The expression of hard-fought optimism encapsulates Our Girl’s second LP; dealing with themes of sexuality, relationships, community, and illness.
Recorded at Rockfeld studios and produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, Dry Cleaning), Fern Ford (The Big Moon, Prima Queen), and Soph Nathan (also of The Big Moon), this album, filled with warmth and honesty, marks a significant artistic step forward since their acclaimed debut album, “Stranger Today”. Stepping into a production role for the first time, Soph Nathan recalls: “Working on this record taught me to trust my gut. I realised that we needed to make it sound and feel exactly how we wanted, otherwise what’s the point?” Lauren Wilson, who completes the line up alongside Josh Tyler, continues: “It feels more confident to me… a lot more considered, we’ve had time and space to write.”
This creative clarity permeates the album: both intimate and expansive, tonally nuanced and richly textured, it contains Soph Nathan’s most explicitly personal songwriting to date. This speaks to the journey the bandmates have each gone through in the years since their last LP, resolutely and fiercely committed to Our Girl, these three great friends not only know themselves better, but they know what they want to say, and exactly how they want it to sound.
A beguiling collection of bluesy, druggy, idealistic leftovers from the Airplane’s 1965-1970 history, this nine-song album was one of the first instances of a major American rock band plundering its vaults for rarities — it’s also as good a record as any of their official original albums. Musically, it’s full of superb material, including the six-and-a-half minute Jorma Kaukonen-authored blues workout “In the Morning”— an after-hours jam from the “Surrealistic Pillow” sessions (with Jerry Garcia on one of the guitars and John Hammond blowing the harp) that’s as fine a piece of music as anything that made it onto the album — the Signe Anderson vocal blow-out “High Flyin’ Bird,” and the Grace Slick-Paul Kantner sung version of “Go to Her” off of Surrealistic Pillow.
The closing two tracks on side one and the first track from side two come from the recording sessions for “Surrealistic Pillow”, which took place from October through November, 1966 at RCA Victor’s Music Center of the World. Tracks from the “Takes Off” and “Surrealistic Pillow” sessions appeared later as bonus tracks on the respective 2003 remasters, albeit with different mixes.
The first three tracks come from the recording sessions for Jefferson Airplane “Takes Off” which took place in December, 1965 at RCA Victor’s Music Center of the World recording studio in Hollywood. These tracks feature vocals by Signe Toly Anderson and Skip Spence on drums. “Runnin’ ‘Round This World” had been previously released as a B-side on the “It’s No Secret” single.
“Up or Down” comes from the early recording sessions for “Bark” which took place in February 1970 at Pacific High and Wally Heider Studios before Marty Balin chose to leave the band. “Mexico” and “Have You Seen the Saucers?” had been previously released as a non-album single in 1970,
Released as Grunt CYL1-0437. It features previously unreleased material from 1966, 1967, and 1970 as well as both sides of a non-album 1970 single.
Kaleidoscope (originally the Kaleidoscope) was an American psychedelic folk group who recorded four albums and several singles for Epic Records between 1966 and 1970. The band membership included David Lindley who has been a performing musician with Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and others, who later released numerous solo albums and won additional renown as a multi-instrumentalist session musician, and Chris Darrow who later performed and recorded with a number of groups including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The first single, “Please”, was released in December 1966. It was produced by Barry Friedman, as was their first album “Side Trips”, released in May 1967. The album showcased the group’s musical diversity and studio experimentation. It included Feldthouse’s “Egyptian Gardens”, Darrow’s “Keep Your Mind Open”, and versions of Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher” and Dock Boggs’ “Oh Death”.
Between them, the group played a huge collection of stringed instruments in such psychedelic songs as “Egyptian Gardens” and “Pulsating Dream.” They played fusions of Middle-Eastern music with rock in longer pieces such as “Taxim,” which they performed at numerous venues including the Berkeley Folk Festival on July 4, 1967, and the Newport Folk Festival and the Family Dog at The Avalon Ballroom (San Francisco) in 1968. Live, band numbers were sometimes interspersed by solo instrumental turns from Feldthouse or Lindley, and occasionally Feldthouse brought belly dancers or flamenco dancers on stage.
The band performed many different styles, including rock, blues, folk, jazz, Middle-Eastern and also featured music by Calloway and Duke Ellington in their repertoire.
Several of their 45s were pretty good. One of the best, “Nobody,” was a most unusual fusion of R&B and psychedelia that found the group backing veteran rock and blues greats Larry Williams and Johnny “Guitar” Watson.#
The band’s second album “A Beacon from Mars” was released in November 1967, to generally good reviews but poor sales. The album was a mix of Middle-Eastern, country, folk and rock musical styles. The title track, inspired by a Howlin’ Wolf musical riff originally in his song “Smokestack Lightning”, was recorded live in the studio, and featured a long psychedelic electric guitar solo by Lindley, which later caused Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page to refer to Kaleidoscope as his “favourite band of all time.”
In live performances of the tune, Lindley used a violin bow on his electric guitar, probably influencing Page to use the same effect later. Another live “no overdubs” track on the album was “Taxim,” with solos from Lindley on a “harp guitar” and Felthouse, who played oud and saz on the lengthy cut.
The band recorded their third album, “Incredible! Kaleidoscope”, in 1968. It featured “Seven-Ate Sweet”, a long progressive instrumental piece in 7/8 time signature which they had been playing live since the early days of the group.
Kaleidoscope’s fourth and final album from their Epic Records era, “Bernice”, featured more electric guitar work than the earlier albums, and more country influence.
Kaleidoscope contributed two new songs (“Brother Mary” and “Mickey’s Tune”) to Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Zabriskie Point” The band split up soon afterwards.
One of the most revered, reviled and talked about records in all Australian music history “(I’m) Stranded”, by The Saints, finally gets the vinyl box set treatment.
A joint collaboration between long standing L.A garage label In The Red, Universal Music Australia and spearheaded by Feel Presents and Saints founder Ed Kuepper, the deluxe edition of “(I’m) Stranded” will feature 4 x vinyl long players covering all the band’s studio and live recordings from 1976 thru 1977 and includes;
• The iconic debut album remastered for vinyl for the first time in over 40 years. • A five-song live performance from Paddington Town Hall Sydney 3.4.1977 appearing on vinyl for the first time. • A full live performance from the Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival, London November 1977 appearing on vinyl for the first time. • All three tracks from the 1977 “This Perfect Day” 12” single and all four tracks from the 1977 “1-2-3-4” double 7” single. • The previously unreleased 1976 demo mix of the full “(I’m) Stranded” album. • In addition to all that vinyl “(I’m) Stranded” deluxe edition will also features a 28 page 12” x 12” photo essay of the band covering their origins from 1973 through the end of of ’77, authorised band history, an 8” x 10” 1976 promo photo and a “(I’m) Stranded” sticker.
“It’s been an exhausting yet thrilling process being involved in the creation of this box set. It’s been 51 years in the making and has possibly turned out even better than I anticipated. It’s by far the most extensive appraisal of the band, both aurally and visually, that has ever been made available and hopefully reveals some things people may not have known about the band.” – Ed Kuepper
Linking music and literature, building a bridge between the written and the sung–only the greats have managed to do this in the past. Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker, and Patti Smith were just some of the shining stars that Anna B Savage orientated herself towards as a teenager. Born on the anniversary of Bach’s death, the young musician spent her birthday every year in the Green Room of the Royal Albert Hall watching her parents perform compositions by the grand master. That shaped her.
Today, thanks to albums such as her debut, “A Common Turn” (2021), and the incredibly sensual art-pop opus “in|FLUX” (2023), the singer-songwriter is one of the truly exceptional talents on the British independent scene. In her music, otherworldly vocals nestle up against chamber orchestral compositions, delicate arrangements rise up and blow away, and the musician’s highly eclectic sound grows song by song into an experience that lingers for days and weeks. Potentially life-changing. A sense of rootedness is at the heart of Anna B Savage’s third record “You and I are Earth“, a record that is as much about healing as it is an unbowed sense of curiosity, and, more imply, “a love letter to a man and to Ireland.”
Following on from her critically acclaimed records “A Common Turn” and in “FLUX”, “You and I are Earth” manages to convey a sense of intimacy, while also being open-ended. Gentleness is as radiant a touchstone on the record as earthiness, something that Savage attributes to the place she finds herself at present, both geographically and emotionally. And quite literally the record bears witness to a particular piece of earth-Ireland, and Savage’s relationship to it as her new home.
Ethel Cain has unveiled the first single off her new project “Perverts”,Cain has said that the follow-up to 2022’s great “Preacher’s Daughter“,
“Perverts”, is on the way, due out on January 8th via Daughters of Cain, and we now have a few more details about the project. It’s 90 minutes long and takes inspiration from drone, noise, slowcore, ambient and beyond. Ethel wrote and produced it over the past year between Coraopolis, PA and Tallahassee, FL, and she wrote a piece about it, “The Consequence of Audience,” .
Sharing the first single from “Perverts”, the haunting track “Punish,” Of the song, she says, “I wonder how deep shame can run, and how unforgivable an act could be that I may still justify it in some bent way to make carrying it more bearable.
Would I tell myself it’s not my fault and I couldn’t help myself? Would anyone truly believe that? Would I?”
Fontaines D.C. have shared the video for “Bug,” one of the many highlights from this year’s superb album release “Romance”. It was directed by Academy Award winner Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish Tank, Cow), stars Academy Award nominee Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin, Saltburn), and is comprised of footage from the new film Bird, which also stars Fontaines D.C.’s Carlos O’Connell.
“Andrea Arnold was kind enough to cut up a sequence to our tune ‘Bug; featuring Barry Keoghan playing the character Bug in her new movie Bird,” says Carlos. “Bug’s a song that happened quickly and convinced everyone quicker. In my eyes, the character Bug, the tattoo ‘Bug’s Life,’ Andrea’s essential & romantic worlds, and the line ‘Changed my name to “Promise you, Yea”’; when put all together make convincing needless & conviction undeniable.
Big thanks to Andrea Arnold for letting us in so close to her visionary universe. She’ll be remembered how we remember Bacon or Goya.”
“Bug” video below, and Bird is out Friday, November 8th via MUBI.
Manchester greats Doves announced their sixth album, “Constellations For The Lonely“, today and shared its first single. Doves return with their first new music in over four years and announce a new album for release in early 2025, reclaiming territory all their own with the stormy euphoria of “Renegade”.
Jimi Goodwin, Andy and Jez Williams’ winding path to a sixth album reaches that milestone next year, after joining EMI North.
“Renegade” is a retrospective glimpse into Manchester’s future – a dystopian vision born from uncertain times. It’s entirely imaginary, yet somehow deeply familiar.
Doves return with their first new music in over four years and announce a new album for release in early 2025. Jimi Goodwin, Andy and Jez Williams’ winding path to a sixth album reaches that milestone with the 10-Track “Constellations For The Lonely”.
Doves forthcoming album “Constellations For The Lonely”:
Cincinnati indie rock vets Wussy will release their first album in six years in just a couple weeks. Here’s another early taste with “Inhaler” that has just the right amount of twang. Wussy are an American five-piece fronted by songwriters Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker & backed by Mark Messerly, Joe Klug & John Erhardt. Bridging the gap between The Band & Sonic Youth, Wussy continue in the tradition of bands with multiple writers & singers. Cleaver and Walker offer radically different perspectives that blend in seamless fashion – usually blanketed inside layers of noise
This is the third single from Wussy’s new album “CINCINNATI OHIO” – out November 15th, 2024 on Shake It Records.
Wussy are : Chuck Cleaver – guitar, vocals Lisa Walker – guitar, vocals Mark Messerly – bass Joe Klug – drums, percussion, synth, the band leans heavily into its penchant for cinematic Americana landscapes, drawing stylistic inspiration from influences such as Calexico, Mazzy Star, R.E.M., Sun Volt, and the Mekons (whose Jon Langford painted the album’s cover art). This Midwestern wall-of-sound method clearly works for Wussy,
Wussy are back with their first LP in six years. The aptly titled “Cincinnati Ohio” – out NOVEMBER 15th on Shake It Records
British collective Honesty hail from Leeds and were started by George Mitchell, who fronted post-punk band Eagulls in the 2010s and the early days of the pandemic. The rest of the four-member core of the group is rounded out Matt Peel, Josh Lewis and Imi Marston but also includes contributions from Kosi Tydes, Softlizard, Rarelyalways, Dry Cleaning‘s Florence Shaw, and Liam Bailey.
Now signed to Partisan Records (which was also Eagulls’ label), Honesty will release their debut album, “U R Here“, in February 2025.
While there is a post-punk undercurrent to their music, HONESTY draw from a much bigger well of influences, including a variety of electronic/dance (trip-hop, IDM, techno, dubstep) and shoegaze. New single “Tormentor”its woozy sub-bass and breathy vocals by Marston. It’s not all chill, though, as it rips into cinematic technicolour for the chorus.
from the EP “Where R U” out now on Partisan Records:
The Fat Angel Sings 