Everything Phoebe Bridgers does makes us fall more and more in love with her, and ‘Kyoto’ is no exception. Double points for the green screen clip which was plan B after Bridgers‘ trip to Japan was cancelled due to the global pandemic. ‘Kyoto’ also comes with the announcement that there is a new album on the way out in June, so watch this space for more Phoebe on the way!
Says Bridgers of the track:
This song is about impostor syndrome. About being in Japan for the first time, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, and playing my music to people who want to hear it, feeling like I’m living someone else’s life. I dissociate when bad things happen to me, but also when good things happen. It can feel like I’m performing what I think I’m supposed to be like. I wrote this one as a ballad first, but at that point I was so sick of recording slow songs, it turned into this.
Today’s news also saw her release the album’s next single “Kyoto,” which Bridgers wrote following her first trip to Japan in February 2019. The track has an upbeat feel to it that captures the sound that she and Oberst formed on their collabrative album as Better Oblivion Community Center. With some well placed horns and her now-signature vocals, the song soars and hits an emotional arc like all of her best material always does.
The music video for “Kyoto” was shot on a green screen, after her plans to shoot it in Japan in March 2020 were un-derstandbly cancelled.
“Kyoto,” the new song by Phoebe Bridgers from ‘Punisher’ out June 19th on Dead Oceans.
Recorded at the Bomhard Theater in Louisville, KY on December 13th, 2020 with the Best Hands band: Jake Xerxes Fussell, Nathan Bowles, Anna Krippenstapel, and Nathan Salsburg. Guest appearances by Julia Purcell and Bonnie “Prince” Billy.
Proceeds from this album go to support the Best Hands Band that supported me. With their own tours delayed and the future uncertain, they deserve some love!
The support I have felt from you all recently has been moving beyond words. I thank you for keeping music close to your hearts right now. Love to everyone. Joan
Pandemics rage! Economies totter! Political systems rot! — and the environment circles the drain..Micro-legendary DIY Garage-Pop-Psych provocateurs! Evolutionary genre grinders practicing art-damaged power pop, rock, crunch, jangle and general mind-infiltration..
What better time for The Prefab Messiahs to set it all up, lay it all out, and burn it all down? “21st Century Failure” is a take-no-prisoners anthem tailor-made for those socially isolated moments when only a ranting, post-punk-psych-garage-pop-rave up will do!
The track was performed SAFELY and RESPONSIBLY in three separate SOCIALLY ISOLATED LOCALES by Xeerox Feinberg, Doc Michaud, and Trip Thompson.
Friends, let’s call this situation what it is — a “21st Century Failure”!
That’s also the name of our new track, coming to Bandcamp and all the streamers on April 10th
The Style Council formed Woking in 1983 by Paul Weller the former singer, songwriter, and guitarist with the rock/new wave band The Jam following the break up Weller and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previously of Dexys Midnight Runners and Merton Parkas, The line-up also included drummer Steve White and Weller’s then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee. Other vocalists such as Tracie Young, Tracey Thorn (Everything but the Girl), and later drummer/percussionist Steve Sidelnyk They released 6 albums and had 19 hit singles before disbanding in 1989.
The band showed a diversity of musical styles. Singles like “Speak Like a Child” (with its loud soul-influenced style), the extended funk of “Money-Go-Round”, and the synth-ballad “Long Hot Summer” all featured Talbot’s keyboards and organ. Near the end of 1983, these songs were compiled on Introducing The Style Council, a mini-album initially released in Japan, the Netherlands, Canada, and the US only.
In their lyrics, The Style Council took a more overtly political approach than The Jam, with tracks such as “Walls Come Tumbling Down!”, “The Lodgers” and “Come To Milton Keynes” being deliberate attacks on ‘middle England’ and the Thatcherite policies of the UK government during the 1980s. In 1985, Weller was persuaded by Billy Bragg to let the Style Council play a leading role in Red Wedge, a youth-oriented political campaign associated with the British Labour Party.
The Style Council
A1: Money Go Round B1: Headstart For Happiness B2: Mick’s Up
Style Council debut Money-Go-Round released 1983 UK 3-track 12″ vinyl single, also including the acoustic version of Headstart For Happiness and Mick’s Up, glossy flipback picture sleeve TSCX2) Money Go Round was available on 7” with a picture insert and for the first time a 12” (with 2 extra tracks) The 7” Cover of a coffee machine from Linda’s Cafe on Edgware Road, around the corner from the studio, which the band frequented.
à Paris
A1: Long Hot Summer (Extended Version) B1: Party Chambers B2: The Paris Match B3: Le Départ
“Long Hot Summer” was a song by the English band The Style Council which was their third single to be released, composed by lead singer Paul Weller, recorded between 12th and 17th June 1983 in the Grande Armée Studios in Paris, and released on 8th August 1983. In addition to being sold as a conventional two track 7″ single, “Long Hot Summer” was also simultaneously released as a four track 7″ and 12″ EP titled Á Paris which also contained the song “The Paris Match” plus two keyboard instrumentals, “Party Chambers” and “Le Depart”. It was also included on the 1983 mini-album “Introducing The Style Council”.
Mick Talbot, Style Council: I met Paul in ’79. I was in a band called The Merton Parkas. There was talk of Paul producing us but that never happened. By the time he contacted me in August ’82, saying he was going to wrap up The Jam, I hadn’t seen him for quite a while. But he already knew what he wanted to do and asked if I wanted to be involved. He was conscious of wanting to work outside the restrictions of a standard band line-up – to the point where there are quite a few early instrumental tracks on which Paul might not even be playing. He was overseeing things, more like a film director.
á Paris – Again a different sleeve for each version. 7” was photographed at Place De La Concorde and 12” at The Trocadéro in Paris.
On “Long Hot Summer”, we wanted to combine very contemporary synth sounds with Hammonds and electric pianos. We were both into close-harmony groups and in our minds we’d have liked to have The Delfonics cover “Long Hot Summer”. The video was us punting down the Cam as if we were Cambridge dons, with echoes of Brideshead Revisited. Tim Pope was directing and said, “If you lie down I can get both your heads in shot,” so we were getting closer and closer and we thought it funny to stroke each others’ ears. There was a hoo-ha at the record company and the video was leaked to the press. Next thing you know, we’re both out the closet!. The song reached the position of number three in the UK singles chart making it the Style Council’s biggest hit, and it remains a staple of Paul Weller’s live concerts.
By coincidence the British summer heat wave of 1983, most notably July, turned out to be one of the hottest on record – something that would not have been known at the time the song was written and recorded.
My Ever Changing Moods
A1: My Ever Changing Moods (Long Version) B1: Spring, Summer, Autumn B2: Mick’s Company
“My Ever Changing Moods” is a song by band The Style Council which was their fifth single to be released. It was composed by lead singer Paul Weller, recorded at Weller’s own studio Solid Bond Studios, and was released in 1984. It is the first single from the band’s début album, Café Bleu (1984), which was renamed My Ever Changing Moods in the United States to capitalise on the success of that single. A much needed breather after the claustrophobic funk of “Money Go Round”. In its place, a Smokey Robinson-inspired vocal, ersatz latin percussion and the arrival of the cycling shirt as the item du jour for the discerning Wellerphile. This is another delightful release. 2 absolutely stunning sleeves by Simon and intentional or otherwise none of them mention the tracks within or indeed that it had extras..
Steve White, Style Council/ Paul Weller band: Originally, it had a completely different feel. Paul and Mick had recorded an early version just with the piano. It was very melancholy. Then they performed it with Elvis Costello on a TV show, and had the idea to make it more lively. I suggested we make it feel more like War or Curtis Mayfield. Suddenly this song – very dark, lyrically – became very positive sounding and upbeat, more like an old soul record. In those days we did everything quickly – it didn’t matter if there were a few fluffed notes – it was all about the feel. Oddly, it was one of our few successes in America . Number 29, I believe! The cycling shirts? We were doing a lot of work in Italy at the time, and Paul saw these kids riding scooters wearing cycling shirts with jeans, and he thought he’d use it. A great look when you’re 18. As you get a little older, not so great!
Composed by lead singer Paul Weller, this song is a homage to Curtis Mayfield with overtones of nuclear threat. Weller told Mojo: “It started from the title. I thought, ‘What a great title, My Ever Changing Mood. But it’s about nuclear holocaust as well. ‘The hush before the silence, the winds after the blast’ and all that. I think it’s probably like a lot of songs I’ve done… they start of being about myself and then I get bored with it and I make it into something else.”
“My Ever Changing Moods”, backed with the Hammond organ instrumental “Mick’s Company”, peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of June 9th, 1984, in the US. The song remains Weller’s greatest success in the US (including his efforts in The Jam and as a solo artist)
Groovin’
A1: You’re The Best Thing (Long Version) A2: You’re The Dub Thing B1: The Big Boss Groove
“Groovin” – We better call it that but in essence You’re The Best Thing & The Big Boss Groove. The first double A sided single. Again we got different sleeves for both releases, the 7” being an inspiration from what?
STYLE COUNCIL Groovin’ (1984 UK 3-track 12″ vinyl EP, includes You’re The Best Thing Long Version & You’re The Dub Thing plus the non-album track The Big Boss Groove, housed in a glossy picture sleeve. TSCX6)
Shout to the Top!
A1: Shout To The Top A2: Shout To The Top (Instrumental) B1: The Piccadilly Trail B2: Ghosts Of Dachau
“Shout to the Top!” by the English band The Style Council which was their seventh single to be released, composed by lead singer Paul Weller, and was released in 1984. It appears on the Vision Quest soundtrack in the United States.
The song also appears on the deluxe edition of Our Favourite Shop (1985), and features in the film Billy Elliot (2000) and on its soundtrack. Paintings representing the 1984 miners strike feature in the video.
STYLE COUNCIL Shout To The Top (1984 UK 4-track 12″ vinyl EP, also including the Instrumental Version plus two superb non-album tracks: Ghosts Of Dachau and The Piccadilly Trail. TSCX7
Walls Come Tumbling Down!
A1: Walls Come Tumbling Down! A2: Spin’ Drifting B1: The Whole Point II B2: Blood Sports
“Walls Come Tumbling Down!” song by the English band The Style Council which was their ninth single to be released. It was composed by lead singer Paul Weller, and was released in 1985. It is the first single from the band’s second album, Our Favourite Shop (1985). Our Favourite Shop was renamed Internationalists for the U.S. market.
Mick gets his first solo sleeve, there’s been a few stories around of its origination & why it’s a calming contrast to the anger of the single. The song “Blood Sports”, which appeared on the single, is about anti-hunting and anti-animal blood sports. Its writing royalties went to the Bristol Defence Fund for two hunt saboteurs jailed for anti-blood sports activities. The first single from the forthcoming album Our Favourite Shop, which would topple Dire Straits and enter the chart at Number ONE
Billy Bragg: The first time I met Paul, we were doing a gig for the Young Socialists on a tiny stage on the South Bank, where the London Eye is now. It must have been 1984 . Later, he invited me to open for The Style Council on one of their early tours. The gigs weren’t dour and political at all, they were a celebration, like the Stax/Volt revue. The sensibility of using music to put across political ideas was one thing Paul carried over from The Jam. “Walls Comes Tumbling Down” best summed up what we were trying to do in the mid-’80s. All of us were very inspired by the civil rights-era in American soul music. The Paul I knew then was very political, supporting the likes of the Young Socialists and Youth CND. I thought it was worth trying to work with the Labour Party. I’d done a Jobs For Youth tour in early 1985 that was kind of like a dry run for Red Wedge. We started having meetings at their HQ in Elephant & Castle with the likes of Peter Mandelson, Charles Clarke and Patricia Hewitt. Paul was crucial – he was such as big star that people took us seriously. Paul’s presence drew the crowds, allowed us to play bigger venues and pulled in other artists, so his commitment was key. He had a broad audience – he was the only person to do Live Aid and Red Wedge.
STYLE COUNCIL Walls Come Tumbling Down! (1985 UK 4-track white label promotional vinyl 12″, also including Spin Drifting, The Whole Point II and Blood Sports. Housed in a custom stickered die cut sleeve, TSCX8
Come To Milton Keynes
A1: Come To Milton Keynes A2: Our Favourite Shop (Club Mix) B1: (When You) Call Me B2: The Lodgers (Club Mix)
In an interview given at the time of the song’s release Paul Weller states that the song was inspired by the “Red Balloon” Milton Keynes advert which was produced on behalf of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation. “Come To Milton Keynes”. There were 3 releases for this single so I need to split the front & back sleeves. A single 7” sleeve, a gatefold 7” showing off the now famous shop and a 12”.
Paul Weller biographer John Reed argues in ‘Paul Weller: My Ever Changing Moods’ that: The song’s lyrics suggested a reality of drugs, violence, and ‘losing our way’ behind a façade of ‘luscious houses ‘ where the ‘curtains are drawn’, the idea being to create a musical pastiche which matched the supposed artificiality of Milton Keynes itself.”
The Lodgers
A1: The Lodgers (Extended Mix) B1: The Big Boss Groove (Live) B2: Move On Up (Live) B3: You’re The Best Thing (Live) B4: Money-Go-Round Medley (Live)
“The Lodgers” also known by the full title “The Lodgers (Or She Was Only a Shopkeeper’s Daughter)” song by the English band The Style Council, which was their eleventh single to be released. It was composed by lead singer Paul Weller and keyboardist Mick Talbot, and was released in 1985. It is the third single from the band’s second album, Our Favourite Shop (1985). Our Favourite Shop was renamed Internationalists in the United States. The Lodgers, A totally new recording from the album version and badged as featuringDee.C.Lee on the Sleeve for 7”/12” slightly remixed. There was also a double pack 7”
THE STYLE COUNCIL The Lodgers (1985 UK 5-track 12″ vinyl EP featuring a newly recorded version with Dee C. Lee, also includes live versions of The Big Boss Groove, Move On Up, You’re The Best Thing and the 3-track Medley of Money-Go-Round, Soul Deep & Strength Of Your Nature. Housed in a front laminated picture sleeve with double-sided photo insert. TSCX10
Have You Ever Had It Blue
A1: Have You Ever Had It Blue (Uncut Version) B1: Have You Ever Had It Blue (Cut Version) B2: Mr Cool’s Dream
“Have You Ever Had It Blue”. From the Absolute Beginners movie. The only single from 1986. On 7”, 12” 7” cassette pack , CD video single and an exclusive version on the official Soundtrack. The labels from the 7” and 12” and a nod to the book of the same name – Mr Cool’s Dream – “Cool” was a character in the book and movie. Now you know. The 7” cassette pack had a live track. There was a CD video single released, a high quality video of the time that played on a laserdisc only – it also contained the audio from the 12” release. Lastly, the soundtrack contained an exclusive mix, but is not described as such anywhere within. Worth tracking it down,
STYLE COUNCIL Have You Ever Had It Blue (1986 UK 3-track 12″ vinyl single, features Uncut Version, Cut Version and Mr Cool’s Dream, CINEX1
It Didn’t Matter
A1: It Didn’t Matter B1: It Didn’t Matter (Instrumental) B2: All Year Round
“It Didn’t Matter” is a song by The Style Council which was their fifteenth single to be released. It was composed by lead singer Paul Weller, keyboardist Mick Talbot, and was released in 1987. The song was duetted by Weller and his then-wife Dee C. Lee. It is the first single from the band’s third album, The Cost of Loving, also known as the Orange album. Backed with “All Year Round”, it became a hit, peaking at No. 9 in the UK, and No. 48 in both Australia, and New Zealand. It has remained one of their most enduring hits.
It Didn’t Matter – 7” and 12” which came in 2 sleeves, Traditional and die cut. The Style Council Soared into the Top 10! A superb band cover photo. We have moved into 1987.
STYLE COUNCIL It Didn’t Matter (1987 UK 7″ vinyl single also including ‘All Year Round’, front-laminated flipback picture sleeve. TSC12
“Waiting” was the 2nd & final single from The Cost of Loving The tweets will sharply decline as the numbers buying it in 1987 were greatly reduced. Simon has introduced the shield logo seen on badges and socks at the General Election tour.
Wanted
A1: Wanted B1: The Cost B2: The Cost Of Loving
“Wanted” or “Waiter, There’s Some Soup In My Flies” was the 3rd and final single of 1987 to meet their contractual obligations. Not from The Cost of Loving & not from the next album. A pop chart hit. This also came out as a CD & Cassette Single, The labels on the 7” and 12” the 12” from a Japanese show filmed in front of the houses of Parliament. So essential to have all 4 for the completist. for Wanted the 12” has a marvellous glossy colour internal sleeve. STYLE COUNCIL Wanted (1987 UK 3-track 7″ vinyl EP, also including The Cost Of Loving Vocal & Instrumental Versions. TSC14
Life At A Top Peoples Health Farm
A1: Spank! A2: Life At A Top People’s Health Farm B1: Life At A Top People’s Health Farm (Um And Argh Mix) B2: Sweet Loving Ways
Life At A Top Peoples Health Farm. The first single of 1988 & from the forthcoming album. An Iconic sleeve, pic by Mick’s partner Shane on a 2 week trip abroad with Paul and Dee
1 2 3 4 EP A Summer Quartet (How She Threw It All Away)
A1: How She Threw It All Away A2: Love The First Time B1: Long Hot Summer (Tom Mix) B2: I Do Like To Be B-Side The A-Side
How She Threw It All Away the 2nd and final single from the album Confessions Of A Pop Group; classed as an EP “A Summer Quartet”
Promised Land
A1: Promised Land (Longer Version) (Juan Atkins Mix) A2: Promised Land (Pianopella Version) B1: Can You Still Love Me? (Dub) B2: Can You Still Love Me? (Vocal)
The cover version of “Promised Land” (originally by Joe Smooth) was the only release which surfaced from the Modernism sessions. The Style Council released a cover of the song in 1989. Along with the track, “Can You Still Love Me”, “Promised Land” was the group’s only entry on the US dance chart, where it peaked at number nineteen
A1: Promised Land (Joe Smooth’s Alternative Club Mix) B1: Can You Still Love Me (Club Vocal) B2: Can You Still Love Me (12 O’Clock Dub)
“Promised Land” is a 1987 single by American producer and DJ Joe Smooth. It is one of the most acclaimed house classics.
A1: Long Hot Summer 89 Mix (Extended Version) B1: Everybody’s On The Run (Version One) B2: Everybody’s On The Run (Version Two)
A: Sure Is Sure (Go Foward Mix) B: Love Of The World (Free Love Mix)
In December 1984, Weller put together an ensemble called The Council Collective to make a charity record, “Soul Deep”, initially to raise money for striking miners during a long-running industrial dispute, and subsequently also for the family of David Wilkie. The track featured The Style Council and a number of other performers, notablyJimmy Ruffin andJunior Giscombe. In spite of the song’s political content, it received airplay on BBC Radio 1 and was performed by the group on Top of the Pops,as well as (live) on Channel 4’s The Tube.
Members Paul Weller / Mick Talbot / Dee C. Lee / Steve White
The Style Council broke up in 1989. About the breakup, Paul Weller said (in 1990): It’s something we should have done two or three years ago. We created some great music in our time, the effects of which won’t be appreciated for some time. All of The Style Council’s UK releases (including singles, 12″ maxis, albums, compact discs and re-issues thereof) featured the work of graphic designer Simon Halfon, who often collaborated with Weller to hone his ideas into a graphic form. Weller and Halfon began working together at the end of The Jam’s career, and continue to work together on Weller’s solo material.
Washed Out is Ernest Greene, a young guy from Georgia (via South Carolina) who makes bedroom synthpop that sounds blurred and woozily evocative, like someone smeared Vaseline all over an early OMD demo tape, then stayed up all night trying to recreate what they heard. Washed Out is the artist we all need right now; I think you just made this pandemic a bit more tolerable.
Washed Out’s Ernest Greene was one of many artists who found themselves in a state of limbo last month after the widespread cancellations of live performances and unexpected travel restrictions. In Greene’s case, the first effect was canceling a long-planned music video shoot in Italy, where he was set to collaborate with an international team of filmmakers.
In response, Greene took the opportunity to engage his fans, launching a collaborative creative project for the new Washed Out song “Too Late.” The result is a beautiful music video touching every corner of the globe that couldn’t have existed a month ago.
Greene writes: I’d spent months planning a music video for a new song called “Too Late.” My inspiration was a Mediterranean sunset I saw late last year, and the plan was to shoot on the coast of Italy with a team of UK and European collaborators. As we got closer to the shoot date, word about the severity and the speed of the virus started becoming daily news, and it became clear it wasn’t going to happen the way we’d planned. We tried to move the shoot several times (to Malta, Croatia, Spain, and eventually the UK), and one after another, countries shut their borders. Seeing Italy hit so hard was especially difficult to see.
I put up an IG post asking for fans to help me come up with the raw footage I had in mind – those first few days, as I was going through photos of my trips and tours, the memories of traveling and experiences I’d had took on a new significance. I wanted the video to capture those same moments for other people in their lives, and give us all an excuse to remember what it’ll look like again when it passes.
I went in thinking if I got 100 clips, I’d have enough to make the video I wanted to make. 30 minutes in, I had the 100 clips, and a few days in, I had over 1,200 clips – from London, Bali, Okinawa, Ann Arbor, Dubrovnik and a few hundred other places around the world. It was pretty amazing for me to see the vids and pics flood in like they did.
I was blown away by the response, and I’m excited to share the project with everyone now. For me, it’s turned out to be a much needed reminder of how connected we can all be when we’ve never been more physically distanced from each other. I hope everyone that contributed and everyone that watches the video gets the joy from it I do.
I don’t know what the immediate future holds for Washed Out... I have a lot of new music in various states, and other projects I was looking forward to working on this summer. I don’t know when I’ll be able to tour again, or when any of the other new music will come out, but I’m staying optimistic about both…. Ernest Greene
Phoebe Bridgers wrote her first song at age 11, spent her adolescence at open mic nights, and busked through her teenage years at farmers markets in her native Los Angeles. By age 20, she’d caught the ear of Ryan Adams, who listened to her perform her song “Killer” and invited her to record it in his studio the next day. The session grew into the three-song ‘Killer’ EP, and she hasn’t looked back.
Do you know what a ‘punisher’ is?” asked Phoebe Bridgers in an interview after the release of her brilliant debut album, Stranger in the Alps. “A punisher is someone who talks to you but they really don’t let you talk to them – but they find a way to make you talk to them. It’s like your aunt who’s like, ‘Hey look at these photos of my dog!’ That’s punishing. It’s stuff you can’t get out of even though the person is very well-intentioned.” It’s the title of her highly-anticipated second record, out this June on Dead Oceans. You know what to do.
Already heralded as one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year, 25-year old singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers has confirmed details of her sophomore solo album, Punisher, to be released on Dead Oceans on June 19th.
Bridgers is a singular talent, and also the rare artist with enough humor to deconstruct the tired heuristics of a meteoric rise. “Punisher”, written and recorded between the summer of 2018 and the fall of 2019, cements her as one of the most irresistibly clever and tenderly prolific songwriters of our era. Returning to work with her Stranger In The Alps collaborators Tony Berg and Ethan Gruska, Bridgers – who co-produced the boygenius EP and Better Oblivion Community Center album – stepped into the role of co-producer for Punisher and has drawn from the same tight-knit group of musicians who appeared on her debut as well as those she has worked with since.
The album includes Bridgers’ band of Marshall Vore (drums), Harrison Whitford (guitar), Emily Restas (bass) and Nick White (piano) as well as performances from Conor Oberst (“Halloween”, “I Know The End”), Lucy Dacus (“Graceland Too”, “I Know The End”), Julien Baker (“Graceland Too”, “I Know The End”), Blake Mills (“Halloween”, “Savior Complex” and “I Know The End”), Jenny Lee Lindberg (“Kyoto”, “ICU”), Christian Lee Hutson (“Garden Song”, “Halloween”, “Savior Complex”, “I Know The End”), Nick Zinner (“I Know The End”), legendary drummer Jim Keltner (“Halloween” and “Savior Complex”) and Bright Eyes’ Nathaniel Walcott on horns (“Kyoto” and “I Know The End”).
Punisher was mixed by Mike Mogis, who also mixed Stranger In The Alps.
Dutch experimentalists RMFTM are ushering in their tenth year as a band with their sixth full-length ‘The Bestial Light’, due for release May 8th via Fuzz Club and marking yet another evolution in sound and line-up from the shape-shifting Eindhoven-based collective. Across their extensive back-catalogue and many collaborations (including with the likes of Gnod, The Cosmic Dead and 10 000 Russos, as well as the occasional art piece), the band have moved from expansive space-rock to avant-garde drone and industrial techno. Now, however, is the time for something else.
Bolstered by the addition of a vocalist and second drummer, the incendiary ‘Bestial Light’ LP sees the band move on from the electronic experimentations of the Subversive album trilogy (culminating in their most-recent LP, 2018’s ‘De Spelende Mens’) and last year’s ‘Bliss’ EP. Their new direction, instead, finds them journeying into a dissonant industrial punk sound that’s Einstürzende Neubauten and early Swans by way of Neurosis and Godflesh. Fusing heavy industrial rhythm sections, biting post-punk vocals and crushing “acid metal” riffs, the new incarnation of RMFTM (aka Radar Men From The Moon) is comprised of core members Glenn Peeters (guitar), Tony Lathouwers (drums), Titus Verkuijlen (bass) and Bram van Zuijlen (guitar/synth), with the addition of Joep Schmitz (drums) and Harm Neidig (vocals/saxophone).
Not long after recruiting the new members, the now-expanded RMFTM headed back into the studio with their long-term producer Bob de Wit (Gnod, A Place to Bury Strangers, Mudhoney), laying down the new album in 14-hour shifts over 12 days: “We were constantly 100% on it so the process was quite intense but also very rewarding. You can definitely hear that on the record.” On the album’s theme, borne out just as much in their creative approach as it is as the lyrics and instrumentation, they say: “We wanted to write about everything instinctual in mankind, individual desires and true will. Transgression and the seductiveness of unreason.” Unsurprising, then, that ‘The Bestial Light’ is such a primitive, borderline-depraved affair; one that constantly feels like it’s hurtling towards an edge that you’re never quite sure you want to look over.
Jethro Tull is one of those utterly amazing bands that is sadly very difficult to explain to those for whom they seem to hold no obvious appeal. Although once one of the very biggest concert draws in the world of music—and don’t get me wrong, they’re still a popular group—their fanbase is getting older each year and I don’t think it’s exactly getting any bigger with the passing of time. But for the sake of “the younger people” who are reading this I’m going to try to get across why I think JethroTull are truly a great band and why they deserve your attention.
Rhino’s re-release of their classic 1971 long player “Aqualung”, an album that I’m absolutely crazy about, on a 2 CD/2 DVD box set. I hope my enthusiasm will be contagious enough that you’ll give it a listen yourself.
Critics remembered “the scuzziest hippies smoking skunk weed and listening to that piece of crap.” He was there. “who the fuck is the audience for this jester-hat-wearing Renaissance Faire bullshit?” while acknowledging that its multi-platinum record status indicated there must have been quite a large one. Some see Jethro Tull as the sort of group that “old bikers listen to at keg parties in Cincinnati,” in the same category with say, Steppenwolf.
All of these reactions are perfectly understandable. If you don’t really know what Jethro Tull are all about, being confronted with this scraggly-looking comically leering hirsute and freaky Dickensian hobo-sage character wearing thigh-high boots and a glittering codpiece playing the flute is simply confusing.
My familiarity with Jethro Tull’s music began with the single “Living In The Past”, one of the very first 45s that I ever bought for the most part I knew some of the greatest hits. Steven Wilson’s 5.1 surround revisioning of their 1970 “Benefit” album in the package with something else that I’d asked for. I’ll listen to anything Steven Wilson has remixed for 5.1 and I was utterly floored by Benefit. Because I had no expectations one way or the other, Benefit hit me like a bolt from the blue. I was completely smitten with that album pretty much upon the first listen.
I gorged myself on that album and fanned out through their back catalog. I liked their second effort Stand Up quite a bit and I also got way into their Living in the Past compilation. Their first album “This Was” I was less enthusiastic about—it’s just a basic blues thing, music they’d already outgrown before its release, hence the title—but the one that came after Benefit—that’s Aqualung—blew my doors off. If you consider yourself a fan of say, King Crimson, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa or even Nick Cave (who named one of his sons Jethro he was such a fan) you might have the same reaction I did: “How did I miss out on this?”
Obviously any discussion of Jethro Tull begins—and ends with the group’s leader, the singular Ian Anderson, a rather brainy and idiosyncratic figure surely seen in retrospect (if not necessarily at the time) as the unlikeliest of arena rock gods. Anderson always read very “old” to me. At the time Aqualung was recorded he was just 23 year of age, but what a wizened old 23 he seemed to be. Some people are born old men, I guess, but by this age his lyrics were already becoming quite dark and deep. Aqualung‘s brooding, philosophically sophisticated subject matter included seeing homelessness people and doing nothing about it; how whatever kernel of truth there had been in Christianity had been co-opted by the Church of England and a cynical ruling class; and in “Locomotive Breath” one of their signature numbers—humanity’s mad dash towards Hobbesian overpopulation.
Aqualung‘s liner notes included the following statement, an audacious sentiment to express in the early 1970s:
In the beginning Man created God;
And in the image of Man created he him.
2 And Man gave unto God a multitude of names,
that he might be Lord over all the earth when it was suited to Man.
3 And on the seven millionth day Man rested
and did lean heavily on his God and saw that it was good.
4 And Man formed Aqualung of the dust of the ground,
and a host of others likened unto his kind.
5 And these lesser men Man did cast into the void. And some were burned;
and some were put apart from their kind.
6 And Man became the God that he had created
and with his miracles did rule over all the earth.
7 But as these things did come to pass,
the Spirit that did cause Man to create his God
lived on within all men: even within Aqualung.
8 And Man saw it not.
9 But for Christ’s sake he’d better start looking.
Anderson’s decidedly bleak themes were backed by the majestic, intricately braided medieval tapestry of his acoustic guitar (Anderson’s thought of as the manic pirate flautist perched on one leg, of course, but his Bert Jansch-inspired guitar work is out-fucking-standing), his flute and the powerful dynamics of lead guitarist Martin Barre—one of rock’s single greatest riffmeisters.
The ensemble playing on Aqualung which also included Clive Bunker on drums and percussion, the incredible John Evan on piano, organ, mellotron and “Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond” on bass guitar—is tight and agile, possessing an almost “classical” element, but not one that was bombastic like Emerson, Lake & Palmer or even necessarily orchestral for that matter. Jethro Tull had a “thing” which was unique to them. Take for instance the gorgeous magical, swirling opening to “Cross Eyed Mary”: When I first started listening to Aqualung, I’d play that particular song over and over and over again. Try “Hymn 43”: The mighty and propulsive “Locomotive Breath” as used very effectively for a scene in ‘Fargo’
From Stand Up to Aqualung Jethro Tull were an absolutely incredible band. Admittedly after that my interest falls off slightly. Thick as a Brick, War Child, Passion Play, the inspiration seems lacking, probably from exhaustion, the band toured almost constantly in the 1970s—but at this point in my life as one of the world’s most inveterate rock snobs I’d have to say that I easily consider Aqualung to be the equal of any Led Zeppelin album (and incidentally it was recorded in an adjacent studio to where Led Zeppelin were recording their own fourth album at Island Records’ newly opened facility in London.)
Rhino’s latest edition of Aqualung is a more economical release of Steven Wilson’s spectacular 2011 “40th anniversary” remix (both in sparkly stereo and a beyond amazing 5.1 surround version) more in line with the packaging and formatting of their other classic Jethro Tull sets of recent years. Aqualung was never considered to be a good-sounding “audiophile” album. It was recorded in a large, cold-sounding studio that had only recently been opened, and where the kinks (and the wiring) still needed to be worked out. The resulting mix was thin and murky, but apparently Wilson was able to coax magic from the multi-tracks (he compared his job to renovating the Sistine Chapel). When you listen to the stereo mix of “Cross Eyed Mary” posted above, imagine how crazy gorgeous that sounds coming at you from six speakers.
Mt. Joy started off as a rekindling of shared musical ambitions between high school friends Matt Quinn (vocals, guitar) and Sam Cooper (guitar). Reunited in Los Angeles thanks to the ebbs and flows of adult life, the pair met multi-instrumentalist Michael Byrnes through a Craigslist ad. They named themselves Mt. Joy as an ode to a mountain in Valley Forge National Park near Sam’s childhood home.
Another song from the new record, ‘My Vibe’, with a video by Steve Girard. The song’s about learning to let yourself have fun when you’ve been feeling down, and we hope it can help right now,
We’re officially starting to roll this album out. So excited to share this music with you
Chicago indie-pop collective Varsity recently signed with Run for Cover Records in 2018, and released a doubling of singles which showcased their ability to bring forth unique conversations in song surrounding personal relationships with a wide-eyed dreamy sparkle. This May, they will release their latest full-length effort Fine Forever, and once again, the moment marks another creative transition for the quintet.
On the album’s lead single and opener “Runaway”, they step away from the clouds and move onto the dance floor with streaks of Fleetwood flickers and a groove-laden bassline. Here, vocalist and keyboardist Stef Smith sings through the flashbulb lights without pause, being drawn only to where the heart leads. “Runaway / I don’t even know your name / You’re not going anywhere tonight / Unless you’re gonna run away.” It’s hard to imagine anyone doing so when Varsity’s love energy naturally pulls you in…
Band Members
stef, Dylan, pat, jake, paul,
Varsity’s Fine Forever will be released May 29th on Run for Cover Records.
