The Fat Angel Sings

Tsunami’s new five-LP box set “Loud As Is” collects the work of this too-overlooked Virginia band that were a pillar of the indie rock scene in the 1990s. They might not be remembered as well as some of their higher profile peers, but between their excellent music and bandleaders Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson’s work with the Simple Machines label, Tsunami were one of the most important indie rock bands of that era. Their three albums, long out of print, have been reissued by Numero Group in a gorgeous box set, along with a two-disc compilation of singles and other assorted strays. 

“Loud As Is” is a must-listen for anybody who likes smart, noisy, nervy rock music, whether you’re already familiar with Tsunami or not. 

In the ‘90s there was a specific kind of sound. Guitar-driven, noise-drenched through distortion or lo-fi recording equipment or both, discordant but tuneful, vestigial punk ethics but without the rigid musical orthodoxy… it started as a largely American trend that grew out of hardcore and ‘80s college rock a la R.E.M. and The Feelies, popping up here and there on a band-by-band basis, few bands embodied that independent spirit better than Tsunami. 

The true revelation with “Loud As Is” is that their final album, 1997’s “A Brilliant Mistake”, is their strongest; this whole scene was beginning fraying by ‘97, with the best bands from the first half of the decade either stagnating or trying hard to grow, and as a college radio DJ enamoured with post-rock and indie-pop and the hometown Elephant 6 scene Tsunami seemed to have hit a lull by the time they released their last album. “A Brilliant Mistake” might not share the more obvious indie rock trappings of their first two albums, but it’s the band’s highwater mark on almost every level; it features Toomey and Thomson’s most nuanced and powerful song-writing, their strongest vocal performances, and the most varied and interesting arrangements in their catalogue.

It’s the kind of record where the first song is so transcendent that you almost want to put it on repeat and not even get to the rest of it. That’d be a tragedy, of course, as the rest of the album is almost as great as “Old Grey Mare.”

This is in no way a slight to the band’s other albums, or the material collected on “World Tour & Other Destinations. Deep End” released in ‘93, recorded in ‘92—is a sterling snapshot of the scene at that exact moment in time, in the wake of Nirvana’s eruption blowing everything wide open and driving desperate major label A&R men to hit on any band with a seven-inch and a modicum of college radio buzz. It includes what’s probably their best-remembered song today, “Genius of Crack,” a minor indie rock anthem and mix tape staple of the day.

Part of the band’s touring for “Deep End” included dates on the Lollapalooza second stage in ‘93 alongside Sebadoh and a couple of Sonic Youth-related projects, to show you the kind of circles they travelled in.

They followed that up quickly with the 1994 LP “The Heart’s Tremolo“, which is a dronier, more atmospheric, and more complex record, and then ‘97’s genuinely brilliant swan song. The first two albums, especially, are a great summary of what college radio sounded like in ‘93 and ‘94, but you can also hear why this great band didn’t become as big as colleagues like Sebadoh, Yo La Tengo or Pavement; their songs are probably a little too challenging for high school kids, less generous with pop hooks, and simultaneously a little brainier than something like Sebadoh but also more emotional than a band like Pavement (although not resembling ‘90s emo in terms of sound or lyrical self-indulgence). “Loud As Is” a powerful reminder that Tsunami wasn’t just “important” but also a really good band. 

Tsunami’s “Loud Is As” boxset out November 8th from Numero Group. Sprung from the DC punk and politics that inspired Dischord, TeenBeat and the Riot Grrrl revolution, Washington, DC’s Tsunami crashed into the 90s with wit, distortion and a sharp-tongued feminist spirit.

This five LP box set collects eleven 7″s, 4-track demos, 1993’s “Deep End“, 1994’s “The Heart’s Tremolo“, plus the first-ever vinyl pressing of 1997’s acclaimed “A Brilliant Mistake“. Drawing on the suitcase archives of their own Simple Machines Records, Tsunami’s ambition – from all ages basement shows to the second stage of Lollapalooza – is captured in essays, photos, and ephemera, revealing the DIY history of the alternative music revolution.

Love, Burns is the solo project of Phil Sutton, of Pale Lights, and Cinema Red and Blue, and once of Comet Gain, Velocette, The Projects, Kicker, and The Soft City. He lives in Queens, NY, home of the hits.

It is not as if Phillip Sutton needs to prove himself. His time with and fronting acts should already have his name engraved on even the most jangle-pop adverse hearts. However, he does like to reinvent himself every few years—not massively, but enough to add further nuances to his jangly credentials. Since 2020, this brilliant Love, Burns act has acted as a vehicle for Sutton to add a sense of subtlety to his repertoire and which forms an integral part of his third album “Blue”.

As such, the opening double salvo of the title track, “In A Coma Again” and “Forever in Bliss”, moves within the beautiful jangly guitar pop meets subtle sophist-pop production extravagance of the Grant McLennan solo work, to proffer arguably Love,Burns most stunning track yet. Despite the above, there is still enough of his signature ‘jangly resonance’ on this release to satisfy his most ardent fans, with the Lloyd Cole-esque twangle of “To Say Goodbye” joining the rounded intonations of “Hard To Fall” and “Just For A While” to provide his signature ‘luscious jangly indie-pop’.

Love, Burns is Phil Sutton (Pale Lights, Comet Gain) accompanied by Kyle Forester (Crystal Slits, Ladybug Transistor, Woods), Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor) and Hampus Öhman-Frölund on drums.

Love, Burns record for Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten, of Augsburg, Germany, and Jigsaw Records of Oakland, CA, USA.

released September 6th, 2024

Dream… or nightmare? That’s the underlying question posed on “New Town Dream,” the second LP from the Oakland Bay Area trio Neutrals, as guitarist/vocalist Allan McNaughton’s lyrical narratives expand on the world first built on the band’s 2022 EP “Bus Stop Nights,” offering snapshots of mundane lived realities in the “New Towns” that proliferated in the UK during the ’60s and ’70s. “New Town Dream” conceptually voices the psychic tension of that era, of being pushed toward the margins and becoming just another cog in a deeply broken machine.

The band’s musical touchstones are squarely situated in the timeline of doomed Thatcherism that followed from the late ’70s to late ’80s. “Wish You Were Here” and “The Iron That Never Swung” jangle with a razor-edged rapid strum to rival The Wedding Present; “That’s Him on the Daft Stuff Again” and “Travel Agent’s Windows” nod to the Television Personalities’ naive, kaleidoscopic mod melodies streaked with cynicism; “Steven Proctor Bus Conductor” slowly unfolds from verses in the dark, rhythm-forward spirit of Josef K to transcendently Pastels-esque pop choruses with sugary-sweet backing vocals from bassist Lauren Matsui. Perfect C86 sounds for often hellish C24 times!

released May 31st, 2024

You could call Wishy’s story a lucky one. Wishy was born as a kaleidoscope of alternative music’s semi-recent history, with traces of shoegaze, grunge and power-pop swirling together. On their debut album “Triple Seven”, Indiana songwriters Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites’ musical synergy proves itself to be a rare one–the kind that sounds like someone striking gold. Wishy’s penchant for indelible hooks is couched equally in pillowy atmospherics and scathing distortion. By day Krauter works as a music teacher, giving drum and guitar lessons to students, while Pitchkites is a talented seamstress by trade and often makes embroidered merch for the band.

At 10 tracks and 41 minutes long, “Triple Seven” solidifies Wishy’s sound and proves that the band—formed in 2021 by long time friends Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites has the chops to sustain its standard of quality across a full-length release. But for rock fans burned by promising bands’ patchy releases in the past, it’s nice to hear. Krauter and Pitchkites trade off lead vocals the former’s come from a more nasally pinched pop-punk tradition, while the latter’s are calm and cool, often carrying melodies that float above it all. (Pitchkites sounds like she was born to sing in a dream pop band.)

Throughout the album, they play off each other perfectly, whether they’re providing tonal tension (see the back-to-back zigzag of the strutting “Busted” into the luscious “Just Like Sunday”) or intertwining seamlessly, as they do on “Game,” a propulsive chunk of jangle-pop delivered at a punk pace.

Wishy have many strengths, but chief among them is their affinity for instrumental hooks that surface from the swirl and settle in your brain for the foreseeable future. They’re everywhere: A three-note idea that crests over and over again in the background of “Sick Sweet”; the skittering rhythm that underpins the title track; the arena-ready twin-guitar solo in “Persuasion”; the extra-crunchy final third of “Love on the Outside,” in which a jaunty pop tune turns into roaring riff-rock.

And then there’s the nursery-rhyme cadence of the album’s caustic closer, “Spit,” in which Krauter and Pitchkites sing, na-na-boo-boo-style: “Who’s gonna break my heart? Who’s gonna wear my mind out? Wish this choice was mine.” OK, that’s a vocal hook, but the point remains the same: “Triple Seven” spills over with these kinds of sounds, which also happen to be the kinds of sounds that keep people coming back again and again.

Coming up in a scene defined by hardcore and emo, Krauter and Pitchkites instead found themselves writing melodies in their heads while driving to work, pulling music from the air and arriving at a blearier, more ethereal interpretation of Midwest expanse. Initially, their music oscillated between hazy dream-pop and heavier alt-rock. 

Sometimes gorgeous, sometimes festering, and always cathartic, “Triple Seven” is a vibrant and exhilarating document of self-discovery with the scope and heft of the bygone big-budget rock albums that inspired it. Turns out Wishy have made not only one of the best debut albums of the year, but also one of the most irresistible, unshakeable albums of the year as well. It takes more than just luck to be this good.

Andwella were a Northern Irish psychedelic rock band formed in 1968, originally named  The Method and later renamed Andwellas Dream. The trio were fronted by Dave Lewis (guitar/keyboard/vocals), with Nigel Smith (bass/vocals) and Gordon Barton (drums).

Hold on to your mind! Led by Belfast-born phenom David Lewis, Andwella made three LPs circa 1970 for London’s Reflection label, redolent with Cream-y rock workouts, soaring post-Sgt. Pepper psych experimentation, and earthbound laments The Band might’ve dreamt up at Big Pink. Barely heard back then, they now conjure a popular rock fantasia to challenge the most expertly composed and orchestrated songs of the era.

This deluxe set includes meticulous reproductions of the band’s 3-LP discography, plus an ephemera-packed booklet detailing Lewis’s brief moment as a downbeat song writing visionary at the height of his power.

Their first album, as Andwellas Dream, “Love and Poetry”, was recorded in London in 1968, and released in August 1969. It featured jazz musician Bob Downes on saxophone and flute, and Wilgar Campbell on drums on the track “Felix”. The album failed to sell, and Lewis then recorded a solo album, privately pressed, on the Ax label in 1970; which included new versions of some of the Andwella’s Dream .

Then in 1970 David Lewis wrote the music for and produced poet David Baxter’s “Goodbye Dave” album, for which he was backed by Andwella.

With the addition of Dave McDougall on guitar and vocals, the band was renamed Andwella. This line-up issued “World’s End” in August 1970, before Dave Struthers replaced Nigel Smith on bass and Jack McCulloch joined as drummer. This line-up recorded the bands’ last album, “People’s People” (released late in 1970), after which the band broke up in 1971.

While filled with more melodic moments and pop hooks than their first two albums, High Vis still managed to retain all of their angst on their third outing, “Guided Tour”. The London-based group is at its best when decimating boundaries between genres, and nowhere was this more evident than on the album high point, “Mind’s a Lie,” with its dreamy vocal samples and Baggy-electronic beats serving up one of the year’s most groovy and starkly unique tracks.

Elsewhere, the band fuses Britpop and hardcore “Drop Me Out”, enters goth post-punk territory “Gone Forever“, and even tries their hand at shoegaze on “Mob DLA“, all the while sounding like themselves. “Guided Tour” is a self-aware and confident nod at the musical past from a band that is only ever looking into the future.

Since first forming in 2016, London’s High Vis have steadily polished their palette of progressive hardcore with shades of post-punk, Brit pop, neo- psychedelia, and even Madchester groove, mapping a middle ground between hooks and fury, melodies and mosh pits. Singer Graham Sayle describes their third album “Guided Tour” as an axis of competing forces: “It’s trying to be a hopeful record, while also being incensed.” Rounded out by drummer Edward ‘Ski’ Harper, bassist Jack Muncaster, and guitarists Martin MacNamara and Rob Hammaren, the band’s deep roots in the UK and Irish DIY hardcore scenes have kept them grounded but growing, inspired equally by restlessness and righteous anger. As Sayle puts it, “Everyone’s scratching, everyone’s working all the time, and their idea of relaxing is just getting fucked and avoiding reality. This album is an escape from that.”

From its opening seconds of a cab door slamming, a car revving away, and a baggy rhythm swinging to life, “Guided Tour” sounds like a band reaching for new heights, bristling with energy. Recorded across a few weeks at Holy Mountain Studios in London with producer Jonah Falco and engineer Stanley Gravett, the results feel dynamic and dialed-in, like anthems burned into sense memory through sweat and repetition. Harper cuts to the chase: “We had a clear idea going in, every moment got used. Maybe when we’re 60 we can sit around and get a drum sound right, but for now it’s about getting things done.”

Nowhere is this sentiment flexed more boldly than on “Mind’s A Lie,” a dance- punk anthem inspired by Harper’s love of house, garage, and pirate radio. Stabs of sampled female vocals (by celebrated South London singer and DJ Ell Murphy) build into a razor wire rhythm of low-slung bass, tense drums, and sparkling guitar before Sayle’s staunch voice starts barking harsh truths (“Face to face with all I’ve known / I can’t call these thoughts my own”). After a sudden breakdown, the track regroups and takes off, cruising into the horizon in a haze of chiming guitars and Murphy’s ascendant voice, from the streets to somewhere beyond.

“Becoming Led Zeppelin” explores the origins of this iconic group and their meteoric rise in just one year against all the odds. Powered by awe-inspiring, psychedelic, never-before-seen footage, performances, and music, Bernard MacMahon’s experiential cinematic odyssey explores Led Zeppelin’s creative, musical, and personal origin story. The film is told in Led Zeppelin’s members own words and is the first officially sanctioned film on the group.

With fans ranging from Bon Iver to The War On Drugs, critically acclaimed Amason member – multiple Swedish Grammy winner and festival headliner, farmer, record label boss & singer-songwriter Amanda Bergman – known for her grand voice – is back with her first solo album in over 8 years titled “Your Hand Forever Checking On My Fever“

Amanda Bergman’s second album release has become a constant companion on my turntable. It’s a soothing, soul-stirring, endless lullaby; a spellbinding set of sweet serenades that envelop the ears while warming the heart and nourishing the soul. Calm yet cathartic, charming yet charged, “Your Hands Forever Checking on My Fever” is a breathtakingly beautiful triumph of the human spirit. It’s at once tender and dramatic – an infectiously catchy, all-consuming collection of radiant reveries, intimate inner reckonings, and vulnerable reflections on life and death, purpose and place – what it means to live, and what it means to live well.

Amanda Bergman has described music as “the answer to life,” and this album certainly feels like the full-bodied realization of that philosophical statement. From the smoky, scintillating seduction of album opener “Wild Geese, Wild Love” and the heartrending romantic ache of “I Love Him Til I Love Him Right,” to the exhilarating propulsion of “Day 2000 Awake,” the cinematic, ethereal exhale of “My Hands in the Water,” the gentle, tranquil ebb and flow of “The World Is Tired of You” and beyond, Bergman unpacks life itself – the world around us, as well as her very own existence – through songs filled with light, love, and an intimate, undeniable sense of awe.

Like a waking dream or a fantasy fulfilled, “Your Hands Forever Checking on My Fever” feels otherworldly, yet comforting. It’s the musical blanket we didn’t know we needed.

Authentic… Original… Inspiring… Healing… Honest… Important… Abby Holliday’s third album release “Crack A Smile Come On Stay A While” hits hard and leaves a lasting mark because it comes from a place of truth – and while our truths can be painful, they are equally liberating. Holliday’s most ambitious release to date is also her most vulnerable and raw, finding the Nashville-based singer/songwriter wrestling with demons past and present, processing traumas and unpacking relationships, and reckoning with herself (and her loved ones) as she dives deeper than ever into what it means to be human: A living, breathing being, thriving on some days, and barely surviving others.

Music like this – music that comes so unapologetically from the heart – is inherently delicate, and yet the songs on “Crack A Smile Come On Stay A While” are dynamic, energetic, and assertive – larger-than-life, despite their intimate nature. Produced with her longtime collaborator Jon Class, Abby Holliday’s third LP is gut-wrenchingly beautiful and breathtakingly bold: A dramatic fever dream that finds the artist at her absolute best, despite the dark clouds that often surround her. 

“Crack A Smile Come On Stay A While”

“They say people change their cell structure every seven years, so I’ve totally regenerated several times since we started Pylon forty years ago,” says Vanessa Briscoe Hay, frontwoman for that iconic Athens band and now frontwoman for Pylon Reenactment Society. It’s easier to explain what Pylon Reenactment Society isn’t than what it actually is.

It’s not a continuation or a reunion, because Vanessa is the only member in both groups. It’s neither a tribute act nor a cover band, although they do perform Pylon songs. Instead, this new band draws inspiration from that old band, taps into it’s motivating principles. Pylon Reenactment Society’s “Magnet Factory” organically grew out of jams and writing sessions over several years. As the album took shape, the lyrics peeled away at the layers of time and shared spaces that make up a life. A pair of unrecorded songs by Pylon were brought in to round out this collective unspoken theme.

All the music was recorded by the current four members of the band (Vanessa Briscoe Hay, Jason NeSmith, Kay Stanton, Gregory Sanders) with a stellar vocal duet with the incomparable Kate Pierson of The B-52’s.