Released in the immediate aftermath of the runaway success of The Breeders’ platinum-selling second album,Last Splash, and the Pixies calling it a day the first time round, The Amps are an important part of the Kim Deal canon.
First intended as a solo project, The Amps instead grew into a fully-fledged band with Jim MacPherson from The Breeders joining on drums and Dayton, OH musicians Luis Lerma and Nate Farley on bass and guitar respectively. Releasing just one album, “Pacer”, in 1995, and after a whirlwind of touring with the likes of Foo Fighters, Guided By Voices and Sonic Youth, Kim returned them to the shelf, leaving behind one of her most intriguing chapters.
With the first vinyl repress on 4AD Records“Pacer” is finally getting the reappraisal it richly deserves.
The Amps released just the one album ‘Pacer’ back in 1995 – featuring Kim Deal, Jim MacPherson, Nate Farley and Luis Lerma. You’ll often hear a couple of Amps tracks when The Breeders play live
After a landmark 12 months for Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, who released their debut album Hope Downs to worldwide critical acclaim in June 2018 – Sub Pop Records is excited to reveal new music from the Melbourne band in the form of single, “In the Capital.” The track will also feature on a limited edition 7-inch alongside a B-side titled “Read My Mind.” The vinyl will be released on Friday, April 26th and is available from Sub Pop Records.
Rolling Blackouts C.F.’s Fran Keaney describes how “In the Capital” came together: “I first had the idea for the melody and some of the lyrics when I was swimming. It’s taken a while to finish the song, to make it feel like the initial feeling. I can’t neatly describe it, but something like connection despite distance. I was thinking about transience and water and death and big cities and fishing towns and moon river.”
Back in January, Beach Slang shared his rendition of Bob Mould’s “I Hate Alternative Rock,” the first track off a two-song covers EP titled MLPS (Minneapolis). Today, the project can be heard in full, including a cover of Paul Westerberg’s “AAA” (which Paul originally released under his Grandpaboy moniker). This cover stays pretty faithful to the original, albeit slightly sped up.
Since 2014 Beach Slang’s brand of punk tinged rock & roll has catapulted them into being one of the most recognizable and exciting names in underground music today. With a string of albums on beloved emo/indie institution Polyvinyl and even more EPs under their belt, Beach Slang are ready to unleash their next EP, ‘MPLS’ via Quiet Panic / Bridge Nine. Dubbed as a ‘thank you’ to Minneapolis, the EP was produced by Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac and features Beach Slang’s take on Bob Mould and Paul Westerberg songs, respectively. ‘MPLS’ is officially out on March 15th.
The singer and songwriter artist Vilma Flood from the steel town of Avesta in Sweden started her career in the blues world and appeared around many of Stockholm’s and Dalarna’s blues scenes. but Vilma found her greatest source of inspiration in the folk / indie genre through artists like Melanie, Alela Diane, Buffy Saint-Marie, Leonard Cohen and Ane Brun. She has since created her very own mix of blues, folk and pop together with fellow musicians Lars Knutas and Pontus Lundin.
Vilma has shared a new track called “Green Eyed Moron” with her powerful, dark and vibrating voice, combined with big marching drums, acoustic guitars and slide guitar to deliver a really compelling and intoxicating slab of melancholic, bluesy Americana. It reminds us of Jolie Holland or Gretchen Peters no less.
Her next single is released this Friday! Vilma and Pontus Lundin wrote the song sitting cross legged on a carpet in a big unfurnished room .
Her first album ‘Before Sunrise’ was released in 2016 and received a very nice reception by both the audience and the media and it has taken her on both big and small gigs around the country. Now Vilma is up to date with the second album ‘Moodswinger’, which will be released on April 26th, The pillars are pedal steel, slide guitar, big drums,plus Vilma’s vibrant, directly recognizable powerful voice
Band: Pontus Lundin, Lars Knutas and Roger Gustafsson
Sometimes you do dumb stuff like send your email without testing it and it’s completely black. Bad day at work here in Cataldo HQ. Sending again because I want you to know I made my best record yet and it’s finally time to start sharing it! It’s called “Literally Main Street”. And it’s a new album from Cataldo coming to you soon. The record comes out in the fall and we’re touring all over the place but I couldn’t resist giving everyone a sneak peek before the summer hits. To that end we’re playing one show at the Sunset with a dream bill of: Kyle Morton of Typhoon, Whitney Ballen, and their bands.
A little behind the scenes making this next record at Tiny Telephone from our pal Rachel Demy.
Without getting into too much inside baseball this is a big show for us–I’d be honored if you joined us! We’ll be playing lots of tunes from Keepers and Gilded Oldies alongside some new jams from the forthcoming record. I’m unbelievably proud of these new songs
Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst come from the same musical orbit. One could even argue, the two songwriters—age 24 and 38 respectively—are like long-lost musical siblings. Though at vastly different points in their careers, both musicians know how to crush and revive listeners with inspired woe, romantic poignancy and their instantly recognizable, consoling pipes.
Bridgers’ breakout 2017 debut LP, “Stranger in the Alps”, and her recent work with critical darling supergroup, boygenius, has safely reserved her position in the club of young singer-songwriters poised for rosy careers. Oberst has dozens of records to his name, most notably with the angsty indie outfit Bright Eyes, then as a solo artist and with bands like Desaparecidos and Monsters of Folk. Whether it’s the fictitious firm they reference on their band social media accounts or the album of the same name. With one new song, “Little Trouble” available on their new 7-inch single.
Better Oblivion Community Center is a healing endeavor, and though the jury is still out on the effectiveness of the former, the latter is undoubtedly potent. They capture the serenity of a still lakefront, the spontaneous vigor of a thunderstorm, the lifelong, scenic memories of a childhood road trip and the peaks and troughs of relationships. The two tear-jerking singer/songwriters are at the peak of their powers here, and they’ve managed to distill the exhilaration of that one summer you hoped would last forever and the crackling warmth of a bonfire into 10 effortlessly touching tracks.
Finn Andrews has a new solo record “One Piece at a Time”. Yes, solo. The former Veils frontman unveiled himself of his band and left the group and London, his adopted hometown, to return to his childhood home of Auckland over a year ago.
“It’s the longest I’ve been here since I was 16,” he says with a slight air of wistfulness. He had left London, At first it was the record. I wanted to make the record here. And knowing I couldn’t be in London any more.” “Well, I’m certainly the happiest I’ve ever been,” he grins. “I got to a place in London... it’s odd really, for a place with so much going on I barely would ever go out. I was always at home. It was about working, being there. I was born there and have been back and forth my whole life, but for the past 15 years I’ve been pretty solidly there and most of that time I’ve spent locked up in a room writing things. Or worrying about not writing things.”
He sighs, then smiles and says, “I feel this has been the first year of life I’ve had in a while.”
That’s because for the first time in a long time he’s been free to live. With a notebook bursting with songs, he quickly assembled a band and went straight into the studio to lay down the album shortly after landing. Three weeks later it was done. He’d intended for it to come out last October, spend a couple of months touring and then regroup in the UK with The Veils to begin work on the follow-up to 2016’s brilliantly macabre album, Total Depravity. But life has a habit of getting in the way.
“It’s all been delayed,” he says, explaining that his label decided to hold the record until now. “I would have totally put it out straight away. But it’s alright. I took that opportunity to open the blinds and be in the world a bit.”
“A dissolution of a relationship,” he says. “And I’d written a lot of records in that room. I needed to be somewhere else, be in a different space for a while. It’s been good to be here.”
“I’d written a bunch of songs in this book for the last few years and it was getting to a ludicrous point where I felt I had to do something with these songs or I couldn’t take myself seriously as someone who wrote songs anymore,” he says. “I played a few of them with the Veils and they didn’t make any sense.
“They’re pretty different. Everything with The Veils is so loud. I’m so loud, my guitar’s really loud, everybody plays really loudly… This is a very soft record. A break from that world was needed.”
The obvious difference is that Andrews is sitting at the piano for these songs. “It was weird being chained to a piano,” he admits. “It’s also hard to do anything that cool while you’re playing the piano.”
“But it comes with a lot of familial weight. I’m nowhere near as good as my dad [Barry Andrews, keyboardist and founding member of UK art-pop band XTC]. It’s an uphill thing for me. There’s less room for hitting it, which is generally how I play guitar. The piano demands a refined approach. It was a challenge stepping up to the piano. To be worthy of that instrument.”
On this day in Alarm History… the original worldwide release of “Strength” 30 years ago today on October 1st 1985.
The band’s classic album Strength has been expanded, remastered and revised for future generations to enjoy. All tracks have been remastered from the original master tapes by Mike Peters and Pete Maher with extensive sleeve notes and quotes from original band members, plus a host of previously unseen photographs.
2CD – The best Alarm album is now reissued on Double CD / Digipak with the original 1985 US album pressing (which includes the band’s preferred version of Absolute Reality that was left off the UK Version of the album).
CD 1 features the US album along with the original 1985 7” version of Strength (with the guitar / vocal beginning), that has never been issued on CD before along with the 1986 7” single version of Spirit Of ‘76 which is also making its first ever appearance on CD. All four original Strength period B-sides are included also.
CD 2 features 22 previously unreleased album session recordings including outtake versions (with different lyrics and guitar parts), for every song on Strength including an outtake of the unreleased electric version of One Step Closer To Home. An in studio jam session of spontaneous and impromptu covers of Led Zeppelin, TheWho, Free, T-Rex, Lou Reed and Deep Purple are featured between tracks along with a complete run through of the previously unreleased live in the studio version of Rod Stewart’s Maggie May which segues into re-workings of The Beat’s Stand Down Margaret and Bob Dylan’s Maggie’s Farm, providing a fascinating insight into The Alarm working together in the studio on the way to creating their magnum opus.
2LP – Side 1 and 2 features the UK album remastered from original 1985 mix and running order. Side 3 and 4- Features 9 demo tapes for the original album concept of Absolute Reality including 3 previously unreleased songsSons Of Divorce, Black Side Of Fortune and Memorial Day. All the demos were recorded with Strength album recording engineer Nigel Luby and feature raw versions of Knife Edge and We Are Majority both with different lyrics along with the original version of Deeside which was then known as Steeltown. The album also includes the Strength’ era soundcheck demo of the title song and two other unreleased studio demos of In The Cold Light Of Day(which was originally written for The Who’s Roger Daltrey), and Dave Sharp’s River Still To Cross.
I wish the original line up had stayed together (no disrespect intended to current/past members). The energy & passion created by The Alarm live throughout the 80’s all the way through to Brixton 91 are some of the greatest memories I have. I love watching these videos and reliving it all over again. Much love & best wishes to all members of the The Alarm (past & present) and especially to Mr Peters MBE for keeping the dream alive
Cream, live at the Sports Arena, San Diego on 20th October 1968 Worn out by touring and personal disagreements, Cream agreed to disband after a farewell tour in October 1968. Recorded in outstanding fidelity for broadcast on KPRO-FM, this outstanding gig features a cross-section of their best-loved material, and clearly indicates why they were regarded as the pre-eminent rock band of their day. It’s presented here together with background notes and images.
Cream were a 1960s British rock power trio consisting of drummer Ginger Baker, guitarist/singer Eric Clapton and bassist/singer Jack Bruce. The group’s third album, “Wheels of Fire” (1968), was the world’s first platinum-selling double album. The band is widely regarded as the world’s first successful supergroup. In their career, they sold more than 15 million copies of their albums worldwide. Their music included songs based on traditional blues such as “Crossroads” and “Spoonful”, and modern blues such as “Born Under a Bad Sign”, as well as more current material such as “Strange Brew”, “Tales of Brave Ulysses” and “Toad”.
Eric Clapton – guitar, vocals Jack Bruce – bass, vocals Ginger Baker – drums, percussion
2LP – Double 180 Gram Red and Purple Marbled Vinyl in Hand Numbered Gatefold Sleeve. Limited to 1000 Copies.
