The sophomore album from Connecticut fuzz-rockers Stove, ’s Favorite Friend (not a typo!), finds them seeking refuge in art: The album was written and recorded after songwriter Steve Hartlett and drummer/vocalist JordynBlakeley had both recently lost loved ones, and the resulting songs reckon with “grief and the sometimes harsh realities of time passing,” per a press release. That search for catharsis plays out in “Stiff Bones” on which Hartlett’s rueful yowls, Blakeley’s powerful drums and an onslaught of washed-out guitars push through upheaval to find peace. “When you try to play it off / as if your heart is truly soft / You gave away / and slave away / Alone is how you want to be / so lonely’s what you’ll feel with me / and everyone / not anyone,” Hartlett and Blakeley sing as one.
“Stiff Bones” by Stove from their upcoming LP, ‘s Favorite Friend, out October 31, 2018 on Exploding in Sound Records.
After releasing her memoir, Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout and Against Me!’s 2016 LP, Shape Shift With Me, Laura Jane Grace decided to put out her first record under the name Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers. Bought To Rot is unlike anything she’s ever released with Against Me!
It embraces pop and alt-rock conventions as much as it does punk—a press release even namedrops the record’s Tom Petty influence. The result is an immensely liberating album that couldn’t care less what you think of it. There are still undertones of despondent angst and self-doubt, but it feels like a largely optimistic record, one that basks in the moment and bursts at the seams with momentous punk elation. “Born in Black” is a robust, throttling take on existentialism and mortality, while the uplifting punk of “Apocalypse Now (& Later)” is a rush of unwavering confidence, camaraderie and earth-shattering joy.
How best to describe Laura Jane Grace’s latest endeavor? “It’s a solo album, except that it’s not,” the Against Me! frontwoman wrote in an announcement on Twitter. Though her main band isn’t going anywhere, Grace has said she sought an artistic “blank slate” following the outfit’s 2016 album Shape Shift With Me. But she’s not in it alone — Grace made the record, under the name Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers, with Against Me! bassist Atom Willard and producer Marc Hudson, who also worked on Shape Shift. (Fellow AM! guitarist James Bowman even shows up one track.) Regardless of its name or packaging, the record is yet another outlet for Grace’s boundless creativity, which she often strikes at the most inconvenient times: “I sleep with a notebook next to me in bed,” she said recently . “And most nights I sleep with my guitar next to me.”
Jon Spencer is back! Often imitated, never duplicated, the original NYC underground-rock legend returns from the wilderness with twelve red-hot hits, each more powerful than the last! This is garage punk for now people! A wizard’s brew of rhythm and blues and subversive dance grooves, weaponised with sci-fi skronk and industrial attitude, calibrated for the revolution, a Molotov cocktail of sound guaranteed to destroy any post-modern hangover! Pulsing with energy, clanging with excitement.
Jon Spencer, The Blues Explosion Man who put the Bellbottoms on Baby Driver! The Top Cat who spread the Secret Sauce in Boss Hog! The Rockabilly Right-Hook from Heavyweight Outlaws Heavy Trash! The Swank-Fucking Master of Pussy Galore! Jon Spencer is back! Often imitated, never duplicated, the original NYC underground-rock legend returns from the wilderness with twelve red-hot hits, each more powerful than the last! This is Garage Punk for Now People! A wizard’s brew of rhythm and blues and subversive dance grooves, weaponized with sci-fi skronk and industrial attitude, calibrated for the Revolution, a Molotov cocktail of sound guaranteed to destroy any post-modern hangover! Pulsing with energy, clanging with excitement, and dripping with radioactive soul and raw emotion, Jon Spencer opens up his heart like never before, exploring man’s modern condition with caustic guitars and outerworld crooning, asking and answering the musical question, “Is it possible to torch the cut-throat world of fake news and pre-fab, plastic-coated teen rebellion with the power of rock’n’roll?” The Answer is YES!. SpencerSings the Hits! This is the truth serum America has been craving, the beginning of a rock’n’roll rebellion that takes no prisoners and puts the squares on ice! Featuring the talents of Sam Coomes (Quasi, Heatmeiser) and M. Sord (M. Sord).
From the forthcoming album: Spencer Sings the Hits.
2018-11-02. Official… Springsteen on Broadway LP + Litho Bundle
Pre-Order:
Albums will ship on or around December 14th, 2018
This bundle includes the Springsteen on Broadway 4LP album and exclusive Springsteen on Broadway lithograph.
SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY is the new album of music and stories by Bruce Springsteen, and the soundtrack to the Netflix film of the same name. The album is the complete live performance of the show, and available physically as a 2 CD set, or on vinyl as a 4 LP set, as well as digitally.
Springsteen is previewing the record, with “Land of Hope and Dreams” the second-to-last song in the show’s running order. He premiered the song during his 1999-2000 reunion tour with the E Street Band, and has since released an in-concert version of it on 2001’s Live in New York City and a studio take on 2012’s Wrecking Ball.
Based on his 2016 memoir Born to Run, “Springsteen on Broadway”opened at the 975-seat Walter Kerr theater on October. 12, 2017. It consists of Springsteen telling the story of his life through his words and 15 songs, accompanied by his guitar and piano. His wife, Patti Scialfa, sings with him on two songs. SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY is the solo acoustic performance written and performed by Tony Award, Academy Award, and 20-time Grammy Award winner Bruce Springsteen. Based on his worldwide best-selling autobiography ‘Born to Run,’ SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY is a unique evening with Bruce, his guitar, a piano, and his very personal stories.
DISC 1, SIDE A
1. Growin’ Up (Introduction)
2. Growin’ Up
3. My Hometown (Introduction)
4. My Hometown
DISC 1, SIDE B
1. My Father’s House (Introduction)
2. My Father’s House
3. The Wish (Introduction)
4. The Wish
DISC 2, SIDE A
1. Thunder Road (Introduction)
2. Thunder Road
3. The Promised Land (Introduction)
4. The Promised Land
DISC 2, SIDE B
1. Born In the U.S.A. (Introduction)
2. Born In the U.S.A.
3. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (Introduction)
4. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
DISC 3, SIDE A
1. Tougher Than the Rest (Introduction)
2. Tougher Than the Rest
3. Brilliant Disguise (Introduction)
4. Brilliant Disguise
5. Long Time Comin’ (Introduction)
6. Long Time Comin’
DISC 3, SIDE B
1. The Ghost of Tom Joad (Introduction)
2. The Ghost of Tom Joad
3. The Rising
DISC 4, SIDE A
1. Dancing In the Dark (Introduction)
2. Dancing In the Dark
3. Land of Hope and Dreams
DISC 4, SIDE B
1. Born To Run (Introduction)
2. Born To Run
Bruce Springsteen’s historic sold-out series of performances of his one man show began previews on October 3rd, 2017 and officially opened October 12th, 2017. The show was extended three times after its initial eight-week run, and ran on Broadway at The Walter Kerr Theatre through December 15th, 2018, bringing the total number of performances to 236.
Oh my goodness. Ocala Wick is an intimate insight into love and the city. Emma does such an amazing job telling stories and crafting sounds– polished bedroom pop for bedridden romantics
Gobbinjr is among an elite group of pop songwriters, the type that create songs that wiggle their way into your head, forever and unshakably engrained there for the rest of time. While Emma Witmer’s songs often revolve around anxiety, falling apart, and everyday tragedies, their music is always radiant and clever. Their new album Ocala Wick came out on Topshelf Records, in all its hooky glory. It’s somber yet uplifting, infectious and well-constructed… and dammit, these songs are all on a scale of incredible to flat out amazing. It’s the most fun you’re ever going to have from what is essentially a set of sad songs.
There’s also been something just a bit more snide about noise rock in the UK that has spoken to my sensibilities. In an era where it seems many are content to pull from the Mclusky playbook (and aspects of The Fall’s impeccable catalog), there’s a new crop of bands making artistic weirdness and spewing their own venomous political sarcasm. Enter LICE, the first band signed to Idles’ record label, Balley Records, a band that incorporate a sinister twang into their unhinged freaked out cowboy punk. The band released two companion EPs, It All Worked Out Great Vol. 1 and 2, both scratchy and scathing, taking a bluesy saunter and dementing it into their own slurred punk chaos. It’s brash, noisy, and full of that maniac charm Falco perfected so many years ago. The next generation is arriving, and LICE is one of the better starting points.
Band Members
Alastair – Incoherent ranting
Silas – Legend
Gareth – Likes to play bass topless on his knees, eyes closed, sweat tenderly dripping off his forehead and nestling amongst the moist bristles of his moustache, his long curls delicately poised upon his shoulder blades. As the song finishes he opens his eyes and sends a gentle wink your way. Wow, what a man.
Bruce – Eye-Candy & purveyor of double kick pedals
Los Angeles‘ Momma is the project of two life-long friends, navigating their way through high school (yep, they are that young) in exceptionally surreal vignettes on their debut album, Interloper. Songs like “Caterpillar” take a sparse melody and use it to imagine life as a confident bug with no vertebrae, while the relatively grungy warble of “Belong On The Bed” is built on self empowerment and washing machine metaphors. The entire album highlights the duo’s songwriting with bare compositions that rip just a little too much to call bedroom pop, and for that we’re thankful. Their songs are full of harmony (“Sidewalk”), bent pop (“Pipe Thing”), and dreamy indie rock (“Work”), making Interloper a truly impressive debut from a young band we hope to be hearing about for years to come.
Earlier this year, New York City-based trio Sunflower Bean released their excellent sophomore LP, Twentytwo in Blue, and now they have an EP called King of the Dudes arriving January. 25th, 2019, on Mom + Pop. Its first track, “Come For Me,” follows Twentytwo in Blue’s lead: it’s restless rock ’n’ roll, though it’s a bit groovier than, say, “Burn It,” the LP’s riotous opening number. It’s danceable, but it’s not fluffy—frontwoman Julia Cumming releases the song’s lyrical interrogations in a fiery blast. “Do you really wanna waste my time?” she asks. “If you do, then do it right.” “This song was inspired by inner strength, power and sexual freedom,” said the band in a statement. “In 2018 there is no time to waste and no time for shame. This song is a declaration of that. ‘Do you really want to come for me? Do you really want to waste my time?’ The song is a dare, a threat, and a beckoning.
Neil Young shared a new video on his website, taken from a live solo performance of his classic protest song, “Ohio,” which Young wrote and recorded with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 1970 in response to the shooting of students protesting at Kent State in early May of that year.
The video, which mainly shows Young performing the tune on an electric guitar to a packed crowd while images of the shooting’s aftermath flash behind him, also includes images of modern student protests and ends with a group chanting, “Never again.”
“‘Ohio’ was written back in 1970 after seeing the cover of a magazine with a young girl kneeling beside her fallen friend,” Young writes on his website. “When the National Guard murdered four students at Ohio’s Kent StateUniversity for protesting the Vietnam war, it was a pivotal moment in our history. It was a pivotal moment for me. Today we see what we have become.”
Young explains that he made the video with his wife, Daryl Hannah for fans to “reflect on” the current state of gun laws in the US, along with the waves of student protests and calls for increased gun safety laws in the aftermath of widespread school shootings.
“With no real laws protecting us from guns, and with politicians supporting the NRA because the NRA supports them, we are not well represented. Today’s students are brave, demanding change in violent times. We stand by them. We are them. …Support our children. They want protection. Not more guns. Give us common sense gun laws that protect our people, in schools, in places of worship, in the workplace and on the streets. VOTE.”
