The Small Faces’ third album arrived in 1968, just as every other rock band was getting ambitious. ‘Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake’ is no different. It was a concept album (well, at least Side Two is), centered on a sort of fairy tale. The narrative, like many from the era, is confusing. But the music – big, brash and way more complex than anything attempted by the group’s spin-off band, Faces – is tops all the way.
“Lazy Sunday” reached number two on the UK Singles Chart in 1968. It was written by the Small Faces songwriting duo Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, and appeared on the band’s 1968 concept album Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake and preceded the album as a successful single, despite being released against the band’s wishes.
The low-budget promotional video for “Lazy Sunday” was filmed at drummer Kenney Jones‘ parents’ home on Havering Street in Stepney, East London and features his next door neighbour pretending to strangle Marriott.
“Lazy Sunday” has a traditional cockney East End of London music-hall sound. The song was inspired by Steve Marriott’s feuds with his neighbours and is also noticeable for its distinct vocal changes. Marriott sings large parts of the song in a greatly exaggerated cockney accent; he did this partly due to an argument he had with the Hollies, who said that Marriott had never sung in his own accent. In the final bridge and the last two choruses, he reverts to his usual transatlantic (singing) accent.
The backing melody quotes “Colonel Bogey March” by F. J. Ricketts and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones played on kazoo. At the end of the song the tune dissolves into birdsong.
Kyle Thomas’s King Tuff project hasn’t put out an album in four years, but now with “The Other”, he roars back with a riff-based sound that is decidedly his own. Thomas has brought friends like Ty Segall on the drums, JennyLewis (!!!) on guest vocals and Mikal Cronin on sax. Listen to the Lewis-featured “Thru the Cracks” and look forward to an album filled with wicked arrangements from Tuff.
When asked to describe the title track from his new record, Kyle Thomas—aka King Tuff—takes a deep breath. “It’s a song about hitting rock bottom,” he says. “I didn’t even know what I wanted to do anymore, but I still had this urge, like there was this possibility of something else I could be doing… and then I just followed that possibility. To me, that’s what songwriting, and art in general, is about. You’re chasing something. ‘The Other’ is basically where songs come from. It’s the hidden world. It’s the invisible hand that guides you whenever you make something. It’s the thing I had to rediscover to bring me back to making music again in a way that felt true and good.”
After years of non-stop touring, culminating in a particularly arduous stint in support of 2014’s Black Moon Spell,Thomas found himself back in Los Angeles experiencing the flipside of the ultimate rock and roll cliche. “I had literally been on tour for years,” recalls Thomas. “It was exhausting, physically and mentally. I’m essentially playing this character of King Tuff, this crazy party monster, and I don’t even drink or do drugs. It had become a weird persona, which people seemed to want from me, but it was no longer me. I just felt like it had gotten away from me.”
The ten tracks that make up The Other represent a kind of psychic evolution for King Tuff. No less hooky than previous records, the new songs ditch the goofy rock-and-roll bacchanalia narratives of earlier records in favor of expansive arrangements, a diversity of instrumentation, and lyrics that straddle the fence between painful ruminations and a childlike, creative energy untarnished by cynicism. The soulful and cosmic new direction is apparent from the album’s first moments: introduced by the gentle ringing of a chime, acoustic guitar, and warm organ tones, “The Other” is a narrative of redemption born of creativity. As Thomas sings about being stuck in traffic, directionless, with no particular reason to be alive, he hears the call of “the other,” a kind of siren song that, instead of leading towards destruction, draws the narrator towards a creative rebirth. Elsewhere, tracks like “Thru the Cracks” and “Psycho Star” balance psychedelia with day-glo pop hooks. “The universe is probably an illusion, but isn’t it so beautifully bizarre?” he asks on “Psycho Star” providing one of the record’s central tenets. At a time when everything in the world feels so deeply spoiled and the concept of making meaning out of the void seems both pointless and impossible, why not try?
Thomas self-produced the record, as he did his 2007 debut, Was Dead, but on a far grander scale. He recorded it at The Pine Room, the home studio Thomas built to work on the record, and playing every instrument aside from drums and saxophone. He pulled Shawn Everett (War On Drugs, Alabama Shakes) in to assist with the mixing process.
While it would be easy to think of The Other as a kind of reinvention for King Tuff, Thomas views the entire experience of the record as a kind of reset that’s not totally removed from what he’s done in the past. “I can’t help but sound like me,” he says. “It’s just that this time I let the songs lead me where they wanted to go, instead of trying to push them into a certain zone. King Tuff was always just supposed to be me. When I started doing this as a teenager, it was whatever I wanted it to be. King Tuff was never supposed to be just one thing. It was supposed to be everything.”
Before she became the Teutonic ice queen chanteuse of the Velvet Underground, Nico, via her then boyfriend Rolling Stone Brian Jones, was introduced to Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and signed to his Immediate Records label, where a young Jimmy Page was employed as house producer, session musician and A&R scout. (Page’s brief career as a session musician saw him adding his distinctive guitar sounds to recordings by The Who, The Kinks, PJ Proby, Lulu, Jackie DeShannon, Van Morrison and Them, Burt Bacharach, French singer Johnny Hallyday, Marianne Faithfull, Vashti Bunyan, Donovan and many others. It’s amusing to think of Jimmy Page being a part of Petula Clark’s “Downtown” single, but there he was. There are several CD compilations of Page’s early session work, probably the best is Hip Young Guitar Slinger.)
Page produced and played on Nico’s sole 1965 single for Immediate, a cover of Canadian folkie Gordon Lightfoot’s “I’m Not Sayin’ ” which was backed by “The Last Mile,” a song composed by Page and Oldham. Jimmy Page plays a six-string in the song, while Brian Jones plays a twelve-string guitar. The single is being re-released by Charly Records in a gatefold sleeve featuring photography by Gered Mankowitz from the original recording session for Record Store Day on April 21.
A promotional film for “I’m Not Sayin’” was shot at the site of London’s West India Docks (now the considerably different looking Canary Wharf) by Peter Whitehead.
FRANCES CONE is Christina Cone, Andrew Doherty, Adam Melchor, and Aaron Hamel. The Nashville based indie-pop band, fronted by Christina Cone, is named after Christina’s father and great-grandfather, both musicians themselves in South Carolina and both born on September 11th. The band has been praised for their compelling, emotional live show and captivating recordings. In 2016, Frances Cone released, “Arizona,” the first single from their forthcoming full-length album, Late Riser, which is set to release in 2018. Stereogum praised “Arizona” for “Cone’s melodic vocals, rich harmonies, and an electrifying guitar sound.” Written about her brother, filmmaker Stephen Cone, “Arizona’s” .
The band’s second single, “Leave Without You,” was released in March 2017, is an emotional song about the band’s decision to leave Brooklyn. Cone says, “it is the only place I’ve known as an adult person, and (the song is about) what and who I’ll carry with me.” Billboard raved that the track “employs the band’s signature slow build before exploding with synth and drums into the song’s chorus.”
“Arizona” is the first track off Frances Cone’s new album, “Late Riser” due summer 2018.
Band Members
Christina Cone,
Andrew Doherty,
Adam Melchor,
Aaron Hamel,
Up and coming South Londoners Goat Girl have shared new track Scream, a B-side to the excellent recent single Cracker Drool. After recently sharing the single ‘Cracker Drool’ the quartet Goat Girl have also shared the b-side to the release ‘Scream’, alongside a fresh video and a lovely chunk of tour news.
It’s been a seminal year for the four-piece band. A year in which they, signed for Rough Trade Records and broke ahead of the pack and announced themselves as not only a very socially adept and politically charged band, but also one that makes great music – irrespective of political leaning.
Refreshing to say the least. The band have jumped on this well-deserved good feeling and are now plotting a rather large UK and Ireland tour for the new year.
Recorded by Dan Carey and Alexis Smith at The Windmill
This track from The Shacks is delightfully undefinable. With elements of funk to folk to good old rock and roll, it’s one that’ll keep you on your toes. Vocalist Shannon Wise’s airy voice is reminiscent of that ’60s psychedelic sound, and during this 2:19 minute song, the slightly manic structure counteracts the dreamy lyrics and melody to create a unique listening experience. It’s not just a song to press play on and forget about, it’s one to pay attention to. It’s an adventure on which you can really enjoy the ride and the varying scenery presented to you.
Wye Oak’s fifth album, The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, begins with a warm-up instrumental, The brief track hums with a disorienting noise electronic pulses, snatches of ambient conversation and what sounds like a creaking floorboard but is dominated by someone picking out wobbly notes on an off-key piano, as if they’re coaxing the instrument back into tune. The meticulous exercise is a success: By the end of “(tuning),” the piano’s keystrokes are strident and melodic, and bleed directly into the second track, “The Instrument,” a bustling display of fizzy synthesizers and rain-on-tin drums.
The idea that settling into a groove requires patience and subtle tweaks also happens to be Wye Oak’s career narrative. After forming in 2006, the duo (multi-instrumentalists Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack) slowly have become a more traditional indie-rock act into a keyboard-heavy operation. Although this progression was certainly due to Wasner’s growing interest in electronic music — outside of Wye Oak, she’s dabbled in R&B-tinged gloss-pop with Dungeonesse and maintains the synth-forward solo project, Flock Of Dimes.
On The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, Wasner and Stack sound even more emboldened than they did on Wye Oak’s last proper studio album, 2014’s Shriek. Here, the pair builds on the record’s keyboard and sculpts adventurous, pop bursting with contrasting textures. A stabbing kick drum propels the grimy stomp “Over And Over,” which is also daubed with spiderweb-like synths, while distorted guitar crashes to the forefront of the otherwise tranquil “Lifer.” Throughout other songs, dusky guitars dissect plush keyboard layers, and on “You of All People,” off-kilter rhythms push against Wasner’s ethereal vocals.
In a nod to this slightly askew vibe, The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs‘ lyrics are oblique, and focus on coming to terms with life when things don’t quite go as planned. Rather than wallowing in disappointment, however, the speaker in these songs marvels at change and attempts to assimilate new realities. “As I expected, with time it hasn’t gotten easier / I have to work now at things that used to be like breathing,” Wasner observes on the Kate Bush-esque “It Was Not Natural,” while on “Lifer,” she admits, “I am not old, but I’ve become afraid of things I never was.”
The hard-fought wisdom shared on the sugary dream-pop gem “Say Hello” is even more striking. “We want our wishes to bow to us / But they have a life of their own,” Wasner reveals early in the song, before eventually drawing a poignant conclusion: “It is hard to admit you were all wrong / Accept some things are not for you.” She sounds wistful and resigned as she sings these lyrics; the sense of loss is palpable.
Yet The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs is anything but nostalgic. The members of Wye Oak derive power from striding forward without the sonic (and emotional) baggage of the past. That’s evident in the album’s seismic musical leaps — the gorgeous “My Signal,” which pairs delicate string twirls with Wasner’s bravado-laden a cappella vocals.
From the album The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, out April 6th, 2018 on Merge Records.
Buck Meek, is the lead guitarist and founding member of Big Thief, just released he has a second single, “Ruby,” off of his solo album which is set to be released in full on May 18th. “Ruby” is a laid back alt-folk track that is filled to the brim with country-influenced guitar and charming lyrics. This two minutes and thirty three seconds is that small blip in time with a lover that seems to feel infinite. Buck Meek stretches this moment by guessing names, noticing lights left on, tasting strange Coca-Cola and having sudden existential thoughts, “Ruby, I’m too young to die.” This song explores every corner of a moment, leaving no stone unturned, allowing us to be there with him (and Ruby) completely. Buck Meek is already a much-loved member of Big Thief but is proving to be a true force on his own, and we cannot wait to be submerged in the rest of his story.
Wimberley, Texas is about 45 minutes out from Austin by car or truck — far enough to allow a music scene independent of Austin’s own to thrive in that hill country. Alexander Buck Meek grew up in that scene, among the jazz manouche, blues and outlaw country guitarists of the region. Even though Buck Meek’s work with Big Thief has taken him far away from his Texas home,
Buck Meek’s self-titled debut album comes out on May 18th via Keeled Scales
Los Angeles-via-Portland singer-songwriter Sharaya Summers is hyperaware of the suffering going on around her, and feels it all to the core. In her newest single “Easy Life,” Summers sings about being handed a good life, but being so burdened by the pain of others. This is a song of empathy, even tinged with a bit of guilt. With influence pouring out from Laurel Canyon songwriting, along with dreamy guitars and reverb-drenched vocals, “Easy Life” is an unmistakably easy listen. But underneath these layers, there is a subtext of desperation and disillusionment. Summers sings, “Tell me to believe that there’s meaning/ That it all works out in the end.” As she makes this plea, Sharaya Summers still manages to deliver a glimpse of hope. Be on the lookout for her EP set to be released later this year.
Sharaya Summers, tells a story of disillusionment, dysfunction and discovery. As her debut single ‘Light of the Moon’ rapidly gained over half a million streams on Spotify, she prepares to release her full EP in mid 2018.
Nap Eyes are a remarkably consistent band. Their 2015 debut, Whine of the Mystic, contains nine tracks of breezy, itinerant indie rock that only occasionally rambles on too long. The follow-up, 2016’s Thought Rock FishScale, does more or less the same thing. So the question for these Canadian crypto-jammers is: mix it up on LP3 or nah? I’m Bad Now is another reliable work of songs from Nap Eyes, with stronger melodies and more consistency across the board.
Nap Eyes are a remarkably consistent band. Their 2015 debut, Whine of the Mystic, contains nine tracks of breezy, itinerant indie rock that only occasionally rambles on too long. The follow-up, 2016’s Thought Rock Fish Scale, does more or less the same thing. So the question for these Canadian crypto-jammers is: mix it up on LP3 or nah? I’m Bad Now is another reliable slab from Nap Eyes, with stronger melodies and more consistency across the board.
