DEF LEPPARD – ” The Early Years 79-81 “

Posted: January 30, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Def Leppard are digging deep into their archives for their latest release: it’s a comprehensive box set covering the group’s first three years together.

“The Early Years 79-81” covers this Sheffield group’s first studio recordings and unheard live performances. The band’s debut and sophomore studio albums, 1980’s On Through The Night and 1981’s High N’ Dry, have been newly remastered for this collection by the band’s longtime engineer Ronan McHugh, and will be paired with three bonus discs: a previously unreleased, newly mixed live show from a 1980 gig in Oxford, a collection of studio material and B-sides (including the group’s first EP from 1979 and two unreleased performances from a studio session with Thin Lizzy/Marillion producer Nick Tauber), and a disc of live recordings by the BBC (including a controversial set at the Reading Festival in 1980). (For the many fans coveting just the new remasters of the two albums, they will be available on CD and vinyl!)

Formed from a group called Atomic Mass that featured guitarist Pete Willis and bassist Rick Savage, Def Leppard (which also included lead singer Joe Elliott, guitarist Steve Clark and teenage drummer Rick Allen) earned early acclaim when “Getcha Rocks Off” from their independently-released debut EP (recorded with session drummer Frank Noon) was given heavy rotation on the BBC by John Peel. While On Through The Night reached the Top 15 in the U.K., some felt that the band was more concerned with breaking into the American market; Sounds asked “Have Def Leppard changed their spots?” in a headline. (This article may have led to the band’s rough reception at the Reading Festival, where the crowd threw beer cans at the band.

But one person who was not deterred by the band’s status in England was Robert John “Mutt” Lange, producer of AC/DC’s Back In Black. Def Leppard recruited him for the sessions to High N’ Dry, and a video for “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak” garnered early airplay on MTV. This, of course, set the stage for the band’s increased success throughout the ’80s, culminating with the bestselling Hysteriain 1987.

The Early Years 79-81 features new notes from MOJOand Classic Rock writer Paul Elliott (not related to Joe) detailing the band’s first steps toward success alongside rare photos and scans of memorabilia. It’s a fine preview for the band’s summer stadium tour alongside a newly-reunited Mötley Crüe, Poison and Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. The box set and remasters will be available March 20th.

The MEN – ” Breeze “

Posted: January 29, 2020 in MUSIC
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Mercy

New York band The Men have always been genre-morphic and unpredictable, but on their eighth album “Mercy” they have truly done something new as a band. For the first time since forming, they have now created three straight records with the same lineup, and the result is a sound that feels developed and continuous despite running the gamut of mood, in true Men fashion. Having this lineup stability has allowed the band to deepen and finesse the sounds they were exploring on 2017’s Drift and produce tracks that have a unique and distinct voice. 

Mercy was recorded live at Serious Business studio to 2“ tape with Travis Harrison. The band did minimal overdubs, contributing to the urgent feel of the recording. The album is simply the sound of a band that has a deep and unjaded passion for songwriting and creation, working at the peak of their collaborative connection. 

From ‘Mercy,’ out February. 14th, 2020.

MARGARET GLASPY – ” Killing What Keeps Us Alive “

Posted: January 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Since her 2016 debut album Emotions And Math, Margaret Glaspy has stunned us with her commanding guitar work and penchant for amorous songwriting. In fact, we adored that debut record so much we named it one of the best of 2016, and Glaspy one of that year’s best new artists. Two years later, she followed up that indelible release with an EP called Born Yesterday.

Now Glaspy has announced her new album titled “Devotion” that comes out in March. There’s a palpable sense of evolution demonstrated by lead single “Killing What Keeps Us Alive,” which finds her playing with more diverse and digital instrumentation. The track opens up with a roughly distorted vocal stack that rises with edgy synths, which suddenly evaporate to allow for a softer sound to emerge. Piano tones add a syrupy dimension to an already viscous experience. It’s a really sweet song that nestles in somewhere between ode and confessional, which is only enhanced by this super satisfying acoustic drum groove that comes in with the last chorus. Director Alex Chaloff’s music video captures some of that sentiment, which starts out in black and white as color is slowly added back in.

My new album, ‘Devotion’ will be available March 27th and the first single off the album, “Killing What Keeps Us Alive,”
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“Devotion’‘ is very different from the last record. It’s not about being righteous or all-knowing, it’s about letting love in even when you don’t know what will happen when you do. It’s about devoting your heart to someone or something, against all odds. ⁣

“Killing What Keeps Us Alive” is the first single on Margaret Glaspy’s new album ‘Devotion’ out March 27.

GREEN MAN FESTIVAL Brecon Beacons 20-23rd August 2020

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Image  —  Posted: January 29, 2020 in FESTIVALS, MUSIC
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PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL Berlin 8th-9th May 2020

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Image  —  Posted: January 28, 2020 in FESTIVALS, MUSIC
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OKAY KAYA – ” Psych Ward “

Posted: January 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Psych Ward is an irresistible slice of slacker-indie that is notable for it’s resigned, literal lyrics, and was inspired by Kaya Wilkins’ own experience in a mental health institution. Kaya’s Jagjaguwar debut, “Watch This Liquid Pour Itself”, due on 24th January 2020, is filled with images of pools of sweat, oceans, and other forms of wetness. On her first single, Kaya has been playing music since she was a tween, learning songs on her acoustic guitar and listening to Cody Chesnutt. And, being from originally from Norway, she also played in a black metal project. Although she remains at the center of her artistic process,

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Psych Ward’ from ‘Watch This Liquid Pour Itself’ by Okay Kaya, available January 24th, 2020 on Jagjaguwar Records. Released January 24th, 2020.

THIS IS TOMORROW Exhibition Park Newcastle 22nd-24th May 2020

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Image  —  Posted: January 28, 2020 in FESTIVALS, MUSIC
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CHASTITY BELT – ” “It Takes Time / Elena “

Posted: January 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Acclaimed Seattle band Chastity Belt have returned with their first new music . This heartfelt new record, simply titled Chastity Belt, from Hardly Art records and Milk! records (Australia and New Zealand). Chastity Belt was co-produced by the band and Melina Duterte aka Jay Som.

The music video for “It Takes Time” from directors Claire Buss and Nick Shively. In the spirit of earlier music videos like “Different Now” and “Cool Slut,” this new clip finds the band flexing their comedic chops, with members Gretchen Grimm, Lydia Lund, Julia Shapiro, and Annie Truscott inhabiting multiple roles, including a nightclub lounge act. As Grimm explains, “We had the idea for a video set in a jazz lounge for a little while and we’re very grateful to Weird Dog for helping us bring it to life. We’re all huge fans of jazz and pasta. We have a special pasta dish that we cook when we’re together called La Vasta. It’s our famous dish, we’ve been making it since college and have shared many fond memories slurping it down together. Before we dig in we join hands in the prayer: When you’re here, you’re family.”

Seattle’s Chastity Belt have just shared a new song from their self-titled album, released September 20th. “Elena” is placid and dreamy, with layers of tranquil guitars and complementary vocal parts. “Over the past year, we all read and loved Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels,” says bassist Annie Truscott. “We individually related to the ways in which the main character’s sense of self is inextricably linked to her desire for love and validation both from lovers and friends. The overlapping voices on top of the whimsical wave-like instrumentals captures the universal feeling of having a conversation with yourself about yourself.”

Chastity Belt will be touring extensively this fall in Europe and North America in support of the record, and just announced a new run of North American tour dates

LALA LALA – ” Legs Run “

Posted: January 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Fresh off a sold-out performance at the Tomorrow Never Knows festival in her native Chicago, Lala Lala aka Lillie West has shared a new digital single, “Legs, Run,” available to stream or download worldwide today. The song was written and performed by West, with production by Yoni Wolf of WHY?. Additionally, Lala Lala has debuted an accompanying music video from production house Weird Life that homages a familiar late ’90s favorite.

What happens at the end?? New song for you. Legs, Run. Preview of what’s to come, or something like that. Video homage to The Truman Show. See you in the multiverse

MIDWIFE – ” Anyone Can Play Guitar “

Posted: January 28, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Midwife. Photo credit: Alana Wool

As Midwife, Denver based multi-instrumentalist Madeline Johnston plays what she describes as “Heaven Metal,” or emotive music about devastation. Johnston began developing the experimental pop project in 2015 while a resident of beloved Denver DIY space Rhinoceropolis. The venue/co-op started in the early aughts and nurtured local artists until 2016, when its doors were shuttered due to high tensions surrounding the safety of DIY spaces (not coincidentally following the horrific Ghost Ship fire in Oakland).  Residents were displaced around Denver and artists like Midwife were forced to start over.

However, it was at Rhinoceropolis that Madeline became close with Colin Ward, an artistic confidant and friend to whom her new album, Forever, is dedicated.  Madeline comments, “He was my roommate and was the embodiment of that place [Rhinoceropolis] in a lot of ways. We became really close friends there. I was always learning so much from him, about life and being an artist. He was an amazing teacher and friend to me.”  When Ward passed away unexpectedly in 2018, she turned towards sound to express the indescribable feelings that partnered with her grief.

These mournful sounds ultimately developed into her new album, Forever.  The 6-song LP is a latticework of soft focus guitars and precise melodies– anthems of light piercing through gray clouds of drone. On the track “C.R.F.W.,” we hear Colin Ward reading a poem that speaks of a leaf falling from a tree in autumn: “imagine the way a breeze feels against your leaf body while you finally don’t have to hold on anymore.” Johnston responds with slowly radiating tones, branches stretching out to hold the leaf one last time.  “I wanted to write him a letter. I wanted to make something for him in his memory,” Madeline says of Forever.

On Forever, Midwife combines ambient and dream pop into nuanced, reverb-soaked music that is equally haunting and moving.  Look for the album to be in stores on April 10th via The Flenser and see Midwife performing at Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands following its release, as part of the Flenser 10 Year showcase.

“Forever” Out April 10th and released by The Flenser

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