side Two
1. Parchman Farm (Mose Allison / Bukka White) 13.50
2. Time Has Come (John Mayall) 6.12
3. 2401 (John Mayall) 5.32

John Mayall – keyboards, harp Mick Taylor – guitar
Steve Thompson – bass Collin Allen – drums

BEAT CLUB
January 31st 1970 | WDR-TV
4. I’m Gonna Fight For You J.B. 4.08

SONIC YOUTH – ” Spinhead Sessions “

Posted: August 13, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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To quote the Bandcamp description, “The slow-burn sounds of Sonic Youth’s 1986 rehearsals to score Ken Friedman’s spooky highway film Made In USA are yet another mile marker in the band’s long and varied existence, now being issued as “Spinhead Sessions” (named for the North Hollywood studio used by SST label acts like Black Flag and Painted Willie). These jams were later built upon for a full-on (and quite different) soundtrack production, but the rough sketches here find the band taking time with truly new and introspective sound worlds.

It was basically a brand new way of working for Sonic Youth, albeit a challenging one, under the auspices of major Hollywood film production overlords, routing their way into the world of soundtrack scoring. And it all comes at a key time and place.”

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Recorded at Spinhead Studios, North Hollywood, CA 1986 during soundtrack rehearsals for the film “Made In USA” are yet another mile marker in the band’s long and varied existence, now being issued as the Spinhead Sessions  These jams were later built upon for a full-on (and quite different) soundtrack production, but the rough sketches here find the band taking time with truly new and introspective sound worlds. It was basically a brand new way of working for Sonic Youth, albeit a challenging one, under the auspices of major Hollywood film production overlords, routing their way into the world of soundtrack scoring. And it all comes at a key time and place.
1986 was a transformative year for the band in many ways. The gravitation to the beloved SST stable, in addition to Steve Shelley, now drumming, certainly gave Sonic Youth a renewed vigour and vocabulary. They were already an international touring machine, and gaining considerable steam with critics (even spinning the heads of detractors who had dismissed their arty downtown boho  sensibilities prior to ’86’s Evol). Their cultdom with fans had concrete roots by this point, and the influences that were swarming in the band’s orbit marked an exciting time, where almost any trajectory seemed possible, and they were going for it.
Friedman’s film worked on a relatively darker frame for a mainstream Hollywood flick; characters played by stars Chris Penn and Adrian Pasdar made a cross-country journey that started out in Centralia, Pennsylvania, a real-life, anthracite coal producing town that had to relocate all its residents due to a decades-long, inextinguishable underground fire. The Sonics passed through this haunted-looking locale on their next tour after the sessions, and are pictured on the sleeve standing amidst smouldering embers. For the sounds they made at Spinhead, this image seems a fitting mental picture. Guitar harmonics billow like smoke, heavily reverbed drumming and shimmering cymbals echo from what sounds like the bottom of a deep mine.

This newly born Spinhead Sessions release once again defines Sonic Youth in a raw and engaging state of discovery at a terrific time. Is it a missing link between the complex, crafted cavernosity of Evol and the frayed-electric powerline sizzle of Sister? Yes and no. It’s an entirely unique animal, a meditative album where you can soak in the template of tapping overtones, sedate explorations of new chords, even sounding at times like AMM trying to play the VU’s Sweet Sister Ray bootleg or something similar.
It’s trademark Sonic Youth at the core, and in an unfettered, dreamy state and time, there and gone like smoke.

The story was a dark, somewhat politically pointed road movie. We watched the film a few times and set up a rehearsal/demo situation at the now legendary (and defunct) Spinhead Studios in the San Fernando Valley. This studio was the home to a lot of music generated by the SST record label (Black Flag, Painted Willie, etc.). We found ourselves constructing spindly, twisting rhythms and quiet rushes of noise and melody. We also blasted out some straight-ahead Mac-truck rock riffs. Anything to fit the film’s “mood.”
Thurston Moore

Originally released June 17th, 2016

WEYES BLOOD – ” Cardamom Times ” 5th Anniversary Edition

Posted: August 13, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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• On vinyl for the first time since its first sold-out pressing in 2015, the fifth anniversary of Weyes Blood’s (Natalie Mering) warm and elegiac record, “Cardamom Times”, is celebrated with a deluxe Dinked edition.

• Since the EP’s release, Weyes Blood’s Front Row Seat to Earth (Mexican Summer, 2016) and Titanic Rising (Sub Pop, 2019) were both named Best New Albums by the majority of internet bloggers, with the latter making multiple Best Albums of 2019 lists, including The Guardian, Pitchfork, and The Independent. Different from these elaborate albums, “Cardamom Times” was recorded onto reel-to-reel tape at Mering’s home studio in Rockaway Beach, New York.

• The songs of Cardamom Times demonstrate Mering’s reverence of devotional music and the avant-garde, channeling the domestic hymns of Sybille Baer through the lens of Baltimore’s experimental DIY scene; the minimal, melodic drones of Terry Riley accompanied by the voices of the Sacre Coeur; the confrontational words of Anaïs Nin along with the warm embrace of St. Augustine.

• This anniversary edition of Cardamom Times features reimagined cover art with the focal image of a desolate paradise during sunset — Jamaica Bay in Queens, NY surrounded by rust. A couple is laying on the ground, caught in a comfort beyond time. With Cardamom Times, Mering invites listeners into that space of love and longing, struggle and change, surrounded by the decay of time that perpetually embraces us.

Weyes Blood – Cardamom From Cardamom Times

MUSE – ” Simulation Theory ” Deluxe Film Limited Edition

Posted: August 13, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Buy Online Muse - Simulation Theory Deluxe Film

MUSE brings their Simulation Theory tour to life in this limited edition 80s-inspired deluxe box set. The box set includes a pink/blue marbled LP with selections from the band’s September 2019 performance at London’s O2 Arena housed in a gatefold jacket, a VHS-like box containing a HD 5.1 DTS Master Audio Blu-Ray of the film, a fluorescent pink cassette of the film score written by Matt Bellamy, a Marvel Simulation Theory comic book and an 11×17 Marvel Muse poster. Each box will have metallic foil packaging.

Based on the story and themes of their 2018 album ‘Simulation Theory‘, the movie has been teased as the Devonshire trio’s own version of Pink Floyd’s legendary The Wall. Their acclaimed live show for the record 28 countries and played in front of more than 1million people, with their show at London’s O2 Arena in September 2019 filmed for the new project by director by Lance Drake, (who also directed all the promo videos for ‘Simulation Theory album’) and produced by Muse, Pulse Films, Lance Drake, Jesse-Lee Stout and Matt Bellamy. As well as capturing the band’s performance, the film also “follows a team of scientists as they investigate the source of a paranormal anomaly appearing around the world” and is described as “blurring the lines between narrative and concert film, virtual and reality”.
The goal for Simulation Theory was to capture the scale of the electrifying live show and to expand upon its connection to the DNA of the world we built for the past three years in music videos for Muse,” said Drake. “In a strange turn, the film’s alternate reality eerily started to mirror our own.”

Speaking to NME earlier this year, frontman Matt Bellamy said: “It’s a cool film set in the ‘80s sci-fi world of the last album.

TRACK LISTING
Disc 1 –
Side A 1. Algorithm (Alternate Reality Version) / 2. Pressure (Film Edit) / 3. Break It To Me / 4. The Dark Side / 5. Thought Contagion / 6. Dig Down (Gospel Version)
Side B 1. Propaganda (Acoustic Version) / 2. Algorithm / 3. Metal Medley

Disc 2 –
Side A 1. Simulation Theory Film Intro Music / 2. Psycho Murf Speaks / 3. Zombie Murphy Gets Wired Up / 4. Behold, The Glove / 5. Emotionality Rush / 6. Simulation Theory Film End Credits with Newscaster
Disc 3 – Side A 1. Simulation Theory Film

RON GALLO – ” Easter Island “

Posted: August 13, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Fourth installment of the self-made quarantine music videos.  Found this quote about Easter Island from a person named Judith Schalansky that I feel like perfectly summed up the whole point of the song so put it right at the beginning – “Whether an island such as Easter Island can be considered remote is simply a matter of perspective. Those who live there, the Rapa Nui, call their homeland Te Pito Te Henua, ‘the navel of the world’. Any point on the infinite globe of the Earth can become a centre.”

Just a simple one-shot video walking backwards on a wooded trail in my favourite orange vogue jumpsuit I found the other day and crocs, talking to myself via the lyrics of the song.

“Easter Island” is about wanting to be anywhere but where you are, but also deep down knowing that everything I’m looking for is already here.  It’s kinda taken on a whole new meaning now with not being able to really go anywhere –  I’ve been romanticizing everywhere but have no choice but to find it where I am.

I’ve been obsessed with the actual place Easter Island since I was a little kid, it’s so mysterious and one of the most remote places on earth – it’s always been a sort of mecca for me so I wanted to use that as the main symbol for the song.

Musically, I finally went full jazz on this one mixed with some 808 stuff at the end and I guess I’m almost rapping for the first time ? which just happened  –  I recorded all the music then held the paper with the lyrics, pressed record and this is what came out the first time.

Ron

SONGS: OHIA – ” Axxess & Ace “

Posted: August 13, 2020 in MUSIC
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Songs: Ohia is Jason Molina. On “Axxess & Ace” he is assisted by Geoff Comings (Party Girls), Michael Krassner (the Lofty Pillars, Boxhead Ensemble, Edith Frost Band), Joe Ferguson (Pinetop Seven), Dave Pavkovic (Boxhead Ensemble), Julie Liu (Rex) and Edith Frost. It was recorded by Krassner at his Truckstop Studios in Chicago.

What resulted was the most full-sounding Songs: Ohia record to date. Liu’s aching violin playing with Molina’s desperate vocals transport the songs to great depths. “There is no bullshit on this record. It’s a love song record, so I wrote as directly to the point as I could. There is nothing snarling or cynical anywhere on the record. It is not invented stuff either. It’s a desperate record, it’s a jealous record, it’s an imperfect record. It is also as incomplete as a man. This record wasn’t made to rid me of any doubts or to heal me. The end result should show a man, anxious to learn, anxious to share, anxious to curtail all that is selfish. A note about the record as physical fact: it was done almost entirely live and first take. None of us were paid and the musicians all heard these songs for the first time on the day we made the record. Needless to say we could never have predicted the range and the urgency of this record’s atmosphere. We are all very proud of this new Songs: Ohia record Axxess & Ace.“

Songs: Ohia takes a big step forward with Axxess & Ace, both in ambition and accessibility. Whereas the self-titled debut and the follow-up, Impala, could be esoteric and downright depressing in places, Axxess weaves intensely personal lyrics with universal worries and anxieties to create a rich musical tapestry. An all-star team of Chicago-based musicians, while Edith Frost sings backup on a few numbers. The musicians heard songwriter Jason Molina’s planned songs for the first time on the day of recording and performed them almost entirely live; the finished product is one of spontaneity yet surprising fullness.

“Axxess and Ace” stood to be Songs: Ohia’s third album release in 1999, Jason Molina is assisted by Geof Comings (Party Girls), Michael Krassner (The Lofty Pillars, Boxhead Ensemble, Edith Frost Band), Joe Ferguson (Pinetop Seven), Dave Pavkovic (Boxhead Ensemble), Julie Liu (Rex) and Edith Frost. This album was recorded by Krassner at his Truckstop Studios in Chicago. ‘Axxess and Ace’ flickers between Liu’s aching violin and Molina’s intensely personal lyrics quilting the worries and anxieties of the idea of imperfections. It is direct, in the way that love songs can be, recorded almost entirely live and first take. The finished product is full of spontaneity and surprise for the listener to enjoy time and time again. Repressed on colour for the first time in ages!

Any exploration of the music of Songs: Ohia should start with this album. “Axxess & Ace” is the third album by Songs: Ohia. Released by Secretly Canadian on March 15th, 1999.

The INNOCENCE MISSION – ” See You Tomorrow “

Posted: August 12, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Lancaster, PA’s Innocence Mission started out three decades ago as a dream pop band with an alt-rock backbone, but after drummer Steve Brown left for a culinary career, the group saw it as an opportunity to explore a more delicate, folkier side, beginning with 1999’s Birds of My Neighborhood. They’ve never looked back and have been all the better for it. See You Tomorrow is The Innocence Mission’s 12th album and one of their best, with Karen Peris’ heartbreaking voice as always the star of the show. Songs like the demure “At Lake Maureen,” “On Your Side” and “St. Francis and the Future” offer shards of dust-speckled light for that voice to ride upon, with arrangements that never overpower but also offer wonderful surprises, like when the strings and percussion kick in midway through opener “The Brothers Williams Said.” It’s a beautiful strain of melancholy that Peris imbues in these songs, tinged ever so slightly with nostalgia, like that first chilly night in August that has you reaching for a sweater, knowing summer’s days are numbered.

Alternative folk act The Innocence Mission first gained recognition in 1989, when they found chart success with their self-titled debut album. By the time the band released their third album, Glow, in 1995, they had earned a zealous cult following that remains loyal to them to this day. Their songs tend to be exquisitely crafted, featuring ethereally beautiful acoustic-based music and hauntingly introspective and thoughtful lyrics, all combining into a sound that is at once delicate yet intense. The band, led by married couple Karen Peris (vocals, guitar, piano, organ) and Don Peris (guitars, drums vocals), originated when they first met in high school. Now, more than thirty years later, they (along with bassist Mike Bitts) are preparing to release their twelfth studio album, See You Tomorrow (Thérèse Records), on January 17th. Speaking from their home/studio in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, they exude the same warmth and sincerity that can be found in their music.

Band Members:
Karen Peris – vocals, guitar, piano, organ
Don Peris – guitars, drums, vocals
Mike Bitts – bass guitar, vocals

The Innocence Mission – See You Tomorrow

FLEETWOOD MAC – ” Stranger Blues ” Live 5 Album Box Set

Posted: August 12, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Buy Online Fleetwood Mac - Stranger Blues Live 5LP White Vinyl

As well as founding Fleetwood Mac, the late Peter Green was arguably the finest British blues guitarist, singer and songwriter of his generation. This 4-CD boxed set showcases his dazzling talent across numerous broadcasts, spanning studio performances for the BBC and live sets in San Francisco, Finland and Sweden. Capturing him at the peak of his powers between early 1968 and late 1969, it comes complete with a booklet containing background notes and rare images, making it an essential purchase for his army of admirers. Collection of Fleetwood Mac performances led by the late great Peter Green
  • Includes performances captured for broadcast on British, American and Scandinavian radio stations

Original Live Broadcasts 1968 BBC includes Top Gear, January 21st 1968: Top Gear, March 24th 1968: Saturday Club, April 13th 1968, Top Gear, June 2nd 1968: Top Gear, July 7th 1968:

Radio One O’clock, August 26th 1968: Top Gear, October 13th 1968: Top Gear, November 24th 1968: Live At The Carousel Ballroom, San Francsico,
8th June 1968, KSAN-FM,  Live In Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland, 24th September 1969, Yleisradio Oy (Yle),  Live At The Cue Club, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2nd November 1969, Sveriges Radio

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