Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band Blonde Redhead. The album was released in June 2000 through Touch and Go Records. It was produced by Guy Picciotto and Ryan Hadlock. A distinctively dark, insinuating aesthetic of measured instrumentation and abstract lyrics. Rather than sinking all its resources in squalls of feedback and distortion, the band diversifies its portfolio by adding canny production tricks and keyboard noodling to its impressive resumé of guitar innovations. There’s a predominantly love-song sound streaming though and through. There are honest-to-god numbers that color themselves well within the bounds of traditional pop standards, making it actually an easy listen
Blonde Redhead finally emerges from the shadows of Sonic Youth’s post-punk legacy by avoiding the expected detunings, distortions, and shrillness of the genre. The three-piece manages to create a record that is subtle, tuneful, and sublime. while Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons won’t exactly silence such suggestions, it does seem to move conscientiously away from the influences that have marred the group’s previous work.
Tess Parks and Anton Newcombe will release their second full-length album on 12th October 2018.
The nine-track eponymous album was recorded in Anton Newcombe’s Cobra Studios in Berlin last year and was mostly co-written by the duo. Now, the band have unleashed the video for new track ‘Please Never Die’ made by Parks herself alongside Ruari Meehan.
The pair first collaborated in 2015 on the album ‘I Declare Nothing’, which saw Park’s vocals as “unique and smoke-laden, and hypnotic” when it was named Album of the Month. A native of Toronto, Parks moved to London at the age of seventeen where she briefly studied photography before deciding to focus on music. Parks went on to make a lasting impression on Alan McGee, founder of Creation Records, and she became one of his first signings on 359 Music, releasing her debut record ‘Blood Hot’ in November 2013 to excellent reviews. “She’s only 24 and is already an amazing songwriter,” McGee once said. She just doesn’t quite know she is yet, her most beautiful quality is her lack of ego. Tess is an amazing lady”.
Her partner in crime, Anton Newcombe, is a man who needs no introduction as Founder Of The Brian Jonestown Massacre. A man who offers insight into a musical mind who has done so much but strives for more. And more is what he keeps on producing.
This second EP from this London band was always destined to be a ball-breaker, especially with a new drummer taking up the mantle. The perfect mix of four lads with focussed intent and pure malice in the form of scathing sub-textual lyrics. Following a thrilling 18 months where they’ve lit up sweaty basement venues or big festival stages alike see it, say it, sing-it-like-they-mean-it Sisteray have announced the release of their brand new EP ‘Sisteray Said’ featuring the track‘Wannabes’ starts with a fade in of drums 70s style which adds urgency to Niall Rowan’s vocal with Dan Connolly’s guitar hitting all the low notes as it thrashes through what is a perfect 2.35 minute energy song.
With Mick Hanrahan’s bass thumping away, ‘Rumour Mill’ has more depth to it with lots going on and building up to a crescendo of guitar fuzz and attitude. A song about lies and deceit played by the world leaders of today using all their media tools to mislead. ‘Algorithm Prison’ also picks up the guitar thrash along with Niall’s bile of complaint against social media advertising groups. A fast-paced song with attitude that has it all, and if you need to get riled up for any reason, then this song will give you a good kick in the balls to get you started.
The EP title track starts with Mick’s bass pumping away till new boy Callum Landau’s drums kick in, with guitars flailing away throughout and velocity pumped vocals from Niall. At just over two minutes long it’s a bit more of a ‘throwaway’ song than the others, but it’s enjoyable nonetheless.
Overall, ‘Sisteray Said’ leaves you with the sense you’ve been on a ‘eyes opened’ journey due to the subject matter and this motley crew have just imparted some of their wisdom loudly in your ear.
Justin Sullivan has been performing as a touring drummer for over 20 years; he performed with Kevin Morby, both solo and as The Babies, as well as being a founder member of Marc Riley favourites, Flat Worms. In 2016, burnt out from life on the road hitting skins on other people’s songs, Justin decided to take a year out: it might just have been the best idea he ever had. The result is the aptly titled album, In The Break, Justin’s first record under his musical pseudonym, Night Shop.
Ahead of releasing In The Break next month, Night Shop has this week shared the newest taste of it, The Ship Has Sailed. Liberally borrowing his musical friends talents, the record features offerings from Meg Duffy, Anna St. Louis and Woods’ Jarvis Taveniere, Justin has created a sound entirely on his own terms. Sure, there’s certainly a touch of Kevin Morby in the vocal production, and that’s no bad thing, yet in the twanging-guitars and prominent percussive bass-line there’s enough to make this stand out from even the most distinguished of crowds.
London-based artist Laurel’s debut album is a powerful collection of meditations on love and the pursuit of romantic interests. Entitled Dogviolet, the album is mostly comprised of the artist’s siren-like vocal’s and her melodic guitar accompaniment. It’s indie rock but stripped down to the absolute essentials. The overdriven wail of a guitar and the croonings of an artist delving into the sinister side of passion. Recorded entirely in the artist’s home studio, Dogviolet retains a strong sense of lo-fi production sensibilities.
It’s an album that lives and even thrives on its own imperfections. Laurel is indeed a powerful singer, yet when she really touches off the mainline her voice can strain. Take the album opener ‘Life Worth Living’, a song that comes from the depths of infatuation. The repeated refrain of “Take what you need darling / I’m just here for you” is a touch on the pitchy side and the guitar a tad stabby too. Instead of this being to the album’s detriment, moments like these give Dogviolet it’s strong personality.
Comparisons will invariably be made to Florence Welch, indeed both artist’s share a similar vocal timbre and two musical sounds not opposed to one another. However, Laurel’s output is far less filtered than anything Florence & the Machine have done. Also, where Welch’s lyricism is vague and often faux-mystical, Laurel’s lyrics are streamlined and always cut close to the bone.
At times, like in the wonderful ‘Same Mistakes’ and ‘Hold Tight’, it sounds like the artist is struggling with a sort of frantic mania, one which verges on obsession. When she screams “I don’t want you/ But I still want you to love me”, it’s the sound of a human caught up in the ugly side of love. Powerful stuff indeed.
From the album ‘DOGVIOLET’, released 24 August 2018 on Counter Records:
The Texas band’s rock music is a vintage kind, an effortless, guitar infectious music that recalls the best of the best while maintaining its own steam. Their new album Performance just dropped and its their eighth album of solid tunes.
Great rock music is, above all things, a ton of fun. Texas band White Denim understand and live by this code. Just listen to their new album Performance. It’s nine songs of pure, unadulterated rock&roll. Packed with funk rhythms and guitar riffs so sharp you could cut glass with them.
‘Double Death’ is one highlight among many, the breakdown section in which could only ever be the product of four-lifetime professional musicians and ardent lovers of the genre. It’s a relentless project, album closer and heartstring puller ‘Good News’ is the closest we ever get to a ballad or downtempo number. Even that is not without its share of distorted guitars and accented drum patterns. It’s worth noting that the guitar solo in this song is perhaps the group’s finest to date. Howling fuzz against a wall of sound.
The album doesn’t suffer from a lack of variety, despite its unyielding high-octane sound. Some tracks, like ‘Performance’ are straight up rock songs. Others like ‘Double Death’ include aspects of classic funk acts like The Meters .
There’s plenty of southern rock influence to be heard too, check out the jubilant ‘It Might Get Dark’. Performance is a perfectly consistent rock record, one which is totally comfortable with what it is. Experimentation is all well and good, but White Denim have again proven once again that raw talent and unmatched songwriting skill is a rewarding well.
Contemporary classical music has seen a sharp peak in popularity over the past five years. Spurred on in large part by the advent of playists for study or work on streaming platforms. At the forefront of the genre’s revival is Icelandic composer and producer Ólafur Arnalds. Arnalds amassed plenty of popular praise for his role in avant-garde dance group Kiasmos. His new album re:member sets out to tackle an issue which has plagued the new school of contemporary classical composers, that of expanding and evolving the boundaries of the genre without losing its sense of self.
Considering its reliance on western art style melodic composition and its relatively ambient production aesthetic, the temptation of making the music sound “bigger” or more grandiose runs the risk of quashing the elements which make it popular in the first place. These are a strong sense of emotion, subdued instrumental accompaniment and heavy use of instrumental layering.
On his fourth studio release, Arnalds has showcased a path toward progress. This comes in the form of Stratus, a piece of audio software Arnalds helped to co-write. Taking the input from his piano and running it through a series of algorithms and variable, the software generates chord progressions and melodic motifs. This results in much of the music on re:member having a distinctly artificial quality. Whether it be murky chords on ‘unfold’ or the translucent harmony on ‘inconsist’.
It’s a groundbreaking piece of software which contributes to a lot of the album’s best moments. Huge credit must be given to the artist for literally designing and creating the software from the ground up. That alone justifies a proper listen to re:member. The fact that the music throughout it is so hauntingly beautiful is just the cherry atop the cake.
In September, members of Vinyl Me subscription service will receive a brand new reissue of Feist’s 2004 sophomore album, Let It Die. The album, which has been out of print on vinyl for some time, has been freshly remastered, comes with a new cover and is on seafoam green heavyweight vinyl. Every part of the package was approved by Feist.
Are you new to Feist? check out this discography.
As a teenager, Leslie Feist was the lead singer of a thrash metal band called Placebo. Her band won a local battle of the bands and were awarded an opening slot at Infest 1993, which featured the Ramones. A couple years later, she lost her voice for nine months after pushing her vocals too hard. Throughout those silent months, she learned how to play guitar, discovered a wide array of music that she calls her “escape to melody,” and started songwriting. She had to relearn how to sing in a manner that wouldn’t put her at risk of going mute. This is how the Feist we all know and love came to be. If you’ve never listened to a full Feist album, you’ve definitely heard her music in movies and T.V shows like 500 Days of Summer, Sesame Street, Girls .
She’s earned four Grammy nominations and has won both Juno Awards and a Polaris Award, but if you watch or read an interview with her it would be tough to know any of this. Feist remains modest, warm, rooted to her emotions and the world around her. This attitude is what keeps her albums honest and relevant. Feist’s discography is made to fill all of life’s quiet moments with her soft voice, finely crafted lyrics and minimal composition. Whether that’s an early morning drive with the windows down or walking home late at night on an empty street, her voice has a way to make us all feel nostalgic yet optimistic. In this world we all experience loneliness, heartbreaks and love at some time or another they’re just part of what makes life worth living and beautiful. Feist is here to remind us all of that. If you aren’t familiar with Feist or you want to revisit her discography, here are five albums to check out.
Monarch (Lay Your Jewelled Head Down) (1999)
Yup! There was an album before Let It Die, which was first released under her own imprint in 1999. It’s not available on any streaming service. It was reissued in 2012 and was available only on vinyl through her online store. She recorded Monarch after having developed a style of singing suitable for her healed vocal chords and was able to create this album through a grant from the Canadian government. On Monarch, you can hear a young Feist finding her way to Let It Die, where she landed on the sound we’re familiar with today.
Broken Social Scene: You Forgot It In People (2003)
You Forgot It In People is an indie classic. When it was released in 2003, the band was made up of 11 members, including Feist. In Stuart Berman’s This Book is Broken: A Broken Social Scene Story, it states that she sang vocals throughout the album after being advised against guitar by the bandleader, Kevin Shaw. In the book, Feist mentioned that during this time she associated herself with being a guitar player but she wasn’t necessarily a good guitar player. Shaw made a joke about it, so she re-assessed her role within the band. “You Forgot It in People explodes with song after song of endlessly replayable, perfect pop. For proof, pick virtually any track,” .
Let It Die (2004)
Before this record was created, Feist decided to travel throughout Europe for a year by herself, and by the end of her trip returned back to Canada with a completed album. Listeners can hear the loneliness and need for stability after traveling alone through foreign countries on Let It Die. On “Lonely Lonely” Feist sings, “Distance makes the heart go weak / So that the mouth can barely speak” and on “Mushaboom” she dreams of a country home and dressing the kids she doesn’t yet have. Despite what Feist has called the “homelessness” on this album, she sings about heartbreak and learning to love and open herself up again.
Many songs on this album range in genres from French pop to electronic to jazz, with cover songs from Blossom Dearie, the Bee Gees and Robert Stanton. However, the melody beautifully stitches every song together that by the end of the album one is consumed with the picture of a late night lounge tucked away on a Parisian street.
The Reminder (2007)
2007 was the year that we all had “1234” stuck in our heads because it was everywhere: coffee shops, iPod Nano commercials, Sesame Street, you name it. The Reminder set her on a bigger radar and grew her fan base significantly. This album has Feist’s biggest hits and gained her a few Grammy nominations. It was through this album that she became an Indie Pop dream girl. Dancing to “I Feel It All” 10 years later around your living room still feels invigorating and fun. The timeless songs on this album are sure to win you over.
Metals (2011)
Metals is Feist’s most underrated album. As soon as the first song begins with loud drumming, it lets us know that this isn’t going to be a continuation of The Reminder. She didn’t go back into the studio to create a similar album just to make her new audience happy. In fact, she had lost her enthusiasm toward playing music and took a year off. she said, “I did everything except wake up in a new town everyday. It was really boring. It’s just life, you know?”
On Metals, she brings in more percussion, brass, string instruments and a back-up choir. She calls this album “a movement of humans.” The lyrics contain heavy metaphors on nature that revolve back to the theme of life itself. She drops her nostalgia-heavy songs to focus on the future, so take a moment to forget about the past and appreciate the people who surround you while listening to this album.
Pleasure (2017)
As you listen to Pleasure in your home, it’s hard to imagine that you’re boiling water in your kitchen rather than right in front of her stage. That’s primarily because the album was recorded almost entirely live. It’s her most intimate and minimal album yet. On Pleasure, Feist turns inward to share the sadness she felt after touring Metals. She took a few years off and spent her time building a deck for her country home and replacing the screen on her screen door. She said “I was having a bit of a difficult time in the last few years. I felt like I didn’t know anything. It was like a limbo between feeling something and knowing something. … I’m still in the middle of it, so it’s hard to talk about. The message of the album would be ‘Being lost is part of getting there,’ or something like that. I don’t know.” Many of us have experienced this, making it easy for Pleasure to take us in and nurture that emotion — specifically, in the last minute of “Any Party” when you spend time listening to her leave a crowded party and walk home alone to the sound of crickets and a car driving past her playing “Pleasure.” As humans, we sometimes need solitude in order to understand our own needs and emotions. Feist makes that clear by reminding us that pain is pleasure and pleasure is pain.
With a love of trash culture and a sound that encompasses hair metal, glam and power-pop, Redd Kross are among L.A. rock’s greatest unsung heroes. “Third Eye” was the band’s third album of original material and their first for a major label (Atlantic Records), and the 1990 collection captures the group near its peak.
Brothers Jeff and SteveMcDonald and guitarist Robert Hecker serve up a wide variety of styles here, and though there’s a sense of humor at work on the soundtrack cuts (“1976”), J-pop tributes (“Shonen Knife”), sugary songs (“Bubblegum Factory”) and Alternative charters (“Annie’s Gone”) heard here, the trio backs it up with serious musical chops.
Packed with hooks and memorable melodies played with joyful abandon, Third Eye never blinks. The naked masked woman on the cover of the album is Sofia Coppola.
Weird Cool is the new single of the London lo-fi dreamy grunge quartet Lazy Day. Biting, groovy and soaring, the new single is pressed on 300 limited edition orange flexi discs. Weird Coolwas recorded by Oliver Betts (The Duke Spirit) at The Crows’ Nest Studios and mixed by Adrian Hall (Anna Calvi /Goldfrapp) at Clever Pup Studios
Weird Cool is the new single released by Art Is Hard Records on the 9th March 2018.
