The RACONTEURS – ” Help Us Stranger “

Posted: June 17, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Image may contain: 1 person, on stage, playing a musical instrument and night

Jack White and Brendan Benson of the Raconteurs admitted they couldn’t pinpoint when the band got back together – but recalled that their first show in eight years had been a “rough” affair that nevertheless left them feeling “exhilarated.”

White, Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler hit the stage together bck in April to mark the the 10th anniversary of White’s label Third Man Records. They later confirmed a North American tour to promote their new album, “Help Us Stranger”, which is released on June 21st.

The reunion appears to have been fueled by White’s creation of the song “Shine the Light on Me,” which he felt didn’t work with any other project he had and sounded like a Racounteurs track. “Just the mention of it – The Raconteurs – jolted me a bit,” Benson said in a new interview. “And then a couple years passed.”

White remembered taking “baby steps” towards any kind of reunion, and also that a full album had never been part of the plan. “The first step for any act in that position would be to have some kind of meeting with a manager and plan out your whole year, like, ‘Hey, we’re going to make an album and tour and start booking festival dates,’ and you haven’t even recorded a song yet,” he reported. “You could very easily fall into those traps in the music business if you’re not careful. So we just got together a couple times and said, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ … but the songs came out really fast and that was a great sign.”

With the new LP in the can, the band regrouped for the Third Man show. “It was a little rough,” Benson said, noting that it was also the first time he’d performed sober in the group. “But it felt good. It was just one of those moments where afterward, we were all very exhilarated and stoked about the future.” That led to more shows and then the North American tour. “We don’t sit around and discuss a plan; we just roll with it,” he added. “We just do what we do – for better or for worse.”

their forthcoming album “HELP US STRANGER” – out June 21st.

SLEATER KINNEY – ”  The Center Won’t Hold “

Posted: June 15, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Sleater-Kinney share “The Future Is Here,” the second new track to be revealed from their forthcoming highly anticipated album, The Center Won’t Hold, produced by St. Vincent and slated for release August 16th on Milk! Records.  The Center Won’t Hold is the tenth album from the iconic trio comprised of Carrie Brownstein (guitar/vocals), Corin Tucker (guitar/vocals) and Janet Weiss (drums). Brownstein explains, “We’re always mixing the personal and the political but on this record, despite obviously thinking so much about politics, we were really thinking about the person — ourselves or versions of ourselves or iterations of depression or loneliness — in the middle of the chaos.”   Weiss adds, “I think for Carrie and Corin it was liberating to explore a different sound palette. Annie (St. Vincent) has a lot of experience building her own music with keyboards and synthesizers so she could be our guide to help us make sense of this new landscape and still sound like us.” Tucker says, “The Center Won’t Hold drops you into the world of catastrophe that touches on the election. And almost like a mission statement, at the end of that song, it’s like the band is finding its way out of that space by becoming a rock band.”

“The Future Is Here” permeates an understated intensity, with building vocals and a menacing longing while simultaneously drawing the listener in with its catchy chorus “I need you more than I ever have, because the future is here and we can’t go back.” The track follows “Hurry On Home,” the first single unveiled from the forthcoming record.  Upon its release the critical praise was unanimous; NPR raved, “Sleater-Kinney’s first new song since 2015’s No Cities To Love blisters with desperation and desire, a promising hint of the St. Vincent-produced future we were promised,” while GQ stated, “urgent and throttling and sticky all at once, ‘Hurry On Home’ is the first taste of rock legends Sleater-Kinney’s upcoming album that’s produced by St. Vincent. If the rest sounds anything remotely as good as this, well, we’ve got an Album of the Year contender on our hands.” Pitchfork said of the Sleater-Kinney/St. Vincent pairing, “The endless possibilities of what this collaboration might sound like remain a bit mystifying, but the first taste is a clear knockout.”

The Center Won’t Hold – Out August 16th, 2019

LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL – ” Turn Off The News (Build A Garden) “

Posted: June 15, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Straddling rock and roll, country, soul, folk and R&B, Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real reach a new high-water mark on Turn Off The News (Build A Garden). This is Lukas Nelson at his best: as a songwriter, a singer, a guitarist and band leader – an artist at the peak of his powers, backed by Promise Of The Real, his nimble and dexterous brothers-in-arms, one of the most talented, in-demand rock and roll ensembles working today. Vocal and instrumental contributions on the album include Margo Price, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Micah Nelson, Kesha, Shooter Jennings, Randy Houser, Lucius, Madison Ryann Ward, Hunter Elizabeth, and Neil Young.

Whether it’s the sweeping, Roy Orbison-influenced production of “Where Does Love Go”, nodding to the Traveling Wilburys on the irresistible “Bad Case”, the cosmic country vibes of “Stars Made Of You”, the ‘60s infused sweet R&B of “Save A Little Heartache”, or the unmistakable Willie Nelson guitar licks that grace the poignant “Mystery”, it all comes together in the most mature and absorbing work of the band’s burgeoning career.

the new album from Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real, “Turn Off The News (Build A Garden) available everywhere June 14th.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – ” Western Skies “

Posted: June 15, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Western stars

Bruce Springsteen’s first new studio album in five years takes his music to a new place, drawing inspiration in part from the Southern California pop records of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. It was recorded primarily at Springsteen’s home studio in New Jersey, with additional recording in California and New York. “This record is a return to my solo recordings featuring character driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements,” says Springsteen. “It’s a jewel box of a record.” Introduced by lead single “Hello Sunshine”, the 13 tracks of Western Stars encompass a sweeping range of American themes, of highways and desert spaces, of isolation and community and the permanence of home and hope. Ron Aniello co-produced and plays bass, keyboard, and other instruments. Patti Scialfa provides vocals and contributes vocal arrangements on four tracks. The musical arrangements include strings, horns, pedal steel and contributions from more than 20 other players including Jon Brion (celeste, Moog, farfisa), as well as guest appearances by David Sancious, Charlie Giordano, and Soozie Tyrell.

A new Bruce Springsteen record is always an event, but we haven’t had a new album of original material since 2012’s Wrecking Ball and we haven’t had a solo album since 2005’s Devils & Dust, so this feels extra special.

Here is everything you need to know about The Boss’s new effort Western Stars… 

Though it’s been a little while since we had a new album proper from Springsteen, he’s not exactly been idle. He’s undertaken three world tours, grossing over $700 million between them, published his hugely acclaimed autobiography and headlined a Broadway show, appropriately named “Springsteen On Broadway”.

Originally intended to run for just six weeks, demand for tickets was so high that the show was extended again and again, finally reaching its conclusion in December last year after a staggering 14-month run. A live album was released to celebrate the show, which has also sold handsomely.

Somewhere, at the end of that process, Springsteen began to talk up plans for his new album, an album that arrives in store today (June 14th).

Ron Aniello, who has worked with Springsteen on 2012’s Wrecking Ball and 2014’s High Hopes, is back at the mixing desk for this new record. He co-produces with Springsteen himself.

Over 20 musicians have helped Springsteen out on this album, including original E Street Band keyboard player David Sancious and violinist Soozie Tyrell and organist Charlie Giordano.

Also featured is Jon Brion, whose credits include Kanye West and Fiona Apple. Springsteen’s wife and E Street bandmate Patti Scialfa has also helped out, providing a series of vocal arrangements.

As well as this, Aniello’s playing is all over the album, he provides bass, keyboards and more besides.

Western Stars finds Springsteen in a reflective mood and a long way away from the bombastic colour of High Hopes. Springsteen has talked up his love of Burt Bacharach and the pop music that came out of California in the late 1960s and early 1970s and it’s all over this album.

This is elegant, reflective Americana. It’s delicate, windswept pop, buffeted by Springsteen’s biting lyrics.

This isn’t a record for the casual Springsteen fan. There are no romping anthems or stadium fillers, but it’s a delightful record, one that will demand repeated listens and yield more and more every time. Devotees, of which there are millions, will adore it.

PURPLE MOUNTAINS – ” Purple Mountains “

Posted: June 15, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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There’s breakup records. There’s apocalypse records. Then there’s the Purple Mountains  record! This new musical expression from David Berman is his most to-the-bone yet, very frankly confessing to a near-total collapse from the word go, before delving into the sorry subtext with twin lasers of personal laceration and the saving grace of a professional songwriter’s natural remove. Our unofficial Gen X poet laureate has written a collection of songs that cries to be understood in the misbegotten country that made everything great about Purple Mountains to begin with.

Clearly, America’s fate is that of its treasured freedom icons: the cowboy, the outlaw, the card sharp and the riverboat gambler all face sheer resignation in the end. There are no perfect crimes. Berman‘s poet-thief of so many precious moments, now stripped and chastened, recalls his latest lowest moments in perfect detail, hovering ghostly above a tumescent production design with tragic majesty, evoking the defeated-king era of late Elvis, southern-fried and sassy STILL on his countrypolitan way down, and somehow still solid-gold (no, silver!) even at rock’s bottom.

The second single conjures [the prelude to] a cathartic night on the town, bathed in magic glow : this is how the light of David Berman’s life leaves him behind, enmeshed in desolation and regret. Purple Mountains approach existential perfection with a somehow joyful lament in “Darkness and Cold” as plaintive harp and backing vox cast long shadows over a dancey rhythm n roots shuffle.  Watch (above) and listen to the fervent new single from none other than your new favorite band, Purple Mountains.

Song from the self-titled Purple Mountains album, out on LP, Cassette, and CD on July 12, 2019 from Drag City Records

BONNIESONGS – ” Follow Me “

Posted: June 14, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Art As Catharsis is proud to announce the release of Strings, a colourful four-track journey from the mind of Sydney based art-folk virtuoso Bonniesongs.

Bonnie’s sweet ethereal vocals sail over the polyrhythmic backgrounds created between her mandolin, percussion and vocal loops. Her imaginative lyrics tell stories of treehouses, mice, birds, flying and video games.
Described as “dreamy experimental indie folk” and compared to artists such as Bjork and Joanna Newsom, Bonniesongs is creating a unique sound in the Sydney songwriting scene

‘Follow Me’ is the lead single from ‘Strings’, a colourful four-track journey from the mind of Sydney based art-folk virtuoso Bonniesongs.

Backed by collaborators Freya Schack-Arnott on Cello and Sascha Bota on Viola, Stewart’s composition dances between conventional and uninhibited. Through challenging modern conventions the Australian folk scene is oft beholden to, “Strings” in its entirety offers refreshing bursts of complexity and wonder. Stewart’s voice calls as clearly and distinctly as birdsong, while every instrument wonderfully accentuates its surroundings. For lovers of atmosphere, shifts in feeling and distinctively airy vocals, this one is for you.

released August 16th, 2018

Bonnie Stewart: Vocals, effect/loop pedal, guitar, drums
Freya Schack-Arnott: Cello
Sascha Bota: Viola

JEANINES – ” The Jeanines “

Posted: June 14, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Brooklyn’s Jeanines specialize in ultra-short bursts of energetic but melancholy minor-key pop. With influences that run deep into the most crucial tributaries of DIY pop — Messthethics, the Television Personalities, Marine Girls, early Pastels, Dolly Mixture — they’ve crafted a style that is as individual as it is just plain pleasurable. Alicia Jeanine’s pure, unaffected voice muses wistfully on the illusions of time, while My Teenage Stride/Mick Trouble mastermind Jed Smith’s frantic Motown-esque drumming and inventive bass playing provide a thrilling rhythmic foundation.

“Winter In The Dark” and a lovely, jaunty cover of The Siddeleys’ “Falling Off Of My Feet Again” provide great insight into what Jeanines are about. 60s-meet-80s melodies combine with timeless guitar jangle in a way that recalls everything from The Aislers Set and Saturday Looks Good To Me to more recent DIY pop groups like Parsnip and Chook Race. Album opener “Either Way,” “Hits The Bone” and “Where We Go” hearken back to some of the most intriguing bands of the C86/C88 era, when bands like Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes crafted perfect pop gems enlivened by the inspiration of punk.

Gorgeous songs like “Where I Stand,” “Too Late” and “In This House” are windows into Alicia’s lyrical style and inspiration. She expands: “I’m kind of obsessed with mortality and how weird the passage of time is so I think my lyrics reflect that. I definitely lean into that kind of melancholy state of mind when trying to think of lyrics, while trying to avoid cliches!” The marriage of the minor-key melodies and melancholic lyrics is powerful and make Alicia’s songs all the more memorable, especially so on songs like “No Home,” with its echoes of girl harmony post-punk groups like Grass Widow and Household.


Clearly, with 16 great songs included, there is a lot at work here on this standout debut album. Jeanines have been compared to such cult pop icons as Dear Nora, Black Tambourine, and more recent acts like Veronica Falls and Girl Ray, but their dark, modal melodies and pensive, philosophical lyrics, along with Smith’s versatile but ever-economical musicality, ensure them a place of their own in today’s crowded but boisterously healthy DIY pop scene.
released June 14th, 2019

FUTURE DAYS FESTIVAL – The Crossing Digbeth Birmingham 19th-20th October 2019

Posted: June 13, 2019 in FESTIVALS, MUSIC
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Introducing Future Days

Last year we hosted the inaugural Future Days at The Crossing Digbeth and we’re pleased to say it returns this year.

2018’s lineup featuring Kurt Vile, Parquet Courts, Big Joanie, Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore … This years event will feature over double the amount of bands.

We’ll be announcing the full lineup next Wednesday at 5pm and then going on sale next Friday at 10am so please go over and like the page linked above to make sure you hear about all the announcements.

CALEXICO & IRON and WINE – ” Years to Burn ” Best Albums Of 2019

Posted: June 13, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Calexico and Iron & Wine - Years to Burn

Calexico and Iron & Wine first made an artistic connection with In the Reins, the 2005 EP that brought Sam Beam, Joey Burns and John Convertino together. The acclaimed collaboration introduced both acts to wider audiences and broadened Beam’s artistic horizons, but it was the shared experience of touring together in the tradition of Bob Dylan’s “Rolling Thunder Revue” that cemented their bond. Their metaphorical roads diverged in the years that followed, but they kept in touch and cross-pollinated where they could. But although they often talked about rekindling their collaboration in the studio and on the stage, it wasn’t until last year that their schedules aligned.

Years to Burn can’t help but be different from In the Reins. Back then, Calexico entered the studio with a long list of previous collaborations (first in Giant Sand, then backing the likes of Victoria Williams and Richard Buckner) and the knowledge that they loved Sam’s voice and his songs, but wondering if his material was so complete and self-contained that it lacked a way in, so hushed and delicate that it might be overwhelmed. For his part, Beam had been intimidated by their virtuosic playing and their deep comfort in an encyclopedic array of styles. “In my mind, I was a guy who knew three chords and recorded in a closet,” Sam says. “They were playing big stages and were superb musicians.”

Those fears were dispelled quickly. Calexico was bowled over by Beam’s many talents: “The arranging, the writing, his sense of rhythm, the quality of his vocals—and then there’s the experimental side of Sam,” Joey says. “They were the perfect band at the perfect time for me,” Sam adds. “I loved all their different sounds. They’re musical anthropologists, not regurgitating but absorbing what they discover.” Nearly 15 years on, “coming back to the project has to do with acknowledging how much impact the first record had for me in my life.”

Calexico and Iron & Wine

Released via Sub Pop (World) and City Slang (Europe)

VARIOUS ARTISTS – ” Indietracks Compilation 2019 “

Posted: June 13, 2019 in FESTIVALS, MUSIC
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This is the official compilation of artists playing the Indietracks Festival in Derbyshire (UK) on 26th-28th July 2019.

This released fantastic 43-song compilation album featuring artists playing at this year’s Indietracks festival.

There’s an amazing selection of tracks, including familiar faces like Martha, The Spook School, Withered Hand, Big Joanie, Mammoth Penguins and Peaness, alongside many brilliant artists making their Indietracks debuts, such as Strawberry Generation, Holy Now, Advance Base, Porridge Radio, Thud, Cheerbleederz, Child’s Pose and Randolph’s Leap. The compilation includes artists from across the UK, Europe and America, ranging from pop floor-fillers and DIY punk to indie folk and electropop.

All money raised from this compilation is donated to the Midland Railway Trust, the charity which hosts the Indietracks Festival.  Huge thanks to all the artists who donated their songs. The copyright of these songs belongs to the individual artists and/or labels. Please see individual tracks for more information.

http://

http://www.indietracks.co.uk

released June 13, 2019
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