Tracey Thorn’s first solo album of entirely original material for seven years. Record will be released on 2nd March 2018 via Unmade Road/Caroline International. On Record, the synth-driven tracks arrive and leave with a punchy sub-three-minute directness. “I wanted it to be a record you’d listen to in the daytime,” Tracey says. “On your headphones or on the move. Not necessarily in the evening, or in your bedroom.” For all its no-fuss pop brevity, the album rotates around Sister, a dubby nine-minute Compass Point-style disco jam where Tracey is joined again by Warpaint’s rhythm section and glorious backing vocals from Corinne Bailey Rae. Across four decades Tracey’s songs and writing have offered up a clear-eyed woman’s view of the immediate world around her; from the acerbic teen love songs of her first early-eighties band Marine Girls, through sixteen years as one half of articulate multi-million-selling duo Everything But The Girl to her recent acclaimed memoirs and journalism.”
Back in 1999, Rhino Handmade had an early triumph with the release of the 7-CD box set The Fun House Sessions, chronicling the making of the album from the quintessential proto-punk bad boys, TheStooges. Now Run Out Groove has boiled down that set into four sides of vinyl and fourteen choice selections as “Highlights from The Fun House Sessions”. Recorded with producer Don Gallucci of The Kingsmen at Elektra Sound Recorders in Los Angeles back in May 1970 as The Stooges’ sophomore effort, Fun House made “Louie, Louie” look positively tame, and was commercially unsuccessful upon its initial release. But its influence as a key building block in the punk revolution can’t go unnoticed, as it quickly developed a cult following among both critics and fans. Blending fast and furious hard rock with improvisation and even a jazz element thanks to Steve Mackay’s saxophone and the loose feel, Fun House showed Iggy Pop, Dave Alexander, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton, and Mackay at their most primal yet still pushing the musical envelope forward.
The first two sides of Highlights are sequenced to follow the track order of the original LP, with the third and fourth sides offering additional alternate takes, fly-on-the-wall studio chatter, and a 17-minute jam session/early version of the closing “L.A. Blues” entitled “Freak.” There are plenty of ferocious nuggets here that are illuminating to fans of the original album but accessible enough to be enjoyed on their own. Take 6 (Reel # 6) of “Down on the Street,” the lone A-side drawn from Fun House in its final version, spellbindingly pulsates. The taut garage band performance on “Loose” (Take 16, Reel 4) is almost-but-not-quite-commercial, no small accomplishment for The Stooges. Like Alexander’s throbbing bass on “Dirt” (Take 5, Reel 11) or Ron Asheton’s screaming guitar on “1970” (Take 2, Reel 1), Iggy Pop’s throaty wail on “See That Cat (T.V. Eye)” (Reel 2) explodes with no compromises. Desperation drips from his raspy delivery on “Lost in the Future” (Take 3, Reel 3). Outtake “Slide (Slidin’ the Blues)” offers something a bit different, with Mackay’s tenor sax wending through the bluesy drawl. Everything about Fun House is even more primal and raw in these alternate versions – musically unflinching, brutal, and immediate.
Designed by Peto Gerth, Highlights from The Fun House Sessions boasts a glossy gatefold with new liner notes. In a fine touch, the two multi-colored swirl 180-gram LPs, stored in protective sleeves, have vintage Elektra butterfly replica labels. With The Complete Fun House Sessions long out-of-print in CD format, this vinyl collection of screeching, raw power is a welcome arrival.
Smokey Brights make music that taps into history and stretches out a kind of visionary rock that rolls relentlessly forwardwhile recombining iconic sounds – from funk to Fleetwood Mac, Bowie to Blur, disco to Dire Straits, and splashes of Floyd psychedelia – crafting something urgent, fun, and utterly surprising.
it was back in 2010 than Smokey Brights first formed; Ryan Devlin and Kim West, a new couple with not much money to spare, set about singing Christmas songs to give out as gifts, seven years later they’re stilling singing. They may have been making music for a number of years, however with the release of their upcoming EP, Come To Terms, 2018 looks like being the year when a lot more people notice them doing it.
The recently released title track, Come To Terms, is a fine introduction to the band’s sound, built around reverberating guitars and bombastic drum beats, it finds Ryan’s gravelly, Cold War Kids meets Two Gallants, vocal to the fore, while Kim’s soulful Beth Ditto like backing adds some wonderful depth to the track. Come To Terms is a record of social division, soundtracking the growth of political chasms between alternating view points, and asking how we can go about rising above and starting to heal the wounds; as Devlin sings on the closing track, “This is not the time to turn your back on what you see. Find the strength in you, and I will find the good in me”. There’s plenty of good to be found here, a big bold and important record, Smokey Brights are a band who seven years in have never sounded more important.
Kip Berman on The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart’s fourth album, The Echo Of Pleasure.
As The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart’s primary singer and songwriter, Berman has always rendered aspects of his life into his music. From the fizzy allure and bittersweetness of his 20s to the creeping responsibility of adulthood, he sings with a sense of wistful honesty and, when bolstered by the band’s effervescent melodies, with joyful idealism. But as he was writing and recording new material, Berman was facing a major life change: He and his wife were expecting the birth of their first child. Berman has said he couldn’t help but let that uncertainty — such as worrying about providing for his burgeoning family, and wondering what it meant for his band — influence his songs. The resulting album represents his most mature and personally revealing yet — without losing any of the The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s trademark infectious charm and sincerity.
That’s especially true of “When I Dance With You,” an ecstatic dance-ready song built from buoyant beats and glistening synths that imply a fleeting, lose-yourself-in-the-moment headspace, but actually exposes deeper meaning: Contentment derived from inseparable togetherness washes away, at least temporarily, fears of an unknowable future. “When I dance with you, everything else just slides out of view… when I dance with you, I feel OK,” Berman sings. And on the dynamic opener, “My Only,” Berman gives into his love and unwavering commitment, earnestly declaring “Now that you’re here, I don’t have a fear, you’re my only / So keep it together, I won’t find another love like I found you.”
Throughout its nine songs, The Echo Of Pleasure balances the complex shadings between lust and sensuality, blissful devotion and messy accumulation of regret. On “Anymore,” he exposes his own flaws, and ruminates on whether he can live up to others’ expectations: “Don’t need to be told what I’ll never be, anymore,” he asserts. Later, the glimmering “Falling Apart So Slow” charts a seasonal year wherein intimacy unravels in his absence; and “The Echo Of Pleasure” describes how dynamics can change and decay when feelings are left unreciprocated. “The echo of pleasure can’t return / Just fade into these silent days… I was young and sick with love / Now I’m sick with something else,” Berman concedes.
Mirroring Berman’s resonant themes, there’s maturation in the music, too. Across its previous records, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart toggled from the lo-fi shoegaze of its self-titled debut to the stormy distorted heft of Belongto the nimble indie pop the band is now best known for. With The Echo Of Pleasure, Pains reshapes its sonic palette once more. With bright, chest-swelling pop anthems such as “The Cure For Death” and “The Garrett,” the band absolutely sparkles, blending shimmering hooks, noisy guitar lines and snappy beats with swirling female vocal harmonies that crest into celebratory sing-alongs. Many of Pains‘ ever-widening net of friends pop up to flesh out Berman’s widescreen tapestry — including singer Jen Goma, who takes the spotlight on the retro dance track “So True.” “If you don’t lose some skin for the things you believe / How do you know that you really do,” she asks over fluttering keyboards and disco drum beats.
What makes The Echo Of Pleasure so powerful is the way The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart can address somber themes with such warm positivity. As he’s grown older and gained perspective as a songwriter, Kip Berman has settled on a beneficial, aspirational lesson: Healthy, enduring relationships require frequent compromise and reassessment over time, but if nurtured, the rewards can be limitless.
Happy Accidents have been around the UK indie-punk scene for a while now, releasing their debut album, “You Might Be Right”, back in 2016. This year promises to ramp things up for the London-trio, with the upcoming release of their second album, “Everything But The Here And Now”, on the always excellent Alcopop! Records. The album, which was recorded with Hookworm’s front-man turned underground uber-producer MJ, is something of a departure for the band, not least because of the debut of drummer Phoebe’s nonchalant vocal, adding a stunning counter-point to regular front-man Rich’s more emotive, urgent delivery.
Taken from our new album Everything But The Here And Now on Alcopop! Records
The vocal changes aren’t the only progress here though, everything about Happy Accidents now seems more ambitious. The addition of washes of keys, synths and atmospheric studio trickery, creates a more rounded sound without losing their energetic charm, recalling acts like Los Campesinos! or former touring-mates Doe. As well as a more ambitious record, Everything But The Here And Now is also a more versatile one; recent single Text Me When You’re Home is an anti Cat-Calling anthem full of beefy Kamikaze Girls-like guitar lines and contrastingly ethereal vocals, while Wait It Out is a straight forward thrashy punk song, and A Better Plan has a distinct 90’s alt-rock feel to it. Happy Accidents sound better than ever, taking giant strides forward without ever forgetting where it all began.
The new a compilation of Micah P. Hinson’s performances at the BBC over the last 15 years.
Re-mastered at Bent Leaf Studios in Texas, overseen by Micah himself at the end of last year, these 11 tracks were picked from a wealth of cuts from Micah’s visits to Marc Riley over the course of nine albums.
Micah offered some insight into the personal importance of these sessions:
“I owe Sir Marc a deep gratitude that spans back years now. In this life, champions are needed- yet they are rare. As if I was deep in the amazon, I had found a flower not yet known to the world and people would congratulate me on what had found and what I had brought to the world- and Marc was the first one in line, hand outstretched; a grin on his face.”
Marc also spoke about his experience of having Micah in to play for him over the years:
“I remember the first time Micah came in to do a session for us. 18th September 2004. It was at the time of his debut ‘…And The Gospel Of Progress’ LP which I absolutely loved. He was backed by The Earlies (as he was on the record) and the session was mind-blowing. The songs were fantastic, Micah’s voice made Johnny Cash sound like Aled Jones. He told tales of being thrown in jail.. of suffering great dramatic losses in his life. I remember asking him to clarify how old he was on air and he replied “23 Sir”.
I believe his eventful life will one day be made into a biopic…but until that day this document of his radio sessions will serve to document the path of this great singer-songwriter from Abilene Texas.”
The band manage to exert a sense of modernism while still putting out good old fashioned indie pop. It’s an interesting trick and one that can be seen clearly on the new track ‘Before Sunrise’.The cut is taken from their forthcoming album, ‘Where Wildness Grows’, which is out on March 9th via Transgressive Records. The follow up to their much-acclaimed debut ‘A Dream Outside’, was produced by Neil Comber (Glass Animals, M.I.A, Songhoy Blues).
This track is another gem from these boys who are gifted when creating music to fit any scene you need. They can fill a party, they can wake you in the morning, they can burst your eardrums and soothe your soul. Gengahr have got it. Whatever ‘it’ is.
Following their recently new tracks ‘Carrion’ and ‘Mallory’ the North London based band are showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. Backed by everyone worth their salt Gengahr will continue to make music to live by.
Felix Bushe said: “’Before Sunrise’ is a song that celebrates the relief and simplicity one can find lost in the night. A clarity and single mindedness that doesn’t exist in day to day life. A beautiful weightlessness that gradually dissolves as the sun comes up”.
Evolving from the confines of a solo project into an emotionally reaching five piece powerhouse, Juan de Fuca renders heavy dreams through the catacombs of their beautifully textured debut album Solve/Resolve. Shortly after singer/songwriter Jack Cherry released a 6 song solo EP cavern of in 2015, he was fervently encouraged by friends in the Athens, GA scene to make something bigger happen with his material. Bassist Jack Webster and drummer Howard Stewart pushed for the formation of a full band, and when guitarists Clark Brown and DeclanFarisee signed on, the group began work in earnest developing a sound that drew as much on Shoegaze’s layers of blissful chaos as it did on the clenched-jaw melodicism of wiry early aughts post-punk and Lower East Side rock icons.
Like many pieces of great art, the path to making the debut Juan De Fuca album, Solve/Resolve, has not been an easy one. Much of the record is inspired by the loss of front-man Jack Cherry’s best friend, taking in themes of grief, addiction and attempting to come out the other side. As Jack explains, “it’s about trying to overcome something that you are just absolutely living with for the rest of your life”.
There’s obviously a touching point towards bands like The Walkmen, Jack’s vocal bares a striking resemblance to Hamilton Leithauser, and the more hazy, textural sound of Deerhunter. Solve/Resolve is a record that feels vital, one minute bristling with electric intent the next sliding into morose ambiance or waves of beautiful noise. Juan De Fuca could just be among the most exciting guitar-bands you’ll hear all year.
Ought. is not only a brilliant band they have released a new track but also a brilliant new video for ‘Disgraced in America’. The song, ‘Disgraced In America’ matches Ought’s recent output . A unique voice and a thick rhythm add to the band’s new sound. It’s a sound which will come in to full focus on the new album Room Inside The World, which is out on Merge Records on February 16th. The sound is an evolution for the Montreal band who are now using their anger to fuel their investigation in to this world. There’s a sense the band are paying closer attention than ever and choosing the optimum time to unleash their fury.
The video is also incredibly impressive, it shows a band keen on their artistic output rather than super-stardom: shot in 15-second increments over the course of three weeks it is something very special. “Breaking a song down into its tiniest parts actually leaves lots of room to improvise and really consider how to describe it visually,”
Ought’s Tim Darcy had this to say about the video; “The term ‘microcosm’ came to mind when I read Heather Rappard’s accompanying description for ‘Disgraced in America’. The way they worked on the song, second by second, opened up deeper layers than we’re used to. Anyone who’s tried to memorise a lyric or a melody will know how unseen worlds can open up when you dig in like that. Songs can last for days, years, fucking centuries, and then you pull your head out of the brook and maybe 15 seconds have passed.
“I wanted to create a video that morphed and visually changed in the same ways the song does: in the beginning, working with the bright guitar sound and the illustrative qualities of the lyrics, then moving into the abstract at the bridge’s breakdown, to the ending where it completely changes, becoming much noisier and darker with the percussion, spacey synths, and ringing guitar hits.”
We are completely honoured and rocked by Heather and Mike’s work, and hope it can take you a few layers deeper, where the clock ticks a bit slower and the drum fills are as big as billboards. Definition of microcosm on dic-tion-ary-dot-com? “A little world.”
Take a look below at Ought’s ‘Disgraced in America’,
Jethro Tull the British progressive rock group. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and the flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969, after he replaced original guitarist Mick Abrahams.
The complete session recorded by Jethro Tull on 16th June 1969 for John Peel on the Top Gear show on BBC Radio 1 and broadcast on the 22nd of that month. Ian just didnt realise the greatness of Glenn Cornick r.i.p and Clive Bunker..this was magic..the other line ups were good. Clive was along with ginger baker and mitch mitchel..the best if their era.bonzo was the best thumper and barlow best technician.
Recording date: 16th June 1969 First broadcast: 22nd June 1969.
Tracklist: Bourée / A New Day Yesterday / Fat Man / Nothing is Easy
John Peel was a great supporter of the 1968 incarnation of Jethro Tull , the band did their first session for TopGear before their first LP was released. He was present when the band played at a free concert in Hyde Park on 20th June 1968, and both Peel and Tull can be seen in a (silent) British Pathé film clip made at the event. In an enthusiastic account of the festival , Peel wrote: “Jethro Tull had bee preceded to the park by rumours of their goodness. They played with fire and brought out the first rays of the sun…..” In another of his IT columns, a few months later, he praised their debut session: “I wonder did you hear Jethro Tull on Top Gear – they were very good and I look forward to their LP..”
John Peel was a fan of Mick Abrahams‘ guitar playing, which can be heard on the band’s debut single “A Song for Jeffrey”, whose psychedelic-blues style shows the influence of Captain Beefheart’s Safe As Milk LP. But once Abrahams left (replaced by Martin Barre), After he left Jethro Tull, Mick Abrahams‘ own bands (Blodwyn Pig and Mick Abrahams Band) got plenty of airplay on Peel’s shows, and Abrahams did sessions for them.
Peel lost interest in the band. This, apparently, caused a sort of altercation between Peel and Ian Anderson which led to Peel abandoning the band.
Ian Anderson dedicated the 40th anniversary edition (released in 2010) to John Peel, stating that he was regretful that he never had the chance to make up with him. During the months following the recording and release of This Was, our little Blues band featured on a number of BBC Radio sessions, some on the John Peel show, some for other broadcasters (note: all the sessions the band did in 1968 were recorded for “Top Gear”) and the results – amazingly enough – were retained by the BBC in whatever cavernous vaults and audio dungeons line the bowels Bradcasting House in Portland Place, then and now the home of the “Beeb”. These sessions were, as far as I remember, completely live recordings and stand the test of time surprisignly well. Sonically, they are pretty damn fine. […]
But John, who had a soft spot for original Tull guitarist, Mick Abrahams, was not to be so supportive of our next effort. He advised me, at a co-appearance in a Devon club in early ’69, that he didn’t like the new songs of Stand Up and thought it at mistake that we had apparently lost touch with our blues roots and Mick in particular.
Martin and I were a little stung by this and so the mood was not good when we recorded the songs for Peel’s live sessions show four moths later. John Peel, himself, didn’t turn up, which made us feel somewhat unloved! Peel’s producer John Walters reported some of this bad feeling to his master and thus began a long and regrettable period of disassociation from one of the two or three people most supportive and influential in getting Tull’s career started.
