Bringing back the big riffs and outrageous attitude of 70’s glam rock, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard the Cardiff based band currently taking flight who are about to blow your mind. Having just released their ‘The Non-Stop’ EP which has been a huge hit with the critics and look set to be the biggest new band of 2020!
Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard are Tom Rees (guitar/lead vocals), his brother Ed (bass), Zac White (guitar) and Ethan Hurst (drums).
“The formative stages of glam-rock in the early ’70s was and always will be huge for me, the music and style that came forward in those years is visually and audibly stunning. Electric Warrior is like Tutankhamen’s Tomb to me, it should be in museums across the world.”
Cardiff based brothers Tom and Ed Rees are true children of the revolution, having been born into musical family with a father that was once onstage with The Bay City Rollers, flying the flag for the tartan army onstage. Those 70’s grooves deep in their veins flow to their fingers and into the fretboard which saw them initially become a studio-based band leading to the creation of their debut single ‘In Vain’.
“Myself and Ed are brothers, and our papa used to play drums for The Bay City Rollers back in the day, though I should clarify that it was when they were on their decline – bad times, long live Bay City.” – Tom Rees Feeling like a fully-fledged band following the release of ‘In Vain’, they set their sights on global domination starting with a split 12” of their first song with fellow Cardiff innovators Boy Azooga and even appearing at Glastonbury 2019 on the BBC Introducing stage!
Continuing their meteoric rise, the flared guitar warriors have just dropped ‘The Non-Stop’ EP. The awesome ten track record kicks off with the single ‘Double Denim Hop’ which is a true life story about those that dare to wear the DD as singer Rees explains; “I had started wearing double denim (I of course thought it looked good but nothing else really throws other people of the scent of despair than Two Denim items hung on ONE PERSON ONLY) and wore it pretty consistently over the weekend that I was up there.”
We are so excited about the rise of Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard and with a brand-new record to show off, you can bet their upcoming shows are going to be AMAZING! Not only do they have their own headline dates lines up, but the glam rock revivalists will be appearing at the inaugural wide eyed festival which hits Leicester in February.
13/05Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard – The Bodega, Nottingham
Katie Ellen’s debut album, 2017’s Cowgirl Blues, saw frontwoman Anika Pyle kicking against the traditions and norms that come with adulthood—namely, love, major life changes, cohabitation, and domesticity. She penned the anti-marriage anthem with “Sad Girls Club,” a standout track that featured the defiant heartbreaker of a chorus: “Sad girls don’t make good wives.” On the Philly band’s new, five-song EP, Still Life, Pyle is still trying to wrap her head around these things. On opener “Lighthouse,” Pyle reckons with warring thoughts—wanting to be brave enough to swim into life’s uncharted deep end, but feeling tied down by the anchor of fear and anxiety. Later, on the EP’s title track, she surrenders to the idea that love is more powerful and wild than our capacity to tame it: “You can’t make love stay / Do your best to hold it in place.”
Musically, Pyle flexes a few new tricks she’s trying out, like on “Still Life,” where her voice spirals into borderline operatic delivery, a far jump from the quick and dirty style she cut her teeth on in her former pop punk project Chumped. Was so excited at the news of this EP, considering that Cowgirl Blues was one of my favourite albums of 2017. I’ve had this on repeat since it came out. “Still Life” is particularly resonant for me. It feels so different as Anika showcases her vocal skills even more, with a fuller band sound and even backup vocals, but the emotional quality and content of the song still feels 100% like Katie Ellen.
Matt Sweeney, produced this Country Westerns album. Singer-guitarist Joey Plunkett left NYC for Nashville after making a name for himself in legends The Weight & hustling bass in Gentleman Jesse. In 2019, Sabrina Rush joined on bass. Nashville drummer Brian Kotzur was a member of Silver Jews and David Berman encouraged them to record with me and Fat Possum Records gave them a record deal.
Country Westerns is a three-piece rock band from Nashville that sounds nothing like its name. Drummer Brian Kotzur (Trash Humpers, Silver Jews) and singer-songwriter-guitarist Joseph Plunket (The Weight, Gentleman Jesse) began working on songs together in 2016, after bonding over the shared desire to be in a band in a town full of solo artists and guns-for-hire. Following a couple of years writing and playing shows with varying lineups, Sabrina Rush (State Champion) joined the band as bassist. The now complete Country Westerns recorded their debut album in New York and Nashville, encouraged by friend and producer Matt Sweeney. Plunket’s raspy bravado and subtle twang, his insistent 12-string guitar riffs, Kotzur’s dynamic and metronomic drumming, and Rush’s harmonic bass playing create hyper catchy rock songs, with lyrics that bend towards poetry and punk rock sneer in equal measure. Their self-titled debut is slated for release in 2020 on Fat Possum Record. This is guitar-driven garagey americana that doesn’t sound like anything else out there right now.
Released June 26th, 2020
Country Westerns played a private set at Grimey’s Music in Nashville to celebrate the release of their self titled debut album on Fat Possum Records. Love everything about this. It’s got the primo vocal gravel with an infectious rhythm and upbeat tone. Great mix of punky twang polished and mixed like a modern Manhattan in the calloused hands of an urban cowboy gone rogue.
Slow Nights 00:14 It’s Not Easy 3:32 TV Light 6:47 Gentle Soul 10:17 I’m Not Ready 13:19 Close To Me 17:35 Guest Checks 20:16 Times To Tunnels 23:48 At Anytime 26:51 Margaritas At The Mall (Purple Mountains) 30:15
Nathan Salsburg is a guitarist, composer, archivist and writer living in Kentucky. He is a frequent collaborator ofsongwriter-singer Joan Shelley, occasional guitar-duo partner of JamesElkington, and has contributed to recordings by Bonnie “Prince” Billy, the Weather Station, and Jake Xerxes Fussell, among others. Salsburg is also curator of the digital Alan Lomax Archive.Nathan and William are the guitarists I’ve been listening to the most lately, so hearing a collaboration is a clear sign that there are good things happening in the world after all
In addition to the album announcement for their new album, they’ve shared the haunting single “Trials”, along with a mesmerizing video directed by Jeff Striker. Cults on “Trials”: “Trials” focuses on the power that addictions and harmful ideologies have to transform. The chorus walks a tightrope between a metaphor for gaslighting and a despairing worry about the person you still hold out hope for.
Host is a radical reimagining of both the band’s sound and its dynamic. Written more collaboratively than ever before and recorded primarily with live instruments for the first time, the album explores the sinister dynamics at play in a parasitic relationship. Rather than dwelling in the discomfort, it charts a cathartic journey towards freedom and self-reliance, revelling in the power that comes from standing your ground and declaring independence in the face of exploitation and manipulation.
Cults have returned with the announcement of their fourth studio album “Host”, out September 18th via Sinderlyn ‼️
Blitzen Trapper shares “Dead Billie Jean,” this is the third track from their Yep Roc Records debut, Holy Smokes Future Jokes, out September 11th.
BrooklynVegan premiered the song and video, noting that the song “works in the title star of Michael Jackson’s 1983 hit — not to mention a few dead rock stars — into the heady psychedelic universe of this album… a groovy, jammy Blitzen Trapper-style folk number.” Led by existential questions about life and death, Holy Smokes Future Jokes finds frontman and lyricist Eric Earley ruminating on the intermediate period between a person’s separate lives on earth, “and what it means to escape the cycle of birth and rebirth.”
Of the track he notes, “Pulling together Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo and MJ’s Billie Jean wherein the real Billie Jean has indeed killed herself as she promised Michael she would and now living in a state of rock and roll immortality kicks it in the Intermediate States with Jim Morrison, Brian Jones and Abraham Lincoln(?!) smoking mad dope, though she remains unaware of her death somehow as though her death ultimately was an awakening and reinvention.”
On August 28th, in support of independent record stores, Blitzen Trapper will release Holy Smokes Future Jokes on limited edition red, yellow & blue splatter vinyl EXCLUSIVELY two weeks before the September 11th official street date.
Across the months of August, September, October and November 2020, four classic Peter Gabriel concerts will be released on vinyl by Real World. Three of them for the first time. A twenty-year period of live performance is captured by the four releases, and over forty different songs. The series commences with Plays Live, Peter Gabriel’s first live album from 1983, which will be re-released on 2LP on 28th August. A month later, we jump forward musically to the tour that supported the release of Peter’s fifth solo album, ‘So’, with the release of Live in Athens 1987 on 25th September, also a 2LP set. Both albums come in wide-spine sleeves with printed inner bags.
By the third release, on 23rd October, we find ourselves immersed in the spectacle of the Secret World Live tour. Conceived by Peter and Robert Lepage, this is the show that accompanied the release of the ‘US’ album. Again, this is a 2LP with wide-spine sleeve and printed inner bags. The last release of this series is Growing Up Live, released on 27th November capturing Peter’s first tour in a decade in support of the album ‘UP’.This is a 3LP set with a gatefold sleeve and printed inner bags.
Plays Live, Peter Gabriel’s first live album from 1983, re-released on 2LP on 28th August 2020.
The album was compiled from live recordings made at four venues across the American Midwest in late 1982. It is effectively a sign-off to the first phase of Peter Gabriel the solo artist. As such, it’s a celebration of all that was achieved on his opening quartet of self-titled long-players, while also standing as confirmation that Peter was an engaged and engaging frontman.
The touring band captured by the recordings consists of Peter, alongside Jerry Marrotta (drums and percussion), Tony Levin (bass and stick), David Rhodes (guitar) and Larry Fast (synthesizer and piano), whilst the iconic cover image of Peter in ‘monkey mask’ make-up was taken by long-time collaborator Armando Gallo.
The 2LP artwork replicates the original vinyl release with a wide-spine single sleeve and full colour printed inner bags. All images are newly re-scanned.
The album has been Half-Speed Remastered and cut to lacquers at 33RPM by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering, mastered by Tony Cousins at Metropolis and overseen by Peter Gabriel’s sound engineer Richard Chappell. The LP also comes with a hi-res audio download code (24bit or 16bit).
Live in Athens 1987 captures the concert tour that supported the release of Peter Gabriel’s fifth solo album, ‘So’, released on 2LP on 25th September 2020. An open-air theatre cut into a hill, the lights of a capital city twinkling beneath. five musicians take to the stage, five musicians at the peak of their game. a few thousand acolytes approvingly roar at their arrival. ear-to-ear smiles are visible in every direction, both in the crowd and onstage. this is the last night of a tour. a long tour. a very long tour. we are in Athens and it’s October 1987. more significantly, it’s the climax of Peter Gabriel’s “This Way Up Tour”, an endeavour that kicked off nearly 12 long months previously, tens and tens of thousands of miles ago. over many, many months, this jolly caravan has travelled throughout north America and Europe, from Buffalo to Bologna, Milwaukee to Munich, Toronto to Toulouse. it’s nearly all over. and here in the Greek capital the occasion will be preserved for eternity. though previously release as a concert film the recording has never be available on vinyl.
Recorded at the open-air Lycabettus theatre above the Greek capital, Live in Athens 1987 documents the final shows of the This Way Up world tour and five musicians at the peak of their game, playing the songs from the album that had catapulted Gabriel into the pop stratosphere. The show features a special guest appearance by the young Youssou N’Dour on a rousing rendition of ‘In Your Eyes’.
The touring band captured by the recordings consists of Peter, alongside Manu Katché (drums), Tony Levin (bass, backing vocals), David Rhodes (guitar, backing vocals) and David Sancious (keyboards), and in a nod to the Plays Live album the cover image was taken by photographer Armando Gallo.
Though previously a concert film, this is the first time on vinyl for ‘Live in Athens 1987’, presented as a 2LP set with a wide-spine single sleeve and full colour printed inner bags. Brand new artwork by Marc Bessant, Gabriel’s long-time designer.
The album has been Half-Speed Remastered and cut to lacquers at 33RPM by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering, mastered by Tony Cousins at Metropolis and overseen by Peter Gabriel’s sound engineer Richard Chappell. The LP also comes with a hi-res audio download code (24bit or 16bit).
Secret World Live, released on 2LP on 23rd October 2020.
Conceived by Gabriel and Robert Lepage, this is the show that accompanied the release of the ‘US’ album and features a collection of songs that spans Gabriel’s solo career until that point; from debut single ‘Solsbury Hill’ to ‘Digging In The Dirt’, ‘Steam’ and ‘Blood Of Eden’. All delivered in a thoroughly committed and total performance by Gabriel and band and recorded over two nights at the Palasport in Modena, Italy in November 1993. the album looks amazing with a wide-spine single sleeve and full colour printed inner bags. this is the first time that “Secret World Live” has been available in vinyl, with the LP designed by Marc Bessant at Real World. Secret World Live contains 16 tracks from the Secret World Tour of 1993 the extraordinary live tour, conceived by Peter Gabriel and Robert Lepage, that accompanied the release of peter’s sixth solo album, us. recorded over two nights in Modena in Northern Italy, the collection spans Peter’s solo career until that point; from debut single Solsbury Hill right up to Digging in the Dirt, Steam and Blood of Eden from us. with a thoroughly committed and total performance Peter further consolidated his reputation as a ringmaster of dynamism and daring. the touring band captured by the recordings consists of Peter,
The touring band captured by the recordings consists of Peter, alongside Manu Katché (drums), Tony Levin (bass, vocals), David Rhodes (guitar, vocals), Jean Claude Naimro (keyboards, vocals), Shankar (violin) and Paula Cole (vocals). Special guest appearance by Papa Wemba.
This is the first time on vinyl for ‘Secret World Live’, which is presented as a 2LP set with a wide-spine single sleeve and full colour printed inner bags.
The album has been Half-Speed Remastered and cut to lacquers at 33RPM by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering, mastered by Tony Cousins at Metropolis and overseen by Peter Gabriel’s sound engineer Richard Chappell. The LP also comes with a hi-res audio download code (24bit or 16bit).
Growing Up Live, released on 3LP on 27th November 2020.
Following the release of his album ‘UP’, Peter Gabriel went on the road for the first time in a decade. Once again collaborating with production designer Robert Lepage to create a spectacular and theatrical live experience, with the band performing in the round. the tour took in thirty-two cities across the USA, Canada and Europe and this concert performance was recorded over two nights at the Filaforum in Milan in may 2003, with Peter Gabriel and the band performing in the round at the centre of the arena. a concert film capturing the live show was released in late 2003, but growing up live has never previously been on vinyl.
The concert was recorded over two nights at the Filaforum in Milan in May 2003 and features notable contributions from the likes of The Blind Boys of Alabama, Hukwe and Charles Zawose, Sevara Nazarkhan and the voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
The touring band captured by the recordings consists of Peter, alongside Ged Lynch (drums), Tony Levin (bass, vocals), David Rhodes (guitar, vocals), Richard Evans (guitar, mandolin, whistle), Rachel Z (keyboards, vocals) and Melanie Gabriel (vocals).
Previously a concert film, this is the first time on vinyl for ‘Growing Up Live’, presented as a 3LP set in gatefold sleeve, designed by Marc Bessant.
The album has been Half-Speed Remastered and cut to lacquers at 33RPM by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering, mastered by Tony Cousins at Metropolis and overseen by Peter Gabriel’s sound engineer Richard Chappell. The LP also comes with a hi-res audio download code (24bit or 16bit).
Land of Talk today shared the video for their plaintive new song “Now You Want to Live in the Light,” which singer/guitarist Elizabeth Powell calls “a poem set to music. A tender negotiation between the light and dark parts of ourselves.” The gentle track is the fifth single released from the Montreal-based band’s forthcoming album “Indistinct Conversations”, out July 31st, and showcases the album’s versatility. “In developing the visual image for ‘Now You Want To Live In The Light,’ I anchored myself in the pulse of the song,” explains director Lara Kramer of the video “I wanted to mobilize in ways we think, feel, and do in our self-confronting states.”
Indistinct Conversations is now available for pre-order and shipments will begin going out shortly to ensure your copy arrives by street date.
“Now You Want to Live in the Light” follows previous singles “Footnotes,” “Diaphanous,” “Compelled,” and “Weight of that Weekend,” which have earned press from outlets including Pitchfork (Selects playlist), Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, Paste, NPR Music (‘NMF’ and ‘Press Pause and Hit Play’ playlists), and Brooklyn Vegan, among others.
The KVB make brilliant, swirling, immersive guitar and synth based Shoegaze epics, blissful and dreamy and all together amazing. This EP is a fine example of what they do, and a great introduction for those who haven’t been lucky enough to already be acquainted with their work. Such a good EP. A must for any KVB fan
Alabama ShakesguitaristHeath Foggreturns with “Sun on Shade”, the debut album from his new project of the same name.Set for June 26 release via ATO Records, the album examines the power and fragility of the human spirit, particularly in the face of addiction. “Tiger Lilies,” the first single, was unveiled today. Lloyd Buchanan (Alabama Shakes, Brittany Howard) takes the mic on the deep-grooving track, which is a soulful reminder to make each day count and to cherish the moments spent with loved ones. Also joining Heath on the album are Alabama Shakes bandmates Ben Tanner, Zac Cockrell and Steve Johnson, plus a few other friends. In addition to Buchanan, vocalists include Sam Doores (Deslondes, Hurray for the Riff Raff) and Shonna Tucker (Drive-By Truckers).
“Lyrically, it’s just a conversation with a couple of friends,” explains Fogg. “I never set out to do anything close to a solo record and I still don’t see it that way.” Sun on Shadeis a collection of cautionary tales for those who’ve yet to wander down the wrong path.For those who have wandered off, it’s a beacon and suggests that while time moves quickly, it hasn’t run out.It’s not too late to change. Fogg recalls, “Around the time my second child was born, one of my best friends died and another told everybody he was going to rehab for heroin.”
Fatalism and faith bookend Sun on Shade.Fogg is unblinking in detailing the danger lurking in album opener “Light Behind the Eyes” as Doores declares, “You’re gonna die if you keep on living this way.”But the final line of the closer, “Up from the Water,” holds out an unmistakable hand of hope, as Buchanan warmly croons, “One of these days I will rise up from the water.” “Electronic artists will make records where every song has a featured vocalist on it. I wanted the album to be like that – like a mixtape or a collaborative collage of ideas and artists. I just see it like a team, and for this game I got picked as the team captain.” – Heath Fogg
Fogg producedSun on Shade and wrote the album’s nine tracks.He was joined by Alabama Shakes bandmates Ben Tanner (keyboards), Zac Cockrell (bass) and Steve Johnson (drums), plus a few local friends.They recorded the album at the Muscle Shoals studio of Tanner,
A recording project from Heath Fogg of Alabama Shakes.
