The Fat Angel Sings

The new single, “Back In The Game”, is the second time these two musicianshave collaborated on record, following the acclaimed “Beautiful People”, which appeared on Mark Pritchard’s “Under The Sun” solo album for Warp Records in 2016.

The song is paired to a video by Jonathan Zawada, a visual artist who says, “On first hearing the original demo of “Back In The Game” I was immediately struck by the deranged bass line that made me think of the final scene of Staying Alive where John Travolta is cockily strutting through the New York streets but I saw it with a more sinister overlay.

Slowly a version of that visual arose around a character wearing a kind of giant parade head with a fixed expression of mania stuck on their face, such that you couldn’t tell if their endless march was one of aggression or celebration”

“Back In The Game” is out now via Warp Records.

The Misunderstood must rank as one of the greatest cult bands of the 60s psychedelia era. ‘Children Of The Sun’ assembles The Misunderstood’s entire known output from 1965-1966 onto one package, remastered by Alec Palao.

With incisive sleevenotes from Mike Stax (Ugly Things) and involvement with various original band members, plus a handsome design from Andy Morten (Shindig!), this is truly the definitive document of a legendary underground band, assembled by those who love their music.

The band began forging their innovative sound in Riverside, California, where they were discovered by DJ John Peel (then working in the US as John Ravenscroft). Having cut a few recordings locally, the band relocated to the UK on Peel’s recommendation.

In London, The Misunderstood signed to Fontana Records to cut what are considered six landmark tracks. Issued that December, ‘I Can Take You To The Sun’ remains a high watermark of the original psychedelia era and was backed by an explosive version of Bo Diddley’s ‘Who Do You Love’, but the band broke up soon afterwards when singer Rick Brown was drafted. A second single, the blistering psych rock of ‘Children Of The Sun’ (backed by the anti-war gem ‘I Unseen’) was belatedly issued in February 1969 when a new line-up of the band re-signed to the label.

In 1982, Cherry Red released the landmark compilation LP, ‘Before The Dream Faded’, which not only unveiled two further Fontana recordings, the high octane ‘Find The Hidden Door’ and ‘My Mind’ but also collated seven archive tracks from the band’s Riverside days. Since then, additional recordings have surfaced on various retrospectives.

Genesis and more in the latest issue of MOJO! We Know What You Like (In Your Magazine)… Genesis’ the classic line-up reconvene for the new MOJO, with moving interviews from Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford, and a CD of Prog Rock Nuggets!

Also in the issue: Marianne Faithfull – MOJO bows in tribute to the band ; Television – the lost album; Graham Nash – on Crosby, Stills and Young; Bob Marley – behind the icon.

Plus: Kim Deal David Bowie;  Salif Keita; Steven Wilson; Pentangle; Hawkwind; Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy; Boz Scaggs; farewell;s to Garth Hudson; and… Todd Rundgren sings Bacharach!… 

“Peacemaker” follows Vera Sola’s critically acclaimed 2018 debut “Shades”. It marks a dramatic shift from the shadowy, enclosed nature of her first recordings, to a sweeping new sonic landscape and renewed focus on her remarkable voice. Recorded predominantly in Nashville over the fall of 2019, Vera Sola, ever the orchestrator, opened herself up to the magic of collaboration, working alongside co-producer Kenneth Pattengale, to bring in dozens of musicians to embellish the sound. The record is at times bold and orchestral while retaining some of the dirt and grit that was present under the fingernails of “Shades”, realising a whole world while managing to also find remarkable detail in snapshot vignettes. Influences range from New World Symphony – Antonín Dvořák’s exploration of American history and landscapes – to the rattling percussion and distorted guitar of 80s era Tom Waits.

The lyrics are at times surreal, at others tender, unflinchingly bold and revealing or touching with jolts of everyday mundanity.  This album just gets better with each listen. The production and, of course, Vera Sola’s voice is wonderful. It has an old fashioned, romantic feel which really enhances the whole mood of the music. 

All songs written by Vera Sola.

released February 2nd, 2024 “Peacemaker” is to be released on City Slang, in partnership with Spectraphonic Records.

Leading the charge are Sweden’s anarchic Viagra Boys, who will ignite the gardens with their chaotic, gritty, and absurdist punk energy. Joining them is The National frontman Matt Berninger, whose velvety baritone and lyrical elegance will sweep you away in a haze of poetic brilliance. Meanwhile, shoegaze dreamers DIIV make their End of The Road debut, bringing a swirl of fuzzed-out guitars and wistful melodies.

Elsewhere, Christopher Owens – of Girls fame – will bare his soul with raw vocals and warm, fuzzy tones, reminding us why his music continues to resonate. Indie darling Katy J Pearson returns with a refreshed sound—her signature intimate songwriting now infused with electronic textures and chopped-up vocals, offering a bold new direction.

 Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory and shape-shifting auteur Youth Lagoon will kick things off on Thursday, whilst electronic pioneer Caribou return to Larmer Tree Gardens this time taking the billing reins on Friday.

They top a faultless supporting cast including GOAT, Bombino, Joy Orbison and These New Puritans as well as Garden Stage headliner, and The National frontman, Matt Berninger, and Irish folk experimentalist Lisa O’Neill.

Saturday is topped by fearless pop brilliance from Self Esteem, who will follow Mount Kimbie, Sofia Kourtesis and Jim Ghedi. Viagra Boys, Geordie Greep and Emma-Jean Thackray grace the Garden Stage, whilst DIIV bring their noise-rock romance to the Big Top. Down at The Folly, bdrmm, Ducks Ltd and jasmine 4.t will warm up the stage for your usual high-energy late-night Surprise Shows.

Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes celebrate 25 years of their iconic live album Live at the Greek, available worldwide on March 14th. This special anniversary release features 36 newly remixed and remastered recordings, including 16 never-before-released tracks from the legendary 1999 performances at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

“I’m really looking forward to the soon-to-be-available release of Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes material from concerts in 1999. The new mixes capture the collaboration of those historic encounters and provide the full explosive passion and exciting energy of those alchemical moments.” – Jimmy Page

“The new “Live at the Greek” box set brings the whole experience of our work with Jimmy into a vibrant, electric, mystical, and powerful perspective. Hail, hail rock ‘n’ roll!” – Chris Robinson

“Going through the shows and putting together the new box set has been such an incredible dive back to that time in our history. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thrill to play these amazing iconic songs with the man who composed them. The sound of the new mixes and extra songs blew me away when I first heard them.” – Rich Robinson

The album now is on 6LP box set, 3CD set, and on a limited 2LP “Best Of” edition and listen to the newly released tracks, “No Speak No Slave” and “Bring It On Home”

available worldwide on March 14th.

‘Moonlight Concessions’ goes back to basics; a return to their esoteric, off-kilter best, courtesy of Kristin’s pin-sharp sketches and their suitably abrasive musical arrangements.

The album follows their acclaimed ‘Sun Racket’ from 2020, a heady set filled with tough and tender tales spiked with surreal imagery.

Produced by Kristin Hersh at Steve Rizzo’s Stable Sound Studio in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, ‘Moonlight Concessions’ is a collection of snippets from everyday life writ large – think Raymond Carver Short Cuts, overheard conversations, recounted happenings and telling one-liners, all sewed together to illustrate the times as they slowly mature, fully peppered with original Muses’ vim and vigour.

‘Drugstore Drastic’ is a kerbside soliloquy caught en route to a more alluring rendezvous. Built on a brisk acoustic strum with a guitar sub-melody underpinning proceedings, it’s an unfolding tale of social awareness from a blurred sub-conscious. ‘Summer Of Love’ began as a bet with a guy for a dollar that revolved around the idea that the seasons don’t change us. The album opener, it’s a haunting baroque overture, bowed and brooding. ‘Libretto’s strings offset the acoustic ambience, the hot and cold of longing at the very heart of it, a thematic driver filed with warmth in a safe haven lubricated by tequila.

Written in the differing South Coast environs of The Gulf Of Mexico and Southern California, ‘Moonlight Concessions’ pulls from the star clusters that light both, generating optimism and hope in varying degrees. Hersh explains, “In New Orleans the stars look greenish-blue, as it’s below sea level and swamp-lit. But on Moonlight Beach, they glow icy white. All these songs were written in these two glowy places, which helped our sonic technique find itself.”

New album ‘Moonlight Concessions’ (out 14th March via Fire Records) is released alongside the deviously titled, ‘Moonlight Confessions’, a companion record exclusively available with Rough Trade. 

After two consecutive new Jethro Tull album releases in 2022 and 2023, another collection – ‘Curious Ruminant’ – is unleashed on the 7th March 2025. Consisting of nine tracks varying in length from two and half minutes to almost seventeen minutes, this is an album of mostly full band music. Amongst the musicians featured are former keyboardist Andrew Giddings and drummer James Duncan, along with the current band members David Goodier, John O’Hara, Scott Hammond and, making his recording debut with the band, guitarist Jack Clark.

Jethro Tull has released “The Tipu House,” the second single from their upcoming album “Curious Ruminant”.

The song cuts its hints of utopia, where “you feel for your neighbour,” with acidic lines like “The day of books and roses shown firmly to the door.” At three and a half minutes, “The Tipu House” recalls the band’s folk-rock roots, complete with a flute solo.

(Fans craving Tull’s more progressive leanings will welcome the album’s 17-minute penultimate track “Drink From the Same Well.”)

“Our societies are filled with those who have risen from relative poverty to positions of greatness in the world and their successes are a beacon of hope for the rest of us, even if ‘greatness’ is a relative concept at the end of it all,” bandleader Ian Anderson notes in a press release for the new song.

With their fourth single, ‘Hangman’, from our fast approaching debut album ‘Drive to Goldenhammer’ is now out and about in the big wide scary world. The single is accompanied by a beautiful music video directed by our very own Tiger Cohen-Towell. It is funny, and features many wonderful handmade props and cameo performances by dear, dear friends and colleagues of Divorce.

I wrote the skeleton of ‘Hangman’ late one freezing January night in my mouldy bedroom in the flat I was living in in woolwich back in December 2022. had just got home from a long shift as a support worker. It was an intense job, working with one brilliant but complex individual who required 24/7 care. The job necessitated a high level of control of my emotions, a constant state of alertness, a readiness to come up with engaging activities and a total absence of self-interest.

In this kind of situation, it seemed a level of emotional numbness on my part was inevitable, like a subtle film over my senses to protect against the difficult things I encountered, or in musical terms; something like a compressor, to level out the peaks and troughs and keep a steady level.

However, supporting one person closely and consistently, it is impossible not to feel invested in their life, wanting to make things easier for them and for the people around them.

The tension between numbness and care, along with the fatigue of long hours and the subsequent adrenaline dumps from dealing with stressful and unstable situations, came together to create the conditions in my brain to write this song, which came out lyrically complete within about twenty minutes.

I used Tiger’s Omnichord, an instrument I wouldn’t usually write on, and I think its rigidity and harmonic restrictions helped in some way to unlock my subconscious mind and force me not to overthink things.

Feverishly listening back to the voice note the following morning over and over, heading back to work, it helped some things make sense to me. I only worked in the job for about six months, but it was the hardest and most rewarding work I’ve ever done and my level of admiration for the people in my team and the people working in the incredible organisations I encountered throughout is immense. There is a hidden world of wonderful people who work unbelievably hard, often overcoming great hardships in their own lives to make other people’s lives liveable. It is rarely seen or acknowledged in a wider society that is fundamentally deficient when it comes to embracing difference, illness or anything outside of the “normal”.

So that’s the story behind ‘Hangman’. Thanks for reading, there’ll be even more coming so soon!