Dean Wareham, his partner Britta Phillips, and frequent collaborator Sonic Boom have teamed up to make a holiday album. It’s titled “A Peace of Us” and will be out November 22nd via Carpark Records. The recordings took place Sonic Boom’s studio in Portugal: all three sang, Dean played guitar, Britta played bass and keyboards, and Sonic provided the psychedelic effects and mixed the album. Britta says it’s “like Bing Crosby…on acid,” which means a little more when you’re talking about something involving Sonic Boom.
“Pretty Paper” is a single from Dean & Britta & Sonic Boom’s album ‘A Peace of Us’ out November 22nd, 2024 on Carpark Records.
Madi Diaz has announced a deluxe edition of this year’s “Weird Faith”, due out on October 25th via Anti-Records, and she has shared a new track that appears on it, “Worst Case Scenario.” “Sometimes when I’m afraid, I test out a theory I’ve made up in the last few years: Life has never completely gone the way I imagined it would go (for better or worse),” she says. “From time to time, I find myself daydreaming up scenes and playing them out in my mind, thinking if can get ahead of it all by thinking of the worst and how I’d survive it, then maybe it won’t actually happen. This song was my prevention plan against what I imagined would be the worst possibilities playing out.”
Harry Styles handpicked Diaz to open for him in arenas and stadiums in North America, and was so taken by her captivating live show, he asked her to be a member of his touring band, to sing alongside him all over Europe and the UK, as well as continuing to open the show in various cities.
from the upcoming album ‘Weird Faith (Deluxe)’, out on Anti-Records
Australian band Royel Otis have released a deluxe edition of their debut album “Pratts & Pain” that comes with this new single. The band say: “‘If Our Love Is Dead’ was born out of that feeling when you’ve been with someone for a while and you’re not sure if the spark is still there. You’re like… If it’s dead and it’s not there, then what are we holding on to? What are we doing it for? Are we doing it for the sake of just sticking it out, or do we actually just want to cut paths and move on with things?”.
“Pratts & Payne”, the South London pub that sits around the corner from the famed home studio of producer Dan Carey, has an important place in the history of Royel Otis. When making their debut album with Carey in early 2023, the Australian duo – childhood friends Otis Pavlovic and Royel Maddell – would decamp to the pub to finish lyrics and make decisions on the direction of their frst LP. “Dan would ask us to record vocals,” Royel remembers, “and we’d say, ‘Just give us half an hour, we’re popping to Pratts & Payne’, and we’d have a pint, a few shots, and get some lyrics down.” Eventually, it made such a mark that they named the record “Pratts and Pain”.
Across the debut album, Royel Otis swing between melodic, pop- inspired indie and woozy psych, but it never feels tied to one lane. As soon as one style or mood has outstayed its welcome, they handbrake turn into psychedelic weirdness or dissonant noise, keeping everybody on their toes.
“If Our Love Is Dead” (Official Music Video) by Royel Otis, shot in London during the UK leg of their Glory to Glory tour.
Thus Love have shared the title track to their upcoming album “All Pleasure”. The band say: “It’s no accident that we named the album after this song,” says singer/guitarist Echo Mars. “‘All Pleasure’ is the very first song we wrote collectively as a quartet and I think that collaborative spirit really comes through. The addition of Ally’s vocals as a counterpoint gives the song a very different energy and feel to it. I remember when we all listened back for the first time — it was one of those eureka moments when we all realized how special this new incarnation of Thus Love could be.”
“All Pleasure” by “Thus Love”, off their sophomore album “All Pleasure“, out November 1st on Captured Tracks.
Cloud Nothings’ superb 2014 album “Here and Nowhere Else” turns 10 years old this year, and the band is about to be playing it in full on tour. They also just released a 10th anniversary edition that features live recordings of every song on the album, plus remixes of two songs by Outer Space and Bee Mask.
Produced by John Congleton (Baroness, St Vincent, Anna Calvi), “Here And Nowhere Else” sees Cloud Nothings retain the power and intensity of their highly acclaimed previous album, “Attack On Memory”, whilst also bringing back more of the tunefulness familiar from their earlier work. This album is Cloud Nothings refined: impossibly melodic, white knuckle noise rock that shimmers with sumptuous detail, from Baldi’s lone, corkscrewing guitar to his dramatically improved singing to bassist TJ Duke’s piledriving basslines and drummer Jayson Gerycz’s volcanic fills.
To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their seminal record “Here And Nowhere Else“, Cloud Nothings release a new double LP version! The album include the original tracks plus the entire album recorded live between different shows in 2014 and 2015,
“Dreamstate” is Kelly Lee Owens fourth studio album. The new album will be her first released at new label home dh2 – a brand new electronic music imprint at renowned independent label Dirty Hit being spearheaded by George Daniel of The 1975. There’s an incredible feeling of freedom and escapism found throughout Kelly’s album “Dreamstate”, born from the experience of inner evolution in the aftermath of a break-up.
Yes, this is a ballad but it’s a very Kelly Lee Owens ballad, owing just a touch to her love of Cocteau Twins (and written with Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands).
It’s the sound of a person letting loose and letting go while encouraging everyone else to do the same.“Dreamstate” is built on the foundations of collaboration, with producer-writer credits from Bicep, Tom Rowlands from The Chemical Brothers and George Daniel.
There’s a deluxe edition of Sleater-Kinney’s “Little Rope” out in November featuring a bonus disc of extra songs. Say the band: “‘This Time’ was the last song we wrote for the record and the last to get cut once we decided we preferred the evenness and succinctness of ten songs. About a person reaching the limits of denial, ‘This Time’ exists on the thematic edges of “Little Rope”, an album wrestling with loss and its aftermath.”
Sleater-Kinney released their eleventh studio album, “Little Rope” via Loma Vista Recordings. Recorded at Flora Recording and Playback in Portland, Oregon with Grammy-winning producer John Congleton, a powerfully honest and soul-baring album by one of modern rock’s most vital bands. “Little Rope” is one of the finest, most delicately layered records in Sleater-Kinney’s nearly 30-year career.
Beneath that are perhaps the most complex and subtle arrangements of any Sleater-Kinney record, and a lyrical and emotional compass pointed firmly in the direction of something both liberating and terrifying: the sense that the only way to gain control is to let it go.
Cindy is to release a new six song EP called “Swan Lake” via Tough LoveRecords. The title isn’t a nod to the folktale or ballet in any real way, but to the fact that it all has ended up in the collective imagination as an object, vaguely recognizable, a little suggestive, and mostly blank. Karina Gill, Cindy’s songwriter, likes to make use of that kind of resonance to connect sound and experience.
Listening to “Swan Lake”, I’m pretty sure that the EP is the perfect delivery vehicle for the hushed, gentle sounds of San Francisco band Cindy. At 17 minutes, you can absorb all they have to offer — delicately strummed guitars, laconic and warm melodies, the library-quiet vocals of songwriter/guitarist Karina Gill – while staying entranced and ready to hit play on the whole thing again. First song “All Weekend” is the standout but the vibes are so good you gladly stick around for another spin though all six songs. “Swan Lake” is a perfect little treasure.
The six songs on this EP continue the stripped-down habits of previous Cindy releases, while adding a few departures and left-turns. Cindy likes to work at the essentials and the elements here say exactly what’s needed. In other ways, these songs present a soft filigree that’s unusual for their recordings. Oli Lipton (Now, Violent Change) on guitar and Will Smith (Now) on bass play counterpoint melodies to Gill’s structures. Staizsh Rodrigues (Children Maybe Later, Almond Joy, Peace Frog) sings vocal harmonies that both offset and deepen Gill’s voice and delivery. There are playful drums by Mike Ramos (Tony Jay, Sad Eyed Beatniks) and coolly elaborate guitar lines from Stanley Martinez (Famous Mammals, Violent Change, Non Plus Temps).
Gill’s songs strike this balance too: almost nonchalant reporting tied up in unexpected knots. A ride in an elevator connects up with questions about peace and/or the nature of things; the title track wonders about associative thinking and associative feeling; “The Bell” is an account of one of those times when everything makes sense but you can’t explain it; and there’s the scene of a party viewed with admiration for how friends can love each other. As Gill herself says:
“People have told me that they can’t quite identify my influences. Me neither. The foundational layers of music of the past and my past have been metabolized like breakfast and turned into more me, sorry to say. But I experience the music of people I’m connected with and it impacts me in the moment. There’s the music I’m around – April Magazine, Sad Eyed Beatniks, Violent Change, Katsy Pline, collaborating with Mike on Flowertown – that I can feel a direct line from. Then there’s music that is being made far away but feels close, like Lewsberg, specifically, for this EP. “
The Smashing Times are back, and if “Mrs. Ladyships and the Cleanerhouse Boys” doesn’t become your new favovrite, then you’re missing out on one of the freshest slices of MOD-infused indie pop this year. With a nod to Merseybeat and a wink to 60s revivalism, the Baltimore band delivers a jangly, shimmering sound that’s impossible to ignore.
Baltimore band The Smashing Times’ name and the title of their album doesn’t clue you in that they are extreme Anglophiles of a very specific variety, then the music should. With it’s jangly guitars, twee melodies, reverby DIY production, and faux British accents, “Mrs Ladyships and the Cleanerhouse Boys” just oozes Carnaby Street, Beatles knockoffs, Village Green-era Kinks, Television Personalities (and Dan Treacy’s Whaam Records), Martin Newell’s Cleaners From Venus, pre-MBV Creation Records, ascots, and other UK signifiers. Decidedly mellow, The Smashing Times don’t go as far with the schtick as Mick Trouble, and neither are their songs as immediately hooky, but if you’ve read this far into this short review, I predict that A) you’re gonna like this, and B) you’ve already hit play.
The Smashing Times are a mainstay in the indie pop underground. The group mistrals the new modern life perfectly, the sharper world.
“Of course there are those, that this sound will be too ‘out there’ for. For such sorts there are an absolute plethora of The Byrds YouTube videos to feast your eyes upon.”
One of the best, most underrated bands of the original era, Medicine, are still at it and making amazing records that continue to fly under the radar. Their self-titled 11th album (and second of 2024) keeps the core of what Brad Laner, Jim Goodall and Julia Monreal do intact — Beach Boys melodies and harmonies paired with technicolor arrangements, wild studio sonic trickery and gonzo drumming — while shifting focus slightly.
The spotlight on “Medicine” is really on the vocals and drumming this time, with Monreal and Laner’s harmonies majorly warped with psychedelic effects and very high in the mix as Goodall’s drums crash in near-constant fill mode. It’s trippier that 2023’s “Silences”, though not quite as magical, but still worth your time. All the up-and-comers could learn a thing or two from the creativity found here.
released September 6th, 2024
Jim Goodall : drums, tapes, percussion, harmonica, ukelele Brad Laner : guitars, vocals, bass, modular synth, keyboards Julia Monreal : vocals, guitar, keyboard bass on 3 by Jim Garafolo
The Fat Angel Sings 