Driftwood Pyre hail from Minneapolis in the US and were, in part, born from the ashes of First CommunionAfterparty, the former band of mainman Liam Watkins. Whilst the band name may have changed and new members recruited, Driftwood Pyre have retained the same hazy take on garage/psych, but possibly a tad more ‘mainstream’ (and please don’t take that as a criticism!). The album gets off to a cracking start with ‘Man On A Wire’ and its garagey vibe and ringing guitar….it’s The Velvet Underground if they played straight rawk’n’roll. This is a great album, artfully mixing garage and psych without sounding the least bit contrived. The songwriting is intelligent and meaningful and overall it is an album that takes the listener on a journey from modern day back to the sixties via the eighties.
This 3 x CD Collection brings together a set of rare recordings by the Velvets, 50 plus years (for most) after they were first made and which will complete collections worldwide for the millions of fans still flying the flag for this strange collective. Everything about The Velvet Underground was astonishing. Take a female drummer with one beat (Mo Tucker), a classically trained Welshman (John Cale), a blonde German beauty who couldn’t sing (Nico), and two buddies from Syracuse University (Sterling Morrison and Lou Reed) who all came together as a band formed to promote Lou’s song ‘The Ostrich’.
Add another blonde who painted soup cans, a name derived from a novel about sado-masochism and Verve as a major label, and you arrive at the Velvet Underground, a band who rewrote the rules for music as we know it.
CD ONE features rehearsals for the band s first album, bizarrely broadcast across radio waves at the time, and which give a sense of quite how that seismic album came to be. The first disc also includes three rare live cuts recorded in NYC the same year.
CD TWO includes the group s show at La Cave in Cleveland, Ohio on 2nd October 1968, by which time JohnCale had been fired from the group and had just been replaced by Doug Yule for this show.
CD THREE contains the concert given by Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico at the Bataclan nightclub in Paris on 19th January 1972, a show as legendary as the band whose name remains the starting point for all modern music.
“Fade Away” is a 1980 song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen, accompanied by the E Street Band. It is contained on his album “The River”, and the second single released from it in the United States, “Fade Away” is “certainly among his most pessimistic and helpless depictions of life and love gone wrong.
E Street Steve Van Zandt has proclaimed “Fade Away” as one of his favorite Springsteen songs, but thinks that it is not played in band shows because it is too slow. Regardless, he says, “It’s just one of those funny, lost little gems, you know?” .
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – “Fade Away” at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale NY on December 31, 1980.
The song was recorded at The Power Station in New York in March to June 1980, one of the last songs to be recorded for the album. Musically and lyrically it is a slow, pained lament:
Well now, you say you’ve found another man, who does things to you that I can’t
And that no matter what I do, it’s all over now between me and you girl
But I can’t believe what you say
No, I can’t believe what you say …
it is was the second single taken from The River, released in February 1981 in the U.S. In the UK and Europe, “TheRiver” was released instead. “Fade Away” was not as successful as the previous single from the album, “Hungry Heart”, but still reached #20 . It was only performed sporadically on The River Tour,and not at all for nearly the first two months. The judgement behind its selection as the second single was questioned, considering the more radio-friendly songs on the record, and the choice was blamed for slowing down sales of the album. It was then dropped from Springsteen’s concert repertoire completely, only rematerializing for a handful of solo renditions on the 2005 Devils & Dust Tour.
Filmed at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY. 8-11-2009
The song was performed once on the Wrecking Ball Tour on July 20th, 2013 at King’s Hall in Belfast; Springsteen made reference on stage that it was Van Zandt’s favorite song. The song was played nightly during the North American leg of Springsteen’s 2016 River Tour, where The River was played in its entirety. When the tour reached Europe, the album presentation format of the tour was dropped, with the exception of a few shows. “Fade Away” has not been performed outside of the album format.
Meanwhile, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes (old Van Zandt cohorts) had added “Fade Away” to his concerts from the 1980s on, and it would be included on his 1997 Spittin’ Fire live album.Southside’s renditions have often been of a slow, bluesy nature, accompanied only by bandmate Bobby Bandiera.
“Fade Away” live at Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Australia, 26th February 2014.
It was finally given an E Street Band performance again at Stockholm Stadion on June 7th, 2009 during the European second leg of the Working on a Dream Tour; Springsteen made reference on stage to Van Zandt’s desire to hear it.
CLASSIC 1977 Broadcast from TORONTO At 3 a.m. on 28th May 1977, after ten months of legal battles, and nearly two years after Born to Run had catapulted him to national celebrity, Bruce Springsteen and his former manager, Mike Appel, settled their differences and parted ways forever. The move finally enabled Springsteen to begin recording a follow up album, with Jon Landau as his new producer of choice. But despite pronouncements of satisfaction with the terms of the settlement, both sides paid dearly for the truce Three months earlier however, in February 77, the outcome was less than certain, and as the Born To Run Tour stretched into its third year, Bruce and the E Street Band were still unable to enter a studio.
Despite this seemingly grave and stressful situation, the group continued to perform quite remarkable shows, of which they played 33 dates across North America in early 77. One particular highlight was their performance at Toronto s Maple Leaf Gardens on 13th February, the entirety of which is now released for the first time on this two disc set.
This title will be released on March 9th, 2018 Amazon
Recorded for live FM broadcast, the band play a broad selection of cuts from across their catalogue to date, a fine range of covers, and a rarity in the form of Action In The Streets , a Springsteen original which has yet to see any kind of studio version made available.
The first Growin’ Up of the 1977 tour at Maple Leaf Gardens Concert Bowl in Toronto, Canada on February 13, 1977
Blackjack is the latest single for Manchester Indie pop four-piece The Dantevilles. With similarities to contemporary Stockport band Blossoms, and perhaps even the Courteeners too, it is clear that Dantevilles are fans of baggy, Indie, shoegaze, and yet they take these genres into 2018 in their own, fresh way.
From their hometown of Manchester, Dantevilles are regenerating alternative pop at the same rate as the city regenerates itself. Soulful and diverse, their clean, canny guitars and dual vocals reimagine the city’s sound through the crisp architecture of their atypical rearrangements. As England’s industrial noise dissolves, This band deliver slick, energetic soulful pop with a nod to the 80s electronica, and yet with a modern, up-to-date approach. This latest offering is a catchy, uplifting, melodic appealing little dance number. Led by a synth and electronic sound, fused with crisp guitar riffs, this track will surely appeal to any lover of Indie pop with its strong steady beat and trademark Manchester indie vocals. I would guess it’s only a matter of time before we see Dantevilles supporting well-known bigger acts on tour.
The question being asked is Can you really deal with women making music? Bleached follows up 2016′s acclaimed Welcome To The Worms. For whatever reason, I didn’t connect with that release when it came out. So when they announced this EP, it was met with very little fanfare on my part. Well, it is connecting now. The EP is outstanding and I’ve been making amends with “Welcome To The Worms”.
The LA based punk band rocks and to that point, the title track of EP deals with that. They were tired of being pigeon-holed or labeled due to them being fronted by females. As someone who spent a good chunk of the day watching the ladies rock at the She Shreds party at SXSW, I could’nt care less who’s fronting the band; as long as it’s good. And this is excellent.
Art School Jocks is a self described “existential basement pop” band from Atlanta, Georgia. Ali Bragg (drums, vox), Camille Lindsley (bass, vox), Deborah Hudson (guitar, vox) and Dianna Settles (guitar, vox) began playing together in late summer/early fall 2015. Song themes vary spanning from romantic love to sociopolitical concerns, to mental wellness.
Art School Jocks all girl group that describe their music as “existential basement pop.” Their songs tell of the frustrations that are rooted in womanhood, from not feeling safe when walking alone at night, to having to be nice to a man just because it is expected from you. The emotionally fueled lyrics are paired with fuzzy guitars deadpan vocals and harmonies from all four.
There is something about warmer weather that always makes us gravitate dirty, garage rock, especially when it comes with strut like Los Angeles trio Pinky Pinky. Bursting on the scene last year with two of its members still in high school, they unloaded their all killer, no filler debut self-titled EP and now are working their way towards the release of a follow-up EP, Hot Tears, slated for release on Valentine’s Day through Innovative Leisure. While the title track for the release showed off their ability to turn the volume down, “Robber” lulls the listener in, only to cut their throats before song’s end. It is a rowdy track ripe to played on a day of cutting loose and not giving a fuck.
Pinky Pinky is a three piece garage rock band based out of Los Angeles, California. The band is comprised of teenagers, seriously. Anastasia Sanchez (19) acts as the drummer and lead vocalist, Isabelle Fields plays lead guitar, and Eva Chambers bass (both 17). Yet their sound is anything but adolescent. Pinky Pinky is a perfect mix of fuzzy garage rock and 60s pop with swirling melodies.
Anna McClellan announces her sophomore album and first for Father/Daughter Records. The lead track, Flailing Orbits, reminds me of Sharon Van Etten. Here’s some info on the album below from Anna herself.
“This record is ultimately about women and the ways in which we love men. It is the byproduct of me healing my need for male validation, or rather not letting male validation control my choices. The one thing I keep taking away from life through all the shuffle is that there is always both. Intense happiness and intense sadness mingle. The longer I’m alive, the more I can’t feel one without the other. It is the crushing beauty of existing.” – Anna
Betsy Wright is half of Bat Fangs, along with drummer . I’d become familiar with Wright from the excellent Ex Hex album, an album that is amazing (they kick ass live as well). Needless to say I was excited when I heard she was going to be fronting a new band.
And it doesn’t disappoint. Wright is a god damn force of nature on stage and that energy comes across throughout the album. They deliver a 25 minute blend of riot grrrl and hair metal. Tunes like Bad Astrology and Wolfbite would slide in well on an episode of Hairbanger’s Ball. Wright’s vocals keep the tunes from coming off as anything but genuine. Bat Fangs aren’t recreating the wheel. But they are are churning out some great tunes with kick-ass riffs and that will surely translate into an entertaining set.
