The Fat Angel Sings

“Everything And Nothing” is a compilation originally released in 2000, detailing the career of art-pop star David Sylvian. As well as solo material from throughout his two-decade solo career with Virgin Records, some of it previously unreleased, there’s re-recordings of key tracks from Sylvian’s bands Japan and Rain Tree Crow. This lavish 10 CD Box Set contains all of David Sylvian’s solo albums released on his own independent label, samadhisound, between 2003 and 2014, plus the albums recorded with Nine Horses, Jan Bang & Erik Honoré and Franz Wright & Christian Fennesz.

Also contains an exclusive compilation CD, “Do You Know Me Now?” featuring non-album tracks recorded with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Nine Horses.

Alongside the remixes of “Ghosts” and “Bamboo Houses”, the album features tracks such as the beautiful ‘Ride’ from the ‘Secrets of the Beehive’ sessions, two dobro pieces written with Bill Frizell and “Cover Me with Flowers” from the ‘Dead Bees On A Cake’ sessions, plus the classic “Some Kind of Fool’ taken from Japan’s sessions for ‘Gentleman Take Polaroids’.

Officially commissioned web site promo for David’s “Everything And Nothing” compilation album. This mini site was ultimately never used. Be sure to watch in 480, fullscreen and to keep watching after “Darkest Dreaming” finishes.

The box contains a 100-Page Hard Cover Book with an Introduction by David Sylvian and an essay on the samadhisound aesthetic by Adrian Shaughnessy plus 3 CD Holders featuring the work of Canadian musician and painter, Lance Austin Olsen.

Please get to hear the new OSEES album this week, their blazing ‘SORCS 80’ including not only their trademark guitar bursts but a load of brass too! I’m getting hints of heavy ska-hardcore from the 00’s as well as the obvious and welcome psychedelic garage groove. Another particularly prolific outfit that have another album out this week is the ‘something-for-everyone’ Australian powerhouse, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard. As far as the actual music goes, the feel good 70’s influenced blues-psych of ‘Flight B741’ is definitely my favourite sounds I’ve heard from them in a while. It’s definitely got less of a concept than some of their recent work, but the band sound like they’re having as great time and the scuzzy-psych-blues soar works so well with KG’s whole slacker aesthetic, leaning into the swagger and crafting a raucous, feel-good whole.

Singer sonwriter Beabadoobee has a new album out, this new one is a beautiful slice of indie-pop perfection. There are more than hints of the sweetly sung melodic synth from ‘Beatopia’ but once again, it’s matured into something that’s both undeniably addictive to listen to and brilliantly written and produced.

Paul Weller’s 2003 rarities compilation is reissued as a 3LP vinyl set.

Paul Weller’s 2003 compilation “Fly On The Wall” is a triple vinyl compilation that includes B-sides, remixes, and rarities from Paul’s time at Go! Discs and subsequently Island Records between 1991 and 2001. This compilation has been unavailable since its original release. Notable tracks include “The Loved,” “Fly On The Wall,” and “The Riverbank.” The set also includes Weller’s take on classic tunes like Lennon’s “Sexy Sadie” and “Instant Karma,” and Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released,” as well as a blistering version of Crosby Stills Nash and Young’s “Ohio.” It also features a remix of “Wild Wood” by Portishead.

Beabadoobee – This Is How Tomorrow Moves

‘This Is How Tomorrow Moves’, the latest album from Beabadoobee, recorded at Shangri-La, Malibu, with renowned producer Rick Rubin and long term collaborator Jacob Bugden. Born in the Philippines and raised in London, Beatrice Laus, known as Beabadoobee, has emerged as a British indie icon.

 ‘This Is How Tomorrow Moves’ captures Bea’s confidence and introspection, with themes of self-acceptance and personal growth woven throughout. It stands as a testament to her artistic evolution and resilience, marking a significant milestone in her career.

Osees – Sorcs 80

This album was a self imposed ambitious project for us. Something to kick in the creative flow. The last few years, having been a challenging time in general, felt like a good time for a pivot. The last two albums were so guitar and keyboard centric, I wanted a weird and fun set of parameters for us to work with. I demo’d everything at home on cassette 4 track (harkening back to simpler times) using drum loops, and just had at it ’til I had a pile of “songs”.

Tom and I chose one sound each using synths and created a range of 3 octaves of that sample, then loaded them into Roland SPD-SX samplers and learned the transcribed songs using drum sticks. The idea was to change the way we wrote and to have 4 people along the front of the stage essentially playing percussion. So no guitar, no keys.

As we were recording I kept thinking how the sounds, when paired up, sounded a bit like brass. So, we added a saxophone horn section to round out the horniness of the sound with a bit of reedy bell tones. Thanks to Cansfis Foote & Brad Caulkins on tenor and Baritone saxophones 🙂 Sort of a Dexy’s Midnight Runners meets Von LMO meets The Flesh Eaters meets the Screamers kinda punk junk.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Flight b74

The band set aside all genre tripping and conceptual detours, crank up the guitars, and let loose with some straight-ahead classic rock jamming

Quivers – Oyster Cuts

“Oyster Cuts”, the Merge Records debut of Quivers, finds the Melbourne, Australia–based outfit awash in the kind of emotions people tend to fear losing themselves in. Finding love after grief, the outsized guitar pop of Quivers gleams like the surface of an ocean, beneath which lies a reef that is at turns beautiful and painful, its features alien and sharp enough to wound. Propelled by melodies that at times recall Galaxie 500 and The Pretenders, Quivers make music that is tender and tough, compelling the listener to dive in again and again, each song a new angle on all of your feelings.

“Oyster Cuts” is sunshine pop with blood in the water. The losses and loves that have informed Quivers’ music since their inception the sudden loss of a brother in the cracked optimism of “We’ll Go Riding on the Hearses” (2018) and the life in and after grief of “Golden Doubt” (2021) ripple into “Oyster Cuts“, which is committed to moving forward while accepting that some feelings, like grief, are a cycle. Crucially, Quivers committed to moving forward with each other. Paring away the choir and strings of “Golden Doubt”, “Oyster Cuts” is a showcase for what’s still possible when four people Sam Nicholson (guitars), Bella Quinlan (bass), Michael Panton (guitars), and Holly Thomas (drums) make music together.

Justin Townes Earle – All In: Unreleased and Rarities (The New West Years)

Justin Townes Earle – All In: Unreleased and Rarities (The New West Years) is a fitting tribute to Justin’s legacy – The collection features many never heard before songs, demos, and cover tunes, spanning his time as a New West Records recording artist.

“Kids In The Street“, his first record on New West Records, in May of 2017 – The album received critical acclaim and further cemented Justin’s legacy as one of the best active songwriters in music – Songs like, “Champagne Corolla” showcased his wry sense of humour as well as his deft ability to build upon the music that came before him while at the same time creating something unique and new.

Familiar, inventive, creative, and clever. Justin would release his second album with New West Records in May of 2019. “The Saint of Lost Causes” was hailed as one of the best albums of 2019 by Rolling Stone Magazine with “half a dozen or so career classics.” “I was trying to look through the eyes of America,” Earle says. “Because I believe in the idea of America – that everybody’s welcome here and has a right to be here.” Earle tells these American stories in detail and without judgment. While some songs cite historic events like “Flint City Shake It,” and “Don’t Drink The Water,” other tracks present fictionalized narratives that are no less harrowing, or true-to-life, as heard in “Appalachian Nightmare,” “The Saint Of Lost Causes,” and “Over Alameda.”

Justin Townes Earle was always a champion of the underdog and All In features in depth looks at the hopeful, and the hopeless. Fueled by empathy, baked in the blues, Justin was never without something poignant or humorous to say. Sadly, Justin passed away in 2020 at the age of 38.

Steve Kilbey – Bespoke Wheels and Winged Heels (An Anthology 1987-2023)

A stylishly designed anthology of solo and collaborative recordings curated into a deluxe gatefold sleeve double album. Spanning the years 1987 to 2023, the album moves through varying styles and moods all of which are a pleasure to listen to, whether in your car on a long country road or through the city at night or sitting down and absorbing the lush audio experience. Songs taken from 20 albums (one song from each album) all of which will be made available once more. Deluxe gatefold sleeve with full colour printed inner bags. Photos courtesy of Toby Burrows, includes arguably some of the best songs Steve Kilbey has written (and co-written). The very first album of its kind dealing with Kilbey’s not unimpressive solo career.

Drop Nineteens – Delaware

“Delaware” is one of the classic shoegaze records. Formed in Boston in 1991, Drop Nineteens instantly attracted much attention from the UK media and record companies, eventually signing to Hut records. Their debut “Delaware” is a beautiful record, noisy and melodic in equal measures, a record that is full of youth and innocence. The mix of the predominately english shoegaze style with a more american style akin to the Pixies and Sonic Youth gave Drop Nineteens a distinctive sound. The album has instant pop thrills such as ‘Winona’, rambling lsd influenced lo-fi epics such as ‘Kick the Tragedy’, indie pop gems such as ‘Your Aquarium’, with a cheeky and full blooded cover of madonna’s ‘Angel’ thrown in for good measure – yet it still hangs together as a coherent album.

After more than 45 years, the American punk band X thinks it’s enough enough, but leaves with a bang, because their supposed swan song “Smoke & Fiction” has become a fresh, energetic and inspired sounding album. There aren’t many bands that were founded at the end of the 70s and still sound this energetic. The punk band X does it on the album “Smoke & Fiction” which, according to the band itself, is really the very last album. After all these years, the band is still loyal to punk. “Smoke & Fiction” contains mainly energetic and punky songs, which are rushed through at a brisk pace. However, the members of the band can play and the vocals on the album are also excellent. The punk of X sounds wonderfully melodic and pushes the boundaries here and there by adding a touch of Americana, but “Smoke & Fiction” also definitely deserves the predicate punk. It provides a beautiful and dignified farewell.

X was founded in 1977 and can be counted as one of the standard-bearers of the Los Angeles punk scene. The band was formed when bassist, singer and songwriter John Doe (real name: John Nommensen Duchac) had become acquainted with the New York punk scene in general and the music of The Ramones in particular and wanted to make this kind of music himself.

He found allies in guitarist Billy Zoom (real name: Ty Kindell) and singer Exene Cervenka (real name: Christine Cervenkova). The band wore out a number of drummers, until in 1978 D.J. Bonebrake appeared and the ultimate line-up of X was a fact. The band has made quite a few albums.

X’s farewell party, released its very last album this week. “Smoke & Fiction” received remarkably good reviews, especially in the United States, The members of X have now reached retirement age, but still sound surprisingly fresh on their band’s new album. “Smoke & Fiction” opens with a lot of energy and everything you expect from punk, The rhythm section pounds away nicely, the guitar riffs are simple but accurate and the vocals are nice and rough and energetic, but compared to the bands from the early days of punk, both the music and the vocals on X’s album sound a bit better. The punky songs of the band are raw, but also remarkably melodic and this also applies to the vocals of John Doe and Exene Cervenka that complement and reinforce each other in a beautiful way.

The members of the band may be quite old by now, but that is not to be heard on “Smoke & Fiction”, which sounds fresh and inspired for ten songs. After half an hour it’s over, but in that half hour your mood and your energy level get a big boost.

The love for the music of The Ramones is still audible in X’s songs, but the band from Los Angeles is now doing its own thing with the influences from the past and therefore sounds a lot more versatile than the great examples of yesteryear.

John’s intro: “Hi fans! Welcome to the furniture auction. Good evening, tables and chairs.”

Another great concert from the successful WDR Rockpalast series, recorded live on March 17th, 1983 at Audiomax, Hamburg (Germany) – plus bonus track “Look At That Girl” from “Die Aktuelle Stunde” (WDR) from October 12th, 1989!- John Martyn’s impassioned vocals and dazzling guitar make this an extraordinary concert performance John Martyn (born Iain David McGeachy on September 11th, 1948 in New Malden, Surrey, died January 9th, 2009 in Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland) was an exceptional guitarist and accomplished singer/songwriter

 This stunning concert was recorded for German TV just after the release of his studio album “One World“.

Unfortunately the original master tape for “Singin’ In The Rain” could not be located and so this song has been omitted through necessity.

Green Day’s fortunes received a massive shot in the arm in 2004 with the release of “American Idiot”, the group’s second absolute classic of their career. Containing the huge hit singles ‘American Idiot’, ‘Boulevard Of Broken Dreams’, ‘Holiday’, ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ and ‘Jesus Of Suburbia’, this ambitious and brilliantly executed concept album inspired by the upheavals in American society post-9/11 shifted over nine million copies in the States alone. This 20th Anniversary edition contains B-sides and demos, a live show from Irving Plaza that year, and the 2015 documentary film “Heart Like A Hand Grenade”.

Green Day’s seventh studio album “American Idiot” was released in September 2004 and has since sold over 23 million copies worldwide. The album is a punk rock opera masterpiece that won the Best Rock Album at the 2005 Grammy Awards

This limited Edition Super Deluxe Box Sets (vinyl and CD), to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of this legendary album. The CD Super Deluxe contains 4 CDs which feature the original album and also includes 15 unreleased demos, a 15-song 2004 concert from Irving Plaza, NYC (9 songs previously unreleased), and 14 tracks that were released as B-Sides and bonus tracks. The box set is completed with two Blu-rays that feature the film “Heart Like A Hand Grenade”, 35 minutes of Green Day live at the BBC, and a new, unreleased documentary: “20 Years of American Idiot” plus a 48-page book, an enamel pin set, sticker sheet, and cloth patch.

8LP + 2x Blu-ray box set on Reprise. Includes a 36-page book, a large Green Day flag, and the iconic American Idiot red tie.

British indie pioneers The Loft split up in 1984 before they could become truly appreciated, but nevertheless were one of Creation’s earliest successes. In October 2023, the original line-up of Pete Astor, Dave Morgan, Bill Prince and Andy Strickland performed a four-track session for Marc Riley and Gideon Coe on their BBC Radio 6 Music show, rattling through three of their original classics plus their cover of Richard Hell’s ‘Time’.

The Loft notched up an impressive list of firsts for Creation Records artists back in the mid-1980s. First Creation band on TV, first to hit the top of the indie chart, first to be invited on to a major UK tour and, not least, first Creation band to record a coveted BBC radio session – for Janice Long’s Radio One show in 1984. Then they split up.

In October 2023, the band was invited by BBC Radio 6 Music’s Riley & Coe show to record its fourth BBC session at Maida Vale’s famous Studio 4, following their heralded appearance at the Glas-Goes Pop festival.

Featuring four classic Loft tracks and played by the original members the session confirmed the band’s standing as pioneering indie originals. On hearing the very first track broadcast, Nick Godfrey of Precious Recordings of London was messaging the band to bag the session for a full vinyl release.

The 10-inch vinyl EP features three band originals, ‘Beware’, ‘Worm In My Brain’ and ‘Ride’, plus their celebrated version of Richard Hell’s ‘Time’. The band have all contributed to the sleeve notes, describing what the session, and still playing together, means to them, with exclusive photos from inside Maida Vale taken by Ken Copsey.

10″ on Precious Recordings. Limited Edition of 500 copies,

King Crimson’s “Red” will be 50 next October 6th. In celebration of the anniversary of this classic King Crimson album, DGM and Panegyric will release a 50th Anniversary Edition on October 11th, By the time King Crimson entered the studio in July 74, the band had spent the best part of two years on the road, recorded two albums along the way (‘Larks’ Tongues In Aspic’ & ‘Starless & Bible Black’) & shed two band members en route; percussionist Jamie Muir having quit early 1973, and violin/mellotron player David Cross at the end of the US tour just a week prior to the recording of “Red”.

Crimson had built a reputation as one of the tightest, most powerful bands on the rock circuit. Recording as a trio in Olympic studios in London, with one improv piece (Providence) drawn from that final US tour & with contributions from former members & friends on saxophones, violin, and oboe, the group produced the last Crimson studio album of the 70s & one of the decade’s masterpieces – “Red”.

Available as a 4-disc boxed set (2 Blu-ray and 2 CDs) and as a 2-LP 200-gram vinyl set. 

 featured are a complete album’s worth of Elemental Mixes by long-time King Crimson producer (& band manager) David Singleton – using the original multi-track recordings to present a very different audio picture of the album, with greater separation of instruments & utilising many recorded elements recorded

This edition features completely new Dolby Atmos, 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio Surround & Stereo mixes by Steven Wilson taking the music to new levels of clarity & power. ‘Red’ was one of the earliest mixes undertaken by Steven Wilson in 2009 & King Crimson was the first of a number of classic band’s & artists to be mixed by Steven so it’s entirely appropriate that he return, some 15 years later, to take the album into the Dolby Atmos era.

“What I hear on “Red” is the best representation of 72-74 era line-up in the studio. In effect this is a power trio record and their sound is just huge.” – Steven Wilson

A new Jimi Hendrix box set is coming, and it features 38 unreleased tracks recorded by the late electric guitar legend at his Electric Lady studio months before his death. Since Hendrix’s untimely passing in September 1970, there have been many releases of B-Sides, rarities, re-masters, and other oddities, but very few offered new content.

Thankfully, the “Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision” box set, doesn’t fall for that trap – all but one of the set’s 39 tracks have never been released. The songs were recorded by what was a new-look Jimi Hendrix Experience band. While Mitch Mitchell remained on the drum stool, bassist Billy Cox was settling into life in the Experience having replaced Noel Redding the previous year.

Interestingly, Cox had previously turned down a spot in the band earlier in his career, believing it would protect the guitarist from racism. “Angel [Take 7]” is the first song from the new batch of lost gems to be unveiled. The song is a newly mixed and stripped-down version of the cut, featuring the original performances of Hendrix, Mitchell, and Cox that were committed to tape on July 23rd, 1970.

Unlike other versions that have come to light after Hendrix’s passing, this version is free of the additional drum and percussive layers Mitchell added after Hendrix had died.

During this period, Hendrix was tirelessly working on “First Rays Of The New Rising Sun“, the ambitious double album that was set to succeed his 1968 masterpiece, “Electric Ladyland”. The environment of Hendrix’s freshly constructed studio proved a breeding ground for creativity, with the trio piecing “Night Bird Flying”, “Freedom”, and “Dolly Dagger” together in the space.

This new box set offers a new, unblemished insight into their jams, with four-track demos of “Valleys Of Neptune” and “Heaven Has No Sorrow” serving as particular highlights.

There are also some far more sprawling offerings, including a 26-minute spontaneous jam entitled “The Long Medley, which includes “Beginnings, Hey Baby (New Rising Sun), Keep On Groovin’, and “Freedom“.

In addition, mixes of tracks completed by Hendrix and producer Eddie Kramer before he left the studio to perform at the Isle of Wight festival in England are included. The box set’s release coincides with a new documentary of the same name, which will be screened in cinemas. It tells the story of how a dilapidated Manhattan nightclub was transformed into Hendrix’s now-legendary, state-of-the-art studio.

“The construction of Electric Lady [Studios] was a nightmare,” Kramer says in the doc’s trailer. “We were always running out of money. Poor Jimi had to go back out on the road, make some money, come back, then we could pay the crew. “Late in ’69 we just hit a wall financially and the place just shut down. He borrows against his future royalties, and we’re off to the races. We could make an atmosphere that he felt comfortable in.”

John Lennon, The Clash, AC/DC, Chic, David Bowie, and Stevie Wonder would all go on to record at the studio. “My brother had a musical vision,” Janie Hendrix reflects. “With this project, it felt appropriate to shed light not only on his own music, but also on his lasting contribution of Electric Lady Studios.

“He was driven internally to build a home base where he could record everything he felt. While his life was cut short, so many other talented artists continue to express themselves within those magical walls on 52 West 8th Street.”

“Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision” is out September 13th via Legacy Recordings.

Jack White has given an official release to his new album, “No Name“, which he previously stealth-released via his Third Man stores on July 19th. The 13-track album will be available from Thursday, on limited edition vinyl at all Third Man stores with a wider vinyl release at select independent record stores, as well as a global digital release, following on Friday, August 2nd.

Jack White’s is back in a big, big way! Here he slides back into the raw, blown out garage rock that he’s so well known for and man does it sound good. The riffs are piled high all over this album and he’s never sounded so urgent and utterly relevant. Everything distorts in just the right places and the hooks are guaranteed to stay in your head for a long, long time. He’s stripped everything back and come back bigger, badder and better than ever. 2024 needs this man big time.

The album was recorded, produced, and mixed by White at his Third Man Studio throughout 2023 and 2024, pressed to vinyl at Third Man Pressing, and released by Third Man Records.