LUTHER RUSSELL – ” Medium Cool “

Posted: December 9, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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It can be argued that Big Star is one of the most influential bands in the history of music. Amazing, considering their limited output and short life span. And while labels continue to clear out the vaults of every burp and grunt created by the band, and young bands, power pop or not, cite Chilton and Bell as heroes, Luther Russell somehow managed to nail the Big Star sound on “Medium Cool,” a collection of originals that admittedly sounds a little too much like that band. But Russell does it so well, I don’t care. If you can’t have the real thing, “Medium Cool” does the trick better than anything else.

Come for the Big Star love, stay because this some of the finest powerpop songwriting you’ll hear this year.

“Deep Feelings” is the first track from Luther’s Russells upcoming LP, Medium Cool

The Band

luther russell: lead Vocals, guitars, piano, synth, stylophone, percussion
jason hiller: bass
derek brown: drums
harmony vocals: danny de la matyr
liam hayes: guitar on “blue balloon” 

Here’s to Russell finally getting the credit he deserves and giving the world a hell of a great record to boot.” —The Recoup
“This set is as vital as any release of the last decade…2019 Album of the Year Candidate”—Radio Free Americana
“Rock n’ roll done just right”—Icon Fetch
“You may not have a Corvette but be assured that when you crank this up, you may feel like you do.”—Glide Magazine
“Filled with nothing but pure rock & roll, it’s just the right elixir in a time when we’re swimming through mediocrity.”
—Music Tap

DEAP LIPS – ” Hope Hell High ” ( The Flaming Lips and Deap Vally )

Posted: December 9, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Flaming Lips have teamed up with LA rockers Deap Vally (Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards) to create a brand new supergroup called, appropriately, Deap Lips. They’ll be releasing an album March 13th via Cooking Vinyl, and today they’ve revealed the psychedelic lead single “Hope Hell High” Listen to it below.

Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd of the band have paired up with Deap Vally’s Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards for Deap Lips.

The Flaming Lips are no strangers to collaboration, having previously paired with the likes of Neon Indian, Miley Cyrus, and Stardeath and White Dwarfs. Earlier this year they released new record King’s Mouth and a live album called The Soft Bulletin—and clearly show no signs of slowing down in the new year.

Their eponymous album will be released on March 13th, 2020.

It’s not the first time The Flaming Lips have collaborated with artists for full albums.

GREET DEATH – ” Do You Feel Nothing? “

Posted: December 9, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Michigan trio Greet Death put out one of the best guitar records of 2019, and if you’re a fan of overdrive, you should run—not walk—to the nearest record store to buy it. With thick sheets of punky post-rock and vocals that border on folk and emo, their second album New Hell is hard to pin down—it’s more raucous than your average emo record, but more painfully heartfelt than your average post-rock record. Folding in slowcore and indie rock for good measure, their blustery soundscapes, intricate distortion and big heart make New Hell one of the best hidden gems of 2019. With lyrics of boredom, emptiness and struggles for self-love, Greet Death make their journey through personal hell sound like a majestic, cathartic saga.

Band Members
Logan Gaval – Guitar, vocals
Sam Boyhtari – Bass guitar, vocals
Jimmy Versluis – Drums

From the album “New Hell” in stores November 8th Flesh and Bone Records

TAYLOR JANZEN – ” Shouting Matches “

Posted: December 9, 2019 in MUSIC
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On the heels of her excellent gloomy and introspective 2018 EP, “Interpersonal”, Taylor Janzen played a great set at SXSW , The Austin Chronicle wrote that “she’s about to become an absolute star,” the combination of the best aspects of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. For as great as last year’s EP was, I was even further blown away by the newer material I heard she was playing, a handful of more uptempo, more rock-adjacent tracks that saw her voice soar to impressive heights.

Those songs were corralled together on May’s Shouting Matches, a five-track EP showcasing a much different side of Janzen’s songwriting, a much more powerful one where she maintains that same level of personal reflection, now pairing it with catchy melodies and more in-your-face backing instrumentals. And I wasn’t the only one who thought that she’s about to become a star: Janzen had recently signed with Glassnote Records and released a new single, “What I Do…,” a slightly poppier track that sees her add even more pep than everything she’s released prior. The sky is truly the limit for Janzen, a songwriter who could easily be indie’s biggest breakout in 2020

HONEY LUNG – ” Memory “

Posted: December 9, 2019 in MUSIC
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London quartet Honey Lung are one of the most promising bands of the past few years, and their recent vinyl-only EP, Memory, released on Brooklyn’s Kanine Records, is further evidence of their striking melodic intuition and incredibly moving woe. The eight-track EP, which was recorded with help from Yuck’s Max Bloom, consists of four singles and four demos that range from dejected lo-fi sketches to some of the most satisfying hook-driven rock tracks of 2019. Young adult depression, self-deprecation and the undying need for companionship fill the lines of Memory, and though post-night-out exhilaration and downcast, sleepless nights are what largely characterize this EP, Jamie Batten’s compassionate vocals and invigorating melodies are restorative. Honey Lung made their U.S. live debut at this year’s SXSW, where they also recorded an exclusive session for the blog Paste, performing two songs from Memory and an unreleased track. Following their EP, they released a new single and their best track to date, “Nothing,” which marries the off-kilter flourishes of their demos with the fierce catchiness of their singles.

Things are looking very bright for Honey Lung in 2020.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE – ” Let’s Try The After (Vol. 1) “

Posted: December 9, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Broken Social Scene’s rotating cast of 17 or so musicians always keeps us guessing. On part one of their recent EP Let’s Try The After, Kevin Drew and co. take us through an odyssey of quicksilver post-rock and starry, ascendent pop/rock. Following the seagull-infused clamor of intro “The Sweet Sea” Broken Social Scene emerge elegant, spacey and experimental on the largely instrumental “Remember Me Young” a challenging tune that also warms the soul. “Boyfriends” sees them channel The National and Phoenix for dusty-meets-electro indie rock while the horn-laden “1972” marries garbled synths, Ariel Engle’s dreamy pop coo and robotic backing vocals.

Final track “All I Want” keeps their unpredictable and unconventional pop flowing with its worldly rhythms, electronic percussion, misshapen vocals and distorted keys. Let’s Try The After (Vol. 1) is a celebration of their “anything goes” mentality, but it’s also a strangely cohesive scene with wide-open, mountainous beauty and a space age skyline

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JESSICAS BROTHER – ” Overnight Horror “

Posted: December 9, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Jessica’s Brother first started playing together in October 2016 when Jonny Helm (drums, also of The Wave Pictures) asked Charlie Higgs (bass, previously of Ramshackle Union Band) to come and play some songs written by Tom Charleston . As Jessica’s Brother  the trio clicked immediately, and just 9 months later recorded the album with Laurie Sherman at The Cube and with Darren Hayman. A few friends joined them in the studio, including Dan Mayfield on violin (Enderby’s Room) and Paul Rains on guitar and slide guitar (Allo Darlin’ / Tigercats).

There are themes of joy, anger, silliness. The characters change, the instruments clamber over each other in a small room. Their shared influences include Silver Jews, Jason Molina, Richard Thompson and Neil Young.

“Jessica’s Brother’s shambling nerdcore is clearly a passion project intended to please only themselves. Good for them. Their pivotal number Polstead Instead, loosely based on the 1976 Jonathan Richman track New England, is a jingling rush that would have headed John Peel’s Festive 50 in another life.”

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Jessica’s Brother deliver a gothic English folk tale filtered through Silver Jews and early Pavement, with Mayfield’s dark violin adding a Bad Seeds-y edge. These are just signposts however, there is no derivative homage here. It all feels right, and, as with all the best bands, they make it sound new. Their songs deliver lazy, laconic vocal melodies with a muscular Neil Young flex in the guitars and just a soupçon of The Band in the arrangements. I want to say the last thing we need is another indie-pop supergroup, but I can’t, because Jessica’s Brother are exactly what we need.

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it’s a stunning combination of gothic-country and 1960’s inspired psych-folk, simultaneously downbeat and expansive. The influence of Jason Molina is clear in the croaked vocal, while the guitar playing has a Neil Young-like virtuosity and there’s even room for some deliciously atmospheric violin flourishes.

GIRL FRIDAY – ” Fashion Conman “

Posted: December 8, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The debut EP from Los Angeles-based rockers finds the perfect balance between a blissful retreat and a fury-filled indictment of society’s ills. While “Lullaby No. 13” and “Headstones” opt for the former, “Generation Sick” and “Decoration/Currency” carry the pitchfork and torch for the latter. “Generation Sick” is a seething punk-pop tirade about men who abuse their power (“I had a dream where I screamed / I don’t wanna see another man in my life / What do you think that means”), and “Decoration/Currency” denounces the superficiality of the entertainment industry.

On the softer side, “Headstones” opens with candy-coated indie-pop, but that sugar is quickly melted by their dogged, collective punk chant. Its crisp melodies and agile motor offer just as much therapeutic refuge as their beatific lyrics of escapism

Band Members
Vera Ellen: Lead Guitar & Vocal
Libby Hsieh: Bass & Vocal
Sierra Scott: Guitar & Vocal
Virginia Pettis: Drums & Vocal

SLOW PULP – ” Big Day ” EP

Posted: December 8, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Chicago-via-Wisconsin four-piece Slow Pulp recorded most of their “Big Day” EP in a cabin in Michigan. Music critics love to obsess over environment—where an album was recorded, how it was recorded and how the process was potentially affected by a space—and occasionally their assumptions about the music’s relationship to the landscape actually reflect reality. This, however, is one of those instances when a record sounds absolutely nothing like its origin grounds.

This four-song suckerpunch contains moments of ambience and noise, but never does Big Day resemble something Bon Iver made in the woods. It’s impressive because Slow Pulp— made up of Teddy Mathews, Alex Leeds, Henry Stoehr and Emily Massey, who joined later but who the band would absolutely be incomplete without don’t even have a full-length album out yet.

They barely have enough songs out in the world to equal an album tracklist, but they’re nonetheless one of the most exciting acts to emerge this year. “New Media,” a steady, shiny standout on the EP, is a classic taste of millennial jadedness. “I can’t seem to break the fence,” Massey sings. “Overacted in all my plans.” But when has exhaustion ever sounded this composed?

‘Big Day’ full EP by Slow Pulp is out now:

Tracklist : 1. Do You Feel It (00:00) 2. New Media (01:47) 3. High (04:58) 4. Young World (07:31)

CHARLY BLISS – ” Supermoon ” EP

Posted: December 8, 2019 in MUSIC
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EPs that follow a larger album event—especially an album that’s already practically perfect on its own—can so often feel pointless, like excess Thanksgiving leftovers you freeze for later and ultimately decide to chuck. But Supermoon, the punchy five-song package Charly Bliss delivered in October, several months after their rock-solid sophomore effort Young Enough, feels vital and sequential, like the Brooklyn-based band were on a roll and they just couldn’t stop. These songs reasonably fit in Young Enough’s cracks. Eva Hendricks balances existentialism with nihilism on the power-pop ripper “Feed,” bemoans bygone celestial events on the title track and drops the vivid phrase “Blinding sun, demented shade / It’s easy to love you from far away” on the rocking “Slingshot.”

The EP also houses the band’s “first love song” “Heaven; a single released in 2018 between the band’s beloved 2017 debut Guppy and Young Enough, making for an apt bridge between the two. 5 Guppy-style rockers! Slingshot is gorgeous, sounds as good as the Breeders or Veruca Salt ever did!

Listen to the Supermoon EP released October 30th, 2019

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