The Fat Angel Sings

Another set of two great songs by Cat Stevens, performed LIVE from the Saturnight concert in Tokyo, 1974. As most fans know, this album is rarely available on CD yet, only on vinyl. It was only released in Japan for raising money for UNICEF. The 50th anniversary of Cat Stevens’ classic live album, “Saturnight (Cat Stevens Live In Tokyo)”.

Originally issued by A&M Records only in Japan, and following its Record Store Day Black Friday 2024 release on 180g coloured vinyl, the album is now available on limited-edition 140g lava splatter vinyl and is packaged for the first time in a gatefold sleeve, which features lyrics and new retrospective notes by Hallam Kite, tour manager Carl Miller, and bass player Bruce Lynch.

Recorded at Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo on June 22nd, 1974, on the Japanese leg of the Bamboozle Tour that supported the release of “Buddha and the Chocolate Box”, Saturnight was Cat Stevens’ first live album. Also included is a soulful cover of Sam Cooke’s “Another Saturday Night.” Stevens and his band were fresh from recording the song at a studio in Tokyo using a Japanese brass section – the very same version that would go on to become a hit single later that year. The performance on “Saturnight” captures the first time they ever played “Another Saturday Night” live.

“Saturnight” includes many of his greatest hits from the early ‘70s such as “Wild World,” “Where Do The Children Play?” “Hard Headed Woman,” “Father & Son,” “Peace Train,” “Bitterblue,” “Sitting” and “Oh Very Young.”

 Stevens arranged for the proceeds to be donated to UNICEF. He had recently become a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and with their help, had visited Ethiopia and Kenya earlier in 1974. There, he saw firsthand some of the utter devastation caused by drought and famine, but also witnessed the remarkable resilience and nobility of the human spirit. The experience moved him profoundly and had a truly lasting impact on his life and career, so much so that his humanitarian efforts would soon overtake his personal musical ambitions.

Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ little known 1974 concert album, “Saturnight: Live From Tokyo”, will be released in the U.S. in multiple formats for the first time ever, more than 50 years after it was originally released only in Japan, The record has been remastered from the original production master at Abbey Road Studios and will be available on CD and vinyl on May 2nd, 2025, via Cat-O-Log Records/UMe.

Inspired entirely by the life and mythos of actor Dennis Hopper, Mike Scott and The Waterboys created this expansive album as tribute to one of American popular culture’s most compelling public figures. Deeply conceptual, this album of all original songs brings together high-profile featured artists like Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, and Steve Earle to musically weave through Hopper’s life, including a song for each of Hopper’s wives. The Waterboys’ Mike Scott wrote the band’s new single, but it’s Fiona Apple singing and playing on the recording.

The album also features Fiona Apple, and she’s on the latest single, “Letter From An Unknown Girlfriend.” It was written by Mike Scott, but it’s Fiona singing and playing piano on the recording, which is raw, powerful, and a real treat to hear. In 2019, Fiona covered The Waterboys’ “The Whole of the Moon” for the series finale of The Affair.

Fiona also features on a new Bridge School benefit compilation covering Neil Young, though we haven’t heard her contribution, a rendition of “Heart of Gold,” yet.

The Waterboys‘s new “Life, Death And Dennis Hopper” is about the titular actor, director, and they tapped a bunch of artists to contribute to it, including Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine, Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, and more.

Released 04/04/2025

Peter Murphy has unveiled another track off his new album “Silver Shade”, The Bauhaus frontman new album arrives on May 9th, and he’s given us another early taste with “The Artroom Wonder,” which features TOOL bassist Justin Chancellor. It’s another dark, driving slice of synth-funk, and Murphy says it’s “an echo from my fourth year at senior school. Daniel Ash and I are listening to the mysterious sixth-year cool intelligentsia that have gathered in the artroom. We have dared to enter their conclave, and the music coming from it was intriguing. We discover that the song being played is ‘The Bewlay Brothers,’ highly intelligent, mystical and sensual, with the singer’s voice as seductive as anyone I’d ever heard.”

“‘The Artroom Wonder’” has a surreal approach, telling the story in my typical oblique style, including the description of a lowdown that leads into an evocation of the perfected human being, the Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him),” Murphy adds. “The final verse celebrates my own self-advancing and position on this.”

“Silver Shade” was produced by Youth of Killing Joke, and is due out on May 9th via Metropolis Records.

Alaska Reid and Dylan Fraser have shared another track off their debut EP “Beast” as Witch Post. Their cryptic statement about the song reads, “Last night I left a big, raw soup bone at the end of the driveway with a note underneath. This morning the bone is gone and all that is left is shredded paper covered in pinkish slobber. I walk with a friend and we speak about it all; the note, the bone, the feeling that I had been harbouring in my gut that I needed to make contact. A few weeks back, I had pieced together the mystery of why neighbours’ small dogs would go missing once a month, or trash cans would be tipped over, slashed with claw marks. It’s all connected to those lonesome long howls that irritate people on moonlit nights.

To me it’s music. I saw his eyes once before, after a late night coming home. Now I can’t stop looking for those two silver moons glinting deep in the bushes. I know we have to speak. I will try again soon, maybe with fruit this time…”

“Rust” is out now!, We started Witch Post a year ago. We were both hesitant as we have solo careers but so far it’s as if a kind of magic pushed us to do it. We’re from thousands of miles apart and the whole thing is very strange.
Alaska kissed a witch post, Dylan found mermaid tears and visited in MT (and really rallied for this whole thing). Anyway, the story is in the song — winter solstice approaches, here is “Rust” for your hibernation.

Beach Bunny announced their third album and shared the title track, “Tunnel Vision“, due out April 25th via AWAL Records. It follows 2022’s “Emotional Creature” and they recorded it with producer Sean O’Keefe, returning to a guitar-centric sound after using synths and samplers on “Emotional Creature”. .

The album features their 2024 singles “Clueless” and “Vertigo,” and they’ve shared the bouncy title track. Bertie Gilbert directed the accompanying video, Beach Bunny will be on tour soon.

Taken from Beach Bunny’s third album, “Tunnel Vision2, is out next month, and they’ve given us another early taste with “Big Pink Bubble.” Lili Trifilio directed the accompanying video, which references Pleasantville and Twin Peaks.

Beach Bunny’s new album “Tunnel Vision” is coming April 25th!

Ethel Cain found unlikely pop fandom with “Preacher’s Daughter“, her 2022 debut album, thanks to its emotional dirges and heavy lyrics. Instead of turning toward catchier choruses, Cain subverts expectations entirely with her atmosphere and moody new album, “Perverts“. Written, recorded, and produced entirely by Cain and led by “Punish,” “Perverts” consists of sprawling drone songs, languid ambient music, and soft-spoken—if spoken at all—slowcore tracks that stay intentionally shrouded. For the immersive experience, consider listening at night.

It would be natural to view “Perverts2, the daring follow-up to Ethel Cain’s 2022 breakout “Preacher’s Daughter”, as a response to, and rejection of, everything about success that might register as noise, not least because it was accompanied by a Tumblr post entitled ‘The Consequence of Audience’. “Preacher’s Daughter” amassed a fervent following, and “Perverts” no doubt poses a challenge to the segment of Cain’s audience that has trouble engaging with the artist’s persona in the absence of unambiguous lore and soaring melodies. Yet the 90-minute project – promotional materials variously refer to it as a “body of work” or even an “EP,” so yes, technically not an album – does not feel like a departure so much as an opportunity for Hayden Anhedönia to home in on the esoteric darkness she holds a deep reverence for, the eerie dissonance and muffled silences that were seen tangential rather than core to her song writing.

Ethel Cain started the year by releasing the mostly ambient/noise/drone “Perverts”, and she’s now announced another follow up album! “Willoughby Tucker, I Will Always Love You”, which she’s calling her sophomore album, is due out in August, and a press release describes it as a prequel to “Preacher’s Daughter”. .

Ethel has also announced a tour for the album, beginning with a North American run in August and September, and followed by shows in Europe and the UK in October and November. She’ll be joined by Toronto shoegazers 9million for the shows, featuring her collaborator Matthew Tomasi, and she calls them “the greatest band to ever do it.” 

The video for Viagra Boys’ new single is zombie-themed. At the end of the world, Sebastian Murphy knows his place: “I’m just a bag of meat,” the Viagra Boys frontman declares, flashing a brief smile before a raspy cough shakes it away. On “viagr aboys” (out April 25 via Shrimptech Enterprises), Murphy shifts his focus inward, trading the political satire of 2022’s “Cave World” for a self-deprecating exploration of his own absurdity. Lead single “Man Made of Meat” captures the band’s chaotic essence, with Murphy taunting your mom’s Only Fans, dreaming of free sweaters from LL Bean, and letting out a full-fledged burp, all before summing up his ethos: “I hate almost everything that I see, and I just wanna disappear.” Embracing the nonsense of existence, Murphy finds solace in navigating life’s messy, stupid continuum with humour, self-awareness, and a touch of nihilism.

“The Bog Body”, is the third single from the forthcoming album ‘viagr aboys’, due april 25th on Shrimptech Enterprises.

Five years removed from their last release, Seattle’s Great Grandpa return with “Patience, Moonbeam” – an ambitious and deeply moving new album that almost didn’t happen. A decade of making music together was put on pause while each of the band’s were called in different directions. But as with any good relationship built on mutual love, trust, and a mountain of shared history, the quintet reunited, scrapped most ideas of songs they had put together, and started fresh to work on what would become their best album to date, due out in March on Run For Cover Records.

Great Grandpa’s anticipated new album “Patience, Moonbeam” arrives this Friday, and they’ve shared a final advance single, “Never Rest.” “I think we all resonate with extremes and the contrast present in our daily lives and try to express that through our song’s journeys,” Pat Goodwin says. “A truffle from Amsterdam. An odyssey across Southern Denmark on bicycle. How do you become a parent? How do you make something for your child? I’ve always loved trying to incorporate uncommon modes into our music, and felt the drone/Lydian elements brought a tension and spiritual quality to this song of transformation.

The wonderful Jeremiah Moon contributed the beautiful syrupy cello parts that sold the teetering sea sickness and psychedelia of the journey. George Martin utilized these drooping glissando string moves to such fantastic effect in much of the Beatles’ more spiritual/psychedelic moments and this proved to be our North Star as we worked on the arrangement.”

Whereas 2019’s “Four of Arrows” mostly came together in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the studio with the help of an outside producer, “Patience, Moonbeam” emerged slowly through a generous demoing process. With fewer constraints and more control, the band had the opportunity to experiment and take their time, leading to a collection that feels and sounds more fully, confidently, themselves.

Built on an “open door policy” for writing and recording, “Patience, Moonbeam” is the result of how seamlessly all five members contributed to the creation of the album. The result is a record that swings like a pendulum from heavy to tender, playful to weighty, painting a sonic illustration of the pains and pleasures of being alive across eleven songs. What could suffer from a kitchen-sink approach instead comes together brilliantly, a testament to the band’s musical and spiritual connection.

Great Grandpa from “Patience, Moonbeam“, out 28th March on Run For Cover Records.

The Bug Club have announced a new album, “Very Human Features”, which will be out June 13th via Sub Pop Records. It’s their fourth album — their second for Sub Pop — and they made it with producer Tom Rees, who also worked on 2024’s On the “Intricate Inner Workings of the System“.

The album does not include their recent single “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales,” but they’ve just shared the first single from the album, “Jealous Boy.” It’s a little more pastoral than you might be used to from The Bug Club, though don’t worry, there is a little shouting in the chorus.

From the album ‘Very Human Features’ out on Sub Pop Records on June 13th, 2025.

So where do you start with “Surfer Rosa” Everybody already knows by now, surely, that it’s one heck of a killer album. Debut 8 track mini-album “Come On Pilgrim” is included once again as part of the set, as it has for many previous re-issues, the band’s wild energy sounding sharper than ever on these remasters. Francis bellows and screams his way through some of the finest, most invigorating songs ever committed to tape.

Sam Fogarino of Interpol once opined that the Pixies have been the most influential band in music since they first emerged back in 1988 with their debut album, “Surfer Rosa”. Recalling the first time he heard their music, he said: “I felt vile, then I felt violated, then I thought it was the most brilliant fucking thing since sliced bread, and that hasn’t changed because it’s ageless music, and that’s a very rare thing to stumble upon.”

Fogarino’s account is textbook slow-burning appraisal. The Pixies have always been somewhat of an oddity. They somehow exhibit a dichotomous mix of perturbing sounds and iconography akin to the world of death metal breaking bread with the harmonic sensibilities of the Bee Gees. David Bowie aptly surmised this mishmash as sounding like a “psychotic Beatles”. It’s a jarring mix that proves joyously untempered on their debut. You just have to overcome the vile introduction before you can relish the pig thrashing in a plashy mire reverie of its sultry lair.

It’s only a short snippet of a conversation Black Francis held with producer Steve Albini – “we were just goofin’ around,” explains the charismatic frontman, but from such little acorns do almighty oak trees grow. Somehow, this little soundbite would typify the electrifying intensity of those first few years, and perhaps unwittingly hint at the much publicised, supposed rift between Francis and bassist Kim Deal though this was played down by drummer Dave Lovering somewhat.

So Lovering’s remarkable, urgent drum pounding at the beginning of opener ‘Bone Machine‘ is a real signal of intent, while Deal’s bass provides that slightly uneasy, ominous feel that would pervade much of Pixies work in this early stage of their career. The importance of all members cannot be understated though, with Joey Santiago’s guitar work sounding deceptively simple (I’ve tried to play these songs myself, and it really isn’t!) and Francis’ sometimes absurd, often provocative lyrics really provide the icing on the cake.

Somehow, ‘Broken Face‘ seems a lot clearer here than on previous releases, surely one of the most compelling, exciting pieces of music of the eighties, and I haven’t even mentioned Deal’s Throwing Muses like single ‘Gigantic‘ or the gargantuan ‘Where Is My Mind?‘ , The latter is arguably the band’s best known song after featuring prominently at the end of David Fincher’s 1999 adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, but though it’s undeniably a work of utter genius, the truth is that there are probably at least half a dozen tracks better than that one on “Surfer Rosa“. The explosive near-instrumental ‘Tony’s Theme‘ perhaps, or the frantic, wonderfully demented ‘Something Against You‘. Take your pick really. If “Come On Pilgrim” was merely a great album with some incredible standout moments (personal picks would be the rampant ‘I’ve Been Tired‘ and ‘Levitate Me‘ double whammy that closes the album), then “Surfer Rosa” was the one that showed the world that these guys weren’t just contenders, they were bona fide heavyweights, as they would prove to an even greater degree with the (rightly) much lauded follow up “Doolittle”.

Perhaps the jewel in the crown here though, is the inclusion of a third disc, “Live From The Fallout Shelter”, a radio performance from 1987, in which the band absolutely nail why they’ve long been regarded as one of the best live acts around for three decades now. The quartet tear through a scintillating array of tunes past, present and even future (‘Subbacultcha‘ was doing the rounds even then, albeit in a far more restrained version, eventually being released four years later, in its better known heavier guise, on the band’s then swansong “Trompe Le Monde“), with indisputably thrilling versions of ‘Isla De Encanta‘ and ‘Nimrod’s Son‘, as well as to die for takes on ‘Caribou‘ (feral is an understatement) and the always splendid ‘Vamos‘. Also fascinating is the DJ’s interview with all four members immediately after this track.

An essential documentation of why Pixies are quite feasibly the greatest band of our generation.