The Fat Angel Sings

“Five Dice, All Threes” is a record of uncommon intensity and tenderness, communal exorcism and personal excavation. These are, of course, qualities that fans have come to expect from Bright Eyes, nearly three decades into their career. The tight-knit band of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott tends to operate in distinct sweeping movements: each unique in its sound and story but unified by a sense of ambition and ever-growing emotional stakes. Even with this rich history behind them, these new songs exude a visceral thrill like nothing they have attempted before.

Oberst has always sung in a voice that conveys a sense of life-or-death gravity. At times throughout “Five Dice, All Threes“, you may feel worried for him; other times, he may seem like the only one with the clarity to get us out of this mess. On the self-produced album, Bright Eyes embrace the elusive quality that has made them so enduring and influential across generations and genres, bringing their homespun sound from an Omaha bedroom to devoted audiences around the world.

In Oberst’s songwriting lies a promise that our loneliest thoughts and feelings can take on grander shapes when passed between friends, blasted through speakers, or shouted among crowds. This time around, the band invites such like-minded voices onto the record with them, with notable guest appearances from Cat Power (“All Threes”), The National’s Matt Berninger (“The Time I Have Left”), and Alex Orange Drink, the frontman of the New York punk band The So So Glos, who co-wrote several songs and shares a climactic verse in the surging “Rainbow Overpass.” When they hit the studio with Oberst’s longtime bandmates—the multiinstrumentalist and producer Mike Mogis, the keyboardist and arranger Nate Walcott—they opted for a fast-paced approach that drew inspiration from formative influences like The Replacements and Frank Black. They sought textures that burst from the mix like gnarly splashes of paint on a blank canvas; they opted for first takes and spontaneous decisions.

“Rainbow Overpass” (ft Alex Orange Drink), the second single off of ‘Five Dice, All Threes’

“Five Dice, All Threes” thrashes and squirms and resists classification. In the brilliant expanse of “El Capitan,” they blend a galloping rhythm you might find in a Johnny Cash standard with a swell of funereal horns, shouted vocals, and lyrics that read like a sobering farewell between twin souls. “So they’re burning you an effigy,” Oberst sings. “Well, that happens to me all the time!” For every striking turn in his lyrics, the band knows just how to complement him. On one level, “Five Dice, All Threes” may be the most fun album in the Bright Eyes catalogue, filled with singalong hooks and buzzing performances. And yet, sitting alongside these adrenalized rockers that sound beamed in directly from the garage, you will find contemplative, psychedelic material like the heartbreaking “Tiny Suicides” and “All Threes,” a song whose jazzy piano solo and free-associative lyrics feel totally unprecedented in the Bright Eyes catalogue. As per usual, the music comes loaded with subtext that invites deep listening—the signature touch of a band who has always honoured the album as its own exalted work of art. In the game of threes, the titular move would indicate a perfect roll. Perfection, however, means something different in the world of Bright Eyes, where our flaws are what grants us authority and finding meaning is only possible if we bear witness to the dark, winding journey to get there. On “Five Dice, All Threes”, Bright Eyes embrace these beliefs with music that feels thrillingly alive, as if we were all in the room with them, shouting along and gaining the strength to move forward together. It doesn’t just sound like classic Bright Eyes. It sounds like their future, too.

“Five Dice, All Threes” returns Bright Eyes to their most essential, urgent sound. Features Chan Marshall (Cat Power) and Matt Berninger (The National).‘Five Dice, All Threes’, out September 20th on Dead Oceans.

The Wednesday guitarist kicks out yet another thrilling solo album of indie rock moreishness, replete with grainy lo-fi melodies & muscular guitar wrangling.

The anatomy of an MJ Lenderman record might go something like this: warped pedal steels and skuzzed out guitar; crackin’ a cold one with some buds; a voice reminiscent of the high- lonesome warble of a choirboy. Songs snake their way from a lo- fi home recording to something glossier made with long time friends at Asheville’s Drop of Sun studios, but the recording setting doesn’t seem to matter much – at its core, a Lenderman song rings true. “Manning Fireworks” is a remarkable development in MJ Lenderman’s story as an incredibly incisive singer-songwriter, whose propensity for humour always points to some uneasy, disorienting darkness.

The punchlines are still here, as are the rusted-wire guitar solos that have made Lenderman a favourite for indie rock fans looking for an emerging guitar hero.

There’s a new sincerity, too, as Lenderman lets listeners clearly see the world through his warped lens.

Here we have a compilation entitled ‘I Followed My Dreams and My Dreams Said To Crawl” How I Admit I Didn’t Sign Up for Showbiz To Be Cosmically Knee-Capped By A Karmic Teacher Disguised This Time As The Bathetic Career of a Semi Beloved Fringe Balladeer In The Twenty Teens’, which exists now because over the last year or so, thanks to market forces beyond my comprehension, we’ve had an influx of new listeners. The idea was to offer them a piece of vinyl featuring, hopefully, all the songs they like in one place. Thanks for listening.

The double LP package features cover art from Kevin Tong Illustration, liner notes from novelist and screenwriter Bruce Wagner and comes on clear vinyl with green/blue/purple splatter.

“Greatish Hits: I Followed My Dreams and My Dreams Said to Crawl” is the singer-songwriter’s career-spanning collection of songs taken from his five widely acclaimed albums, including Fear Fun (2012), I Love You, Honeybear (2015), the Grammy-nominated Pure Comedy (2017), God’s Favorite Customer (2018), and Chloë and The Next 20th Century (2022). 

Greatish Hits marks the first appearance of fan favourite “Real Love Baby” on an album release. It also includes the brand new, previously unreleased song “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All.” 

Father John Misty has sold over 1.1 million copies in the US and has amassed over 11.7 million monthly listeners to date. He’s earned accolades from the likes of The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Rolling Stone, and has performed on Saturday Night Live, Austin City Limits, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and The Tonight Show. Father John Misty and his incredible nine piece live band have headlined The Hollywood Bowl, Red Rocks, and Radio City Music Hall as well as appearances at renowned International festivals including Coachella, Glastonbury, Roskilde, and Fuji Rock.

Father John Misty’s song “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All” is out on Sub Pop and Bella Union.

“I Followed My Dreams and My Dreams Said To Crawl’ is out now digitally and available for preorder on 2xLP and CD formats.

“Road to Red” Boxset. Sixteen concerts spread across 20 CDs of the final tour of my favourite King Crimson line-up. The shows here culminated in the creation of their final studio album, 1974’s “Red”. This was an intensely creative period for the band, full of musical improvisation. The music of this period was heavy and dynamic, moving effortlessly from whisper quiet to volcanically loud.

“Red” is probably my favourite King Crimson album. I love the guitar playing of Robert Fripp, and the drumming genius of Bill Bruford, but honestly, it’s the monster sized bass sound of John Wetton that keeps me coming back to this period of King Crimson. The new remaster of “Red” sounds superb to these ears and whilst the 5.1 recording is crystal clear, it is a matter of personal taste as to whether you like this modern take on classic albums.

The book contains Fripp’s diary which hold some interesting or telling comments and it would appear that Bill Bruford caused him some concerns at times, but there again he was not happy with his own playing all the time.  Tracks including “One More Red Nightmare” with John Wetton in top form and Robert Fripp creating building tension and release on the title track, it became one of Crimson’s most powerful beasts. And what about the beautiful, haunting mellotron intro to “Starless” introducing one of Fripp’s melodious and pure solos. Oh simply wondrous, not only is it beautifully packaged with an album size replica of the original cover, plus “USA” envelope of track recordings with pics inside and a most informative 40 page booklet

20 CDs of live material from the final USA & Canadian 1974 tours, 1 CD of studio material featuring a new stereo mix of “Red”, 1 DVD featuring various versions of the “USA” album/concert, 2 Blu-Ray discs featuring 5 complete concerts in high-resolution stereo + “Red” in hi-res stereo & 5.1, 12” box with booklet, memorabilia & album prints. Limited to one worldwide pressing.

“Red” was one of King Crimson’s best albums, if not The best and this set serves as a document of the music the band were making live leading up to “Red”. If it weren’t for the cost I’d say everyone should own this. This is a record of a ground-breaking band at the height of their powers.

Drawing from the best elements of the California psychedelic scene of the early 70s, along with a distinctly Zeppelin-esque flair, Feel captures the spirit of a bygone era, while suggesting what may be possible and still left unsaid from that heady time. They possess the keen energy, magnetism, and showmanship of the great vintage era bands without devolving into predictable cliché. Feel provides a promising glimpse into the direction of emerging American rock

Heat, passion, charm, and churn come together in FEEL’s invigorating new single “Find a Love,” a smile-inducing hard rock reverie full of raw energy and sizzling sound.

 Feel is a band for fans of searing guitar riffs, dynamic drumming, sonically charged melodies, and soaring vocals, that is. This is a band we Feel in our bones; a band whose fiery sound is as refreshing as it is familiar. Heat, passion, charm, and churn come together in FEEL’s invigorating new single “Find a Love,” a smile-inducing hard rock reverie.

V-U2 does not just capture U2’s epic run at Sphere, it makes audiences feel like they are at the live shows themselves in a first-of-its-kind immersive experience that is only possible at Sphere. To create this larger-than-life concert film, a number of Big Sky cameras captured the band at extraordinary scale, sharpness, and clarity. V-U2 employs Sphere’s immersive technologies including the 160,000 sq. ft. display plane, which at 16k x 16k resolution is the world’s highest-resolution LED screen; Sphere Immersive Sound, powered by HOLOPLOT, which provides crystal-clear sound to every seat in Sphere; and haptic seats, which use vibrations so guests can ‘feel’ the experience. All of these technologies, which were used to great effect in ‘U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere,’ will be leveraged in this Sphere Experience in new and different ways to reinforce the feeling of ‘being there.

V-U2 will be screened exclusively at the futuristic Las Vegas venue from September 5th. The film is the first to be shot using the ‘Big Sky’ camera system, which Sphere Entertainment has itself developed. This footage will appear on the venue’s 160,000-square-foot LED screen in high-definition audio. There are even so-called ‘haptic’ seats, which vibrate to the sound of the music. 

Since releasing “A Light for Attracting Attention” last year, The Smile haven’t slowed down and are now preparing to release their next album in early 2024 (perhaps being a trio gives them the benefit of moving a little faster than Radiohead). “Wall of Eyes,” the second song to be released from the album, showcases their more cinematic, atmospheric side, a subtle bossa nova that gradually builds out into an eerie art-pop slow-burner with elements of Radiohead’s most subtly intense moments on “A Moon Shaped Pool”. Where the fun of the band’s first set of songs was its immediacy, it’s thrilling to hear them evolve into something even more nuanced and layered, revealing new and repeatedly rewarding aspects to this still-new(ish) band of art-rock vets.

On their debut, the Smile sounded revitalized and even impatient, managing to cram together disparate influences with an emphasis on groove. Its follow-up finds no use in harnessing the frenetic energy of tracks like ‘You Will Never Work in Television Again’, but it doesn’t mean their restlessness has subsided. For a record that can generally be described as more subdued than its predecessor, it’s strange how unsettled its restraint feels, each eerie detail and unresolved conclusion appearing to inch them out of, rather than sinking into, the ideal of graceful maturity. There’s no sense of complacency on “Wall of Eyes”, which abounds with proof of a band alive with ideas, curiously bending them to shape until it’s no longer of service.

From Wall of Eyes, out January 26th via XL Recordings

The Boston slowcore trio stitch their gentle and heavy sounds back together with a newfound clarity while considering nihilism from a more hopeful angle on their cathartic fourth album. Horse Jumper of Love are no strangers to the void. With the release of their self-titled 2016 debut, frontman Dimitri Giannopoulos confessed to having a phase where he thought “nothing was real” as a teenager, and since then, their music has always had a hint of the dissociative. Hazy interludes give way to tidal waves of sound anchored by tiny details: the “kiss” of throwing up into a trashcan on 2019’s “John Song,” a favorite shirt ruined by bleach on their breakout track “Ugly Brunette.” 

For their new album “Disaster Trick”, the signature slowcore sound established on their debut is reborn. Horse Jumper’s last release, 2023’s “Heartbreak Rules” EP, stripped their work down to the bone with Giannopoulos largely on solo acoustic guitar, but the new record brings back the noise, stitching their gentle and heavy sounds back together in a cathartic return to form.

Their production process has recentered, too. Rather than “show up at a studio, drink, and record,” the newly sobre Giannopoulos says he and the band approached “Disaster Trick” with clarity, traveling to Asheville’s Drop of Sun Studios to work with producer Alex Farrar. There, they were joined by the studio’s recent alums Karly Hartzman and MJ Lenderman of Wednesday and Ella Williams of Squirrel Flower.

It feels like Horse Jumper of Love isn’t just evolving, but considering its own nihilism from a new angle. The intoxicating sink of their earlier work is garnished with something a little more hopeful, a little more self-aware. In a way, the band is literally looking back—“Gates of Heaven,” for instance, is a previously unfinished track from years ago. But there’s a sense of determination alongside this retrospection, a pursuit of honesty and connection that shines through the darkness. “I know it sounds dramatic,” Giannopolous acknowledges at the close of “Death Spiral.” “But I must describe the way that it felt.”

Horse Jumper of Love from “Disaster Trick”, out 16th August on Run For Cover Records.

Christian Lee Hutson has dropped another pre–”Paradise Pop 10″. track in the form of “Beauty School,” which is all about Hutson’s journey to become a certified esthetician. That last part isn’t true, but don’t let that dissuade you from checking out this certified bad boy of a track.

Some alt-pop vibes abound as Hutson sings of sangria in a Dixie cup over shuffling acoustic guitar chords and a massive chorus that kinda sounds like Weezer, but good.

 Fellow singer songwriter Katy Kirby features and brings plenty more to the table, as she always does. Regarding the track, Hutson said: “‘Beauty School’ is a love song to myself and to you. To all the people we’ve been and to all the people we will be.”

the upcoming album ‘Paradise Pop. 10’, out on September 27th, 2024

Illuminati Hotties’ anticipated new album “Power” is out next month, and she’s shared the title track. “This song feels scary to share,” she writes on Instagram, “I can’t tell you the relief I felt when I cracked open the meaning of this song & also the fear that if I spilled my guts I couldn’t step away from reality. I hope you find comfort in ‘Power’ & I RLY hope you’re ready to sing this thing with me on tour.”

Sarah Tudzin’s previous album as illuminati hotties, wore its many outfits with conviction: its riot grrrl satire, its devastating eulogy to Tudzin’s dog, its absurdist low-key violent lyrics (“I’m biting my lip and I’m biting yours, too / ’Til the blood tastes like chocolate goo”)—not to mention its inclusion of “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA,” easily the most outlandish, unique indie-pop song of 2021. With her new album “Power”, Tudzin has purged most of the mischievous experimentation from her system; the leftovers feel made by someone in a happier place, but largely lack the moxie and irreverence that set her apart. 

Tudzin got married in 2023, and her honeymoon contentment is all over “Power”. It’s not that love was absent before, though. “The Sway” from “Let Me Do One More” is one of the greatest love ballads ever (I’ll die on that hill), as Tudzin pleaded her muse to “soft split a borrowed 12 of Modelo” and “share all your stains and your bruises with me” over the warm ticking of an ersatz drum loop and offbeat acoustic guitar part. Those sentiments are more bizarre (and, therefore, more interesting) than “Power’s” goofy domestic bliss. “I Would Like, Still Love You” aims in a similar direction, but its listicle lyric format is less witty than it could be, and lines such as “If you drill a hole through my hard drive / Don’t worry, I’m backed up and still I love you” are probably better enjoyed by the lyrics’ recipient. 

releases August 23rd, 2024