KELLEY STOLTZ – ” In Triangle Time “

Posted: April 25, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Silver-tongued songsmith and true American treasure Kelley Stoltz presents a new collection of instant classics with just a hint more synthery than 2013’s ‘Double Exposure’. For those not yet in the fan club, Kelley’s like a Ray Davies / Brian Wilson / Tom Petty power pop Cerebus from another dimension where well placed tambourines, handclaps, and wry observations are a universal language. Criminally under-appreciated, Kelley’s face should be on Amoeba-bucks for his contributions to the pop canon – the black-lipstick-smeared stand-out and lead-off track ‘Cut Me Baby’ could be his walk-on music for the acceptance speech. Each track here leaps off the table with Kelley’s carefully considered wit and expertly layered arrangements. His innate way around a sticky hook and no shortage of tasty studio flourishes will bring out the listener’s inner record nerd, guaranteed. It’s got a little glam in it and it’s out on Castle Face too.

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The Silver-tongued songsmith and true American treasure Kelley Stoltz brings us a new collection of instant classics with just a hint more synthery than 2013’s “Double Exposure”. His innate way around a sticky hook and no shortage of tasty studio flourishes will bring out your inner record collector nerd, guaranteed.

OTHER LIVES – ” For Their Love “

Posted: April 25, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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For their fourth record “For Their Love”, Oklahoma indie rock outfit Other Lives set out to reconnect with rural life again, renting a house in Oregon’s Cooper Mountain region, up in the American north. Just surrounded by towering trees and barely anything to interfere in their creative process, it was this sublime setting that soon gave rise to the new material, incorporating the sense of freedom and the shared community. The sweeping, cinematic aura of their sound is meanwhile taken to wholly new dimensions, whilst diving into existential themes such as finding stability and security in a world that is crumbling before our eyes.

From the very start to the finish line, For Their Love is an album that carefully frames the emotions of each track into a wholesome dramaturgy that reverberates the deep sensitivities lying within the music. The initial song Sound Of Violence leads the way and is a heavy-minded, while powerful opening piece that recreates the aura of an open wild. With Jesse Tabish’s vocal musings at the core, which are at once absorbing as they are uplifting, more upbeat pieces such as the following Lost Day or later on Hey Hey I gain a vivid tone and ignite sparks of hope and light amidst feelings of fear and despair. Creating beautiful layers of sound, the string arrangements contribute here greatly, For Their Love is building up sound architectures of cinematic grandeur. All Eyes / For Their Love for instance, features an extended instrumental intro, before the voice of Jesse Tabish breaks in, rendering a passionate vocal performance that leads us through stages of tranquil emotions up to euphoric rising and back again.

In a different manner, although equally tender, the heartfelt We Wait, which processes the traumatic loss of a close friend, takes a simple acoustic guitar pattern to evolve it into a wistful tune about loss, personal memories and the challenging process of letting go. The serene ballad Sideways is then quite a fitting coda to the album. There is still light in this dark world, that is the message of the song. And what could be more important than to hold on to that high note?.

From the new album “For Their Love” available everywhere April 24th, 2020

The PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY – ” The Great Conspiracy “

Posted: April 25, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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This is the only UK album released by US West Coast psychsters The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. ‘The Great Conspiracy’ it was released in the UK in 1967 on the CBS label in mono and stereo. The Peanut Butter Conspiracy was an Los Angeles-based, psychedelic pop/rock group from the 1960s. The band is known for lead singer Barbara Robison and for briefly having Spencer Dryden of Jefferson Airplane as a band member. If you don’t know them just think Jefferson Airplane and you’ll get their direction.

Formed in Los Angeles in August 1966 from the folk rock group “The Ashes”, which included John Merrill (guitar/vocals), Barbara “Sandi” Robison (vocals), Alan Brackett (bass/vocals), Spencer Dryden (drums), and Jim Cherniss (guitar/vocals). The group had earlier been known as The Young Swingers, who released two obscure singles. The Ashes released a first single on the Vault label in February 1966, “Is There Anything I Can Do?”, written by Jackie DeShannon. Dryden left The Ashes (May 1966) to replace Skip Spence in Jefferson Airplane, Robison left (June 1966) to give birth, and the group temporarily disbanded. Alan Brackett hooked up with a new guitarist, Lance Baker Fent, and a new drummer, Jim Voigt, naming the new trio “The Crossing Guards”. Merrill and Robison rejoined and the five-piece band became The Peanut Butter Conspiracy.

Brackett  recalls, I got together upon John’s recommendation with Fent and Voigt and, with the help of Owsley, we learned 50 or so songs in one day and went out that night and got our choice of about three gigs in Hollywood. We played at the Sea Witch on Sunset Blvd. as the Crossing Guards. We were a power trio, and then John and Barbara joined back up with us and we changed our name to the PBC. The PBC was a name that Voigt came up with– actually it was the Peanut Butter Controversy originally, but we changed it to Conspiracy.

Hard to find in great condition as a UK original for some reason but worth hunting down.

The Great Conspiracy was the second long-player from the Peanut Butter Conspiracy it was much more a reflection of their live sound than their debut effort, the pop-driven Peanut Butter Conspiracy Is Spreading (1967). After solidifying their lineup, they inked a deal with Columbia Records, which assigned staff producer Gary Usher to work with them. His well-meaning but over-the-top production style diffused the band, which came off sounding more like the Mamas & the Papas than the Jefferson Airplane or It’s a Beautiful Day both of whom also sported female lead singers. However, by the time of this release the Conspiracy were sonically asserting themselves with a decidedly hipper approach. This is especially evident on the stretched-out and psychedelic “Too Many Do” and the deliciously trippy “Ecstasy” — which sports frenzied and wiry fretwork similar to that of Quicksilver Messenger Service string man John Cipollina Equally inspired are “Lonely Leaf” and the somewhat paranoid and darkly guilded “Time Is After You.” These contrast with the somewhat ersatz hippie fodder “Turn on a Friend (To the Good Life),” the 38-second throwaway “Invasion of the Poppy People,” or the simply wretched “Captain Sandwich.”

In 2000 the Collectables reissue label coupled both The Peanut Butter Conspiracy Is Spreading and The Great Conspiracy on a single CD. Also included were the 45-rpm sides “I’m a Fool” and “It’s So Hard” as well as the previously unissued track “Peter Pan.”

HARKIN – ” Harkin “

Posted: April 25, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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After years in the background, songwriter Harkin surely earned her place in the limelight after being a touring member for such profound artists like Sleater-Kinney, Wild Beasts, Flock of Dimes, Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett. Harkin has been around for a few years now and is a well respected figure in the scene so this self-titled debut album was overdue on many levels one might say. Featuring contributions from Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa and Wye Oak & Bon Iver member Jenn Wasner the album was completed over 16 days dotted between the artist’s gruelling tour schedule so there is a sense of urgency in it that adds additional drive to the record. And that’s also how this albums feels like – a smooth and playful independent rock quickie but without lacking of profound depth. A wild spirit can’t be tamed anyway and Harkin delivers a fitting record for that purpose. Her debut was mostly written on the road, in a cottage in the Peak District (he UK’s oldest national park) and in Upstate New York and there’s a restlessness in the sound of these ten tracks really captured that vibe.

Mist Of Glass and Nothing The Night Can’t Change start the record with uplifting energy while the dazzling Decade shows a sensual longing that changes the tempo a bit before Up To Speed does exactly what the title implies. “Many of these songs grew from the tension between opposites,” Harkin explains the notion of the album, furthermore specifying these tensions by adding they are “between the wilderness and the city, between self-examination and communal ecstatic, night and day, love and shame.” This record is a testament of this fast-paced pre-Corona times it was recorded in. However, within its speed Harkin also seeks for calmness, resulting in a hypnotic mantra Dial It In and more hazy moments like New France.

The songs aren’t perfect and they surely aren’t revolutionary but that’s their biggest plus. In the closing track Charm And Tedium it’s only Harkin‘s vocals and her electric guitar that you hear, ending this record with the same raw approach it started with. This is the pure testament of a skilled songwriter and might be one of the most experienced debuts you can enjoy right now.

Hand Mirror Records 
Released on: 2020-02-10

JUNK DRAWER – ” What I’ve Learned / What I’m Learning “

Posted: April 25, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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How do you open a record!, Belfast-based Junk Drawer unleash their debut album “Ready For The House” to the world and this almost seven minute long monster tune called “What I’ve Learned / What I’m Learning” is the first one you’ll hear on the record. It’s a massive statement that might sound like a slow burner at the beginning but it quickly gains a lot of speed towards the end, especially during the final minute. As singer Stevie Lennox explains the “the less you know, the more you think you know, while the more you know, the less you think you know.” Get it? “It was the first time I wrote with a real purity of intent, allowing myself to let go of the irony, obfuscation and self-awareness that I felt obscured some of my previous writing, because of my complete loathing of heart-on-sleeve earnestness and sincerity.” And you surely feel that on that gritty and raw piece. The Junk Drawer album is out now via indie label Art For Blind and if that song convinced you I suggest you better give it a spin as soon as possible.

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Recorded & produced in Belfast by Chris Ryan
Music by Junk Drawer
Lyrics by Stevie & Jake Lennox

Taken from Junk Drawer’s debut LP ‘Ready For The House’, out April 24 via Art For Blind Records.

BAMBARA – ” Stray ” Best Albums Of 2020

Posted: April 25, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The first thing that strikes you about Stray, Bambara’s fourth – and greatest – album to date, will be its pulverizing soundscape. By turns, vast, atmospheric, cool, broiling and, at times – on stand out tracks like Sing Me To The Street and Serafina – simply overwhelming. But “Stray” is not merely another, better entry in a catalogue full of darkly thrilling, blistering experimental rock-via-punk. Rather, early on in its conception the band made the decision to experiment with new compositions and song structures.

Bambara – made up of twin brothers Reid and Blaze Bateh, singer/guitarist and drummer respectively, and bassist William Brookshire – have been evolving their midnight-black noise into something more subtle and expansive ever since the release of their 2013 debut Dreamviolence. That process greatly accelerated on 2018’s Shadow On Everything, their first on Wharf Cat Records and a huge stride forward for the band both lyrically and sonically.

The resulting addition of backing vocals from Drew Citron (Public Practice) and Anina Ivory-Block (Palberta) create a hauntingly beautiful contrast to Bateh’s drunken baritone on tracks like Sing Me to the Street, Death Croons and Stay Cruel, while the Dick Dale-inspired guitar riffs on Serafina and Heat Lightning and the call-and-response choruses throughout the album showcase Bambara’s ability to write songs that immediately demand repeat listen.

To start, the band did what they always do: they locked themselves in their windowless Brooklyn basement to write. Decisions were made early on to try and experiment with new instrumentation and song structures, even if the resulting compositions would force the band to adapt their storied live set, known for its tenacity and technical prowess. Throughout the songwriting process, the band pulled from their deep well of creative references, drawing on the likes of Leonard Cohen, Ennio Morricone, Sade, classic French noir L’Ascenseur Pour L’Echafraud, as well as Southern Gothic stalwarts Flannery O’Connor and Harry Crews.

it would be wrong to characterize Stray as simply the sound of the graveyard. Light frequently streams through and, whether refracted through the love and longing found on songs like “Made for Me” or the fantastical nihilism on display in tracks like the anthemic “Serafina,” reveals this album to be the monumental step forward that it is. Here Bambara sound like they’ve locked into what they were always destined to achieve, and the effect is nothing short of electrifying.
Released February 14th, 2020

Bambara is Reid Bateh, Blaze Bateh and William Brookshire

Reid Bateh – Vocals, Guitar, Noise
Blaze Bateh – Drums, Percussion, Organ
William Brookshire – Bass, Synth, Piano
Ani Ivry-Block – Backing Vocals
Drew Citron – Backing Vocals
Adam Markiewicz – Violin
Sean Smith – Trumpet

These are just a few of the changes that reveal this album to be the monumental step forward that it is. Here Bambara finally sound like they’ve locked into what they were always destined to achieve, and the effect is nothing short of electrifying. For fans of Protomartyr, Daughters and IDLES.

PORTAGE – ” Inside Out “

Posted: April 24, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Portage is one of those indie bands that will hit you in the head, but slowly and gently, in the soulfully, independently thoughtful kind of way. The spirits of these songs capture many of life’s real essences, and throughout this album, simply cannot be contained. Bands like this just don’t exist every day.

Native to the cold, northern shores of Minnesota, Portage bellows a sound reminiscent of the rootsy-folk music that runs as deep in the region as Lake Superior itself, the inspiration behind their attic-recorded debut album, The Unsalted Sea. Since their move to Minneapolis, Portage can be found howling their intimate lyrics at full volume from stages and living rooms alike. With the release of their sophomore album, Landings, these four young men put on memorable shows that can make even the bitterest Midwestern night feel warmer. Here’s a New Song that I wrote seven years ago. Sometimes it’s good to give things the time they need. “Inside Out” is part of my project to release a new song for you all every month. 

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Swampmeat Family Band – ” Muck! “

Posted: April 24, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Birmingham quartet Swampmeat Family Band have announced their new album “Muck!” will see a release on the 5th June on vinyl and digital formats.

Expert purveyors of a blend of uptempo garage rock and gentle Americana, which they meld it into a lush, cinematic whole, the new record sees them adding new layers and fresh flourishes to their trademark sound. Punk Slime Recordings are proud to present the new full-length album from Birmingham, based Swampmeat Family Band. Their new album Muck! is due out on June 5th on vinyl & digital and it’s a massive step forward both songwriting and production-wise, offering up a blend of uptempo garage rock and gentle americana. Featuring members of PNKSLM’s own The Castillians and Terror Watts as well as Low Cut Connie, PWEI and Bentley Rhythm Ace,

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Swampmeat Family Band have already drawn praise from the likes of KEXP, The Line of Best Fit, DIY and GoldFlakePaint while turning heads with their live shows around Europe, and the band will be making their US debut at the SXSW festival in Austin, TX this year.

The Band:

Daniel Finnemore
T-Bird Jones
Richard March
Tommy Hughes

The OSCILLATION – ” The Kyvu Tapes Vol​.​3 “

Posted: April 24, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Here’s The Kyvu Tapes Vol.3, Some more tracks I’ve found from my cassette transfers a couple of years ago, and re-explored recently to see what else is there. It’s a strange thing, going down a lot of memory lanes and remembering the people I met, the way that I felt.. or the people I didn’t meet and the alienation, an alienation that seems similar now.All the tracks were recorded between 1989-92 . Most tracks were recorded in Cornwall at my mum’s house in a village called The Lizard. A mesmerising part of the world overlooking the Atlantic and Kynance Cove, a strange rock that adds to the mystery of the place. These were times of intense self-exploration, ocean gazing and loneliness.

Other tracks were recorded in a basement flat in Shepherds Bush, London where I lived on my own for a few months in 1991. I have some nice memories of being there seeing lots of great bands and spending a lot of time working in peace, having moved to London for the first time.

And finally I think Zero Point may have been recorded when I lived in Cambridge for a while or in Seven Sisters back in London. I moved around or moved house/town/city quite a lot back then but would often, and inevitably, find myself retreating back to the tranquility and desolate beauty of The Lizard where I would find and lose myself, recuperate, dreams and fears intertwined, walking across a strange and dramatic landscape, staring at the sea and wondering what might lie ahead if only I could make something happen.

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I can now hear elements of what would become The Oscillation.

It’s a great liberation and consolidation to get these old recordings out there. I ain’t claiming to split the atom here, but thanks for listening, and if you enjoy any of it, or it helps your mood or day, that makes me happy.

releases April 26th, 2020

JOE LOUIS WALKER – ” Old Time Used to Be “

Posted: April 24, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Joe Lewis Walker album

Blues favorite Joe Louis Walker releases the single “Old Time Used to Be” featuring Keb’ Mo, with John Sebastian on harmonica, ahead of his upcoming guest-filled album “Blues Comin’ On,” to be released June 5th on Cleopatra Blues.

Joe Louis Walker’s new Cleopatra Blues album “Blues Comin” On features Keb’ Mo’, John Sebastian, Jorma Kaukonen, Mitch Ryker, Lee Oskar, Albert Lee, Waddy Wachtel, Eric Gales and more special guests.

Blues Comin’ On features guest performances by fellow blues icons Keb’ Mo’, Eric Gales, and Albert Lee, plus Detroit hit singer Mitch Ryder, John Sebastian, formerly of The Lovin’ Spoonful, harmonica virtuoso Lee Oskar, known for his work with War, Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna fame, punk rock vocalist Charlie Harper, legendary session guitar player Waddy Wachtel, and many more. The album explodes with the passionate playing and soulful melodies that have made Joe Louis Walker a favorite among true blues aficionados including The Rolling Stones.

Originally from San Francisco, Joe, a Blues Hall of Fame inductee and four-time Blues Music Award-winner, celebrates a career that exceeds a half century. His musical legacy as a prolific torchbearer for the blues is proven by his 26 albums. A true powerhouse guitar virtuoso, unique singer, and prolific songwriter, he has toured extensively throughout his career, performed at the world’s most renowned music festivals, and earned a legion of dedicated fans.

Joe says, “From the opening track to the final note, the guests and fellow musicians on this album made this one of the best musical journeys I’ve ever had, and I hope it is the same for you.”

“Blues Comin” Released on: 22nd April on the Cleopatra Blues label,

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