MEG BAIRD – ” Cross Bay “

Posted: April 10, 2020 in MUSIC
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The mix dates for my upcoming solo record were among the many, too many cancellations of this unimaginable spring we’re sharing. But I wanted to go ahead and release one of the songs in progress—just case it could help to raise some funds for meals, shelter and support for some of my most vulnerable neighbors. This song is a mash of abstractions. But one verse was written back in 2016 to thank a friend who checked in on me when I was stuck alone at home, staying up all night watching Lifeboat and freaking out about the Brexit leave vote. I was afraid that it was a terrible sign that the old agreements and already inadequate standards about how we take care of each other each were up for grabs. It really helped to talk about it.

If, understandably, you’d rather see support stay closer to home, or you’re in a better position to help a friend, neighbor, yourself…it would all mean so much. Or maybe you’d just enjoy spacing out on some animation loops I made this weekend using a kid’s stop-motion program, subconsciously inspired by early Sesame Street and created while lying on the living room floor with all the blankets and pillows out.

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It’s been a long four years. But I’m thinking of everyone and dreaming of better signs and seeing you soon.

BLAKE MILLS – ” Vanishing Twin “

Posted: April 10, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Blake Mills accomplished a sleight of hand on Look, his 2018 album, by processing layers of guitars through vintage Roland synthesizers. “Look has more guitar on it than any other record I’ve made, but for people who care about that, it’s going to be so disappointing when they hear how un-guitar-y it is,” he told Pitchfork that year. As a producer and session musician, Mills specializes in this sort of nimble technical magic, sculpting the instrumental curves of albums like Perfume Genius’ No Shape, Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color, and John Legend’s Darkness and Light.

“Vanishing Twin,” the first cut from Mills’ forthcoming LP Mutable Set, lands between the aquatic layers of Look and his earlier two solo albums of singer-songwriter material. Though Mills co-wrote the song with Cass McCombs, its individual pieces—hushed murmurs, a fluid little melody, airy swipes of strings and sax—bear Mills’ subtle touch and even keel. The compounded whole offers the all-encompassing warmth of sinking into an oversize couch for a nap, while displaying his ache for a distant connection in its slow-moving strokes. “Concealed between the flashing screens/there is a beam of love supreme,” he sings, offering a tempting invitation to step into the glowing void. Mills once again re-shapes the idea of what a singer-songwriter record “should” sound like. It feels good to disappear into something so gentle for a while

“Vanishing Twin,” the first cut from Mills’ forthcoming LP “Mutable Set”, lands between the aquatic layers of Look and his earlier two solo albums of singer-songwriter material. Though Mills co-wrote the song with Cass McCombs, its individual pieces—hushed murmurs, a fluid little melody, airy swipes of strings and sax—bear Mills’ subtle touch and even keel.

Mutable Set is out May 8th via Mills’ New Deal label.

BEST EX – ” Girlfriend “

Posted: April 10, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Last summer we got an invigorating new single from former Candy Hearts singer Mariel Loveland, who’s shifted into her new role fronting the group Best Ex. Today she’s following that up with a second track, as well as the title of the EP the songs will appear on: “On my Mind” is the second single from Good at Feeling Bad, which will be released May 22nd via No Sleep Records.

Following her debut EP Ice Cream Anti Social from 2017, which premiered her shift from pop-punk into a more indie-tronic sound, the EP has been a long time coming, and feels more than a little cathartic for Loveland: “I think it captures the full spectrum of the loneliness and isolation I was feeling at the time I wrote it,” she says. “My disillusionment with certain friendships and relationships. My disillusionment with our culture of social media and celebrity. My disillusionment with genuine, unconditional love. I think Andy Tongren did the best job a single human could have possibly done in capturing the sounds in my head. To me, this EP is a middle finger from a woman who’s over it and finds happiness regardless of the things that constantly try to knock us down.”

With the video for “On My Mind” premiering today, we get a sense of the record’s mood with the song’s pulsing optimism in the face of Loveland’s expressed terror at what the future may bring, while the rainy Coney Island–shot visual echoes this moody/joyful dichotomy.

Good at Feeling Bad out May 22 via No Sleep Records.

Band Members
Mariel Loveland, Matthew Ferraro. John Clifford

The SHACKS – ” Wings “

Posted: April 10, 2020 in MUSIC
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The Shacks return with “Wings”, the highly anticipated new single that is sure to fly into the hearts and minds of their fans. A bottom heavy feel good anthem that cuts its way through the speakers from the first note.

Wings is equal parts new sonic landscape and familiar territory for The Shacks. Their debut eponymous EP took the world by storm with its smash hit “This Strange Effect.” Since then, they have been touring the U.S. and Europe alongside the likes of Khurangbin and Chicano Batman supporting their 2018 critically acclaimed debut album Haze. It’s no doubt that all this touring is responsible for this infectiously catchy and tasteful crowd pleaser. The pulsing guitar and downbeat force you to move your feet while Shannon encourages you to take a break from your troubles. This is sure to be an anthem for Spring and should hold fans over while The Shacks finish up their new record due out in the winter of 2021.

Fronted by singer/bassist Shannon Wise and guitarist/producer Max Shrager, The Shacks’ cinematic songs are the soundtrack to a mysterious alternate reality. The Shacks‘ signature sound and blending of genres has gained them a worldwide fan base. The group has toured internationally with artists such as Khruangbin, Lee Fields & The Expressions and Chicano Batman.
Released April 10th, 2020

The MOUNTAIN GOATS – ” Songs for Pierre Chuvin “

Posted: April 10, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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So this tape started while the entire band was decamped at an undisclosed location working on the next Mountain Goats album, and I had brought books with me to read, and one of them was Pierre Chuvin’s A Chronicle of the Last Pagans, which I was reading as research material for another thing I’m working on; and it’s been a long time since I sat around playing music and thinking about antiquity, but I used to do it all the time, and several of you know that because the old tapes are all littered with stories about Ajax and Agamemnon and the cult of Cybele, stories which, when I was learning them, got me so fired up that as soon as I got out of class I’d drive home in my yellow 1969 Superbeetle and write songs about them.

At our undisclosed location, one morning, immersed day and night in our work but also beginning to get the feeling that the increasingly febrile pitch of the newsfeed would continue to rise until it reached registers not seen in a while, I had a thought—what if the next Mountain Goats album was just songs about these pagans? And I wrote down the title “Aulon Raid.”

I got home about seven days later and the world was a very different place by then, and I took my old boombox down from the shelf where it sits flanked by brass deities from a former period of my life, and I got a wild idea to stand it on its end to reduce the unpleasant clicking that made it unusable—the hum & grind are one thing, basically ambient noise that adds to the pleasure of the sound if you’re into it, but the clicking I’m talking about developed sometime in the early 2000s and is not a conscriptable effect, it renders the Panasonic unusable.

Unless you stand it on its end, I learned, by accident, one day during the early weeks of the new days.

As these days were developing, I realized, as I’d feared a week before, that the work schedule my band and I had planned for spring probably wouldn’t be panning out. The four members of the band split up our touring income equally, nightly pay & sales of merchandise; before we split up that income, we pay several people from gross receipts: Brandon, our soundman and tour manager of over a decade; Trudy, who works the merch table with style and flair; and Avel, who manages the stage no matter how unmanageable I become. I can’t do what I do without these people and I take great pleasure in trying to make their job a fun place to work. All seven of us rely on the Mountain Goats for our paycheck.

The boombox and I knew we had to do something. Back in the early nineties, when I’d first met Peter Hughes, I wanted to make a tape to be on his label, Sonic Enemy. It was Christmas break and I was on a hot streak, so I decided to try to make a full tape over the course of the break. That tape became Transmissions to Horace, which consisted entirely of work done on a daily basis during that span. I haven’t tried anything like that in a while.

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I wrote a song every day for the next ten days while reading A Chronicle of the Last Pagans, starting with “Aulon Raid” and working in exactly the style I used to work in: read until something jumps out at me; play guitar and ad-lib out loud until I get a phrase I like; write the lyrics, get the song together, record immediately. Those original lyrics, exactly as written on the cardstock I save from comic books I buy, with corrections and everything, will be randomly inserted into orders; each is one of a kind, an original first draft of the lyrics to the first all-boombox Mountain Goats album since All Hail West Texas. It seems unlikely that I will ever again offer original drafts of lyrics for sale or otherwise, but pandemics call for wild measures.

I dedicate this tape to everybody who’s waited a long time for the wheels to sound their joyous grind: may they grind us into a safe future where we gather once again in rooms to sing songs about pagan priests & hidden shelters, and where we see each other face to face.

Hail the Panasonic! Hail the inscrutable engines of chance! Hail Cybele!

John Darnielle, Durham, NC, March 2020

Released April 10th, 2020

TRACE MOUNTAINS – ” Lost in the Country ” Album Of The Week

Posted: April 10, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Under the moniker Trace Mountains, Dave Benton writes music that asks large questions in quietly profound ways. On the project’s earliest release, the 2014 compilation Buttery Sprouts & Other Songs, these thoughts appeared as lo-fi scraps of wit and tenderness. But by the time A Partner to Lean On, Trace Mountains’ debut full-length, arrived in 2018, Benton’s perceptive indie rock had matured into more existential meditations about identity, existence, and finding sense in an increasingly chaotic world.

In the two years since A Partner to Lean On, Benton’s life has undergone several large changes, namely the dissolution of LVL UP, the indie rock quartet he co-founded in college, and a move to Kingston, a small city in New York’s Hudson Valley. Composed during—but not directly inspired by—this transition, Trace Mountains’ second record, Lost in the Country, reflects Benton’s need to reconnect with his inner world.

Prompted by an urge to access a more authentic voice, Lost in the Country finds Benton digging deeper into candid songwriting. “I wanted to open myself up and write lyrics that are a little bit more direct,” he explains. “I write a lot of songs that are about myself and a lot of songs that aren’t, but on this record, the focus is turned inward either way.” The result is Trace Mountains’ strongest and most assured record yet, 10 songs driven by a desire for introspection and self-discovery. The backdrop for this insularity is an expanse of wide blue skies, seas of trees, and winding roads, ideal locales for thoughts to blossom into greater reflections of the outer world. The slow-burning “Absurdity,” which Benton modestly says is about “hiking and standing in the country,” uses the sublimity of the wilderness to comment on technology’s inescapable presence. Similarly, the driving opener “Rock & Roll” transforms the premise of a “simple song about being a rocker” into a stream-of-consciousness, apocalyptic poem about delusions, regrets, and getting lost in your own limited perspective. This self-examination culminates with the record’s ambitious and anthemic title track. Channeling the cosmic sprawl of the War on Drugs or Kurt Vile, Benton recalls a moment of deep loneliness and depression outside a concert venue in the Netherlands, and how an unexpected moment of compassion led to a moment of awakening.

Despite its frequently bucolic setting, Lost in the Country’s underlying current is an urgent commitment to Trace Mountains and “finding a creative process that requires me to be honest with myself.” “I know I sing to forget, I sing to hold my breath, to feel the thumping in my chest,” Benton sings on “Cooper’s Dream.” This line is “rooted in the importance of music in my life, it’s definitely a reflection on that and how I can keep it in my life, because if I’m not careful and I don’t nurture it, I could lose it.” The self-imposed pressure has been empowering for Benton. “I really like having full control in making a record, deciding what songs are going to be on it, as well as shaping the vibe or narrative of the whole thing,” he says. “It brings a peace of mind knowing that I am responsible for just my voice.”

While Benton is Trace Mountains’ songwriter, he asserts that Lost in the Country is by no means a solo effort. Collaboration is crucial to the project and Benton is quick to credit the contributions of his bandmates, which include Jim Hill (Slight Of), Greg Rutkin (LVL UP, Cende), Sean Henry and Susannah Cutler (Yours Are the Only Ears). “It’s definitely our record,” Benton says. “I couldn’t make this thing without them.” After beginning the recording process at Brooklyn’s Studio G with engineer Matt Labozza, Benton finished Lost in the Country at his home studio in Kingston, where he also added contributions from Carmen Perry (Voice), Stew Cutler (Guitar, Lap Steel), Dan Goldberg (Synthesizer) and ARTHUR (Samples, “AB” by ARTHUR). It was then mixed by Mike Ditrio and mastered by Ryan Schwab

Former LVL UP member Dave Benton makes music as Trace Mountains, and Lost in the Country is his second full-length record. He wrote the album during a period of transition, following the 2018 end of LVL UP and his relocation from Brooklyn to Kingston, New York. Ahead of the LP’s release, Benton shared “Lost in the Country,” “Rock & Roll,” and “Me & May.”

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The Band:

Dave Benton (Voice, Guitar, Mellotron, Saw)
Jim Hill (Guitar, Organ, Bass, Voice)
Greg Rutkin (Drums)
Susannah Cutler (Voice, Synthesizer)
Sean Henry (Bass)
Carmen Perry (Voice)
Stew Cutler (Guitar, Lap Steel)
ARTHUR (Voice & Drum Samples – “AB” by ARTHUR)
Matt Labozza (Effectron II)
Dan Goldberg (Synthesizer)

released April 10th, 2020

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OTHER LIVES – ” We Wait “

Posted: April 10, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“When I was 15, I formed the All American Rejects. This was my high school band. Always there in our everyday life were Tommy and Jennifer, a member’s older sister and brother-in-law. Tommy was the older brother I never had. Kind and wise, he was my mentor and family to me.

Tommy was shot and killed at the age of 25, on the morning of 30th November. Jennifer, his wife, had hired his murderer.

This event completely devastated and shattered my reality. I quit the Rejects and was very lost. I soon found the piano and started moving towards a deeper place inside, artistically, which has shaped me to this day. For many years, I had avoided this trauma and couldn’t touch the subject. I pushed it out, only for it to haunt me more recently. Writing this song is the way for me to heal and remember my old pal, Tommy.”
– Jesse Tabish

The new track “Hey Hey I” from Other Lives, from their forthcoming record For Their Love, out April 24th. The release for the upcoming record says that the band uses the new material to explore themes of lost hope and violence, in the wake of incident when front-man Jesse Tabish’s (also a founding member of All-American Rejects) best friend had his life taken by someone from within the band’s inner circle.

The new record allowed Tabish to reflect on that “haunting” experience and has been a chance to exorcise some difficult demons. Stylistically, the new single and video are not as dark as that story could have one think. The video is a straightforward glimpse into the recording of the song.

Tabish, says “The video is a reflection of the recording process of the album, that took place in the A-frame in the woods. We wanted to portray this process in a natural, organic way, without telling a story but rather showing glimpses of us working together as well as coming together with friends.”

And that revelatory vibe definitely comes across in the song. It is a sonic driving force, reminiscent of the better work of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, where the vocal harmonies evoke a spirit of community, like singing in a temple or around a campfire. It opens with an E on the piano that’s repeated on the down beat throughout the song syncopating with the kick drum. A technique utilized in a lot of songs that is a simple way to convey a sense of sustained energy without sounding overproduced. It’s a great trick you can hear used by David Bowie to excellent effect in several tracks on the aptly titled Raw Power by The Stooges, notably in “Gimme Danger” because of the similar four on the floor cadence, but the technique is also used on the record’s title track.

Seeing a band together, healing from past trauma by hunkering down in a house and creating something joyous in the wake of a terrible tragedy is something that resonates loudly in these difficult times. The lyrics too, evoke a sense of being worn down and pursued by forces bent to destroy with lines that have a menacing tone presented in a beautiful way, not unlike the lyrics of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, who is a fan and early champion of Other Lives.

“They only come out at night/ They only come out at night/ How many times will you let them run you empty?/ How many times do you let them suck you dry?/ Or you trying to rest but you know they’re going to find you/ You said something don’t feel right.”

It’s a great remedy for the quarantine blues. A song about hard times, but expressed in a joyous and communal spirit

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

For Their Love

HAMILTON LEITHAUSER – ” The Loves of Your Life “

Posted: April 10, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Hamilton Leithauser has proven himself as a master collaborator and solo artist throughout his nearly 20 year career. Following his time as the frontman of the Walkmen, Leithauser released the critically acclaimed collaboration with Rostam “I Had a Dream That You Were Mine” in 2016. The album debuted at No1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart, #1 New Artist Album, and was named one of the Year’s Best by Pitchfork, Esquire, NPR, and more. His latest work and second solo record “The Loves of Your Life” was written and produced by Hamilton in his home studio and is a collection of stories about real people he’s met over his years living in New York City.

The Loves of Your Life is Hamilton Leithauser’s latest release following the Walkmen’s 2013 hiatus. He led the record with humorous teasers starring Ethan Hawke, Maggie Rogers, and Sienna Miller. The former frontman of the Walkmen still has one of the best voices around, in a white-blues lineage with Joe Cocker and Rod Stewart. It sits at the heart of these rackety character studies, which surge and balloon into beautiful anthems under the steam of his vocals.

The teaser videos for the first two singles from Hamilton Leithauser’s third solo LP, The Loves of Your Life, are some of the coolest album promo clips you’ll ever see. In the videos, the former frontman of The Walkmen paints himself to be a bit down and out as he traverses New York to play a new song for his friends Maggie Rogers (“Isabella”) and Ethan Hawke (“Here They Come.”) As the tracks play, Rogers cuts Leithauser’s hair, while Hawke casually beats him up. Just as much as the uncanny wail that’s been at the crux of so many of his stellar albums, Leithauser’s wits are very much still present. The singles are filled with upbeat folk rhythms and layered arrangements that beg for the repeat button. The album was recorded and produced over three years in Leithauser’s home studio, and his solo catalogue is definitely building into a similarly solid gold collection to the one that made The Walkmen so great.

ALISON MOSSHART – ” Rise “

Posted: April 10, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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'I feel like lockdown is forcing us to solve problems where we would have just skipped on beforehand'

Alison Mosshart has seemingly worked with everyone over the years—outside of her day job fronting the blues-rock band The Kills, she’s collaborated with Arctic Monkeys, Primal Scream, Foo Fighters, Gang of Four, and more, in addition to co-founding the supergroup The Dead Weather with Jack White.

But today we’re finally seeing Mosshart stepping out on her own, revealing her first solo material under her given name. “Rise” exhibits the fierce energy and soul of anything she’s been a part of thus far, filling the track’s four-minute runtime with powerful vocals. The track made its debut in the first episode of the Facebook Watch drama Sacred Lies: The Singing Bones, where it was performed by Jordan Alexander, and appeared again today in the show’s final episode.

Alison Mosshart – “Rise”, out now on Domino Record Co.

KING GIZZARD and the LIZARD WIZARD – ” Chunky Shrapnel ” Live Album

Posted: April 10, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“CHUNKY SHRAPNEL” The brand new double live LP will be available for pre-order 10th April 9AM AEST. This is the first ever official live album from King Gizzard and was produced by Stu Mackenzie in conjunction with the Chunky Shrapnel film. “CHUNKY SHRAPNEL” is a feature length live music Documentary from King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. Literally bringing the audience onto the stages of their 2019 tour across Europe & the UK, Chunky Shrapnel offers a uniquely immersive experience never before captured on film. A musical road movie dipped in turpentine.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are excited to announce Chunky Shrapnel, a feature-length motion picture that follows King Gizzard’s adrenaline-inducing onstage performances from the perspective of the band. The film is accompanied by a double-LP live album featuring the music from the film recorded throughout the band’s 2019 European tour.  The film will premiere worldwide on Friday, April 17th at 6pm EST via an online live-stream — watch the trailer. Chunky Shrapnel album will be released digitally on April 24th and available in US record stores on CD & LP on May 29th.

A musical road movie dipped in turpentine, Chunky Shrapnel is a point of view / on stage experience from the perspective of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.  Once a song begins, just like the band, you’re stuck in the adrenaline-fueled quicksand that there is no escape from. The film’s contention is clear from the outset, it’s going to be a “journey” not a “lecture”, an incurved experience rather than a linear one.  Exploiting the unpredictable energy of 16mm film stock, the images are searingly psychedelic and aggressive.  Chunky Shrapnel is an experience geared towards not only recreating the energy of a live concert but, creating something tailored and unique to the King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.

Chunky Shrapnel Track List
1. Evil Star
2. The River (Live in Luxembourg ’19)
3. Wah Wah (Live in Madrid ’19)
4. Road Train (Live in Manchester ’19)
5. Murder of the Universe (Live in Utrecht ’19)
6. Quarantine
7. Planet B (Live in London ’19)
8. Parking (Live in Brussels ’19)
9. Venusian 2 (Live in Milan ’19)
10. Hell (Live in Milan ’19)
11. Let Me Mend The Past (Live in Madrid ’19)
12. Anamnesis
13. Inner Cell (Live in Utrecht ’19)
14. Loyalty (Live in Utrecht ’19)
15. Horology (Live in Utrecht ’19)
16. A Brief History of Planet Earth (Live in London, Berlin, Utrecht, and Barcelona ’19)

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